Back to Tonic by Gene Kiepura
MEMBERS OF A SMALL CHURCH GATHERED TOGETHER TO PRAY FOR their youth leader and four boys who were about to embark on a mission trip to Mexico. Seventeen days later, all five of them were dead. Life painfully changed after the accident. After the horrific experience of recovering the bodies and evading a greedy American…
MEMBERS OF A SMALL CHURCH GATHERED TOGETHER TO PRAY FOR their youth leader and four boys who were about to embark on a mission trip to Mexico. Seventeen days later, all five of them were dead. Life painfully changed after the accident. After the horrific experience of recovering the bodies and evading a greedy American Embassy in Mexico, I returned home to find little in the way of solace from the church family I was counting on. Instead, I was expected to be a strong example of Christian faith for everyone else. Attempting to conceal my emotional struggle would eventually cause me to question both my sanity and relationship with God. Being assured that the accident was all part of “His plan”, my concept of God turned into one of a cold and callus monarch. This wasn’t the God I had signed up for.
“Inspiring and gut-wrenching”
Five Star Review on Amazon By Josh Rutledge
This is the story of a man, his son, his God, and his journey through the most heartbreaking thing a parent can endure. It made me want to love my children more, cling more to my wife, and love my God in a deeper way.
About the Author
Some claim an ability to accept tragedy as being “God’s will.” Gene tried–It didn’t work. Trusting God wasn’t as simple as it used be.
After an eight year struggle with brokenness and depression, Gene threw himself head-on into the challenging questions and emptiness left in the wake of his son’s death. That pursuit ultimately led to the restoration of his fragmented faith and a clearer understanding of the God he held responsible for it.
Gene Kiepura grew up in the Chicago south suburbs. Married his high school sweetheart and completed a forty year career on the Railroad. Gene is an artist, musician and avid fisherman. His first objective in retirement was to tell the story he held within him for twenty years – Back to Tonic is his first book.