love Danny

From Cec’s newsletter:

On the morning of February 27, fire broke out in our home. Shirley
and I got out and so did our daughter C-C (Cecile). Her husband,
Alan Hege, was trapped inside and died in the fire.

For a long time I sat by myself and watched the fire fighters try to
put out the fire. In the midst of that, the words of Job 2:10 came
to me. Job’s wife saw all the chaos and loss and told her husband to curse God and die. He replied, `We have received good from the hand of the Lord. Shall we not also receive evil?’ As that verse filled my mind, I heard myself say, `Who am I to feel I should be exempt?’

The real loss, of course, is Alan. He and C-C were high school
sweethearts and married after their first year of college. They had
been married almost 30 years. He will be cremated this week, and
we’ll have a memorial service later in the month.

The house totally burned and we’ll have to rebuild. Insurance will
pay a large portion of the rebuilding. We saved almost nothing, but
neighbors and our church family rallied around us. People provided
clothes for us. Insurance will provide a rent-free house during the
rebuilding. So many have done so much to help us and we’re grateful.

Here are examples of the blessings of God: In 1984, I ghosted the
autobiography of ultra-marathon runner, Stan Cottrell. We liked each other and have stayed in touch through the years. Stan lives 1.5 miles from our house. He and his wife, Carol, insisted that we stay with them. My agent, Deidre Knight, and my marketing director, Jan Coates, took over getting out information and notifying friends. That left us free to pull ourselves together emotionally.

My office was the least damaged part of the house, but my computer was fried. Two of my neighbors rescued the hard drive. I bought a new laptop and have it set up. We were able to download everything except Quicken (that I use to keep our bank records). My library of reference books is totally gone, along with copies of the books I’ve written. To my surprise, our passports and most of our 2007 files were smoke filled but readable. We were able to get new drivers’ licenses.

Sunday morning we went to church, and it was communion Sunday— perfect for us. The Reformers of the 16th century formulated the doctrine of the means of grace. By that, they believed that God provided grace through prayer, reading the Bible, hearing the Bible preached, the celebration of the sacraments, and the communion of saints. Sunday morning we were with our church family and felt their loving embraces.

There is little else to say at this time. Shirley and I are doing
quite well. Our daughter is having a difficult time—as we would
expect—but she will pull through.

With deep gratitude to God and thanks for caring, supportive friends,

Cec

Best Wishes, Cec.