Treasures of Darkness

Rating:
Summary: Companion in a dark place
Review: I started Treasures of Darkness wondering if it was going to be like the many grief books I had read but quickly realized it was different. Suddenly, I saw my own thoughts on paper - written by a stranger.
As one who has experienced the death of his child, I have yearned for the company of other brokenhearted fathers. Only those who have been here truly understand. Treasures of Darkness gave me a companion in the shadows. It brightened my way along this path.
This is not another "grief" book but a collection of experiences and hope. If you are a parent who has lost a child, recently or long ago, you owe it to yourself to read this book. If you have a loved one or friend who has lost a child, read the
book and then give it to them. It will allow you a glimpse of their new and strange world and will give them the realization that they are not alone in this tragic place.

Rating:
Summary: Grief in Process
Review: Ken is a phenominal communicator. He writes and speaks equally well. As a pastor who has listened to Ken teach a three - week seminar on the same topic, I am glad that he has written the book. The pain expressed in the poems is very real and is by no means gone from his life. But the presence of God is just as real and even when he cannot see Him, He has been carrying Ken from the beginning. I do not want to overstate the impact he has made on those of us in our church who have read the book and have listened to him speak. I am not even sure that I could. His words have touched very deeply in a place well many could not fathom. Pain is very real and personal to each of us and only someone who knows it can truly understand our grief. Ken has experienced it and can understand.
It should be stated that Ken is still in the process of grief. He will continue to learn more and be able to see God's hand from different perspectives as he goes.
The book is well worth reading but my recommendation would be that you don't read it while you are in the throws of grief. It would be better to be read much later or prior to grief invading your life.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Faith-full, Honest
Review: Treasures of Darkness allows us into the mind and heart of a fellow traveller on the Christian faith journey. Ken Hekman deeply, thoughtfully, and extremely honestly invites us to walk alongside of him as he journies through four stages of grief over the death of his beloved daughter, Carla. Few are able as honestly, boldly, and faithfully to question, wonder, weep, express anger, and joy in the face of such unspeakable pain. In poetry and prose readers encounter a profound search for the heart of God and for what it means to be human in relationship with God in the face of deep sorrow and pain. Ken does not settle for quick, easy, packaged "sympathy-card" answers to pain. Echoing the anguish of Job and some of the responses to life of David in the Psalms, Ken struggles with God, life, and death. And even in his most seemingly faith-questioning moments, it is precisely then that he is most faith-full. This book is timely for any who would read for its honesty, insight, and encouragement to Christian faith as Ken searches to know, serve, and love God in the face of some of life's deepest mysteries and pain.