Overcoming Addiction Through Faith with Kevin Krestinski

Intro: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Construction Disruption Podcast, where we

Intro: 00:00:04

uncover the future of design, building, and remodeling.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:17

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:20

come to the listeners and, and share, uh, what, what God is doing in my life.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:26

And, um, thank you for Todd and for Ryan and for this opportunity

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:30

to, to get that, this message out.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:33

Uh, we love you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:34

Thank you for Jesus.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:35

Thank you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:36

Without him, um, we have, we have no hope.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:40

And, uh, I'm just praying that, uh, you would speak through me and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:44

speak through these guys and I'm, I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:47

Lord be here with us in Jesus name.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:49

Amen.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:50

Amen.

Todd Miller: 00:00:50

Amen.

Todd Miller: 00:00:51

Thank

Kevin Krestinski: 00:00:51

you, Kevin.

Todd Miller: 00:00:52

So, I'm Todd Miller, Visay Industries, manufacturer

Todd Miller: 00:00:55

of specialty metal roofing and other building materials.

Todd Miller: 00:00:58

And today, my co host here on Construction Disruption is Ryan Bell.

Todd Miller: 00:01:02

How are you doing, Ryan?

Todd Miller: 00:01:04

Hey, Todd, I'm doing great.

Todd Miller: 00:01:05

How are you?

Todd Miller: 00:01:05

I'm doing well also.

Todd Miller: 00:01:07

So we're recording this episode, uh, I guess just about

Todd Miller: 00:01:10

a week, uh, before Easter.

Todd Miller: 00:01:13

It'll probably air a few weeks after Easter, but, uh, heard an

Todd Miller: 00:01:18

interesting story the other day.

Todd Miller: 00:01:20

Um, so, uh, we all know from the Easter story about how Joseph of Amarathea, uh,

Todd Miller: 00:01:26

gave his tomb up for Jesus to be laid to rest in after, uh, the crucifixion.

Todd Miller: 00:01:32

Well, um, so, folks asked him, uh, I guess in particular Pontius Pilate asked

Todd Miller: 00:01:39

him during that time, they said, Why are you giving up your tomb for this?

Todd Miller: 00:01:42

You've, you've paid for this.

Todd Miller: 00:01:44

It was to be a family tomb.

Todd Miller: 00:01:46

Why would you give that, give that up for, uh, for this man, Jesus.

Todd Miller: 00:01:50

And, uh, Joseph, Joseph of Marathia said, Oh, it's okay, Pontius.

Todd Miller: 00:01:55

It's only for the weekend.

Todd Miller: 00:01:58

Okay.

Todd Miller: 00:01:59

Let's get going.

Todd Miller: 00:02:00

Okay.

Todd Miller: 00:02:00

So, um, that's had me laughing all day.

Todd Miller: 00:02:02

I had to get it out.

Todd Miller: 00:02:05

Okay.

Todd Miller: 00:02:05

So thank you again, listeners for tuning into Construction Disruption.

Todd Miller: 00:02:09

Once again, in this wonderful episode here in season two, uh, we will be doing

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our challenge words, where each one of us, uh, on the show has been given a word

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that we are challenged to work into the conversation as seamlessly as possible.

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And, uh, so you, the listener can be listening to see if you hear,

Todd Miller: 00:02:26

uh, us say our challenge word.

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And at the end of the show, uh, we will reveal our success or lack

Todd Miller: 00:02:33

thereof on using our challenge words.

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So let's get the ball rolling.

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So every once in a while here on Construction Disruption, we sort of step

Todd Miller: 00:02:41

outside of the construction industry.

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To delve into interesting stories and really real life stuff that we hope will

Todd Miller: 00:02:49

be of interest and value to our listeners.

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We're doing that this episode while our spotlighted guest today does

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actually have some construction industry experience in his past.

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We're really not here to discuss that at all.

Todd Miller: 00:03:03

Instead, we're going to dive into his personal, um, even his very

Todd Miller: 00:03:07

painful story and talk about how he's found a new start in life.

Todd Miller: 00:03:13

Our guest today is Kevin Krasinski from Toronto, Ontario.

Todd Miller: 00:03:17

Um, Kevin, interestingly, is author of a new book titled, I was blinded.

Todd Miller: 00:03:22

I was blinded.

Todd Miller: 00:03:23

Um, just as a teaser, uh, you can, uh, order the book and

Todd Miller: 00:03:28

you can also learn more at www.

Todd Miller: 00:03:31

iwasblinded.

Todd Miller: 00:03:32

com or you can email Kevin at iwasblindedbookatgmail.

Todd Miller: 00:03:38

com and, uh, we will have those in the show notes as well.

Todd Miller: 00:03:42

Um, but, uh, just want to get those plugs in there and we'll share them again later.

Todd Miller: 00:03:46

But.

Todd Miller: 00:03:46

Kevin, welcome to Construction Disruption.

Todd Miller: 00:03:49

Uh, it's a pleasure to have you with us here today, and I really

Todd Miller: 00:03:52

admire you for being willing to share a very personal story.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:03:56

It's a pleasure to be here, and uh,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:03:58

thank you Ryan, thank you Todd.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:00

Um, it's a, it's a great opportunity, and I'm, I'm excited.

Todd Miller: 00:04:03

Well, before we, uh, totally spill the beans and, and talk

Todd Miller: 00:04:07

about the impact that a particular type of addiction had on your life,

Todd Miller: 00:04:11

um, I'd like to go back a little bit.

Todd Miller: 00:04:13

Can you share with us a little bit about, um, your growing up years and, uh, what

Todd Miller: 00:04:19

brought you up to the point of where your life was really spiraling out of control?

Todd Miller: 00:04:24

Um, so just so I can go ahead and share, I'll spill the bean.

Todd Miller: 00:04:27

The, the addiction you have dealt with is gambling.

Todd Miller: 00:04:30

Um, tell us, you know, how, how life started for you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:33

Well, I was born at a very early age and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:36

as time went on, I grew older.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:38

No, I won't start with jokes.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:41

That's right.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:42

I, um, I'm a prairie boy.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:44

I was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, um, in Canada, in, in the.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:49

I guess the Midwest, and, um, my, my father, uh, 31

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:55

years, he worked for CP rail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:04:57

Um, he was, uh, a lifelong railroader that, um, he was a chief, uh, he, his

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:03

last position was chief engineer for the East, but he, um, he's a civil engineer

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:07

by schooling and my mom was a homemaker.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:10

And so, uh, myself and, uh, my brother and sister.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:14

And mom and dad, we moved to various places, uh, in my upbringing and I'm

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:19

starting, I'm starting to think now that that had an impact on me with my behavior,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:24

because I never really thought about it before, but I was in 8 different schools,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:29

uh, from kindergarten to grade 12.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:31

Wow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:32

So.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:34

And, uh, we, Saskatoon, then we went over to Brandon near Winnipeg,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:38

Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:40

And, um, so a lot of, a lot of promotions for dad, but a lot of, you know,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:45

usually in a year and a half to two years and we would, we would move on.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:49

So as far as building friendships, I, I would build friends, and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:53

then I'd have to say goodbye.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:05:54

Um, so, it wasn't, um, it wasn't easy, but I, I just, I learned to live with it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:00

It was part of, uh, we finally moved to Mississauga, which is just, uh,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:04

west end of Toronto in, uh, 1981.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:08

And my folks were there until, um, 2016.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:11

Now they're out in Calgary again.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:13

But my upbringing was good.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:16

I grew up in a Christian home.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:18

Mom and dad, you know, right from, from an early age, I gave my life to Jesus.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:25

At age five with my mom, she led me to the Lord.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:28

Um, you know, I'm, I'm five years old, so I mean, there's not much really in

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:34

terms of my mindset of, of what God is and who Jesus was and, and, uh, and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:41

then, um, you know, I got into high school, had really non eventful years

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:47

in high school, and then when, when I entered the university of Toronto in

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:52

1987, And, uh, that's about the time.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:06:55

I think I placed my first bet, uh, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, actually, at

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:00

the end of my, I went to Briarcrest Bible College in Carromport, and, uh,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:05

at the end of my, uh, second year.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:08

I went to the Moose Jaw Mall, and I played a lotto ticket for lotto 649 in Canada.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:14

And, um, and I think that was my first bet.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:18

I, uh, my earliest remember, uh, memory of a bet.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:22

And then, um, but it was 87 when I got to Toronto and I, I entered university for my

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:27

first year that I kind of spread my wings.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:29

And then for the next 33 years, I just lived for myself.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:07:34

And, um, Lots of stuff happened.

Todd Miller: 00:07:36

Very interesting story.

Todd Miller: 00:07:38

Well, so, you know, as you, you know, you say, you know, you place that

Todd Miller: 00:07:43

that first bet on the lottery lottery.

Todd Miller: 00:07:45

Um, how long had you kind of started down that path before it started to

Todd Miller: 00:07:51

kind of nag at you that, you know, maybe this was something you couldn't

Todd Miller: 00:07:55

control was did, you know, immediately and just Keep going forward or

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:01

no, I, I didn't know immediately, but, but I mean,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:03

the, the bet at the, the, the lottery kiosk in, in 86, um, was.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:10

That really wasn't the start of my gambling.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:12

I, I met a guy, I met a guy, uh, I worked, uh, my very first job, full time job

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:17

was working the front desk of a hotel in Mississauga, uh, the Novotel brand.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:22

And, um, and we, it was a brand new hotel we had just opened.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:26

And so I was the first desk crew on there and I would just check

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:29

people in, check people out.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:30

That was my job.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:31

Worked there about a year and a half.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:33

And there was a guy that, that headed up my security department

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:36

there, or our security department.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:38

Uh, his name was Kevin as well.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:40

And he, um, He came, he kept coming to work with this big binder.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:45

And I said to him one day, I said, what, what is in that binder?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:49

He had it with him everywhere.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:50

Like almost like a Bible, but it wasn't a Bible.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:53

And, um, so he, he showed me that it was his handicapping,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:08:57

um, sheets from the racetrack.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:00

And so we have, um, an international racetrack in Toronto called Woodbine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:05

And it's been around for a long time.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:07

The Breeders Cup has been there and, and, uh, they've had some significant

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:10

Queen's plate, some significant races.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:13

And, uh, so he said, he kind of showed me this book and I, I, I thought to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:18

myself, it's kind of interesting, you know, I, you, you're betting

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:22

on, on, on past races of horses.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:25

I mean, anything can happen, but, um, so I said, can I come with you?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:31

And he said, well, I'm going on Saturday and I went with him and I made 40.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:38

And it was easy money.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:39

I was 21 years old and I thought, well, if I could go there, you know, say

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:43

after work or before work or whatever, depending on my shift and I could make.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:48

You know, 40, 50, 60 a day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:50

It's a nice little supplemental income, but as we all know, it

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:54

doesn't happen every day like that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:09:55

And I mean, it's laughable now that 40 was what set me off, but I truly believe that

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:01

that first day I was hooked, um, it gave me some sort of pleasure or rush and as

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:07

we get into kind of the, the science of gambling and dopamine and the brain and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:13

how it's affected, um, it makes sense.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:15

I found something that I loved.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:18

And and I loved it right away.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:21

And so when it started becoming a problem was when, um, in 1991, I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:26

declared bankruptcy and that was after repeated, repeated losses.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:30

I had good credit.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:32

Until about 1990, I had, I had probably every card that was available to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:36

me, you know, with American Express.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:38

I think I had 4 different cards.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:40

I had all these things and I would fly to Las Vegas because we

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:43

didn't have a casino in Ontario.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:45

We had, um, the racetrack, which was my 1st exposure.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:50

But I wanted faster action.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:51

So I went to Las Vegas and I and as soon as I got there, it was my playground.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:10:56

Um, so I, I, I would, I got, I became a member of this last minute club

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:01

and you could the night before you could, um, book your flight and for

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:06

cheap, you know, 399, 349 for 4 days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:09

And that included hotel and, and, uh, your flight from Toronto, Las Vegas.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:14

So.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:15

I did it and I did it many times and I would go there and I'd get, you know,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:21

you know, they, they'd really give it to me and then, and then I'd come home

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:24

and, uh, and, and I, I would start again, you know, so, um, but 1991, my

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:32

debts, I had good credit, but my debts kept mounting, mounting, mounting.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:36

And we got to a point where I, um, I got, um, into a lot of financial trouble.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:45

And so I had to declare bankruptcy in 91.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:47

That was the first time that I, that I had a problem, that

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:50

I knew I had a serious problem.

Todd Miller: 00:11:52

You would have been what, about 25 at that time, I guess?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:56

I was born in 66.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:57

So I was, uh, I was.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:11:59

23 going on 24, 24, 25.

Todd Miller: 00:12:02

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:12:03

Okay.

Todd Miller: 00:12:04

Pretty young.

Todd Miller: 00:12:06

So, yeah, I, I kind of, well, tell us a little bit about,

Todd Miller: 00:12:09

you kind of touched on it.

Todd Miller: 00:12:10

Tell us a little bit about the science of gambling addiction and, you know,

Todd Miller: 00:12:14

that dopamine hit and everything.

Todd Miller: 00:12:17

I'm just kind of curious.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:18

I've done a lot of homework, uh, obviously in, in, in, in the

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:22

last, last few years, but even when I was going through what I was going through.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:26

So what happens is gambling actually is as, as addictive.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:31

It's one, it's, it's in terms of, uh, mental illness.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:35

And in terms of suicide rate, I think gambling is, is, is right at the top.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:39

I think it's, it's more so than drugs and alcohol, um, what gambling does.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:44

And it, and it did it for me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:46

It's, it was like cocaine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:48

It was like, um, An absolute blast.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:52

Like I've never done cocaine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:53

Um, but from, from what I've heard, um, it, it hits your, it

Kevin Krestinski: 00:12:59

hits your brain and then you're, you're always going after that high

Todd Miller: 00:13:02

again,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:03

the frontal part of the, the, the, the brain

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:06

is the pleasure, pleasure center, pleasure, um, area and dopamine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:12

Um, it's created in the body when you are pleasured in that area.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:17

So every time, and then it got to the point, so I, I, I gambled on everything.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:22

I mean, I, one time I was even gambling on the internet.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:28

I couldn't watch the race, but it was in Australia.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:30

And all I was doing was refreshing my browser to see if I won or not.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:34

I mean that you're at a very sick point when you're doing that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:38

And I'm spending real money.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:40

Um, but I am, uh, I'm, I'm, you know, I can't even, even watch the races,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:45

so, um, but what I just had to gamble, like, it, it, the feeling that I got,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:50

so I realized it's not about the money.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:53

It's not about, you know, some people think I, I heard lots of time growing up.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:13:58

Um, you know, it, it's greed, it's, you know, you wanna, you wanna get

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:02

the big score and stuff like that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:04

I actually just wanted longevity in, in terms of my gambling, in

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:07

terms of my plane, because I mean, if I could stay there all day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:12

It was pleasurable for me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:14

If I, you know, um, lost my shirt in the first hour, then I had a miserable day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:20

So then, but of course, tomorrow is always a new day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:24

So I'd figure out how to, how to get back there tomorrow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:26

But what, what it does is it just with the slot machines, slot

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:30

machines were never my thing.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:32

I didn't like the three real slots.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:35

Um, but now they're multi level games where you can have.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:38

Up to, I think, a thousand and twenty eight combinations with, with, with multi,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:43

multi reels and multi levels and all that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:47

So every time I hit that button, because they're, they're no longer the, the

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:50

one armed bandits, every time you hit the button, it would give me that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:14:55

That, that dopamine effect, the anticipation of, of a progressive

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:00

or the anticipation of the next bet would be my high.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:06

And I would do that over and over and over like a, like a monkey, you know,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:09

just, just over and over and over.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:12

And, um, and I trained myself that way just from repeated.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:17

Going to the casinos and and doing damage.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:20

Wow.

Todd Miller: 00:15:21

I'm curious.

Todd Miller: 00:15:22

What did that look like as far as family and friends during these real dark times?

Todd Miller: 00:15:28

I mean, did did they stick by?

Todd Miller: 00:15:30

Did they know what was going on?

Todd Miller: 00:15:32

Or did some folks say, Hey, you change or I I can't continue to hang with you.

Todd Miller: 00:15:38

And, and let me, let me ask another question, Kevin.

Todd Miller: 00:15:41

What do you wish they would have done?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:44

I, I did my gambling in secret.

Todd Miller: 00:15:47

Okay.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:48

I never took, I never took friends with me to go do it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:51

It wasn't a social event.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:52

Although, although the casinos were packed with people.

Todd Miller: 00:15:55

Mm hmm.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:56

And Vegas was packed with people.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:15:58

And I met people and I talked, I spoke with people.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:01

Um, it was, it was a very alone event all the time.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:06

I know now that it was my insecurity and the way that the casinos and the

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:13

VIP hosts, and I mean, I got to a level where, where everything was free.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:17

So.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:18

Um, and that was in, in 2018 was my, was my peak year in terms of gambling,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:24

um, losses and also some wins.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:28

Um, and it, it got so out of control that I consider them to be predators, to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:33

be quite honest, to, to prey on people who are, who are like me, who without

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:39

Jesus can't stop, I couldn't stop.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:44

So, uh, But getting back to your question in terms of like family and friends, my,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:51

my parents, I lived at home into the 90s and then I left and then I came back and I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:16:58

was kind of a, you know, constant drop in.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:00

But, um, my parents knew it was starting to escalate around

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:07

1990 just before my bankruptcy.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:10

They, uh, I came home from Vegas once with a lot of cash and I, and I was.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:14

I showed them and I was very, you know, look what I did type thing.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:18

And I remember my dad looking at me and just kind of a half smile, you know,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:24

like he, he thought, oh, that's good, but we're not really happy for you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:29

Right.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:29

So, um, so that, that was, I, I started seeing stuff like that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:34

I didn't really have friends drop off, although, uh, I, Like, not

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:40

while we were friends, but I have had friends that have completely, um,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:45

we don't have any contact anymore.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:47

Even I have 1 guy that was in my wedding party that we don't speak anymore.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:52

Um, and that's, uh, that's primarily because of Jesus.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:17:56

He's not interested in him, but, but he, um.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:00

We, you know, 30 year friendship gone, you know, so, um, but in terms of, uh,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:05

and how, and what I wish they would have done, it's hard because when you're,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:10

when you're doing what you're doing and when I'm, when I'm gambling, um,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:13

I don't really want any interference.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:16

I wanted to continue my behavior and it was because I was like, you can

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:22

only be a slave to one thing you, you cannot, you cannot, um, I mean,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:28

Jesus obviously has changed my life.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:30

But you, in those days, in the nineties.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:33

Uh, you're either focused on maybe career or school or, you know, a girlfriend

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:40

or, or whatever you, you're involved in.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:43

Or, you're completely committed to gambling, in my case.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:48

So, it was, it was total.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:50

It was 100%.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:51

I just, I, I did it, like, if I was to get a grade on my enthusiasm and my,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:18:58

my willingness to, to do a behavior, I would get an A plus in gambling.

Todd Miller: 00:19:02

Hmm.

Todd Miller: 00:19:05

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:19:05

Not what you want an A plus in, but I hear you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:08

No, no.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:09

And, you know, people, I mean, just to tag onto that, you know, people can go

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:13

and they, you know, they get some people win large amounts and then they leave and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:17

they never come back, you know, and they don't have, they don't have what I had.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:23

And, and, you know, you, you spoke earlier.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:24

I want to say one thing.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:25

You spoke earlier about addictions.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:27

Um, I, I try not to use that word.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:31

And I'll tell you why, because we, and it's nothing against

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:34

what you said or anything.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:35

It's, it's what the world describes as an addiction.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:39

Um, it gives it power.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:42

And, and I'll tell you, um, I've gone to a lot of 12 step means.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:48

I've probably gone to a thousand of them, uh, over the course of my, my,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:53

um, my gambling and then, and then in the last five years, I've been, I've

Kevin Krestinski: 00:19:56

been, uh, absent, but, um, addiction to me, when you give it, give it power.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:03

It, it's, it, it becomes like, I've heard people say that it's a disease.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:07

I can't do anything about it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:09

So, so I just have to basically find some help.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:13

That's going to manage my gambling.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:15

Like, like, um, in Toronto, they have a big center.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:18

I won't name it, but it's a big center for addiction control

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:21

downtown in Toronto, and they don't, they don't teach you abstinence.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:26

They teach you, um, Maybe removing the problem part of the gambling, but you

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:34

can still do other things, you know, like if my thing is slots or my thing is

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:38

the racetrack, you know, bingo is fine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:40

Playing lottery is fine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:41

Um, you know, whatever, whatever it is, you can do those other things, but, but

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:47

you just can't do slot machines, you know?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:49

So to me, that's, to me, it has to be total abstinence.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:20:54

And, and I, um, I don't like calling it a disease because I, I, we do have a choice.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:01

There is a choice.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:02

The choice was for me, and I'll get into my redemption story later, but

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:07

my choice for me was when, when Jesus changed my heart, and then I chose him.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:14

So my posture changed.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:16

So instead of being a slave to gambling, I'm not a slave to Jesus.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:20

I'm, I'm coming freely, but He is my focus.

Todd Miller: 00:21:24

Very good.

Todd Miller: 00:21:25

Well, I, I mean, I know that you had some awfully dark times in the midst of that,

Todd Miller: 00:21:30

including doing some time in prison.

Todd Miller: 00:21:32

Um, anything out of all that you'd like to share with us?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:35

Well, the first thing I'll say is prison is horrible.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:38

Um, every single day is, is terrifying and horrible.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:45

I've been in a few jails, um, small sentences, you know, like I, in my book,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:52

I talk about, you know, I, I kited checks, you know, I, I, I needed money to gamble

Kevin Krestinski: 00:21:57

with, I, I don't want to give, give all the secrets of the book, but I, um, I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:02

did a lot of little things that I got in trouble for and once, my very first time

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:06

that I was ever arrested was in Las Vegas.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:09

I, um, I had a little bit too much to drink and, and I, and I, I tried to get

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:16

some money out of one of the kiosks.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:18

Um, and of course there's 50, 000 cameras in the Mirage hotel and they were

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:23

watching every move that I was making.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:26

And I thought I was so clever because I had had a whole pitcher

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:29

of Long Island iced tea to myself.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:32

And I was just going from stool to stool, watching these little kiosks.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:37

And, uh, and then I got really brave with my alcohol.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:41

And I just thought, I'm just going to try and open one.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:44

What I didn't know is that they, um, they left it open.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:48

And they put some money in there that they had marked.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:51

And, uh, within, uh, within three seconds of me lifting that, that, uh, that desk.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:22:58

I had three armed guys on my arms that took me into the heart of

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:01

the, the casino, the garage and, um, and then the police came, um,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:06

and that was my very first arrest.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:08

That was in 1993.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:09

I was, um, it was July.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:13

So I, I would have been 25 going on 26.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:16

or 26 going on 27.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:18

Um, and so, uh, I mean, I was old enough to know better, but

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:23

I was, I was just so messed up.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:27

And, and I remember, I remember after my arrest, you know,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:30

they, so they, they lock you up.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:31

And then the difference is that I'm, I'm a Canadian citizen.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:36

So, so, and I'm on vacation and, and, uh, what they normally do

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:40

in the States is they allow you to bail yourself out with 10%.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:44

My bail was set at 3, 000, but because I was from Canada, they needed the whole

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:49

amount, and they have bail bondsmen there that will help you, but they also have

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:55

what's called a nine day kick out rule.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:23:57

And, um, so you will see a judge within nine days, if you don't see a

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:01

judge within nine days of your arrest, they will, um, they'll release you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:06

Um, so sometimes they don't have enough to charge you or whatever.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:09

So they, they have, they have a bit of urgency to get a, to get the charges in.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:13

And, um, so sure enough on day nine, They called my name and I went to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:17

see in front of a judge and they were going to hold me over another

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:20

two weeks for a preliminary trial.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:22

I had, I had been able to, I couldn't call my dad because, um, it was the pay

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:28

phones only, um, could accept collect calls to people in the United States.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:32

So, and we didn't have cell phones back there.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:35

And even now you can't do a collect call to a cell phone.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:37

So, um, I was stuck.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:39

So what I did is I, I wrote a note to the sergeant in the jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:43

It was Clark County Detention Center that I was at, uh, right in Las Vegas.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:47

And, um, I mean, they don't mess around.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:50

That's, that's a big jail and they've had a lot of, a lot of stuff happened

Kevin Krestinski: 00:24:53

in Vegas, but, um, they, I got a message back that the sergeant wanted to see

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:00

me three days after I was arrested.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:02

And he said, if you want to call your dad, you can use my phone.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:05

So I went into his office, he closed the door and I was able to call my dad.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:09

Now they hadn't heard from me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:10

And so he said, what's going on?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:12

And I lied to him.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:13

I said that I was arrested and, um, I was innocent, you know, and nothing

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:19

I did and, you know, playing the part and, and not, not really being truthful.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:25

And so.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:27

Dad said, what's, what's the next steps?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:28

And I said, well, they're going to, they're going to see me before nine days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:32

So why don't I just see if they see me tomorrow or the next day or whatever, if

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:37

not, I'll get, and so on the ninth day, then I, I called him when I got my, um,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:42

the order from the, the judge that I'd have a preliminary trial in two weeks.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:47

I said, I got to get out of here.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:48

So I called dad and he, he wired some money to, uh, To the bail bondsman and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:25:54

within an hour, I was out and, um, it was an expensive trip, um, because with,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:00

with the fees and everything, and then the exchange rate and, uh, and then I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:04

couldn't get a flight back for 3 days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:06

They had no more flights to Toronto.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:07

Those were the days that didn't go every day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:10

So they were junkets.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:11

Right?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:11

So I couldn't get a flight for 3 more days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:12

So I thought, what am I going to do?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:14

So I thought I might as well start gambling again.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:16

And it started all up again.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:18

So I never learned my lesson until.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:22

Um, till 2020 was when my heart changed, but, uh, I had to anyways,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:29

get into, I was talking about the jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:31

So that was my first time I did a few weekends in Toronto.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:35

Um, I'd spend a, you know, a night in the holding cells or whatever,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:38

but I also did 30 days and 90 days at weekends, but in, um, 2002.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:45

That's what I was saying.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:46

One day is terrifying.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:47

I was sentenced to, um, to 15 months, which was 457 days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:53

So that's, that's a pretty good stretch.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:26:55

And I, uh, I remember feeling completely defeated.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:01

Even that didn't, didn't stop me because I continued on my gambling until 18.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:07

And, uh, And then, because of what happened in, in 17 and 18, 2017, 18,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:13

um, I had, even though I'd stopped, my last bet was January 19th of 2019.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:19

So, I'm over 5 years now, but, um, there were still consequences to my actions.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:26

So, on December 3rd of 19, I was sentenced to 6 months in Ontario here, and I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:32

had to, uh, of that, you do 2 3rds.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:34

So, I had to do 4 months, and I went up to the Supermax in Penetanguishene.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:39

Uh, which is north of Toronto and again, it was absolutely horrible

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:44

and it was also, um, 18 years later and I'm 53 years old at that time.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:51

I'm 57 now, but I was 53 and 60 pounds heavier than I was in 2002

Kevin Krestinski: 00:27:58

and it's tough enough to do jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:00

But when you have those type of conditions.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:03

Um, it's, it's, it's, it's horrible.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:06

Wow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:06

Wow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:07

So.

Todd Miller: 00:28:08

Well, good news is there is a redemption story here that you've

Todd Miller: 00:28:11

already led to, and you talked about how, um, a significant part of your story is,

Todd Miller: 00:28:16

you know, developing that intimate life changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Todd Miller: 00:28:21

Um.

Todd Miller: 00:28:22

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:28:22

Kind of curious, how did, was that the answer to being able to stop gambling?

Todd Miller: 00:28:28

Or, um, did you also find help you mentioned in some 12 step programs?

Todd Miller: 00:28:32

Um, tell us a little bit about what that redemption story looked like

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:37

for you.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:37

It wasn't jail that stopped me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:40

Although I was, I was in my cell when, when, when the Holy

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:45

Spirit changed my heart, which is an amazing story in itself.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:49

And I did go to residential, I went to residential treatment twice.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:52

Um, it's, it's a 30 day program that they had abbreviated to 21 days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:28:57

Um, just for time restraints, I went once in 2006 and then I went again in 2013.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:03

Um, and it's, uh, it, but it's a secular based, uh, recovery based on, based on the

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:09

science and the facts and, and abstinence.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:12

And I mean, there were some helpful, helpful tips there.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:15

Um, but it didn't ultimately stop me from gambling.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:19

I, I left the second time and, uh, and I abstained for a little

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:24

bit, but within about five to six months, I was back at it again.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:28

And, um, I needed a heart change.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:31

That, that is, That is the only way, you know, even I'm involved in a group

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:36

called Overcomers Now, and we, we discuss, you know, our issues and we share with

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:42

others and, and I've shared that, um, the only way to be successful in any life

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:51

controlling behavior, that's what we call it, um, is, is to have a heart change.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:57

There, there is no.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:58

There's no other way.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:29:59

And so my story is that, you know, even going to jail for 15 months in 2002,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:05

that wasn't a deterrent and I still wanted to gamble and I still loved it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:09

And I still wanted to do it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:11

And then I had consequences, like I said, from 17 and 18, I turned myself

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:16

into Niagara police and, uh, and, and even actually I emailed her yesterday.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:22

And I shared my book with her and, uh, she was really proud of me.

Todd Miller: 00:30:27

Wow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:28

So I bet.

Todd Miller: 00:30:29

Awesome.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:30

But it's, it's, it's, um, well, what happened, what happened

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:34

with my, my change of heart was that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:36

Uh, in, in, um, in 2020, I, uh, I was released on April 2nd of 2020,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:44

and it's right when COVID hit.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:46

Sometimes you have a cellmate, sometimes you don't.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:49

And of the 121 days that I did a Pen a Tang, that was my actual

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:54

time, I did, I was sentenced to 6 months, but I did 4 months.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:30:57

Um, 86 of those days, I was alone.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:01

In my cell, which is an absolute blessing because the range the range is basically

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:08

where all the guys hang out all day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:10

They lock you out into the range.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:12

They close your door.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:14

Like, you lock your door and you can't get back into your room until I call

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:19

it a room, but into your cell until, um, until they open it up at 6 about

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:24

10 after 6 at night after we eat.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:27

And then it's locked down and we go in ourself.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:30

So, um.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:31

And then finally you have peace.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:33

Like it's so noisy and the TV is loud and it's all day long.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:37

Guys play cards.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:38

And I mean, I sat on this concrete bench.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:41

I called it the bus stop and it's in my book, but, but the bus never came.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:45

That's the joke.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:46

There's no bus, but I sat there for 1200 hours, 10 hours a day for 120 days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:52

And I sometimes would read sometimes would just, it's, it's, it's,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:55

it's, it's, Because it's so scary in jail, you keep your back to the

Kevin Krestinski: 00:31:59

wall because you want to see what's, what's in front of you, because then

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:03

you're not surprised by anything.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:05

And I mean, I saw horrific stuff in jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:08

I won't go into detail here, but I, I, um, I was witnessing, I was a

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:12

witness to many things that happened that, That are, are, are terrible

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:17

and, um, and that's Jail Life.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:19

It's, you think, you know, uh, the Seinfeld show, uh, George Costanza

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:23

and, and, and he calls it Bizarre World where, where everything is,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:28

when he changed course and he, and everything that he used to do, he didn't

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:32

do, but he did the exact opposite.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:34

Everything turned out for him and it's a hilarious episode, but.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:37

Jail is like that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:38

It's a bizarre world.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:39

It is complete opposite where you have decency.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:42

There's no decency where you have a respect.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:43

There's no respect.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:45

Um, it's, it's, uh, it's a completely opposite world and it's not like anything

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:50

you've known unless you've been to jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:52

So, um, and I had prayed in my life, I would say in the last two

Kevin Krestinski: 00:32:58

decades, 20 years that even though I was enjoying gambling, I saw

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:03

the consequences of my gambling.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:06

And I had asked.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:08

The Lord in my prayer time, which was not like my prayer time today,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:12

but, um, I would ask him for total deliverance from my illness.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:17

And I had heard that people had been miraculously, um, cured or saved or

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:24

delivered from alcoholism or drugs or sex or whatever, whatever their deal is.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:32

But why, why wouldn't it, why can't it happen for me?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:35

You know, and, and so I prayed on that and, and nothing ever changed.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:40

But you know what I've realized now is that God wanted to see my heart

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:43

change and wanted to see a willingness to do what he wants me to do.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:48

Um, And then he did exactly that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:51

So, um, sometime, I don't even know the exact day, because days

Kevin Krestinski: 00:33:57

run into each other when you're inside, I call it, or in jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:01

Um, but it was sometime in late February, early March.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:05

And, uh, I'll try and say this without becoming emotional, but,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:09

um, I sang audibly the song Holy Spirit, You Are Welcome Here.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:15

And he, and I was alone in my cell, cell number 16, he changed my heart.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:22

And do you know that I have not had one urge to gamble since that day.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:28

And, and, and of course, you know, you get out of jail and you, you, um, you

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:33

know, you have things, housekeeping things you have, you have to clean

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:36

up your life, like total destruction.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:38

Right.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:39

I mean, we, we, we spoke last night on Overcomers about foundations.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:44

And there's a couple of guys that are construction guys in our group, and they

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:47

were talking about, you know, making a foundation and, you know, once once

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:50

the corners and once if they're bad, the whole fund, the whole building

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:55

structure is going to be is going to fail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:34:57

And, uh, so how do you build.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:01

A proper home that's going to last and basically that's a good metaphor for my

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:06

life is that God had to destroy the house that I had built and then he gave me his

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:15

foundation and now I'm building from that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:18

So probably, um, from, from, uh, 2020, when I was released until maybe

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:25

2022, I was kind of in cleanup mode.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:29

You know, like, uh, Matt, I came home, my beautiful wife, Lisa.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:33

She, she has supported me the entire time, but, um, we had, we had big bills.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:39

We had lots of things.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:40

I mean, she was alone.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:42

I couldn't even call her from jail because we only have cell phones.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:47

So I, I didn't have one call to her in four months.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:51

Um, and, uh, and it was total separation and she came to visit me three times.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:57

She would drive up to Penatang.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:35:58

It would take her about three hours and it was during the

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:01

winter, there was two feet of snow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:03

And, uh, it was, it was a real effort for her to do that, but she has stuck with me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:09

Many women would have, would have bailed on me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:13

Um, and we've been married, this summer will be 14 years.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:17

And, uh, and I, we got married in 2010.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:19

So I met her on the internet.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:21

I, um, we, we had a few messages and, uh, I met her, she's a school teacher and,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:27

uh, I would have never met her otherwise.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:29

I lived in Toronto.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:29

She lived in, she grew up in the Niagara area and, uh, we met online and we

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:34

met at Starbucks and, um, the rest is history, but she's, she's stuck with me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:40

I'm sure she thought many times, you know, can I handle this?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:44

You know, maybe I should.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:45

should separate from him.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:46

Maybe not divorce, but maybe separate, you know, until he gets his act together.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:51

And, uh, uh, it's, she's been my always, and that's what I wrote in the book.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:36:59

So, um, so that was my, my moment.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:02

Uh, God completely changed my heart.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:04

And, uh, in the last two years, now I'm getting involved.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:07

And then with the book, October 23rd, I couldn't sleep and I'm lying in bed.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:15

And I, I literally feel a shoulder tap and, and I heard the voice start writing.

Todd Miller: 00:37:22

Wow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:23

And in 12 days, I wrote a cover to cover and it, it, it

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:27

flowed into my, I wrote it on my iPhone and then I transferred it to Microsoft

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:32

word, but, um, little snippets here and there, you know, they just putting

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:36

it together and I wrote constantly for 12 days and the book was done.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:40

And, um, so now it's been published.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:44

It was, it was released on March the 1st.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:46

The books finally arrived.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:47

On the 20th, and, uh, and I've been asked by the publisher, shout out to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:53

Kim and, and, uh, Helia Publishing.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:56

They've been great.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:37:57

They've asked me to write a second book, which is a devotional, and,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:01

um, and, and they said, well, we'll look after it, you know, but

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:05

writing a book isn't, isn't free.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:07

And, uh, and so, uh, Lisa and I, it was our, it was our love offering, um, Um, to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:13

write the first book to, to, to the Lord.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:16

But, um, but, but Ahelia has said, we'll, we'll look after it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:20

And, um, so now I'm, I'm on day 21 of a 32 day devotional and it's almost

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:27

written and it'll be released in May.

Todd Miller: 00:38:29

Wow.

Todd Miller: 00:38:29

That's an awesome story as well.

Todd Miller: 00:38:33

Fantastic.

Todd Miller: 00:38:34

Well, so, so you've written the book and as you mentioned, it just got published

Todd Miller: 00:38:38

and, uh, and folks scores can buy it.

Todd Miller: 00:38:40

I've, I've got my copy, I think, on, on its way to me right now.

Todd Miller: 00:38:44

Um, the book is called, I was blinded.

Todd Miller: 00:38:47

Um, what do you hope to the impact of that book is, uh, who,

Todd Miller: 00:38:52

who would you like to read it?

Todd Miller: 00:38:54

Um, what, what do you hope it, what do you hope it accomplishes?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:38:57

It's, it's, it's been really fun, um, seeing where.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:01

Where it's, it's, it's winding up.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:03

Um, I, I do internet searches before I go to bed at night and, uh, and I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:08

looked a couple of days ago and it was in Australia and it was in Singapore.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:12

And, uh, it's not about money, uh, you know, like I said, it's, it was

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:16

a, it's a love offering, but I, I want, if I can help one person to

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:24

find Jesus, that's what I want to do.

Todd Miller: 00:39:26

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:39:28

So, so your goal with it really is to help people find Jesus, not so much to

Todd Miller: 00:39:32

help them out of, out of, uh, gambling or, or whatever it is that is consuming.

Todd Miller: 00:39:37

I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:38

think, honestly, I think my, my book can help.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:41

People with any life controlling behavior.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:43

Okay.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:43

It doesn't have to be gambling I mean my experiences that I write

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:46

in the book are gambling because that's all I knew for I did it for

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:50

33 years That's that's that's a lot.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:53

You know, that's some of these young kids They're not even 33 yet that

Kevin Krestinski: 00:39:57

that was a long time for me to do that And I like I said, I did it a plus.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:01

I mean I gave it I gave it full bore.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:04

So But, but I think it can help whether, whether it's drink or drugs

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:10

or, or sex or shopping or anything that takes your eyes off the Lord.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:16

Um is a life controlling behavior and and and many people don't know

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:20

the lord But what i'm trying to share on this is that he's worth it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:24

He's alive.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:25

Like we're gonna celebrate easter He's alive.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:29

Amen.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:40:29

He changed my life.

Todd Miller: 00:40:31

Amen.

Todd Miller: 00:40:33

Good stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:40:34

Kevin.

Todd Miller: 00:40:35

Um Wow, that is quite the personal story to tell and very emotional

Todd Miller: 00:40:40

for everyone listening to it.

Todd Miller: 00:40:42

That's for sure.

Todd Miller: 00:40:43

Um, you know, we've covered a lot here.

Todd Miller: 00:40:46

Uh, is there anything, um, that we haven't covered yet, uh, that you'd like to share?

Todd Miller: 00:40:52

You know, maybe what's your favorite skin moisturizer is or something.

Todd Miller: 00:40:55

I don't know.

Todd Miller: 00:40:56

Is there anything you'd like to share here that you haven't built a cover yet?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:01

You know, it's funny you say that because probably

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:03

20, 25 years ago, when I was younger, I used to get involved in some of

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:07

the skin creams and stuff like that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:09

I mean, I've never really worked hard labor, so I've been blessed

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:12

with, uh, with good skin, but I, um.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:15

It's funny you mentioned that, but one thing that I love to do, this is

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:19

just totally off topic, is I love to travel and, uh, and, and probably since

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:25

we've been married, I've gone to the Mayan with my wife, uh, 8 or 9 times,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:31

we usually go, we fly into Cancun and then we're either in Acomel or, um,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:36

Or close to, to Cancun, Moon Palace.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:39

It was, it was, uh, my parents are members of Palace.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:42

Um, one thing I love there though, they, they always bring the guacamole

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:47

and chips, and it's constant.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:50

And my wife absolutely Loves it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:53

And, uh, and I got to be quite a fan.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:55

They make really good guac there.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:41:57

And, uh, but, but that's, that's more of, um, and then we recently, we just, uh, two

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:03

months ago, my mom and dad are celebrating 60 years of marriage this year.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:08

And so dad said, why don't you come down to Punta Cana?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:11

And I'd never been to Dominican.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:13

So, so we went, uh, in January and Lisa was able to get some time off

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:17

and, uh, We spent a week at the hard rock and it was, we had to slum it

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:20

for, it was, it was absolutely gorgeous resort and, um, and it was a good time.

Todd Miller: 00:42:26

Good for you.

Todd Miller: 00:42:26

Good for

Kevin Krestinski: 00:42:27

you.

Todd Miller: 00:42:27

Well, thank you again.

Todd Miller: 00:42:29

So, uh, my goodness, I never know on these conversations

Todd Miller: 00:42:34

how to even, to wrap them up.

Todd Miller: 00:42:36

Because I'm so humbled, uh, that you'd be willing to come

Todd Miller: 00:42:39

on the show and, and share this.

Todd Miller: 00:42:41

And I realize you're doing it because you want to lead people to Christ.

Todd Miller: 00:42:45

And, uh, so we're gonna, we're gonna pray that that happens here.

Todd Miller: 00:42:49

That's for sure.

Todd Miller: 00:42:50

Um, now one of the things that we do do on this show, um, and, and

Todd Miller: 00:42:55

sometimes it seems a little weird to lead into it, but, uh, we do

Todd Miller: 00:42:58

something we call rapid fire questions.

Todd Miller: 00:43:01

And we tend to have a little bit of fun with these.

Todd Miller: 00:43:04

Um, these are seven questions that we would ask you.

Todd Miller: 00:43:07

That all you have to do is give your immediate answer to, or you

Todd Miller: 00:43:10

can give a long answer or a short answer, whatever you want, Kevin.

Todd Miller: 00:43:14

Um, but are you up to the challenge of rapid fire?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:17

Sure.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:18

Now, are these things that, that, um, the first thing that comes to mind, or

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:22

do I have a moment to think about it?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:23

You got us,

Todd Miller: 00:43:24

you got as long as you want.

Todd Miller: 00:43:26

Our, our last guest, it was very interesting.

Todd Miller: 00:43:28

He is a very analytical type and, uh, he took a while to answer the questions.

Todd Miller: 00:43:33

He'd look around the room and he'd think.

Todd Miller: 00:43:37

But you'll see my,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:38

my eyebrows going up.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:39

Yeah.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:43:39

I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure, uh, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Todd Miller: 00:43:43

Cool.

Todd Miller: 00:43:43

Well, we will alternate asking you questions.

Todd Miller: 00:43:46

Ryan, would you like to ask the first

Ryan Bell: 00:43:47

one?

Ryan Bell: 00:43:48

I would love to question number one.

Ryan Bell: 00:43:51

What is a product or service, um, that you've bought recently or something

Ryan Bell: 00:43:56

that you may have used recently?

Ryan Bell: 00:43:57

That was.

Ryan Bell: 00:43:58

Really kind of splendiferous, something that was a real game changer for

Ryan Bell: 00:44:02

you and made you think like, wow, where have you been my whole life?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:06

You know, you know, something I've gotten into

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:08

in the last, um, when I was a kid, I collected hockey cards and.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:14

Like most kids, we never took care of them.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:16

We smashed them against the wall.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:17

We played play, you know, flick them against the wall and then whoever

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:21

had the card land against the wall, um, uh, would would win the pile.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:28

And I put them in my bicycle spokes.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:30

Sure.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:31

You could hear the little flap going and that type of thing.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:34

Um, but the hobby is alive and.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:38

I got involved after COVID and when I was, you know, starting, I mean, 2020,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:44

I had just been released from jail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:45

So it was, it was, you know, there's a bit of growing pains

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:49

to get back to normal again.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:51

I wasn't, I never got institutionalized.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:53

So I, I, I was okay.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:55

You know, some guys will be in and they're in so long, they start staring

Kevin Krestinski: 00:44:58

at the ceilings and the walls and they, they, it's, it's a real thing that

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:02

happens to them, but I wasn't there long enough for that to happen, praise God.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:06

Um, but, uh, Anyways, probably 2021.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:10

I think it was, I think I've been with the, we call it breaking and we, we

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:15

open boxes of cards and packs of cards.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:18

And now it's very different.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:20

You put every card in a penny sleeve, then that penny sleeve goes into a top loader.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:25

And then that top loader, if it, if the card's nice enough,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:28

you put it into a one touch.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:29

I mean, and you barely touch it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:32

Like it's, it's gotta be mint.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:35

So I, um, I'm not sure.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:37

I've been buying, you know, you're talking about Splendiferous.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:40

I've been buying, um, some boxes of cards and opening those on my own.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:44

And I also go on the internet with one guy.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:47

I was, I was a little, you know, wondering if I don't want it, I

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:51

don't want it to be gambling, right?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:53

So, um, but as long as I'm buying a team, I don't know what my team will be.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:45:59

So there's 31 spots.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:01

They may, they may charge 50 bucks, let's say.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:05

And per spot and, and maybe they have multiple boxes.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:08

So they'll have six, seven boxes of cards and, uh, And

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:13

then they randomly do the team.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:15

So I may get the Montreal Canadiens one night.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:17

I may get the St.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:18

Louis Blues.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:18

I may get whatever.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:19

I don't know what team.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:20

But I'm going home with cards.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:22

So, uh, so that happened.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:25

And they're called breakers, these people that do this.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:28

And I got, I got a number one rookie card from 2020.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:33

Very good condition.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:34

I didn't get a perfect score on it, um, of Kirill Kaprizov.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:38

Uh, and it was numbered to 25.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:40

So there's only 25 of those in the world.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:42

And I, I got, I got one of them.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:43

So, I mean, talk about excitement and you watch it online and, uh, and he

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:48

opened the pack and he, his excitement alone, um, of opening it and then.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:53

The excitement I had because I knew it was, you know, within three

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:55

weeks, I'd have it at my house.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:46:57

So I had it and I, I graded it and I didn't get the 10 out of 10 that I wanted.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:03

But, uh, it was, uh, it was classified as mint, um, which is, which is good.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:08

It's just the 10 would have been thousands of dollars and nine out of 10 is,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:14

you know, maybe a couple of thousand.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:16

Very neat.

Todd Miller: 00:47:19

Second question.

Todd Miller: 00:47:20

Um, what is a funny childhood memory?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:24

Well, my, my dad.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:26

My dad will tell this story, but I'll share it with you guys.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:29

Um, when I was maybe four or five, we went to, it was like a state fair.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:38

Um, but it was, it was in either Saskatchewan, it was probably in

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:41

Manitoba because if I was four, I was in Brandon at the time.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:46

And, um, there's quite a few people there.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:49

And, uh, and I just stood up.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:51

It was, it was a moment of silence.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:52

And I started, instead of singing O Canada, I sang O Canadaog.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:47:57

And I sang it at full volume and, uh, it was, um, and everybody heard because it

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:05

was quiet, like, I don't know if we were at a, a rally or at a speaking engagement

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:10

or whatever, but it was, um, It was, it was embarrassing probably for my parents.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:14

I didn't really realize I was doing it.

Todd Miller: 00:48:19

Oh, that's a good one.

Todd Miller: 00:48:20

That's a good one.

Todd Miller: 00:48:21

Well, I'm not sure what happened here, but we seem to have lost Ryan's feed.

Todd Miller: 00:48:25

So I am going to continue with question number three, rather than alternate.

Todd Miller: 00:48:29

Uh, what is your favorite sushi roll?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:33

I love Unagi.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:35

Unagi, okay.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:35

Unagi is eel and it is absolutely delicious.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:39

Yeah, absolutely delicious.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:40

I, um, I went to Japan in 1989 on a singing tour of all things.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:45

Um, there's a group called, or an organization called Continentals.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:49

And, uh, it was a Christian group and this was at the beginning of my gambling.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:53

So I had only been gambling about two years and I auditioned for

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:56

it and they said, come on down.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:48:58

So I went to Santa Barbara, I did some training and we flew to Japan

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:02

and Korea and I sang, we did 40 concerts in 30, sorry, that's wrong.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:08

We did 80 concerts in 70 days.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:10

So it was a summer.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:11

And, um, and I, uh, I had sushi for the first time in Japan.

Todd Miller: 00:49:15

Wow.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:16

It's very different though, than American or Canadian.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:20

I prefer it here better.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:22

And so, um, I, I love unagi.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:25

Very

Todd Miller: 00:49:26

good.

Todd Miller: 00:49:27

It's funny.

Todd Miller: 00:49:27

Whenever we would take my son to a Japanese restaurant, this was

Todd Miller: 00:49:30

when he was just a little guy.

Todd Miller: 00:49:31

He would always.

Todd Miller: 00:49:32

order unagi don, which is eel on rice and so forth.

Todd Miller: 00:49:36

And this little kid sitting there eating eel here in the States probably

Todd Miller: 00:49:39

caught a few eyes, but anyway.

Todd Miller: 00:49:42

So delicious.

Todd Miller: 00:49:43

It is.

Todd Miller: 00:49:43

So next question.

Todd Miller: 00:49:45

Um, if you could spend a day with someone from history, who would

Todd Miller: 00:49:48

you choose to spend a day with?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:50

It would be Jesus, of course.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:51

Yeah,

Todd Miller: 00:49:52

that's number one.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:53

Makes

Todd Miller: 00:49:53

sense.

Todd Miller: 00:49:55

Makes sense.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:49:56

That's short and sweet.

Todd Miller: 00:49:58

Next question.

Todd Miller: 00:49:59

Um, what would you like to be remembered for at the end of your days?

Todd Miller: 00:50:03

I think that's very appropriate after having a, a talk like

Todd Miller: 00:50:07

this on reflection and things,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:10

you know, I always, I always thought that, I mean, there were,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:14

it's in the book, but there were two times that I thought of taking my own life.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:18

Um, When I was, when I was writing, when, when I was going through what I did, and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:22

I wrote that, um, I'm too much of a wimp to hurt myself, so, uh, that, that never

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:28

happened, but I always thought, you know, am I going to, like, I, I wondered, am

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:32

I going to have a heart attack while, while in the casino, you know, and then

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:36

they would find me there, and then that would be my legacy, you know, and so,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:40

um, I always, I always thought I would be remembered as a gambler, but, but

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:45

now, um, and that's not for good reasons.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:49

And now my story is out there and I'm, you know, I have, I have a

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:55

book that points to Jesus and, and.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:50:58

It's now worth it, right?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:00

All the things that I went through, like God, God can make

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:04

something beautiful out of ashes.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:05

And I was at my, my second book is called Recovery After

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:09

Destruction, which is a devotional.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:12

And it absolutely is that it's a destroyed, apocalyptic looking situation.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:20

That the Holy Spirit comes down and says, okay, now I'm going

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:22

to make something beautiful.

Todd Miller: 00:51:23

Yeah,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:24

beauty out of anxious.

Todd Miller: 00:51:26

Powerful stuff, Kevin.

Todd Miller: 00:51:29

Okay, I will ask the next question.

Todd Miller: 00:51:31

Um, Oh, this is a fun one.

Todd Miller: 00:51:34

We ask a lot.

Todd Miller: 00:51:35

If you were forced to eat a crayon, what color of crayon would you choose to eat?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:42

First one came to mind was orange.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:44

Yeah, I like that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:46

In terms of, in terms of Gatorade, I, I actually don't like this one very

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:49

much, and the blue is okay, but my favorites are the red and the orange,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:51:53

and I, I would choose an orange crayon.

Todd Miller: 00:51:55

There you go.

Todd Miller: 00:51:56

Okay, your last rapid fire question, Kevin, um, who was your

Todd Miller: 00:52:02

favorite teacher in school, and what do you remember them for?

Todd Miller: 00:52:06

This might be a little tough with all those schools you went to, um, but,

Todd Miller: 00:52:10

uh, who was your favorite teacher, and what do you really remember about them?

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:13

Well, I had, I had two, um, my, my earliest memories of

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:18

a really good teacher was, was Mrs.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:20

Dags, uh, at, uh, at Thorn Lodge in Mississauga.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:25

I was, uh, I was grade four, so I would have been nine years old.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:29

She was just so great.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:30

She was just, um, uh, I remember her really loving us and, and just wanting

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:35

to, not a Christian school, but just, just loving us and, and, and enjoying

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:39

children and wanting the best for us.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:42

And then I went to a Christian high school in Richmond, British Columbia.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:49

Um, it was called Seacliff.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:51

I don't know if it's still operating today.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:52

It might still be, um, her name was Elaine Bargan.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:52:56

And she, um, she is now, she passed away, but I think it was cancer

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:01

that took her, but she was, she was a great teacher, grade nine.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:04

So I would have been 14.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:06

Wow.

Todd Miller: 00:53:07

It's amazing the impact that those can have on us.

Todd Miller: 00:53:09

That's for sure.

Todd Miller: 00:53:10

And my wife's

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:11

a high school teacher.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:12

And, uh, and I, I hear the stories, you know, she does, she does business.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:17

She does grade, grade, uh, 9, and, uh, mostly grade 11 and 12 accounting.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:24

And business leadership and that type of thing.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:26

And, uh, and she's great at it.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:28

And her kids tell, you know, send her little notes at the end of the year and

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:32

say what an impact she's had on them.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:35

She shapes minds for sure.

Todd Miller: 00:53:38

Awesome stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:53:39

Well, and you are with this.

Todd Miller: 00:53:41

Book also in shaping minds and impacting hearts and souls and for eternity.

Todd Miller: 00:53:46

Good stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:53:47

Um, so Kevin, um, thank you again for joining us for folks who want

Todd Miller: 00:53:50

to get in touch with you, folks want you to want to buy the book.

Todd Miller: 00:53:54

Um, give us, give us some advice on how to do that.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:58

Sure.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:53:58

The best way to get in touch with me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:00

Um, I have an email, which is, I was blinded book, all one word at gmail.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:06

com.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:07

And, uh, and my website is I was blinded.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:10

com.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:11

You don't even have to put the www, it's just, I was blinded.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:14

com and, uh, it goes right to my page and you're able to, we have eBooks,

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:19

we have, uh, paperback and soft cover and an audio book is coming.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:23

I don't think it's going to be my voice.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:54:25

It's probably an actor, but it's coming down the line and people can listen to it.

Todd Miller: 00:54:31

Awesome.

Todd Miller: 00:54:32

Good stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:54:33

Well, and we will put that in the show notes as well.

Todd Miller: 00:54:36

Uh, so I want to congratulate all three of us.

Todd Miller: 00:54:38

We were able to work in our challenge words.

Todd Miller: 00:54:41

I'm not sure if the listeners picked up on it, but Kevin, your word was.

Todd Miller: 00:54:45

Guacamole . Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:54:47

You told a great story to work that in.

Todd Miller: 00:54:50

Um, you know, I kind of cheated, so my word was moisturizing.

Todd Miller: 00:54:54

I think I used moisturizer.

Todd Miller: 00:54:56

So it's close though.

Todd Miller: 00:54:58

And, uh, Ryan, it's a derivative.

Todd Miller: 00:54:59

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:55:00

Ryan had the word splendiferous, which, uh, he worked at extremely well also.

Todd Miller: 00:55:05

So, uh, good stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:55:07

So thank you again so much for joining us, Kevin.

Todd Miller: 00:55:10

This has been a pleasure.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:55:11

I appreciate you, Todd, and, and, and Ryan and, uh.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:55:14

My main focus today was to let God speak through me.

Kevin Krestinski: 00:55:19

Awesome.

Todd Miller: 00:55:19

Good stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:55:20

Thank you so much to our audience for tuning into this episode of

Todd Miller: 00:55:23

Construction Disruption with Kevin Krestinski, author of I Was Blinded.

Todd Miller: 00:55:30

Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.

Todd Miller: 00:55:32

We're always blessed with great content.

Todd Miller: 00:55:33

Great guests.

Todd Miller: 00:55:34

Don't forget to leave a review.

Todd Miller: 00:55:36

Um, but until the next time we're together, keep on challenging, keep on

Todd Miller: 00:55:39

looking for better ways to do things.

Todd Miller: 00:55:42

Um, and keep on seeking Christ in your life as well.

Todd Miller: 00:55:45

And don't forget a long way, have a positive impact on

Todd Miller: 00:55:48

those that you encounter, um, bless them in any way you can.

Todd Miller: 00:55:52

Uh, so, uh, God bless and take care.

Todd Miller: 00:55:55

This is Isaiah industry signing off until the next episode

Todd Miller: 00:55:58

of construction disruption.

Intro: 00:56:02

This podcast is produced by Isaiah Industries, manufacturer of specialty

Intro: 00:56:07

metal roofing and other building products.