January 1995, Steve Backman, was in a head on collision with Chris Loukas. Steve, the drunk driver that caused the accident was taken to jail and charged with D.U.I. Chris, was taken to the hospital. Both of his legs were crushed, his right knee was destroyed, his right hip was fractured and displaced and his left femur was smashed. His chest was crushed, ribs broken and lungs collapsed. His pancreas and liver were lacerated; his stomach and heart were damaged; and his pelvis was ruptured. The doctors told Dian that people with this many injuries usually do not live.

Six very long weeks later Chris finally awakened from his coma and Steve against the wishes of his attorney and family went to the hospital to visit Chris. When he walked into Chris' hospital room. Chris was lying in a roto-trauma bed (a bed in constant motion), hooked up to machines, in traction with IV tubes coming and going everywhere. He asked Steve to come over to the side of his bed and give him a hug. Steve began crying uncontrollably. Steve leaned over and hugged Chris. After several minutes of hugging. Chris told Steve, "Look at me. I am healing. I will get up and walk away from this and what you don't know is that I have already forgiven you." He also told Steve that he loved him.

Steve remembers, "At that very instant of him telling me that he loved me and forgave me I felt so light. It was like I just floated off the ground. I can't describe it, I had never felt like that in my whole life. If you put all the highs I had on drugs and alcohol together, it would not match this feeling."

This selfless act on Chris' part turned around the life of Steve Backman. A 39 year old man who had been drinking and taking drugs since his early high school years. At the time of the accident Steve was living a life of cyclical drinking. He would go to work then return home to sit in his house with the curtains drawn and drink until he passed out. The next morning he would wake up and start the cycle over. His weekends were a blur of drunkenness. He was filled with despair and he was suicidal. His only wish was to die and end the misery.

This is the short-short version of the story. Enough to give you a glimpse of the incredible act of forgiveness between these two men. We say between them because it requires the giving of forgiveness and the acceptance of that forgiveness to create the true miracle of forgiveness. The profound affect of Chris' expression of love and forgiveness is that today, nearly 10 years later, Steve Backman, is living in Hawaii, on the Big Island. He is happily leading a clean and sober life, with his wife JoAnne. Steve met JoAnne at Chris and Dian’s store, The Crystal People in 1996. They were married a year later in a ceremony performed by Chris and Dian, ministers of the Universal Church of the Master.

Chris and Steve and their families remain very much a part of each other’s lives. Chris and Steve have presented their story at the Whole Life Expo in both San Francisco and Pasadena and at other public venues in the hope that telling their story will help others find the miracle of forgiveness and enrich their own lives.

More recently, Steve and Chris were among a group of heroes honored during Hawaii’s second annual observation of International Forgiveness Day. The award, presented by the Hawaii Forgiveness Project on August 1, 2004, was accepted by Steve. And once again, Steve was given an opportunity to tell the story of "The Incident".

January 28, 2005 marked the ten year anniversary of "The Incident." A gathering was held at The Crystal People shop in Sebastopol to celebrate the occasion. This was a great and fun celebration which provided another opportunity for Chris and Steve to share their story and for friends, family and acquaintances to share their experiences of the Incident.

This angel has been our logo since 1988. We were on the road full time selling crystals at shows when our daughter, Melody who was 9 years old, drew the angel coming down onto the crystal. We have used it as our logo ever since. Melody, who is now over 25, keeps begging us to let her draw another one for us, but this one means too much to us to let her draw a different one.

Before Chris and Dian became The Crystal People, they lived in Huntington Beach. One day while Dian was giving an acupressure treatment to a client, their Spiritual Mentor, Loraie, called to say that she had a vision of them selling crystals at the Psynetics Christmas Bazaar in Anaheim, California.  Neither Chris nor Dian had ever sold anything in their lives.  They had given hundreds of crystals away for gifts and to clients, but had never sold any.  They had just bought a box of crystals from a client who was a wholesaler that was moving away.  This was the first wholesale purchase they had ever made.  These crystals were for Christmas presents.  Loraie said that she saw them with a box of crystals and these crystals were not for gifts, but were to be sold.  Dian was shocked because one of these crystals was for Loraie. 

Dian called Chris at work to discuss this with him.  Chris was a corporate vice-president and never imagined selling crystals.  He said, “When Loraie speaks, we listen.”  Dian then called Psynetics and it took her nearly a half an hour to reach them.  When she finally reached them, the woman who answered the phone said, “I have been on the phone with a woman who had an emergency and has to cancel her booth”.  Psynetics had been sold out for months and told the woman that unless they could resell the booth, they could not refund the fee.  Dian called just in time to save the day, so they got the booth.  Chris then went on his lunch hour to get a California Sellers Permit.

This was on a Wednesday and the Christmas Bazaar was on Saturday.  Synchronistically, someone put a flyer on their porch advertising wholesale crystals.  Dian drove to Los Angeles and bought more crystals.  They bought three tables and covers and practiced setting up in their driveway.

Chris and Dian went to the Christmas Bazaar and found that it was so natural for them to teach about crystals.  They sold out that weekend and another vendor came over to them and said, “I learned so much about selling crystals from you.  I can tell that you have been doing it for years and years.”  They laughed and said, “This is our first time ever selling anything.”  They had such a good time.

Later when Chris and Dian were doing more shows, Loraie made them some flyers.  She named them “The Crystal People” because that is how people referred to them..  They hadn’t even tried to think of a name, so they trusted that Loraie had come up with the perfect name.  They have used that name ever since that time. 

Chris and Dian had discussed acquiring a lot of inventory over the next five-year period and at that time, Chris would quit his job. In just a few months time, Chris got called into his job and was told by the boss that he either had to give up the crystals or lose his job.  Chris called Dian and said, “I am coming home mama.”  This was the signal that it was time to quit.  They booked a whole series of shows from New York to Florida and back to California.  They then went out and bought a motor home and prepared to go on the road.  They subscribed to a home school program so that they could take their daughters on the road with them.  Chris and Dian and their family began a whole new way of life from that time on as The Crystal People.

After two and a half years of traveling and working shows, Chris and Dian decided to find a place to settle where there was a Waldorf School for their children’s education.  They booked two weekends of shows in Northern California.  They went to Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa to interview with the perspective teachers and get on a waiting list.  They were told that it was impossible to enroll the children now.  After their interview, they set up an additional interview between the teachers and their daughters.  Chris went to San Francisco to set up for the Whole Life Expo and Dian took the girls to their interview.  Much to their surprise, the girls were both accepted and were immediately enrolled.  School was to start on Monday. 

When Dian and the girls got to the show to see Chris, he asked how everything went.  He was pretty surprised to find out that they not only were accepted, but school was to start on Monday.  They worked the show, finished tearing down Sunday night, and drove to Santa Rosa for the first day of school.  Of course, they still lived in Huntington Beach, so they had to find a place to park their motor home.  Chris and Dian would take turns driving back and forth to Huntington Beach to have garage sales and pack up the house.  Whoever made the trip, would rent a trailer and bring back things for storage.  They then put their house on the market.

Chris and Dian and their daughters lived for two years in their motor home in a campground in Guerneville. They took care of Dian’s father and began to manifest their place of business.  They bought their home in Cazadero and rented a 268 square foot shop in Sebastopol.  They knew that they would not be able to have classes or do healing work, but it was a start.  The building was being remodeled so Chris and Dian were told that it would be ready to move in by August 1994.  The building never got ready and Loraie, their Spiritual Teacher,  kept telling them it was because they were not supposed to be there.  They ended up renting the building they are presently in for 30 days through the Christmas holidays. 

Finally, a wholesaler that was a friend called to say that he wanted to close his retail shop and give Chris and Dian a barn full of merchandise on consignment.  Dian had been working on a way to increase their inventory without money, so this was perfect.  The only problem was that they couldn’t take all of the new merchandise and still be located in the small 268 square foot shop.  They knew this was a “sign” that they were supposed to stay in the location that they were in temporarily.  Chris had negotiated with the landlord of the small shop that they would get one day of free rent for every day past September 1st.  This was now the following March so they owed Chris and Dian over $5,000 in free rent.  They talked it over with the landlord of their present building and worked it out that they would rent this building on a permanent basis if they could get out of their lease on the small shop.  The landlord was more than happy to let Chris and Dian out of their lease since he owed them so much free rent.  They got their deposit back and gave it to the new landlord in their present location. 

Chris and Dian did not remember until they unpacked that they had been running a Master Mind group in Huntington Beach and their intention was that they manifest a Spiritual Center.  They have been here ever since.  As of December 8, 2004 The Crystal People have been in this same location for 11 years.