A Ronin's Journey: Chapter 8

February 2014

It wasn’t a good month. It started going downhill in reminding me of how fragile life is and how unexpectedly it is lost. I had been dabbling in Stoic philosophy as a coping/preparation mechanism for all the bad that seems to come my way.

Stoics are not usually affected as much by negative emotions. I, on the other hand, was cut to the bone at the time. It started with a missing person, a birthday, and a lesson on leadership.

My wife and I attend an inclusive church. The motto is “Every Soul Matters To God,” and it has a good-sized Deaf congregation. The pastor over the Deaf church has helped us through a lot, meeting with us often. During the general counseling sessions, she usually encourages us towards a ministry. This time we said yes and took over a dormant ministry that picks up paper and coffee cups between services. It keeps the church presentable and makes the guests comfortable and hopefully returning. We didn’t expect what was going to happen hours later.

The pastor’s husband …