Such is the result of a smear campaign. The brutal lies of those who have a self determined case for revenge. The best way to hurt someone who has refused to bow to a demand is to convince others that refusal was born of a deeply ingrained character flaw. It took only gathering a circle of three to spread the cancer of gossip throughout the world I once thought loved me. The people I cared so deeply about were now having meetings about me without my presence.

Why? Because God does not have a mind to tolerate bullies, especially bullies who attack those who are less powerful than them. That was no consolation to her, though. She managed to gather herself only to have the tears return. I stayed silent. Sometimes the ministry of presence is the most loving.

“I swear to you it was all lies. I did not do what they said. I swear I didn’t.” The words came out as if squeezed out of a balloon held by a clown. The sound grated on her own ears, so she bit her lip. I could see the tears falling on the backs of her hands. I understood completely. I said nothing. Rather, I got up and entered her pain.

That little unconventional community changed a life, it made it not only better, but through belonging, sweet. How? They went and found him in the midst of the mess he had made—and that was no easy task. It was hard. It took sacrifice. It was downright painful at times. It forced the upbraiding of long avoided memories in the community. The pain of the wounded was simply too familiar. In Marvel Movie style, during a major, earth altering crisis, the entire group surrou