Courage to Return

What happens when the weight of tragedy crashes down on a man's hidden weaknesses? This is exactly what happened when Jack Merreau was confronted with an unbearable weight, the diagnosis of his wife's illness. His world collapsed into an emotional freefall. He struggled with his options eventually following the easiest course-to run. In his journal he wrote of the vortex of pain that sucked him inexorably into his despicable decision. Burdened with guilt, Jack's self-exile in a foreign land primed him for a new power and a new vision. Facing imminent death in the deep waters off Brazil's coast, he found courage he'd never experienced before. It came from beyond himself, a power he had disregarded, even ridiculed. His life changed forever, he was faced with many questions: how could he make amends for past failures, and where did his future lie? His answer came from a blind priest. He began rebuilding his life by serving the poor in the Brazilian favela, the ghetto of Santo AntAnio. But why was he detained in this land of the forgotten? He wrestled with God, the priest and the demands of his new mission to return to his wife Claire. Why stay in such a dismal place while his beloved languished in Texas? Thrust into a world totally strange to him, he followed an arduous path that demanded he learn to love the impoverished, those whom he had avoided his entire life. His journey of faith propelled him into a life of service that challenged his biases and taught him of life's higher purpose of love. Thrown into bizarre intrigue and the tragedy of the fall of a morally defunct priest, he took dangerous actions to save his blind friend. All while his beloved waited in Texas. Would she grant him forgiveness? Would she listen? Would she care? And more importantly, would he find the Courage to Return?"