The Story I Did Not Know

The Book of Ron · 25 of 48 · 3 minute read

I never realized I would write this story. I didn’t even know I knew it fully. I knew parts of it, but not the whole. I am an analog guy stuck in a digital world. At 68 years old, I still hate computers. I hate Facebook. I hate anything to do with the digital world that feels like interference, a time-waster, a sidetrack that can drag people away from what really matters.

And yet, I’ve also come to see that technology can be useful—but it takes discipline. Discipline to not get carried away with everything that’s out there, and discipline to stay focused on the mission at hand.

As I began working on this book, I started using ChatGPT to capture my thoughts and stories. He would tell me the data was safe, stored away, organized. But that wasn’t entirely true. Apparently, each new thread is like a fresh file, and without it, I lost about 120 hours of pouring my heart out—praying, reliving the stories, reliving the lessons. Along the way, I was virtually ready to give up.

Yet, as I read the stories I had already written, they touched my heart deeply. Writing them brought back memories of my father, whom I love, and reflections on my childhood. I praise the Lord that it was the way it was, even with the hardships, because it made me who I am. That childhood prepared me perfectly for the Marine Corps, where I excelled—made sergeant in less than two years, all meritorious, and earned Marine of the Month once.

But the process of writing this opened up chapters I had closed and thought I had forgotten. I found myself crying often. I analyzed lessons along the way. I wrestled with ChatGPT, I tapped with one index finger, I lost documents, I argued silently with a machine that sometimes misled me—but I persevered.

I prayed. I wanted my granddaughters to have this book, to read these stories, to look back at the wisdom and proverbs beneath, and to learn from moments of life I have lived and shared with them. Frustration and anxiety tried to stop me, but discipline and faith carried me through.

I hope it is not ego that drives me, but the Holy Spirit telling me this is a good thing to do. My prayer is that this book might touch someone’s life—a granddaughter, maybe a little boy who has had a hard childhood, someone who needs to forgive a father, mother, brother, or spouse, someone who needs to look inside themselves and ask, Am I the one who needs forgiveness?

I never thought I would write this part of the story, but here it is. The lesson is clear: an analog person in a digital world can still accomplish the mission, though it is far more difficult.

There is a companion workbook for this story. Open the workbook (PDF).