When you know miracles are happening, you have a choice to either feel good you know and walk away, or want others to feel good too and spread it out! Mark Wahlberg did that when he heard about one story he could not walk away from because he knew others needed to hear it~
'Not your typical faith-based film': Wahlberg says 'Father Stu' is honest, truthful and not watered down
MSNBC
Mark Wahlberg Spent ‘Millions and Millions’ of His Own Money to Fund New Film: ‘Betting on Myself’
Varity
Zack Sharf
April 13, 2022
Mark Wahlberg’s new movie “Father Stu” tells the true story of Stuart Long, an amateur boxer who becomes a Catholic priest while suffering from inclusion body myositis. The film is way more than just an acting gig for Wahlberg, who recently told Insider that he spent “millions and millions of dollars” of his own money to partially self-fund “Father Stu” when no other financial backer would take on the project. Wahlberg said he was partly inspired to do so by his co-star Mel Gibson, who spent around $30 million of his own money to help finance “The Passion of the Christ.”
“Well, I’m always willing to bet on myself,” Wahlberg said about partly self-funding “Father Stu.” “I slipped the script to a couple of people that I thought maybe would get it, and they didn’t. And obviously, it’s subjective. You have your own feeling of what the material is. Some people thought it was depressing because he’s sick at the end. They didn’t see the heart and the emotion and, ultimately, how inspiring it is.”
read more here
I believe in the power of prayer. With the understanding that God will not interfere with the freewill of anyone, He does try to get through to people. With that in mind, I've been praying that God watch over the people of Ukraine, as well as get through to the Russian soldiers. They need to see the difference between defending their country and the slaughter of people who were no threat to them or their country. I have no doubt that God has in fact opened their eyes to see the truth and know what they are becoming.
Keep in mind that God knows the hearts and minds of all of His Creation. He knows who are being deceived and those who are doing the deceiving. When you read some of what has been happening, it is easy to accept that God is as busy as He can be there and getting through to those who will listen to Him. That is how miracles work!
As hellish as it is for the people of Ukraine, miracles are happening there to protect them. It would be great if there were more of them but when you consider what else has been happening, with Russian soldiers sabotaging their own equipment and shooting down their own aircraft, joining the Ukrainians fighting against other Russian soldiers and Russia leaving Chernobyl before they cause even more damage to it, there is something miraculous going on!
Russian troops sabotaging their own equipment and refusing orders in Ukraine, UK spy chief says CNBC
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers — short of weapons and morale — refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.” Jeremy Fleming
Newly declassified U.S. intelligence revealed on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin feels he has been misled by Russia’s military leaders, who kept crucial details about the invasion from him over fear of angering him.
Russian officials said this week that they would scale back their military activity in and around the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv — an announcement that has been met with skepticism in the West.
Former Russian Soldiers Join Ukraine Against Putin's Invasion, Kyiv Says Newsweek
Ukraine has said some former Russian soldiers have switched sides and have now joined Kyiv's forces fighting against Vladimir Putin's invasion.
The Ukrainian defense ministry said on its Telegram channel on Wednesday that commanders of the "Freedom of Russia" legion were visiting detained former Russian military personnel "in order to select those who wish to serve."
In a follow up post, it said that the "first volunteers," comprising ex-Russian troops, "have already begun individual additional training."
Unprotected Russian soldiers disturbed radioactive dust in Chernobyl's 'Red Forest', workers say Reuters
LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Russian soldiers who seized the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster drove their armoured vehicles without radiation protection through a highly toxic zone called the "Red Forest", kicking up clouds of radioactive dust, workers at the site said.
The two sources said soldiers in the convoy did not use any anti-radiation gear. The second Chernobyl employee said that was "suicidal" for the soldiers because the radioactive dust they inhaled was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.
Russian soldier allegedly surrenders tank for $10K, Ukrainian citizenship NY Post
A Russian soldier allegedly surrendered his tank to Ukraine, claiming his military bosses’ war campaign was too “chaotic” and that he’d rather take up the Ukrainians’ offer for resettlement than continue fighting.
The soldier will eventually receive $10,000, a comfortable place to live and a chance to apply for citizenship, a Ukrainian official said.
Russian soldiers release Ukraine town’s mayor and agree to leave after protests The Guardian
A mayor in a Ukrainian town occupied by Russian forces has been released from captivity and the soldiers have agreed to leave after a mass protest by residents.
Slavutych, a northern town close to the Chernobyl nuclear site, was taken by Russian forces but stun grenades and overhead fire failed to disperse unarmed protesters on its main square on Saturday.
I've been having a really hard time lately. People come into my life, claiming to want to help me, but they decide to walk away. Sure it hurts, but what hurts more, is the fact they didn't even bother to say why they decided I wasn't worth their help.
I am a person of faith and have seen many miracles in my life. I wanted to share miracles in The Lost Son series to give people hope their lives could change for the better above anything other message in the books.
I pray for what I need and sometimes, God can just grant it. Like when I ask for Him to mend my broken heart, restore my confidence or ease my loneliness. Other times, He needs someone else to answer what I pray for.
Sure enough, someone calls me or emails me. They give me hope that finally, after all this time, someone is willing to help me. They fill me with hope but after a few days, I know they decided to just walk away and leave me as I was.
There was a rich guy who promised me for a couple of years he would donate when I had a non-profit. He never did. I never got an answer as to why he did not honor his word.
A Mom of a veteran, who credited me with saving the life of her son, offered to help over time, but when I asked for help, she refused. No explanation. She just said no.
A lot of people came into my life and then, walked away. I had a choice to dwell on what I did wrong that they would turn their backs on me and then, I realized, it says more about them than it did about me.
God heard me and wanted to help. He sent them, but when they walked away, they didn't just refuse to help me, they refused to help God too!
If you are going through the same thing, remember that. Take comfort in that because it proves God is listening to you and cares about you. It also means if He sent you someone before, He'll send someone even better the next time.
When I created this image of me, I was trying for something that looked more like an elf. It didn't work but I got a big kick out of it and decided to keep it. It made the point I was trying to make, that although my wrinkles, scars on my face, bags under my eyes and graying hair, make me appear to be mean, I am far from it. The thing is, people who know me, know what I am all about, and know my character, don't need convincing about that. Only strangers do.
When I wrote The Lost Son, people in my life saw parts of me in the main character. Christopher Papadopoulos is mostly the male version of me.
The scars on his body were reminders of what he survived but the scars in his soul were reminders of why he didn’t want to anymore. Chris Papadopoulos was tired of waiting for his life to get better while he grew more bitter. Tired of paying the price for covering suffering while working as a report for an LA newspaper. Tired of the seven years he survived the bomb blast that ripped through his body while covering the war in Afghanistan. Tired of watching all he had erode like the fire escape from his window.
Seven years was long enough. He sat on his bed with a gun in his hand while a war between hope and despair kept him from lifting the gun to his head. He gave up and went to the bar figuring that if he got drunk enough, he wouldn’t have to think about anything much longer.
Chris thought everyone he knew burned down the bridges between them and him. He couldn’t see he was the one with all the matches and his friends were trying to find the firehose. Chris was dismissing the fact he had PTSD. He was right about one thing. Seven years was too long for him to be suffering instead of healing, but God had other plans for him. That night, Chris was sent on a mission to save himself and millions of others when he discovered a secretive society changing the world one soul at a time.
This is for the "churchless" children of God so you will know, that miracles do not come from a church, but they come from God.
Like Chris, I survived an attempted murder when my first husband came home from work one night and decided to beat me. He almost killed me. He stalked me, just like Chris's wife did to him.
Chris wanted to become a Priest in the Greek Orthodox church, so did I but, as a female, that was never going to happen. Later in life I was told I missed my calling and should have converted to another denomination they would let me preach. I became a Chaplain instead. My church does not support women in ministry, so I felt as if there is no place for me there.
Chris didn't know he had #PTSD and thought he would just get over it. I thought the same thing too. After all, I had devoted 40 years of research, writing and helping other people discover how much power they did have and nothing to be ashamed of as survivors of whatever caused it. The problem is, just like Chris, I turned it into a contest that I didn't want to win. So many others over the years, had it a lot worse than I had it. My panic attacks, mood swings, flashbacks and nightmares, only came to life when I heard the sound of a muscle car, because that was what my ex-husband drove.
Like Chris never read anything about someone like himself, I never read anything about anyone like me. I survived over 10 events beginning at the age of 5. I saw two therapists and neither of them diagnosed PTSD. I dismissed what I was going through because it didn't happen all the time and did not rob me of a good, happy life.
Chris wanted to become a reporter. I always wanted to be a writer. When Chris started to heal he began to write a book to help others heal too. He wanted them to be able to read about people just like them so they would know they were not alone and their lives could be better. I wanted the same thing and tried through three other books, over 700 videos and countless articles on this site, as well as others. I wanted to tell the truth as much as I wanted to offer hope.
Chris spent 7 years regretting he survived because he thought everyone he knew walked away from him and God sent the suffering to him. On September 13, 2019, seven years after a bomb blast changed his life and caused the nightmarish series of events, he decided his suffering should end. So did God, but God disagreed on how that should happen.
In 13 days, he was led out of the darkness he had been living with, to enlighten the world of what was possible when miracles walk in the door, when he least expected them. Within 6 months, he wrote a book about miracles workers in a secret society of Chaplains and a miracle worker named Mandy living in a cabin in Gabriel New Hampshire. As for me, I wrote 3 books in 6 months because I prayed for a new way to say what I've been saying for 40 years. No one should choose to stay in darkness when the road has been cleared to make it into the light of God's love, even without a church.
Most of the people I helped all these years, believe in God and Jesus, but no longer felt they belonged in a church where they would be accepted. These books are for people like me. It is important that they see what is in the Bible and the beauty of it without feeling as if someone wants to beat them over the head with the Bible they refuse to read, instead of emulating what Jesus said His followers should actually be.
2022 began with a new mission for Chris and his friends. In the process of writing a new book, Chris wanted to address the traumas that happened when some of his friends were young to give hope to others living with abusive parents and bullies. He also had to find closure for the abuse he survived in LA.
Dreams were haunting him and grew stronger. He kept his promise to go into therapy for PTSD and finally had to admit the thing he had been hiding all along.
If you have #PTSD it can be hard to believe in miracles again. It is hard to think that surviving what caused it was already a miracle if you are suffering without hope. If all you see are others suffering too, it doesn't give you much hope. If you see them healing, their lives changing for the better, you have hope it can happen for you too!
I got so tired of hearing people raising awareness about the worst PTSD does. I thought it was time to change the conversation and show what is the best survivors can do with the rest of their lives.
I hope they give you hope especially if you are among the churchless children of God, and think there is no place for you in a church. The truth is, God is there for you too!
(Romans 8:26-27) "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God."
Married Couple of 44 Years Dies of COVID While Holding Hands: 'True Definition of Soulmates'
William and Carol Stewart of New Hampshire died of COVID-19 within moments of each other
People
By Jason Duaine Hahn
January 05, 2022
A couple from New Hampshire who contracted COVID-19 during the holidays died within moments of each other while holding hands.
According to a GoFundMe set up by their family, William and Carol Stewart died on Dec. 30 after a battle with COVID-19 that "took a turn for the worse" while the couple was hospitalized at Parkland Medical Center.
"Bill and Carol peacefully passed away hand in hand with their loved ones bedside," their nephew, Tim Stewart, wrote on the campaign page. "They fought a long and hard battle with covid, both intubated and on life support."
"I truly believe that the power of prayers and all the kind words that have been shared over the past few weeks is what kept them fighting," he added. "It also kept us hopeful for the best. We sincerely thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We never really have enough time with our loved ones."
Eight members of the family tested positive for COVID-19, Noke said, and her parents were unvaccinated against the virus. She hopes people who haven't received the shots yet do so. read more here
I wrote about something like this happening in the second part of The Lost Son. The difference was the couple were vaccinated but too many others around them were not. This is from Alive Again by Kathie Costos published on Amazon November 15, 2021
Can I see the future? No. I see what is happening. I see how good people believe liars and rumors more willingly than they see the truth and facts. What I see more is how too many think that God has turned away from them.
I see churches, houses of worship, turn from what scriptures they speak, yet do not practice. I see too many people being turned away from those buildings advertised as God's House, while ignoring the place where God lives within each of us. Too many value the rich and ignore the needy. They condemn the sinner while committing their own sins and justify themselves by saying they not as bad as those they condemn. I see too many fail to search their bibles for what is true as much as they fail to search their own souls to know why they cannot hear God's voice.
But more so, I see miracles happen all around us that prove God's love is alive and competes us to act out of love as well as spread hope to this troubled world.
1 Corinthians 13
New International Version
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 29, 2021
“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9
I put this picture on Facebook and someone left a comment that I needed to "prove the Holy Spirit." Easy to tell that was someone who has never understood it. I wrote that basically it was asking someone to "prove love" when no one can see love, but they can see what love does.
I cannot see God, but I see His work come to life when others act on love for the sake of others. I saw it in the actions of others every time my life was on the line. (Keep in mind that I survived over ten events.) It would have been very easy for them to turn away from the needs of a stranger, but they showed compassion and took the time to help me. That is what love does.
Oh sure, you can talk about the physical kind of love but that is a mutual benefit. When it comes the spiritual kind of love, that is also a mutual benefit but far beyond whatever we feel at the moment we give, or receive, because it does not end with that interaction. It is carried on through the lives of those involved.
For me, after I was helped, it did not end with me. I passed it on every time I saw someone else hurting. It did not end for those who helped me, even thought I never saw them again, but they carried the knowledge of making a difference in the life of someone else with them. It is not hard to figure out they continued to repeat other acts of compassion.
Where did all of that come from? It came from the Holy Spirit that is within them.
It is also clear, that even after all the years I have devoted my life to helping others heal PTSD, these two books were written together and there is no way I could have written them without God's messenger that lives in me.
Read The Lost Son and Alive Again on Amazon and maybe you can start your New Year with a new view of what love is.
Today, Christmas Day, we celebrated the birth of Jesus. It is a shame that we do not seem to notice that He is an example of a life with a never ending story. Oh, sure, we know He sacrificed His life on the Cross but His story did not end that day. As a matter of fact, it is still being written.
If you survived the cause of PTSD, you have witnessed His story still being written in those who came to help you. It is still begin written in through the lives of those who dedicate their lives toward helping you find hope for a happier life, compassion to help you know you matter, those who help you understand how much power you do have over the life ahead of you. Above all, through those who help you understand that God did not do it to you, but is there to help you heal.
For almost forty years, I know that is why I have done whatever I could to help and I know why I did it. I survived over ten events and remember all of it. The physical pain, the emotional turmoil, a million unanswerable questions, but I also remember what it was like to heal. What it was like to not just smile again, but feel the emotion behind it.
Above all, once I stopped focusing on what someone did to me, I was able to focus on what others did for me. No matter what happened, it always ended the same way. Someone came to help me and that began the healing.
None of our stories are even really ended. They are carried on in the lives of others we come into contact with, just as the lives of others are still being written through us.
When I wrote The Lost Son it was an answer to my prayers. I struggled with trying to find a new way of saying what I had said for almost four decades. It took a couple of weeks of praying and then one day, I sat down at my computer and the work flowed out of me. What I had not planned on was writing two books to tell our stories of healing through faith in God and when others come to answer our prayers. They heard God asking them and they responded. After all, that is the way miracles still happen. I am living proof of that.
The books are for what never seems to get covered in the news. There are over fifteen million of us being added every year to the number of survivors struggling to heal PTSD. The thing is, even after becoming an expert on PTSD, I had no clue I was one of them because my case was odd. The first time I faced death happened twice in one night, but I was only five years old. The rest was also different because of the way I looked at life, and God. I never read anything about someone like me, so I decided to write it.
These books are for everyone struggling from all different causes and helping others find their way out of spiritual darkness. They are not intended to replace mental health professional help, but to infuse it with the power of faith. They are also written for others like me, among the churchless children of God who do not feel as if there is a place for us in a building. We too can experience God's love, much like the way Jesus taught us to pray directly to Our Father. He prayed outside most of the time.
Churches are find for a lot of people but most of the people I helped over all these years, they believe in God but consider themselves spiritual instead of religious. It is not that we are wrong not wanting to go to church, but that we simply don't feel as if we belong there.
"Thank you all for coming. I am Chris Papadopoulos. Blessed Are The Peacemakers Ingredients of Miracles tells the story of how on September 13th 2019, a Friday the 13th by the way, I sat on my bed with a gun in my hand. It was seven years after surviving a bomb blast covering war, but that night, there was a war going on inside my soul. All I could think about was ending my suffering. An angel of light and goodness was fighting against an angel of darkness and evil inside of me. The angel of light managed to declare a minor victory and I was not happy about that. The next thing I knew, I was walking to my home away from home, this bar. Strange thinking about it now, because even as depressed as I was, I was still worried about hurting someone else, so I walked instead of risking driving drunk and hurting someone else. Apparently God had other plans for how to end my suffering.
I was talking to the only friend I thought I had, Ed, the bartender,” he waited for them to stop laughing. He turned to point to Ed. “I really wanted to say good bye to him. While I was sucking down another drink, a group of men walked in carrying the answer to my prayers. This is Bill and David and Drake. We also have Alex, Mary and Benjamin, all in the book. We have with us Grace and she’s the reason I called this press conference. A couple of nights ago, we were all eating dinner at the Inn in Gabriel when a woman came to us. She was wondering if the people in the books were real. She said she was sure her Dad helped the Boston Police Officer named Frank, who ended up saving Grace. She got to meet someone her father helped without even knowing it. She thanked us for proving that the stories of our lives never stop being written. They are in fact, never ending stories of life. And she was right. We’re all living proof that those who helped us, were helped by others before them and who knows how many other generations it goes back to. We don’t even know how far forward it goes while we’re still alive.
The question we need to ask ourselves is, do we want our life stories to be about light and goodness, or do we want to pass on darkness and evil? We’re capable of both and we’ve seen how darkness and evil spreads. David has something to say about that.”
The story of our lives does go on and what we pass on to others, is defined by us and what we choose to do with our lives. Look at this list.
Causes of PTSD from The Mayo Clinic
Risk factors
People of all ages can have post-traumatic stress disorder. However, some factors may make you more likely to develop PTSD after a traumatic event, such as:
Experiencing intense or long-lasting trauma
Having experienced other trauma earlier in life, such as childhood abuse
Having a job that increases your risk of being exposed to traumatic events, such as military personnel and first responders
Having other mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression
Having problems with substance misuse, such as excess drinking or drug use
Lacking a good support system of family and friends
Having blood relatives with mental health problems, including anxiety or depression
Kinds of traumatic events
The most common events leading to the development of PTSD include:
Combat exposure
Childhood physical abuse
Sexual violence
Physical assault
Being threatened with a weapon
An accident
Many other traumatic events also can lead to PTSD, such as fire, natural disaster, mugging, robbery, plane crash, torture, kidnapping, life-threatening medical diagnosis, terrorist attack, and other extreme or life-threatening events.
Prevention
After surviving a traumatic event, many people have PTSD-like symptoms at first, such as being unable to stop thinking about what's happened. Fear, anxiety, anger, depression, guilt — all are common reactions to trauma. However, the majority of people exposed to trauma do not develop long-term post-traumatic stress disorder.
Getting timely help and support may prevent normal stress reactions from getting worse and developing into PTSD. This may mean turning to family and friends who will listen and offer comfort. It may mean seeking out a mental health professional for a brief course of therapy. Some people may also find it helpful to turn to their faith community.
Support from others also may help prevent you from turning to unhealthy coping methods, such as misuse of alcohol or drugs.
If you want to begin to believe in miracles again, today would be a great day to start since we are remembering the day when God sent His Only Son to be a never ending story to the world.
Almost 40 years ago, I started researching PTSD and in all these years, 90% of the people I helped, do not attend church. They felt as if there was no church that had a place for them. They just never fit in with what the leader preached, but did not practice. They didn't fit in with what the parishioners claimed when they saw how they actually acted. More had other reasons. Some were raised in a certain faith, but it was not practiced at home. Others were not raised to worship in a place, but raised to be "good people" with compassion and kindness, the same way Jesus taught.
Some knew that God still had room for them, even if they simply lived their lives worshiping Him the same way Jesus did. He did not attend "church" but prayed outside most of the time. He was actually against what was being done in the name of God, while it always involved money.
Jesus at the Temple
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[e] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[f]”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
They charged money for everything and if you didn't have any, you got nothing from them. Jesus never charged anyone for anything but paid for everything people needed from God with His Own Life!
Early Christians did not attend church, but prayed at home, or in small groups among their friends. They passed on hope, healing, God's mercy and love for them freely!
Not all houses of worship are like the robbers, and that is wonderful. Not all religious leaders are saying, "Praise God but write the check to them." Not all of them are living in mansions while people go homeless and hungry. Not all of them are involved with seeking political power over prayer. Not all of the people attending church are showing up just to be seen and then doing what they want the rest of the week.
No need to wonder why so many have left organized religion and prefer to be called spiritual instead of religious.
Through high school and college, he "drifted away" from Christian beliefs and in his 30s began a serious, long-lasting journey into spirituality while in rehab to curb his alcoholism.
"Spirituality is a soul-based journey into the heart, surrendering one's ego will to a higher will." he said. "We're looking for our own answers, beyond the programming we received growing up."
'I want to inspire people': Woman dedicates 10 years to copy the entire Bible by hand
His path has been rough at times – the death of his wife from a fast-moving cancer, financial troubles leading to the loss of his house – but he says his spiritual practice has replaced his anxieties with a "gentle joy" and a desire to help others.
He previously worked as a landscape designer and real estate appraiser, and now runs a school teaching qigong, a practice that evolved from China combining slow, relaxed movement with breathing exercises and meditation.
"As a kid, I used to think of God up on a throne, with a white beard, passing judgment, but that has totally changed," Marston said. "My higher power is the universe... It's always there for me, if I can get out of my ego's way."
We live in a time of growing traumas and survivors need help to begin to heal. Experts have proven the need for mind-body-spiritual approaches to healing. How can they turn to spiritual healing when they feel there is no place for them?
Most people focus on veterans when they hear the term PTSD and then dismiss others suffering after surviving other events. They turn it into a contest to see who has the worst story of survival instead of listening to those who have the best stories of inspiration. It is almost as if having a happy, successful life afterwards is something we made up. I've heard it said time and time again, if a person is happy, then they made up the suffering.
I refuse to be ashamed of surviving over 10 events and still having a strong relationship with God, even though I have become a churchless child of His. I refuse to get into a contest with churchgoers because they are satisfied with their house to worship in when I prefer my own house.
There is a place for all of us with God. It is up to us how we live our lives and how we choose our own beliefs to live by. The Lost Son is about healing through faith and the actions of others to deliver the miracles out of God's Hands into our lives.
If you are still unsure of how God does understand trauma, all you need to wonder is, "Did Jesus Experience Trauma?" Experts Say ‘Yes’
Under the weight of the sins of the world, Jesus' body began to show signs of acute stress and trauma even before the physical torment leading to the crucifixion, and the crucifixion itself took place. In a moment of overwhelming love for us, dedication to his Father’s will, and desperation to be released from the agony to come, Jesus suffered in his mind, body, and spirit as he knelt in the garden. And then, he surrendered himself to the men who would torture, humiliate, and murder him.
“From a neurobiological perspective, we know that Jesus experienced pain so intense and overwhelming that by any human standards would likely mean he became traumatized,” says author and therapist Aundi Kolber.
So yes, He does. He doesn't send all the bad stuff into our lives. People do. The weather does. Fires do. Wars do. Evil people doing evil things do. If you believe in God then you need to admit that the other guy is just as real. We've all seen what he does but he gets most of the attention making headline across the world. The Lost Son is an attempt to get people to see it is time to give credit where credit is due and give God as much publicity as Satan gets.
When I was five years old, I had a fractured skull, concussion and head trauma. Aside from everything else, it caused a speech problem. Kids being kids, I was made fun of and limited what I said out loud. When I got older, it was easier to write instead of speak. My pen was my voice.
In my senior year of high school, my English teacher said I was a natural born writer. I wrote a speech for a national competition and it won first place. The thing was, I had to have one of my classmates read it because when I got nervous, words didn't come out right. My typewriter was my voice.
In 1982 I was introduced to the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when I fell in love with a Vietnam veteran. I had no way of knowing it at the time, but I had it too. My ex-husband tried to kill me and then stalked me for years. It helped me to understand what war did to my veteran. The more I learned, the more convinced I was that people needed to know about this. Writing was still my voice and I wrote to local newspapers.
In 1993, I got online and started to write about it on as many places as I could. My computer was my voice.
When I got older, a friend told me I missed my calling and should have become a preacher. The problem with that was, as a Greek Orthodox woman, that wasn't possible. I did not want to renounce my faith to join another church where my preaching would be welcomed. My computer was still my voice.
In 2002, I finished writing my first book on PTSD. For The Love Of Jack told our story and I wrote about the importance of our souls aiding in healing, I had to republish it in 2012.
My computer is still the voice I use most of all, but in today's world, it also because my way of speaking through videos.
One of the first videos I did was back in 2006. Coming Out Of The Dark. My video camera was my voice.
Why be afraid if you're not alone? Life is never easy, the rest is unknown. The song is by Gloria Estefan and the first time I heard it, all I could think about were the Vietnam veterans I spent so much time with including my husband. You are not alone fighting to heal PTSD just as you were not alone during combat.
All these later, almost forty of them, healing PTSD has used everything God planned for me as well as the pain others caused me.
This past summer, I was at a crossroad and not in a good way. After all these years, I had nothing new to say. I did the writing, research, created over 700 videos and had three books. I was depressed reading reports on PTSD and constantly seeing failure after failure, topped off with reporters never telling the whole story of the lives of survivors.
My faith in God was stronger than ever, but my faith in myself was at the lowest point in my life. I did what I usually do. I turned to God and prayed for a way to express what He taught me all these years. I wanted to give knowledge as much as I wanted to give hope.
Before I was done with this one, God delivered a second one to begin. Alive Again
Both book are like the Parable of The Lost Son because the main character was supposed to be a priest, but became a reporter. He walked away from God because he believed God walked away from him first. As with the lost son in the Bible, he went back to his Father and God rejoiced. He used Chris's talents and all the gifts he had to deliver messaged to the world that God still hears prayers and answers them through other people.
The stories involve veterans dealing with PTSD, but also everyone else trying to come to terms with being a survivor. I hope you find understanding and, above all else, hope that your life story is one that you determine and define. We are limited in what we can do but there are no limits on what God can do for us, and through us!
On this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for God's plan B for me! God gave me back my voice.
By the summer, it was getting more and more difficult to find anything new to say about #PTSD. After all, next year will be 40 years after I started. I was feeling pretty hopeless about helping anyone new, especially when the increase of people suffering showed no signs of going down. I mean, there is only so much a person can do. I needed a miracle to be able to say what needed to be said in a new way.
The books I wrote are for other "churchless" children of God, like me. I don't go to church anymore, so I couldn't go into any kind of building, other than my own home. Considering that Jesus didn't have a church, early Christian prayed outside or in their own homes, I knew God could hear me no matter where I was, with them as examples. I prayed for a way to do it and put it into God's hands.
What came next was the story of The Lost Son based on the Parable.
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
When we survive the events that cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, no matter what caused it, we often turn away from God. When you live your life trying to do the right thing, for the right reason, and end up subjected to what happened, it is human nature to wonder why it happened to you. I know I did, each and every time. There were ten of them for me. The thing that made surviving them different for me, was while I lost faith in myself, I didn't lose it when it came to God.
That faith helped heal me but it did not mean I was totally resilient. I had a rare form of it that was linked to my ex-husband. I suffered for decades until I found out he passed away and couldn't hurt me anymore. The only thing I had to fear was the dark side trying to pull me back in and stop me from walking in the light of God's love.
As I said, I prayed for a new way to say something that wasn't new. I thought I'd be writing one book but God had other plans for me too and gave me two books to write at the same time.
Having faith in God and Jesus, does not mean we have to be perfect. The Lost Son and Alive Again are written in the language we all use as adults. In other words, there is swearing going on. They involved adult situations, including drinking alcohol and using drugs to stop feeling anything. The list of causes covers most of them. By the end of both books, God's love won!
The Lost Son begins on September 13, 2019 and ends in 2020. Alive Again begins on September 13, 2021. The events are in Salem, MA and fictional town of Gabriel, New Hampshire. The number 13 plays an important part of both books but you'll have to read them to discover why that is.
Two new books are up on Amazon! As hard as it was to write two at the same time, it is a lot harder for far too many people with #PTSD. We all see to focus on just veterans when that is the subject, but that is only because reporters never focus on the survivors of the events they cover. I thought it was time for someone to tell the stories of the rest of us. I also thought it was time to let people know that they can put their darkest days behind them and start walking in the light of God's love. After all, He didn't send harm our way, people did. Other people do what He asks them to do and they come to help us heal.
Think about whatever caused your PTSD and then think about the people who came to help you survive it. That is how it works when you are trying to survive surviving itself. There are people out there who will help you heal and live a happier life. Most of the time, they only thing they want back from you, is for you to pass it on to someone else in need.
I hope with these two books, you'll see that God still answers prayers, and people deliver His miracles!
The scars on his body were reminders of what he survived but the scars in his soul were reminders of why he didn’t want to anymore. The condo in LA with his office covered with awards, was no longer his and he was living in a studio apartment back in Salem Massachusetts. His marriage ended when his ex-wife tried to kill him and then stalked him. All his friends were out of his life except his favorite bartender at a local bar.
Chris thought everyone he knew burned down the bridges between them and him. He couldn’t see he was the one with all the matches and his friends were trying to find the firehose. He was right about one thing. Seven years was too long for him to be suffering instead of healing, but God had other plans for him. That night, Chris was sent on a mission to save himself and millions of others when he discovered a secretive society changing the world one soul at a time.
Chris spent the last two years walking in the light and did not want to go back into the darkness he had been in for seven years. He learned to secret to healing PTSD was to see beyond the pain others caused, and finally see what miracles bring to survivors. God agreed Chris should stop suffering and start to change the world. As a reporter covering the worst that people do, he used his skills and experience to report on what people do after reporters move onto the next story. As a best selling author, he proved people want God to get as much attention as Satan does.
The Lost Sonis live today and I couldn't think of a better day to do this, because it is Veterans Day!
Who knows PTSD better than veterans? Three veterans saved the main character's life. He was just a reporter, doing his job covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. His best friend Bill Gibson. joined the Army right out of high school while Chris Papadopoulos went to college to study journalism.
After September 11, 2001, he did everything possible to be assigned to where Bill was deployed. Bill's buddy, David Mac Donald was side by side with Bill during every deployment too. The other veteran who knew what PTSD did, was a Vietnam veteran. The three of them, along with others joined forces to not just save Chris, but went on to change the way people look at PTSD. no matte what the caused it.
Seven years after a bomb blast in Afghanistan nearly ended Chris's life, he was still wishing it had finished the job instead of beginning an endless cycle of suffering. First came the scars on his body Then came the scars in his soul. His marriage to Bill's sister ended when she started to abuse him, and then tried to kill him. His career ended because he was getting more and more miserable because he wasn't able to do his job anymore. He drank more and ended up moving back to Salem Massachusetts from LA, no longer reporting for a major news paper, he was reduced to writing greeting cards.
The only friend he thought he had left was his bartender, Ed Hamilton.
On September 13, 2019, seven years after the blast, he was fighting with himself and wanted to just give up. He went back to the bar to say good-by to Ed and then miracles started walking back into his life. In thirteen days, he went from wanting to end his own life, to giving hope to millions around the world by letting them know miracles not only still happen, but they happen when we least expect them to.
If you are interested in a print copy of this, I'm working on it but it took all day to get this up. It will be coming soon. It will also be followed up by Alive Again, the second part to this. I hope they give you hope and a better understanding of how your lives can change for the better.
PTSD Patrol
Stories from Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 13, 2020
With all the bad news in this country because of COVID-19, it is easy to become depressed. Social media has been spreading the bad news, division along with outright lies. Hopelessness follows.
But within the pages of friends sharing thoughts, there are messages of hope, love, humor, inspiration and miracles. Hope is fueled.
I take more comfort knowing there are people out there trying to make our days better than they would have been, than those constantly focusing on the negative.
A couple of days ago, I started searching the web for stories on miracles for a book I was planning on writing. In all honesty, I was searching to help my own mood as well.
Then it dawned on me that out of over 32,000 posts on Wounded Times, there is a treasure trove of miracles intended to fuel hope.
I opted to drop the book idea and decided to put the posts up here until I run out of them. Judging by the ones already discovered, that should take a long time to happen. read it here
PTSD Patrol
Story from Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 13, 2020
One of the first post I put up on my views of faith, was in September 2007. To lay down his life for the sake of his friends posted September 26, 2007. Almost 900 people read it and shared it, plus 1,200+ subscribers sent it along with 90 followers.
Do you think God abandoned you still? Come on and admit that while you were in the center of the trauma, you either felt the hand of God on your shoulder, or more often, never felt further from Him. In natural disasters, we pray to God to protect us. Yet when it's over we wonder why He didn't make the hurricane hit someplace else or why the tornadoes came and destroyed what we had while leaving the neighbors house untouched. We wonder why He heals some people while the people we love suffer. It is human nature to wonder, search for answers and try to understand.
In times of combat, it is very hard to feel anything Godly. Humans are trying to kill other humans and the horrors of wars become an evil act. The absence of God becomes overwhelming. We wonder how a loving God who blessed us with Jesus, would allow the carnage of war. We wonder how He could possibly forgive us for being a part of it. For soldiers, this is often the hardest personal crisis they face.
They are raised to love God and to be told how much God loves them. For Christians, they are reminded of the gift of Jesus, yet in moments of crisis they forget most of what Jesus went through.
Here are a few lessons and you don't even have to go to church to hear them.
And you can find the miracle that came afterwards....
April 18, 2008 I wrote the post PTSD Is Not God's Judgement to go along with the video. The video was put back up in 2015.
There is suddenly a lot of talk about "moral injury" and combat PTSD. It is survivor's guilt adding to what is known as PTSD but unlike other causes of PTSD, this one is harder to heal from. The good news is, you were not judged by God but He has put what you need to heal already in your soul. It is our job to connect you to it again. Contact Point Man International Ministries to show you the way.
Seven years ago, he had just finished a round of golf. His partners on the course included old friends and some new acquaintances. One guest noticed the well-worn ring from Vietnam still on sitting on Montigny’s finger and with encouragement, Montigny shared his story with that newcomer, Ed Iannuccilli, former CEO of Rhode Island Hospital.
Later Iannuccilli would observe, “Churches are made out of wood, brick mortar and stone. Priests are human beings just like you and I. What happened to you is something spiritual that we can’t explain. Angels appear in all shapes and forms.”
Stories from Vietnam started flooding Montigny’s memory bank and Iannuccilli inspired him to begin chronicling those experiences. Soon the stories became chapters which turned into an inspirational book, “A Few Good Angels,” that Montigny published in 2016.
Mike Montigny left for Vietnam in 1965 and he attributes his unlikely return journey as one made possible only with divine interventions. Montigny was a survivor. Defying all predictions he made it “to hell and back” as a machine gunner for the U.S. Marines and lived to share his story.
I asked Tyson what he learned from this memorable and moving moment on a morning train. “This was a real reminder to me of how personal and tangible God’s love is for each of us,” he said. “God is so aware of our circumstances. She may have been a stranger, but in reality, she was actually my sister. I know God works through His children, and what a cool chance it was for me to be an instrument for Him.”
Dr. Manuel Bulauitan, 74, is thanking everyone involved, especially his three sons, who are all doctors. They rushed to his side after their family noticed on FaceTime in mid-March that Bulauitan was sick.
Dr. Manuel C Bulauitan recovering on the medical floor after downgrading from the ICU. (Courtesy of Philippe Bulauitan)
"I am grateful that I'm here and my deepest thanks to all the medical professionals – from attending doctors and nurses – [they] are deep in my heart," Bulauitan told Fox News over the phone. "They tell me it's a miracle I survived."
The world is in crisis now. The Coronavirus pandemic does not acknowledge national borders and has crossed over all the world. It strikes old and young, male and female.
Each nation has experienced great sadness. Some people have used this for their own sake. They have taken all they could, leaving many with nothing. They did not care if they spread death or not.
Yet all nations have also experienced acts of great kindness and compassion. When some risk their own lives so others may live. The list is long and worthy of so much more than simple expressions. When this is over, the world will be forever changed by what we do right here and right now.
When this season of misery is over, those who decided to take, shall be known for what they truly are and condemned for taking pleasure out of the suffering they caused.
When this season of misery is over, those who decided to give, shall be known for what they truly are and treasured for all they were willing to do for the sake of others.
When this season of misery is over, they will mourn for those they could not save and we shall comfort them.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
When this is over, the rich who used this time for their own profit shall be known for what they truly are.
Proverbs 22:16
Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
The rich, who decided to use their wealth to help others, will be known for what they truly are.
Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Didn’t God choose poor people in the world to become rich in faith and to receive the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?
6 Yet, you show no respect to poor people. Don’t rich people oppress you and drag you into court?
7 Don’t they curse the good name of Jesus, the name that was used to bless you?
And those who did whatever they could for the sake of others, shall be known for what they truly are.
We Show Our Faith by What We Do
14 My brothers and sisters, what good does it do if someone claims to have faith but doesn’t do any good things? Can this kind of faith save him?
15 Suppose a believer, whether a man or a woman, needs clothes or food
16 and one of you tells that person, “God be with you! Stay warm, and make sure you eat enough.” If you don’t provide for that person’s physical needs, what good does it do?
17 In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it doesn’t cause you to do any good things.
Let us know who shall be blessed when this misery passes and let this be our solum vow, "to take this moment and live each moment" choosing to be defined by what we can be....worthy.
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
2 and he began to teach them.
He said:
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
"Commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God"
In times of trouble such as these, it can be hard to find hope. It is so much easier to find misery. The thing is, hope surrounds us even though we are reluctant to see it.
I love to see reports of regular people rising above their own pain, fears and concerns, to take care of total strangers. They exemplify what true heroes are.
We are called to rise above our circumstances at the moment because we know we may be "...persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" because we are not alone in any of these times of trouble.
2 Corinthians 4 New International Version (NIV)
Present Weakness and Resurrection Life
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,
14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Wounded Times Kathie Costos September 11, 2019 After reading about a firefighter being identified all these years later, I was thinking about how God was in so many places on 9 11 before the Twin Towers fell. He was there when the firefighters rushed into the buildings so they could save lives after the Towers were hit. He was there when workers were helping each other find their way out of danger. He was there when total strangers helped the wounded make their way to getting medical care, and be there to just offer a shoulder. He was there before the South Tower fell at 9:59 and still there as people in the North Tower were trying to save lives before it fell at 10:28 am. God was there before the passengers decided to fight the hijackers on Flight 93 causing it to crash at 10:03 am.
Thirty-seven phone calls were made by 13 persons on board the plane between the time of the hijacking at 9:28 am and the time of the crash at 10:03 am.
He was there all along. Whenever we witness someone doing anything for the sake of others, He is there. I was going to write a long piece until I came upon something I had already written.
"As rescue and recovery began, fireman, police, and rescue workers would be forced to endure the nightmare of working and living inside Ground Zero. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into hopelessness as the reality of what had happened sunk in. While working in Building 6 in the World Trade Center complex, workers discovered a cavernous type hole in the debris."
As I listened to some of the people there, while I thought it was a beautiful story, I kept thinking of what was missing from the program. It is easy to wonder where God was on that horrible day as other people decided such evil acts were justified when they used everything in their power to kill. Where was He? Why didn't He stop it? How could a loving God allow it to happen? We ask those questions all the time. We suffer in our lives, then try to figure out why God thought we deserved it. What did we do to make Him turn away from us? If we search for Him in the dirt and debris we are looking for Him in the wrong place. God was on those planes that hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon as much as he was on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. He was not the pilot but He was the comforter. When one hand reached out to comfort someone else, He was right there. Whenever people push past thoughts for themselves to think of someone else, He is there. Many wonder why He didn't just cause the hijackers to suffer a heart attack an spare so many innocent lives. Others wonder why He just didn't stop them from doing it. The truth is in the Bible that God does not interfere with freewill so He would not have just snatched the hijackers out of their seats. Still how do we know He didn't try to get them to change their hearts?
It is natural for us to ask what caused other humans to do such horrible things but we miss the other question about what causes so many to do compassionate things afterwards. What caused the police and firefighters to rush into the buildings after pure evil struck them? What caused them to climb the stairs over and over again trying to save as many lives as possible after others tried to kill as many as possible?
While the evil that man does is apparent, the good they do is inherent. It was not just public employees risking their lives that day, there were average citizens in the Towers thinking of others instead of their own lives. Some of them could have survived had they used the time they had to think of their own lives, but they had the lives of others in their thoughts and actions. It was God driving them to do for others and they had the freewill choice to allow His voice to guide them or not. But then there were smaller miracles. Survivors reached out to help others. Strangers took the hands of other strangers, put their arms around people they would have normally just walked past under normal circumstances. Then people rushed to the area to give whatever help they could. Days passed while more and more people showed up to help find survivors and recover bodies. God was still there hearing the prayers of the nation and comforting the weary as they refused to leave. Families of the missing were comforted by others while the time of hope faded into thinking of funerals for when the remains were found. Every street across the country became decorated with flags and so did our cars. We were all thinking of others glued to our TV sets and reminded to be kinder to other people. Even members of Congress joined together on the steps side by side. And we know it took a miracle to do that. Whenever we look for God in what has been lost, we miss where He was all along.
*******
This is the story that caused this post
A firefighter killed on September 11 is identified 18 years later
CNN By Faith Karimi September 11, 2019
(CNN)A firefighter who died on September 11 was laid to rest Tuesday after his remains were identified 18 years later.
Michael Haub comforts his mother, Erika Starke, as they attend a funeral service for his father, firefighter Michael Haub.
Firefighters and loved ones gathered to mourn Michael Haub after his remains were conclusively identified, the Uniformed Firefighters Association said in a statement. It said the service was to provide his family with closure and a peace of mind after the medical examiner last week identified more of his remains that were recovered at Ground Zero.
As of July this year, the remains of only about 60% of the 2,753 people killed at the World Trade Center that day have been positively identified, according to the medical examiner's office. Haub was a 13-year veteran of Ladder Company 4, according to the association. "We remember him and the 342 other firefighters who perished that fateful day, and will be forever grateful for the courage they show," it said in a statement Tuesday.
In addition to the firefighters killed that day, hundreds more have died in the following years. New York officials say an additional 200 firefighters have lost their lives from illnesses linked to their time working at the World Trade Center after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. read it here
