Miracle happened as the message came out in 2011 on a soldier's tattoo

For those I love I will sacrifice

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.

Go to the link to read the rest. What followed may, or may not have been inspired by this post in one way or another. Still a miracle happened as the message came out in 2011 on a soldier's tattoo.


For those I love, I will sacrifice

Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, was being treated for his wounds when Stars and Stripes was covering a story on the wounded. I flipped through the pictures, being saddened by each one, until I came across this picture by Laura Rauch. It summed up what motivates most of those who serve. They do it for love. They are willing to die to save someone else. I had to share it! 

September 28, 2011, TIME Magazine did a follow up to the story. No Idle Boast: A Soldier's Tattoo Become Truth

Hockenberry’s uncle, Jim Hall, told the Marietta Times last month that doctors have sought to preserve Hockenberry’s tattoo as they conduct multiple surgeries and skin grafts around it. “His tattoo really sums it all up,” Hall said. “He really doesn’t like the word ‘hero.’ So we call him – he’s our miracle.”

Since it went up, it has been read 37,753 times.