Today the war in Afghanistan ended. Today The Lost Son, my 4th book, is done. Sixteen chapters and almost 40,000 words to help other survivors end their own private war with the demon called PTSD. Almost forty years ago, I started researching Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and ways to heal it. What I discover is it requires mental health help, physical help and spiritual help. When all three work together, miracles happen.
Most of the people I’ve helped over the years say they believe in God and Jesus, but no longer go to church for one reason or another. Since I work on the spiritual part of healing, I asked everyone so that I would know where they were spiritually before we began. Going against what someone already believes would have done more harm than good. About 90% did not attend church. That was one of the biggest reasons in 2008, I became a Chaplain so that I could minister to people where ever they were and not in some building.
Don’t get be wrong. I went to church most of my life. I was even Administrator of Christian Education for a church for two years. A lot of people feel they need to belong to one, and that’s great. The thing is, less than half the population go.
According to GALLUP WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup’s eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.
“Church membership is strongly correlated with age, as 66% of traditionalists — U.S. adults born before 1946 — belong to a church, compared with 58% of baby boomers, 50% of those in Generation X and 36% of millennials. The limited data Gallup has on church membership among the portion of Generation Z that has reached adulthood are so far showing church membership rates similar to those for millennials.”
In a time when so many need spiritual healing after surviving so much, they feel they have no where to turn that will help them. They end up turning to things that will numb their pain.
This is not written for people who go to church, although they are welcome to read it when it is released. It is written for people who do not attend church. It is written in the language regular people speak and it includes some adult language. Each chapter is headed with a thoughtfully chosen bible passage, and many others within the chapters so that readers can see the Bible still applies to their lives in today’s world.
Mostly, it shows how miracles happen all the time to regular people when they least expect it because some people not only pray to God, they listen to Him and follow where He leads.
Tomorrow I’ll resume posting here with daily messages and music to go with the message of the day.
