CJ HYDE I am one of nine children in my family. I have a twin sister who (with me) is the youngest of them all. Dad was a preacher, Mom was a busy woman raising 9 of us, from the late 1950's, to the late 1980s. Our oldest brother Dale Lynn Hyde, died after being hit in the head by a baseball. This was in 1965 when he was only 8 years old. I was told that my parents were never the same again, although they had begun living their lives for God, instead of something else. I was only a few months old when this happened and I still can not fathom the deep sadness that had overwhelmed our family for so long.

I would eventually join the United States Marine Corps and serve our country during brief times of War and of Peace. I served during the 1st Gulf War; provided Humanitarian Relief in Bosnia Herzegovina, Cuba and Somalia; and while in Somalia, in the mid 90's, I found myself among my brother Marines in Southern Africa. It was in Mogadishu, Somalia during the infamous "Black-Hawk Down" tragedy, which I would witness the death of a best friend, and the suicides of many others. This eventful period in my life is too much for me to face even some 16 years later.

I also went to Italy, Israel, Egypt, Greece, Spain, and other Mediterranean destinations. I served as a United States Marine Corps Drill Instructor in San Diego California, and as an Embarkation and Logistics Chief for 2 separate Headquarters, three different command elements. I provided my expertise above and below the equator; touched every Ocean on our Globe; watched sunrises in the Middle East and sunsets in the Western Japan. And although I left a chiseled, rock-hard Marine in the best shape of my life, today I can barely walk. I have severe nerve damage to my spine, which is being supported by Titanium rods and several screws and this accounts for only half of my disabilities (more later in this bio). I struggle each day, and night, with the terrorizing secretive demon living inside of me, which experts have labeled it "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" (PTSD). I have never lost faith, although I have lost love; so deep, that I truly thought I might just die from a broken heart. Although these tragedies are a "part" of my "self", they do not define me.

I am a single father to my son and daughter. I have raised these two beautiful children as a single parent since 1999. I will state here that what I am about to write, is the single-most important time of my entire life and the reason you are here with me today, in reading this. My children were both the victims of a kidnapping. They had been "gone" for nearly a month before a team of very special people, detectives, law enforcement officers, judges, counselors and psychiatrists, church Parishioners, family and friends would help me through this, rather "my" torment in trying to locate and save them from what would later be discovered and confirmed as being "a certain death sentence."

I was at that time, angry; broken-hearted, faithless, suicidal and hopeless. The reality was that once they were spotted by authorities some 1200 miles away from me, I really became in my mind, homicidal. The children were found in the center of a large corn field, where there sat a tiny trailer house. Inside were my children and hovering in the shadows was one sick individual. I was told by detectives that he was a 55 year old truck driver, who was also tested and found to be not only "HIV positive", but he was also carrying the Hepatitis "B" (Highly contagious) virus. I will cut to the quick here, to make it easy for me to say in this forum, and with regard to the anonymity of my children, I will only state that "yes...he did" and "no-they did not, nor have they ever tested positive with either one of these diseases. I quickly became homicidal wanting to eliminate him forever and eliminate any chance that this Monster could repeat this sick behavior to any other child....EVER. I thank God today, that I had just a single ounce of faith left, because God stopped me from doing anything to him.

Following my father's advice, I prayed. I not only prayed for the safe return of my children, for my own sanity and for a peace during this life-altering time; I also prayed for this man. God gave me a peace beyond understanding and lifted the many sinful thoughts I had toward this person. Since this event happened, I have become humbled and spiritually stronger. And I am not saying that now, everything is just "peachy" it is not, nor has it been anything short of a test of my spiritual strength. God has helped me and my children grow into what we are today. My children are now in middle and high school, a young scholar of all 13 years of being a young man, and a beautifully talented 14 year old young lady.

Given my state of disability, they are now my strength in spirit and in life! It breaks my heart to watch their eyes when I am struggling to walk. But I tell myself to "just keep on marching" as was grounded within me just as the Marine Corps taught me to do in hard times. And, as my father taught me to do, I prayed and continue to do so. I just pray.

Today, I am completely disabled, suffering from multiple injuries to the spine, neck and shoulder-mainly. I have RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) CRPS (Chronic Region Pain Syndrome); Brachial Plexopathy coupled with Long Thoracic Neuropathy (due to severe nerve damage to over 80% of my body). In conjunction, I have since gained weight (on the day of the accident, I ran 10 miles-since that day, I can barely walk); suffer from Sleep Apnea and must have a C-PAP machine assist in breathing at night; I painfully live with having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and a Hyper-Thyroid condition. I obviously battle with depression, but try to do so as little as I can.

But, to say that those physical and psychological ailments are all of what has happened is almost true. Fact is, I have had my right thumb severed off; re-attached; and have had 2 nerve transplant surgeries (from the forearm, into the thumb); my shoulder has been surgically repaired, but the damages to the Brachial Plexus Nerve Branch and Thoracic Nerve Branch are irreparable and cause extreme pain. The nerve pain I live with is never ending, piercing, burning and sometimes feeling like electrical shocks, which is assisting in causing my other extremities to fail me. I wait in prayer for a miracle to happen, in order to erase the pain, but not my pain, it is what pain I see in my own children's eyes when they look at me.

Financially, well let's keep it simple and say that I am lucky. I have approximately 70,000 photos from free-lancing my spirits into the world through artful and spiritually motivating photographs. I have never attempted to "show and sell" a single photo ever! But now I have thought of offering some of them to the world as spiritually lifting art, for sale. However, I am still feeling too intimidated by others thoughts of my work, and of failing in front of my children.

My photos are intended for, and I hope they may actually bring social changes to those in need. For example, I have shots of homeless, deprived persons, of even the basics; children in need; the elderly, who have become "closeted" in the corridors of nursing homes. The photos I have are from several decades and for those in my small circle of friends, a TON of inspiration. I hope to find some sort of way to use them in this CAUSE. If you have any thoughts or ideas, I am open to ANY HELP! I am trying my best to put together a separate site for this idea which will be called "Where I Cry." I have been asked by people "why do you care about others...why do you do what I do...etc. To answer that, I must take you back to my earlier life.

I am the son of a Preacher (resting in heaven since 2002) who, from the early 1970s up to his death in 2002, was inspired to "stop looking the other way" and "do whatever it takes" to help victims who live on the fringes of society. They are most often the single parent (with children) with nothing left but their broken spirits, shattered dreams and penniless. To live in such a despair is to epitomize poverty, but to look the other way, and do nothing is not only a crime in God's eyes, but a sin.

I remember all of my life, on any given night, I could be seen riding in the back of my Dad's truck; Dad was at the wheel, Mom (resting in heaven since 2005) sat "shotgun" with me in the back along with numerous boxes of food, clothes and sometimes furniture or appliances in the cargo area. We went to the "worst" neighborhoods (the poorest of the are were easy to see-just had to "open your blinders" Dad would often say) and we simply placed these boxes on the porches of these people (all in the cover of darkness) then ring the doorbell and run away almost simultaneously. Dad said that "nobody needs to know who it came from." But if I ever were to get caught delivering these goods, Dad told me to "just tell them it came from God."

Today, my dad would be proud to know that the organization he founded in 1975 (Revival Fires Evangelistic Association Inc.) still is providing relief for urgent needs, committed to bringing lasting solutions which encompass providing care for the family with an emphasis on the innocent and naive victims, the children. Their efforts concentrate especially on these children and their physical, educational, and spiritual needs, in a way that gives them hope and a future. We are currently focused on helping children go beyond high school and earn a college degree.

In addition to the mission identified for families, there are estimated over 143 million children who have become orphans in the world. That is enough children to go three times around the world at the equator. It is hard to grasp such large numbers, so picture being on a very long road trip. If you had these children hold hands in a single file line, you would see over 1,700 children each mile. And if you were to follow that line of children holding hands, while driving 60 mph, you could drive 24 hours a day seeing 1,700 children every mile, hour after hour, day after day without ever stopping, for over two months. And after two months, you would still see children holding hands.

How long would it take for any one of us to stop with compassion for them, and help one person, to make a difference? These people are hungry, lonely, afraid, with rags for clothes and holes in their shoes, they face the greatest challenges of any one person on the face of the earth. They are very real people who need someone to love them and help them.

Revival Fires Evangelistic Association Inc. is dedicated to mobilizing people in compelling opportunities that transform a struggling life. Revival Fires Inc has partnered in the past with the Salvation Army; Special Olympics; Big Brothers/Sisters program; Second Harvest Food Bank; various local food pantries; St Joseph's Boys Home; Harold Seagull Center; Cerebral Palsy Center; all denominations of religion as well as with the individual family involved. From wherever you visit this site you can see immediate and compelling needs and personally you can, and will make a difference by donating to Revival Fires Inc., online or via Money Order, Check or Credit Card.

For now, and until I take my final "tour", I will continue to attempt to march in the footsteps of my father, (even if I only have the ability to fill half of his shoes) and pledge to try to be as dedicated in transforming the lives of these lives. There are people before us, that we can't help without your help. Dad could so often be heard in a church, home, a porch or in the streets asking anyone willing to listen: "Please...stand with me... pray with me, and together, we will fight this war, one battle at a time.

My Father was a good man. I sure miss him, and my mom so loving and caring its hard to accept their absence. I'm just glad that I was able to have them for the times we were together as a family.

So, this is pretty much who, what, where, when, why and how I ended up here, on your computer screen; in your office; library or home. I am just thankful you chose to join me today.

God Bless You!

Semper Fidelis!
(Always Faithful)

CJ Hyde