25 Years Later: Loss, Faith & the Questions That Remain

25 Years Later: Loss, Faith & the Questions That Remain

Wolves & Wisemen Reignited — Episode 44

About This Episode

Some episodes are about having fun.

Some are about going down rabbit holes.

And some require us to stop for a minute and remember.

But the bigger conversation isn't politics.

It's loss.

During The Check In, the guys talk about losing family members, friends, fellow Marines, relationships, opportunities, and pets—and why grief doesn't always look the same for everyone.

What does faith look like when you're hurting?

Does trusting God mean you're not supposed to grieve?

And what happens when you don't understand why God allowed something—or someone—to be taken from your life?

The conversation leads into a tribute to the victims, families, firefighters, police officers, service members, and ordinary Americans affected by September 11, along with a discussion about the unity many Americans remember experiencing afterward.

The episode also reflects on Charlie Kirk and the impact his death had on people who followed his work and faith.

Then the tone changes.

After remembering the people first, Fringe Files takes on the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11.

Building 7.

The Pentagon.

Warnings before the attacks.

The missing-money theories.

The collapse of the Twin Towers.

Surveillance footage.

The Patriot Act.

And the questions that have kept conspiracy discussions alive for a quarter century.

From there, Episode 44 finally gets considerably less serious with Rebel Report, Folks on Fire, Boners, Sacked, baseball, golf fights, music from 1978, Today in History, and the usual Wolves & Wisemen chaos.

The Check In — Loss

The Check In begins with something every person eventually experiences:

Loss.

Loss doesn't only mean death.

You can lose a parent.

A grandparent.

A sibling.

A friend.

A fellow Marine.

A pet.

A relationship.

A career.

An opportunity.

Or simply a part of your life you thought would always be there.

The guys start with a difficult question:

What's the greatest loss you've ever experienced?

That opens one of the more personal Check Ins the show has done.

Losing People — and Losing Pets

The conversation becomes especially personal when Rob talks about losing Gunny and, more recently, Gus.

There's something different about losing an animal that's been beside you every day.

You don't only lose the dog.

You lose the bark.

The sound of them moving through the house.

The bowl sitting on the floor.

The greeting when you walk through the door.

The place they always slept.

The routines you didn't realize had become part of your life.

And sometimes it's the silence afterward that reminds you they're gone.

The guys also talk about losing grandparents, childhood friends, fellow Marines, friends later in life, and the strange way repeated exposure to death can change how someone processes grief.

You may learn to compartmentalize it.

You may become calmer when terrible things happen.

But that doesn't necessarily mean the loss disappeared.

Sometimes you just learned how to carry it.

Scripture From This Episode

Psalm 34:18

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

One of the most important observations during the episode is what this verse doesn't say.

It doesn't say believers will never be brokenhearted.

It doesn't say Christians won't hurt.

It doesn't say we won't cry.

It says that when we're brokenhearted, God is near.

Sometimes we pray for God to remove the pain.

But sometimes the answer isn't immediately taking the pain away.

Sometimes it's God walking through it with us.

Ecclesiastes 3:4

“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

There is a time for grief.

You don't have to pretend everything is okay.

You don't have to rush through mourning because you think having faith means you should immediately feel better.

Grief is part of life.

But the verse also reminds us that grief isn't the entire story.

There's a time to mourn.

And eventually...

There's a time to dance again.

John 11:35

“Jesus wept.”

Two words.

But they carry an enormous message.

Jesus knew what was going to happen with Lazarus.

He knew the story wasn't finished.

And He still cried.

That's an important reminder:

Faith doesn't mean you don't cry.

Faith doesn't mean you aren't sad.

Faith means trusting God even while you're hurting and even when you don't understand what comes next.

The Things We Lose With Someone

One of the strongest parts of this Check In is the realization that losing someone isn't one single loss.

You lose future Christmases.

Birthdays.

Phone calls.

Their laugh.

Their voice.

The seat they occupied.

The jokes only they made.

The things that annoyed you.

The things you didn't realize you'd miss until they stopped happening.

That's why grief can come back unexpectedly.

You're not only remembering the person.

Sometimes you're grieving the moments you thought you'd still have with them.

You Don't Have to Understand God's Plan

The conversation eventually comes back to something that's appeared throughout Wolves & Wisemen Reignited:

We don't know the entire plan.

And maybe that's a good thing.

If we knew exactly what was coming, we'd probably spend our lives trying to skip chapters.

Instead, we're asked to trust God while we're still inside the part of the story we don't understand.

Loss can make that incredibly difficult.

Sometimes you disagree with the plan.

Sometimes you're angry about it.

Sometimes you simply don't understand.

Faith doesn't require pretending otherwise.

It means continuing to trust God even when you can't see what He's doing.

Remembering September 11, 2001

From personal loss, the episode moves into national loss.

September 11 wasn't only something that happened to buildings.

People went to work that morning and never came home.

Passengers boarded airplanes expecting an ordinary trip.

Firefighters climbed stairwells while others were trying desperately to get down.

Police officers, rescue workers, military personnel, civilians, and strangers found themselves facing something almost impossible to comprehend.

Episode 44 pauses the normal show to remember them.

Before discussing conspiracies...

Before debating what happened...

Before asking unanswered questions...

Remember the people.

Remember September 12th Too

The guys also talk about something that sometimes gets overlooked when remembering September 11:

September 12.

The country was grieving.

But people were also helping one another.

Strangers helped strangers.

People donated.

People volunteered.

Americans displayed flags.

People joined the military.

First responders became symbols of courage.

And for a period of time, many of the divisions that normally separated people seemed considerably less important.

The guys remember that feeling of unity and ask a difficult question:

Why does it sometimes take tragedy to remind us that we're supposed to care about each other?

An Entire Generation Doesn't Remember It

Twenty-five years later, there's another reason to tell these stories.

Millions of people alive today weren't alive on September 11, 2001.

They didn't watch it happen.

They don't remember classrooms stopping.

They don't remember televisions being rolled into schools.

They don't remember parents calling family members.

They don't remember watching the second plane hit.

They don't remember wondering what was going to happen next.

For them, 9/11 is history.

For the people who lived through it...

It's a memory.

That's why remembering matters.

Remembering Charlie Kirk

Episode 44 also reflects on the loss of Charlie Kirk and the year since his death.

The guys play a tribute highlighting his public speaking, campus debates, Christian faith, family, and the influence he had on his audience.

They also discuss the controversy surrounding his legacy and disagreements over how his words and work have been represented.

Whatever someone's politics, the episode brings the conversation back to the night's larger theme:

Loss leaves people behind who still have to figure out how to move forward.

And for the guys, one of the most notable things they observed afterward was people talking more openly about faith.

Loss, Faith & Moving Forward

That's ultimately where the first half of Episode 44 lands.

People die.

Relationships end.

Pets leave us.

Careers change.

National tragedies happen.

Life doesn't ask permission before changing.

Faith doesn't promise that none of those things will hurt.

The promise is that we don't have to walk through them alone.

Fringe Files — The Conspiracies of 9/11

Then...

The tone changes.

The memorial ends.

And Fringe Files begins.

Twenty-five years after September 11, theories surrounding the attacks continue to circulate.

Episode 44 explores several of the biggest questions and conspiracy claims surrounding that day.

The discussion reflects the hosts' questions and opinions; conspiracy claims discussed here are not presented as established facts.

What Did the Government Know Before 9/11?

The first rabbit hole involves warnings and intelligence before the attacks.

The guys discuss reports and documents concerning threats from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda before September 11.

That leads to the question:

How much did American intelligence agencies know—and when did they know it?

There's an important difference between having pieces of intelligence beforehand and knowing exactly when, where, and how an attack will occur.

But for conspiracy researchers, the warnings remain one of the biggest areas of interest.

The Twin Towers

Then comes perhaps the most recognizable 9/11 conspiracy debate:

Could the aircraft impacts and resulting fires have caused the towers to collapse the way they did?

The guys question:

The strength of the buildings

Jet fuel temperatures

Structural steel

The appearance of the collapses

The speed of the collapses

Aircraft debris

Personal items reportedly recovered afterward

Whether additional factors were involved

The hosts are openly skeptical of the conventional explanation.

But skepticism isn't the same thing as proof.

The questions surrounding the collapses have been debated by engineers, investigators, conspiracy researchers, filmmakers, and the public for decades.

And 25 years later...

People are still arguing about them.

Building 7

Then there's World Trade Center Building 7.

No commercial aircraft struck Building 7.

Yet the building eventually collapsed later on September 11.

For conspiracy researchers, its collapse has become one of the central pieces of the entire 9/11 debate.

The guys question how the building came down and why its collapse appeared the way it did.

It's also one of the subjects where the official investigations and controlled-demolition theories reach dramatically different conclusions.

What Happened at the Pentagon?

The Pentagon becomes another major focus.

The guys question the amount of publicly available surveillance footage, the damage visible after the impact, aircraft debris, the flight path, and how an aircraft could have approached one of the most secure buildings in the world.

For the hosts, the lack of clear publicly familiar footage is one of the biggest reasons the Pentagon continues generating conspiracy theories.

The official account and many conspiracy explanations differ substantially.

Episode 44 explores why those competing interpretations continue to exist.

The Missing-Money Theory

Another recurring 9/11 theory involves government accounting and defense spending.

The guys discuss claims connecting accounting problems at the Pentagon before September 11 with the location struck during the attack.

That leads directly into conversations about:

Black budgets.

Defense spending.

The military-industrial complex.

Secret programs.

And, because this is Wolves & Wisemen...

Possibly spending money on things considerably farther away than Earth.

Fringe Files gonna Fringe Files.

The Patriot Act

The conversation also turns toward the Patriot Act and how quickly major surveillance and national-security changes followed September 11.

That raises a broader question beyond any single conspiracy:

How much freedom are people willing to surrender when they're afraid?

Major tragedies can create pressure for governments to act quickly.

The guys question whether some of the policies that followed 9/11 would ever have been politically possible without the attacks.

So What Really Happened?

That's the question Fringe Files can't answer definitively.

There are documented facts.

There are disputed interpretations.

There are claims contradicted by investigations and available evidence.

There are legitimate historical questions.

And there are theories that have grown dramatically over 25 years.

Episode 44 isn't a courtroom.

It's three guys asking questions.

And on something as serious as September 11, there's another principle worth remembering:

Questioning something doesn't automatically prove the alternative.

Look at the evidence.

Look at competing explanations.

Ask questions.

And make up your own mind.

Rebel Report

After one of the heaviest openings in recent Wolves & Wisemen episodes, the guys finally move into Rebel Report.

The segment bounces through several bizarre and controversial stories, including criminal cases, political stories, Major League Baseball, international events, and—because apparently normal news wasn't strange enough—a Florida case involving allegations surrounding a family dog.

Yeah.

We're moving on.

Folks on Fire

Thankfully, Folks on Fire gets things moving in a better direction.

The Atlanta Braves get some love for their season.

Then baseball prospect Joshua Baez gets highlighted after an incredible early-career performance at the plate.

The guys also recognize members of the Wolves & Wisemen community and family celebrating birthdays.

Sometimes Folks on Fire is about somebody changing the world.

Sometimes it's about somebody doing something incredible.

And sometimes...

It's baseball.

Boners

Boners takes aim at the stories that irritated the guys this week.

The segment includes reactions to behavior during a 9/11 remembrance ceremony, concerns about data centers and water consumption, and a golf-course fight that proves some people apparently believe a tee time also comes with complimentary boxing.

The data-center conversation also gives us a preview of what's coming next week:

Fringe Files: Data Centers.

That rabbit hole could get interesting.

Sacked

After spending a good portion of Episode 44 discussing death, grief, terrorism, government conspiracies, politics, and national tragedy...

We return to sophisticated journalism.

People getting hit in the nuts.

This week's collection includes:

A dance video going catastrophically wrong

A scooter meeting a rail in exactly the wrong place

A protester discovering that standing between two angry groups carries certain occupational hazards

Several moments that probably permanently changed someone's opinion about having children

Sometimes laughter is therapeutic.

Sacked is basically therapy.

Probably.

Today in History

Episode 44 takes another trip through history, including:

The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

Crime stories from September 22

Joan Jett's birthday

The television debut of Friends

And the usual collection of historical side conversations

As always, the historical information eventually becomes secondary to everyone making fun of each other's age.

Which leads directly into...

The Biggest Songs of 1978

In honor of Ranger's birthday, the guys travel back to 1978.

And apparently 1978 had one requirement:

Bee Gees.

Lots of Bee Gees.

The music sparks another round of arguments about age, disco, old cars, questionable fashion, and whether Ranger's birth year explains everything that's wrong with him today.

Happy birthday.

Key Takeaways

Grief doesn't mean your faith is weak. Even Jesus wept.

Loss isn't limited to death. People grieve relationships, opportunities, careers, pets, friendships, and entire chapters of their lives.

Sometimes you don't lose one thing—you lose everything connected to it. The routines, sounds, traditions, future moments, and small things can hurt just as much.

God being near doesn't mean God immediately removes the pain. Sometimes faith means trusting Him while you're still walking through it.

Remember the people before debating the conspiracy. Whatever questions surround September 11, thousands of real families experienced real loss.

Stories have to be passed down. An entire generation now knows September 11 as history rather than memory.

Questioning an explanation isn't proof of another explanation. Ask questions, examine evidence, and distinguish documented facts from theories.

Unity shouldn't require tragedy. One of the biggest questions from the episode is why people often rediscover compassion only after something terrible happens.

Faith doesn't require understanding every chapter. Sometimes you have to trust God before you know how the story ends.

The Bigger Conversation

Episode 44 starts with loss.

But it doesn't really end there.

Because eventually the question becomes:

What do you do after the loss?

You grieve.

You remember.

You tell the stories.

You honor the people who aren't here anymore.

You learn whatever the experience has to teach you.

And eventually...

You keep moving.

Not because what you lost didn't matter.

But because it did.

And through all of it, you trust that when you're brokenhearted...

God is still near.

Watch & Listen

Twenty-five years later, we remember September 11.

We remember the people we've lost.

We remember the moments that changed us.

And then, because we're Wolves & Wisemen...

we start asking questions.

Follow Wolves & Wisemen Reignited

Faith. Brotherhood. Loss. Current events. History. Conspiracies. And conversations about the things most people are afraid to talk about.

We're not pastors.

We're not pretending to have all the answers.

We're three imperfect guys trying to strengthen our faith, learn from the road behind us, and figure out what's waiting ahead.

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