When the load gets too heavy...
D. R. (Don) Staton | 05.03.2008 09:56
is just the time that Grace abounds most powerfully. My week was too full. The demands too much to get it all done well. I spent most of today (Saturday, March 1) in in-service training classes. I came dragging home at 3 PM.... Spent an hour resting... The phone rang... A friend called to say she was bringing dinner. Over the past several weeks a cohort at work has told others in our department about the load on my daughter and myself, the medical demands and the terrible costs that we are facing. Fellow laborers, active and retired, began to send cards and letters of support, most of which contained gifts, good words and prayers of support.
We have been blessed by friends, by people that I have not seen in a very long time and by people that I have never met personally. Some of them shared some incident in which I helped them or had a good affect upon them in some way... They were now being thankful and returning the blessing back to me. Grace, God's unmerited favor and blessing comes in unexpected ways. In this most recent case, though it was unexpected, the return was most thankfully received... As well as desperately needed.
I am so thankful to the one with the inspiration to distribute the news of our dilemma and be the instrument of so much help and blessings. "Cast your bread upon the waters and not many days hence you will find it again." I have been working here in this department for thirty-one years as a volunteer chaplain and Administrator of the program... Twenty-nine of those years, I was also a volunteer police officer until they forced me to retire because of age. During all of those years I gave all that I could to build the program and make it work... Now those I have served have returned blessing unto me. I am so very deeply thankful and blessed beyond measure....Abundant Grace received!
My daughter, Donna, is now back on IV antibiotics. The Med-Port is very painful but it is working well. The antibiotics are run once daily and Donna is able to do them herself plus nurses come three times weekly to check the wound (which is doing very well), check the Med-Port and clean and cover it and check the condition of the large abscess on her right hip. The abscess is pouring infection out through a channel into the right end of the surgical wound in large amounts. We are most glad that it is draining. It is very necessary that it drain. If it does not drain well it will eventually have to be opened. The surgeon is trying hard to avoid more surgery. I am most thankful that he listened to our admonitions and installed the Med-Port.... Grace received!
My street job is a part-time position so I had a discussion with my supervisor about the demands upon me and how all of the load is draining me of strength and endurance. We came up with workable solutions that I may apply anytime that I need to lightening the load... Again Grace received...
Nothing spectacular to report this week on the job... Lots of patrol, directing traffic, checking problems with numerous kinds of violations and tons of paperwork. When you know the job it is all part of the goal of achieving peace and safety. My most challenging
problem this week was poor performance from the in-car computer... And my alternator on the patrol car dying. The computer keeps giving me problems with it's function and I keep discovering ways to solve the problems and get it to function. I never liked those things. I have been able to avoid them for all of the time that we have had them but now it is part of my job every day that I work and is a great tool as long as it works well... It is a great frustration when it does not work well. That is why I call them "confusers" rather than computers.
My patrol duty involves problems that need to be solved and my coming up with a reasonable, workable solution. Every assignment received is a new challenge. Every problem discovered during patrol is a new challenge. The job is not only challenging but enjoyable most of the time and I am most thankful for it. Just when I needed a paying job this one was revealed to me by one of my favorite commanders who asked me to apply for the job and work in his precinct. That is where I am working now. Grace received!
I have often considered how many times and how often I have received Grace that I did not identify it at the time. I received much of this Grace before I was spiritually educated so then I had no way to identify it. I observed much of the things that I saw and handled daily... I then thought on my observations... I concluded that there had to be a God for there was no other explanation that would explain the outcome of my observations. I determined to find the connection to that God for myself. I left law enforcement when I could not find Him where I was and set out on a quest to find that connection for me to Him for myself... I received the introduction to Him through a man that I had known in the past. If it had become real to this man then it could become real for me too!!! That was forty years ago this week... Forty years of adventure and education... Gaining knowledge and learning how to use it... WOW, what a ride it has been... and I have experienced Grace most abundantly.
As I think on those of you who will read this message, I pray that you know and experience Grace for yourselves... Or if you do not know it that you will have it revealed to you so plainly that you may experience it for yourself. Today, and everyday, you are most powerfully upon my mind, on my spirit and in my prayers. Though I am not there with you I do know what you experience and deal with. If you are a Peace Keeper, then I know from my own experience and study what you experience and with what you deal. All of you are my Compadres... You are my family of the same heart... We all pursue the same goals...
All Peace Keepers alive pay the same costs in life, action and experience. The details may be different for each one but the experience and costs are the same until we are not able to do the job anymore... And then it often plagues our minds and hearts making us want to do what we cannot do any more. If you are still a Peace Keeper, pray for yourself and our Compadres... If you are out of the job because of injury, retirement or overload, pray for the ones who are still in it. If you are a civilian reading this, then pray for all of us because most of us still want to be doing the job of peace and safety even when we cannot do it anymore... We all need your prayers... We all need to pray for one another.
We all experience much Grace... It is just that we do not always recognize it.
To all Peace Keepers, past, present and future, Thank You!!! Eternally and powerfully, Thank you for who you are and for what you do. May Grace abound to and for you plainly, clearly, powerfully and abundantly! Be blessed in you coming, going and doing!
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Take the very best of care of you as you care for and about others... Be especially careful to see to your spiritual needs. Always be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary! If you do not do it, no one else can do it for you in many cases!
Call or write if I may be of any service to or for you.
As it has always been... So it still is...
"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu
Training and practice is everything!
Without it, the best results are not obtained!
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process.
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
I am so thankful to the one with the inspiration to distribute the news of our dilemma and be the instrument of so much help and blessings. "Cast your bread upon the waters and not many days hence you will find it again." I have been working here in this department for thirty-one years as a volunteer chaplain and Administrator of the program... Twenty-nine of those years, I was also a volunteer police officer until they forced me to retire because of age. During all of those years I gave all that I could to build the program and make it work... Now those I have served have returned blessing unto me. I am so very deeply thankful and blessed beyond measure....Abundant Grace received!
My daughter, Donna, is now back on IV antibiotics. The Med-Port is very painful but it is working well. The antibiotics are run once daily and Donna is able to do them herself plus nurses come three times weekly to check the wound (which is doing very well), check the Med-Port and clean and cover it and check the condition of the large abscess on her right hip. The abscess is pouring infection out through a channel into the right end of the surgical wound in large amounts. We are most glad that it is draining. It is very necessary that it drain. If it does not drain well it will eventually have to be opened. The surgeon is trying hard to avoid more surgery. I am most thankful that he listened to our admonitions and installed the Med-Port.... Grace received!
My street job is a part-time position so I had a discussion with my supervisor about the demands upon me and how all of the load is draining me of strength and endurance. We came up with workable solutions that I may apply anytime that I need to lightening the load... Again Grace received...
Nothing spectacular to report this week on the job... Lots of patrol, directing traffic, checking problems with numerous kinds of violations and tons of paperwork. When you know the job it is all part of the goal of achieving peace and safety. My most challenging
problem this week was poor performance from the in-car computer... And my alternator on the patrol car dying. The computer keeps giving me problems with it's function and I keep discovering ways to solve the problems and get it to function. I never liked those things. I have been able to avoid them for all of the time that we have had them but now it is part of my job every day that I work and is a great tool as long as it works well... It is a great frustration when it does not work well. That is why I call them "confusers" rather than computers.
My patrol duty involves problems that need to be solved and my coming up with a reasonable, workable solution. Every assignment received is a new challenge. Every problem discovered during patrol is a new challenge. The job is not only challenging but enjoyable most of the time and I am most thankful for it. Just when I needed a paying job this one was revealed to me by one of my favorite commanders who asked me to apply for the job and work in his precinct. That is where I am working now. Grace received!
I have often considered how many times and how often I have received Grace that I did not identify it at the time. I received much of this Grace before I was spiritually educated so then I had no way to identify it. I observed much of the things that I saw and handled daily... I then thought on my observations... I concluded that there had to be a God for there was no other explanation that would explain the outcome of my observations. I determined to find the connection to that God for myself. I left law enforcement when I could not find Him where I was and set out on a quest to find that connection for me to Him for myself... I received the introduction to Him through a man that I had known in the past. If it had become real to this man then it could become real for me too!!! That was forty years ago this week... Forty years of adventure and education... Gaining knowledge and learning how to use it... WOW, what a ride it has been... and I have experienced Grace most abundantly.
As I think on those of you who will read this message, I pray that you know and experience Grace for yourselves... Or if you do not know it that you will have it revealed to you so plainly that you may experience it for yourself. Today, and everyday, you are most powerfully upon my mind, on my spirit and in my prayers. Though I am not there with you I do know what you experience and deal with. If you are a Peace Keeper, then I know from my own experience and study what you experience and with what you deal. All of you are my Compadres... You are my family of the same heart... We all pursue the same goals...
All Peace Keepers alive pay the same costs in life, action and experience. The details may be different for each one but the experience and costs are the same until we are not able to do the job anymore... And then it often plagues our minds and hearts making us want to do what we cannot do any more. If you are still a Peace Keeper, pray for yourself and our Compadres... If you are out of the job because of injury, retirement or overload, pray for the ones who are still in it. If you are a civilian reading this, then pray for all of us because most of us still want to be doing the job of peace and safety even when we cannot do it anymore... We all need your prayers... We all need to pray for one another.
We all experience much Grace... It is just that we do not always recognize it.
To all Peace Keepers, past, present and future, Thank You!!! Eternally and powerfully, Thank you for who you are and for what you do. May Grace abound to and for you plainly, clearly, powerfully and abundantly! Be blessed in you coming, going and doing!
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Take the very best of care of you as you care for and about others... Be especially careful to see to your spiritual needs. Always be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary! If you do not do it, no one else can do it for you in many cases!
Call or write if I may be of any service to or for you.
As it has always been... So it still is...
"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu
Training and practice is everything!
Without it, the best results are not obtained!
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process.
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton