DAYS OF EXPERIENCE
I have received much contact from many people during
the past weeks. Most of these people were or are Peace Keepers... And
if not Peace Keepers themselves , then they have some close tie with a
Peace Keeper. I receive many questions and requests. By the Grace of
my Commander-in-Chief most questions can be answered... Most requests
are at least partially met... And all requested prayers
are prayed.
These contacts have brought some great new adventures and marvelous
times of fellowship with new friends met through CHAPLAIN CORNER over
these past few years.
One very stimulating experience took place recently when one Peace
Keeper made a trip here from out of town and we shared a time of food
and fellowship sharing experiences and goals. From CHAPLAIN CORNER and
communication from and with many of you I have received fabulous
experiences. Communication is the most important factor in all human
relationships. CHAPLAIN CORNER is simply the beginning of
communication... It is a simple one way sending of a message of
thoughts and experiences that opens the avenue to two way communication
when any one or more of you respond with a question, comment or
request. Many of the two way communications have turned into many back
and forth conversations that have provided much good and enjoyment to
me on this end.
It is always a great joy to hear from any one of you and some weeks I
am blessed with hearing from and conversing with several of you. It is
also one of my favorite pastimes to think about all of you... About
where you are... About what you are doing... About how much each of you
means to my Commander-in-Chief and myself. I am deeply and eternally
thankful to have been a part of this great family of Peace Keepers for
all of my career. Taken individually we are each much like a small,
vital part of a tooth on a great gear... When the gear is viewed as a
gear ... as a complete unit... it is complete and impressive in what it
can accomplish when applied in the right place and for the right
purpose...
Just take one small part off of one tooth of that gear in a crucial
place and try to accomplish the same results as when it was in perfect
condition and it may still do the same job... but it will start to
function less smoothly... and will begin to make noise... If the
warning signs are not heeded... If not quickly inspected and repaired
or replaced the inattention will lead to breakdown and destruction of
the machine... Not only will the gear be lost but the whole mechanism
will be kept from performing the job that was easily achieved prior to
the appearance of the defect. When the function of a unit depends upon
crucial parts being in their place and properly functioning... Any
lesser condition ultimately results in destructive breakdown which in
turn damages other vital parts.
As I look at the system of safety composed of all of the different
elements of the military and law enforcement I see a huge machine
composed of many different operating parts and systems. In the past I
have experienced how fragile the machine can become with the failing of
just one part. I have also experienced the greater affectation of many
parts not functioning well at the very same time. In addition I have
seen the great cost when one part fails and the load is thrown onto
another part that has to take up the slack indefinitely.
Some success will be achieved but it cannot last indefinitely.
I watched some film last night from Fallujah
featuring a squad of Marines doing house searches. They were drawn to
a location by an insurgent showing himself and then running away down a
narrow street. Before it was over there was one Marine dead and
several wounded plus a lot of insurgent deaths. Inside the house it
seemed like there was no end to the insurgents that kept appearing as
others were shot and fell. Grenades and snipers were the major cause
of injury and death for the Marines. One Marine took three different
grenade blasts before he could drag himself to the outside door and
then be dragged by a fellow Marine away to a more secure place. A
sniper wounded both the one being dragged and his rescuer... also the
sniper killed a Marine who came to cover the two previously wounded. I
am amazed at the tenacity and the efficiency of the insurgents in that
fight. I am also powerfully thankful for our Marines who were greatly
outnumbered and still put up a valiant fight, losing only one Marine to
death by sniper fire.
One moment the battlefield is quiet... The
next moment all kinds of evil and destruction can be loosed...
As each Marine was wounded the attacking efficiency was diminished as
effort had to be made to save and rescue the injured. As one part of
the unit was damaged it threw the load onto other parts of the unit to
carry on the fight and effect a rescue at the same time...
Thus my analogy about the machines and the gears.... This is how a
Marine unit is trained to function and they did their job well.
I work within two great bodies of people in this life that are parts of
life designed to achieve great and marvelous results when they function
properly according to design and purpose.... One is the Body of Peace
Keepers... The other is the Body of Christ. I am in the unique
position of having full membership in both and I am expected to
properly function in both. I still find it surprising to find so many
people that think that I am an enigma, a riddle. By my appearance many
people expect me to be a Marine... When they discover that I am also a
minister of Christianity they are astonished. By appearance they say I
definitely look the one part... but they cannot visualize me in the
other. Even more pointedly they cannot visualize one who ministers to
the sprit of man being also one who can practice the profession of
confronting man and enforcing peace and safety.
Anyone who thinks this way about me obviously does not know the history
of God's dealing with people through individuals or groups of other
humans... and they do not know the fully revealed person of my Eternal
Captain as He is revealed in the Scriptures. My Eternal Captain loved
all people and was marvelously impressed with a couple of Peace Keepers
who exercised powerful faith. He welcomes and listens to Peace Keepers
as much as He listens to and heeds any other people... and I do not
find Him ever telling any one of those Peace Keepers to stop being a
Peace Keeper. He did bless them and answer their prayers and their
questions. The Scriptures tell me that He designed for government to
function as a tool to keep all of the people safe who want to follow
the laws and live in peace. In addition they also tell me that He
designed the Peace Keeper for a specific purpose and the law for a
specific purpose... He designed the Peace Maker for a specific
purpose... All being ultimately provided for the peace and welfare of
the people... The law and the Peace Keeper to keep or restore the
peace... the Peace Maker to work for the welfare of all people.
Sometimes both roles are filled by one person.
When we, Peace Keepers, live a life that is strong and vital beyond a
certain expected time of years or physical accomplishments we are often
forced by law, rules or other circumstances into a time where our peace
keeping career is forcefully ended... No transition... No further
provision... No rules adjusted... No concessions made... Not allowed to
continue further in that life consuming capacity of being a Peace
Keeper. Sometimes it is injury... Sometimes it is age... Sometimes it
is some other unforeseeable incident or condition... Sometimes it is a
moment of thoughtlessness and action deemed improper by others who have
much time to decide... And the Peace Keeper is out... but still
physically capable to do the job in spite of what others have decided.
This brings a new kind of life that some of us can never fit into...
and we must work at finding another way to serve. As a result
companies like Blackwater USA are started and staffed... staffed by all
of those who must continue to do the job that they spent so much life
training for and actually doing until they could do nothing other and
be even the least bit satisfied. Warriors... Peace Keepers... must do
the activity of some kind of peace keeping for as long as they can make
their bodies work... And when their bodies will work no more they spend
the rest of their days wishing, praying and sometimes working
physically at trying to relive the experiences even if only in their
thoughts and dreams. Some achieve the reliving by becoming Civilian
Contractors, even in older ages... Others by becoming Instructors...
And the others who can no longer physically function spend days writing
and dreaming...
We are a unique crew... We Peace Keepers. One part of me longs for my
old mountain home and the peaceful, laid back pace of living... The
major part of me cannot stand the idea of never being able to go out to
the fields and streets in the endeavor of keeping the peace... I dream
of the placid, peaceful place... Yet I must live and function in the
demanding , active place. Will that ever change for me?... Nothing
ever stopped it before... Not even the love of a woman who could not
understand it. It has been five years with a big hole in my heart
since she left this life... But I have done more work in each of those
years than I did in any year before she left.
Families and loved ones do not understand. Some of us voluntarily try
and find other ways to live and serve in an effort to try and salvage
relationships but it becomes too demanding... and then it becomes too
empty. When we are forced to try and find a new way of life... no
matter the reason for it being forced (injury, age, etc.) it still is a
gnawing emptiness. Some try and find one way to fill it... Some try
and fill it in other ways... Some turn to negative activity to try and
stop this gnawing emptiness. I have yet to find one who has had to
experience this condition to ever have found peace and satisfaction of
a lasting kind when they could no longer be Peace Keepers. I know of
some that intentionally walked away from peace keeping and made a new
peaceful life... But I have never personally known one who was forced
out to be happy with the outcome unless they found a way to be still
active in some hands on way.
On Monday I will officiate at yet another memorial service for a man
with whom I worked, who was a very good Peace Keeper... but he had to
retire because he could no longer physically do the job. He searched
high and low to find peace and a satisfying purpose that could keep him
and fulfill him... I pray that the ultimate peace is now his...
by the Grace of my Commander-in-Chief and by the provision of my
Eternal Captain.
Today I read of a New York police rookie that was attacked by a man
with a bat just so he could steal his gun and cuffs in order to abduct
and rob others because he needed a large sum of money quickly. Another
police rookie saw the attack and ran the attacker down... With help
from another rookie the attacker was taken into custody quickly. The
officer who was attacked is in the hospital with a fractured skull and
a concussion but is expected to recover in spite of being struck twice
with the bat.
One moment the battlefield is quiet... The next moment all kinds of
evil and destruction can be loosed...
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Be alert... watchful... suspicious... and
wary. Take as good care of you as you can when you are not on the
field. Keep bodies, minds and spirits strong by doing your best to
provide for all facets of your life that you can affect. All parts of
you need to be as strong as is practical for your success and
survival. Do not neglect your spiritual welfare!
Call or write if I may be of any service.
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
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, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor,
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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Copyright: CHAPLAIN CORNER (DRS) 2007. All rights reserved.
May not be duplicated without permission, except to be forwarded
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