TWO WORLDS

This day has been busy. Then, when I sat down to
rest and eat, a sadness overwhelmed me. Not a day goes by without my
receiving news of the deaths of one or more Peace Keepers. I am a
very happy man... Also a Spirit filled Christian called to minister to
others... I live with a paradox... At the very same instant there lives
within me two opposing conditions of Spirit... One of great Joy and
Happiness, even exaltation and gladness beyond comprehension... the
other of impelling grief and sadness that can be very heavy to
experience.

The Joy and happiness is because I belong to and work in concert with
the Living God, my Commander-In-Chief... The grief and sadness are for
the conditions of the world in which I must live and function... In my
case that includes the world of peace keeping with the accompanying
great cost of the maintenance of Life, Liberty and the Right to pursue
Happiness... The great cost in injury and death to the Peace Keepers
who go forth to do the job that needs to be done so that others may
live and prosper.

I grieved this morning for the three soldiers missing in Iraq...
Grieved because I know the great cost they have suffered. I grieved
also for the missing Constable in South Carolina who has been missing
several days since he made a traffic stop and citizens reported hearing
shots. He disappeared and never responded to radio calls to check on
him. Added to these were the ones whose injury and death, of which I
have been informed in just this week alone... In addition, all of the
others who have preceded them this month and this year. I must keep
them all close to my heart along with all of you who are alive and yet
remaining and still functioning... plus all of your families and loved
ones.

Some good news... This week I received information that I am accepted
for the second job for which I applied. I start the first one next
week as a Citizen Patrol Aide walking the resort strip, working day
shift to assist police officers and citizens who have needs for service
and assistance.

No word yet on the start of the other job. That one will be as a
Community Service Officer in a car working a precinct to do the same
basic job in motorist assists and assisting police officers with
abandoned cars, at accident scenes and whatever other needs that I can
fill. I am looking forward to both opportunities... Possibly walking
for the summer and transfer to the car after that but I do not know for
now. Monday through Wednesday will be admin. and basic training for
the first job and begin work on Friday... plus I am working the resort
strip tonight and next weekend at night supervising Chaplain walking
beats. My adventurous life is about to speed up again.

Thanks for your prayers for the jobs and my daughter. She is still
fighting the blood clots. Coumadin doses have been increased.
Clotting times are slow to respond to the levels desired. We are
maintaining life day to day as best we can and living by faith that all
will come out well. The surgical wound is healing really well. It
looks great.

It appears that the protime may be adjusting because I just had to help
her with some leaks around the PIC line when she ran the antibiotics
and did the flushes. I take that as a good sign because they leaked
under pressure and stopped when the pressure equalized.

Life as a chaplain is interesting because at the very same time we must
have our minds and hearts in two worlds... the world of the reality of
day to day, moment by moment incidents... And the world of the
spiritual needs of all human beings, most especially the ones with whom
we have contact. This week I have listened to many stories of life
incidents in the lives of people who have need of assistance in how to
live in the present and how to handle opportunities that are known to
be coming... Plus answering numerous e-mails requesting assistance or a
listening ear.

The people professions are the most adventurous opportunities known to
us in this world... especially the profession of peace keeping. We
must do many, many kinds of training in preparation for what we might
face and still we will find things and incidents that we were not
trained in how to handle except to be trained in how to think and
respond with control and intelligence. Among you in peace keeping I
have experienced the fellowship of some of the most amazing people that
I could ever have met. Even as I am writing I see some of them
parading through my thoughts... Wow, what a time we have had.

You are uppermost in my mind often. Some days I spend much time
receiving news about you... Receiving information on happenings in
which you are involved... Receiving news about the incidents that have
happened to you on the job... Receiving information about how we could
or should handle certain types of incidents... And in all of this you
are on my mind as I absorb what I receive. My thoughts are, what can I
do with what I receive to make life better for you? Prayer, writing
and working with you when I can are my major tools of application to
try to make things better for you. If I succeed in only a small
portion of my efforts it has been worth all that I have done or can do.

Thoughts, the human mind and the human spirit are amazing things. With
these tools I can do many and marvelous things... I dedicate these
tools to benefit you and all of those that I meet in my travels and by
electronic communications. That is my calling and you are my Parish.
Thank you for being there... Thank you for who you are and thank you
for what you do. We would have no world as we know it if you were not
there and filling your post and your duty... No World!!!

I hope you never tire of this appreciation because I am here to see
that you receive it...
And I will give it as long as I have breath and mind... THANK YOU.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary. Take
the very best care of you as you care for others. See to the welfare
of your spirit. It needs to be strong for you to be successful.

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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