WHAT A DAY BRINGS
My daughter, Donna, had surgery Dec. 19 to remove
and control infection in a previous surgical wound. Last week the
wound became infected to the point that it spread to her right hip and
thigh and across the lower right quadrant of her abdomen from the waist
all the way down. She was admitted to the hos[ital on Monday the
14th OF January for yet another surgery.
Yesterday she had surgery to open a track where the latest
infection was spreading and now has a new wound about 8 inches long
from the end of the previous wound to the right toward her hip that is
being packed with sponge and a wound vac is being used to remove the
infection continually. The angry redness is still there on her hip and
thigh and that is being treated with antibiotics IV through a PIC line
in her left arm. She is extremely uncomfortable and is also on a pain
pump. She will be in the hospital a minimum of two to three days.
Please pray that this vicious cycle of infection and surgery will be
broken and that she will get the chance to be healed and live as normal
a life as possible for her. This wound and infection problem has kept
her disabled for much of her life and she has had far too many
surgeries to remember. The current round started in June of '06 and
she had not been free of a wound and infection since. Just when it
gets nearly closed it breaks open again...
And because of all of the expense, I must work a part-time job just to
keep her bills paid so that she may continue to receive treatment. I
thank God and the Police Department for the part-time job. Without it
and Father's Grace, I would not be able to keep up with the needs.
That job blesses me and gives me the opportunity to do something that I
am good at doing and something that I love to do.
I have not had time for much adventure on the job because of the needs
of my daughter and two other major events... Tuesday I had to learn how
to use a new mobile computer in my patrol vehicle and Wednesday I was
in a training class all day and arrived at the hospital just in time to
see my daughter a moment before surgery. Surgery kept me at the
hospital until eight pm... Then it was feed two hungry dogs and myself
and fall into bed to prepare for another day. I did not even read any
e-mail all day Wednesday.
My electricity went out during the night because of a motor vehicle
crash close by... My computer battery and my agitated dogs let me know
about the outage and I had to get my flashlight off my pants belt, go
turn off the computer alarm and let the dogs go outside...
Big chunk out of my sleep as I try and relax and get back to sleep.
Just as I was dozing off the power came back on the the dogs came to
let me know again...
This morning, Thursday, I find an e-mail requesting this message
before noon today because we have a new preparation schedule for the
weekly message. OOOOPS... I definitely did not plan on that... But it
is just another bump in the road. We get it done to the best of our
ability in the time allotted... and go on with whatever is next.
Life is what happens to you while you are making plans. Adversity is
all of the challenges that life brings to you. Adversity can be good
or bad... Depending on how you view it.
So this week I am being challenged more than usual. With that and you
in mind this week's message will be news from me and a challenge to
you...
That challenge to you is this... Take a detailed look at the life
happening to you and see if you can adjust attitude and effort to get a
better result. As I study life and history I find that many people who
accomplished great things for and in this world did it through their
attitude of how they viewed life... Plus they persevered... They would
not quit... They would not allow discouragement to control them. Oh,
it was not that they never had bouts with discouragement... It was just
that they would not let discouragement dictate to them how to feel and
how to act.
We human beings are marvelously conceived and constructed entities. We
are allowed to make our own choices of how we are going to conduct our
lives... We may allow life to steam roller us... Or we can conquer
life... We can be reactive... Or we can be proactive. We may use all
things to our benefit... Or we may allow adversity to flatten us and
defeat us. All of this is determined by how we view life and how we
respond to life.
I would rather have been someplace else than a classroom yesterday... I
was was commanded to be there... And I learned some valuable
information that I did not previously have access to. Therefore I was
benefited by being there. When class was over and I was leaving, a
lady come up to myself and the person with whom I was engaged in
conversation and asked if we knew anyone with jumper cables... Her car
had died because she left the lights on. I had cables in my car and
was able to help her get going and to make a recommendation that she
have the terminals cleaned... They were showing corrosion and it could
be robbing her of conductivity. One of my cohorts that was also in
class joked that even when I am not on duty, I am still working,
because that is also part of what I do for people in need as I work my
patrol duties.
Tuesday I found about seventy five pounds of tool box and small hand
tools spread over about a half block of a major roadway. It looked
like the tool box had fallen off a moving vehicle and literally
exploded... The drawers came out of the box... The box was mangled...
And tolls littered the pavement and the shoulder. I picked them up,
along with the help of a couple of men in a truck that saw my efforts,
and hauled it all to the precinct where I vouchered the items and put
them into safe keeping in case the owner inquired if they had been
found. You never know what you find find on a busy roadway. This
incident made me remember the pictures of the pieces of vehicles
littering the roadway in Iraq after a convoy has been hit by an IED...
Strange the memories triggered by everyday incidents.
How does all of this message relate to you??? Think about your times
of adversity and see if there could be a better way to handle similar
circumstances in the future. I have experienced the death of the one
person that I loved most in this world, my wife of 44 years, Sue, and
the death of one of my children who was only 27 years old. I have
conducted Memorial Services for too many Peace Keepers that have passed
from this world. My professional place in life has been doubly geared
to dealing with these matters frequently and often in the lives of
others... But I have also had to deal with them in my personal life as
well... As both a Chaplain and as a Peace Keeper.
I gave care to my dear wife for years while she was an invalid before
her death including running Hemo-dialysis on her at home for the last
year of her life as she was bed-ridden...
And sometimes she did not even know who I was... But I knew who she
was.
I have delivered hundreds and hundreds of death notifications to
others... And I also have received that knock on my door about my son.
Not much in this world can be more devastating that the death of a
beloved spouse... Or the death of a much loved child... Not many jobs
are as difficult as telling a young wife with an infant son that her
Peace Keeper husband has been shot to death in the line of duty after
they went through the hell of nearly losing the child when it was
born... And then walk with her through difficult days of visitation,
two Memorial Services and the aftermath... This and a full life of
much more has been my duty.
Why do I do this??? I searched for the place where I fit... Found
it... And there I function to the best of my ability. I am among all
men most fortunate. I found my place and I love being in my place for
I was never happy any place else no matter what else that I had. It
took a lot of praying... A lot of seeking... Several trials of other
things that I was good at but things that did not meet the needs of my
soul with satisfaction when the day was concluded...
I never found anything that I tried to do in my adult life that I could
not do and be good at doing it. I loved being a Trooper but even there
I lacked something that I needed and left it as I searched for the
answer that met my need. When I found the Answer that met my need, it
was a person, and He filled a void that so desperately needed filling
within me...
Then I sought His guidance for what to do next and studied and gained
the knowledge that I could obtain as I waited, worked and prayed.
A book from my own bookshelf that I did not know that I had gave a
powerful clue... I wore it out reading it... A new dream and new goals
appeared... I followed through and became a Peace Keeper again and a
Chaplain as well... I had found my heart's home...
The place where I was to fit and function... And it just happened to be
in the very place where all of my life I had said that I never wanted
to live here!!!... AND I AM STILL HERE!!!... AND I HAVE HAD A RICH
FULFILLING LIFE HERE!!!
Is your heart at home? Is it happy where it is? Could there be
something more for you?
Every morning I pray the Lord's Prayer (I call it the Disciple"s
Prayer) asking for things to be the best way that they can be for me
and for HIM... And I have never been sorry that I do... Life and
adventure continue and my life is fulfilled... Filled full of those
things that help others, help me and that get good things
accomplished... Yet everyday I again ask for more for that day... I
will continue to ask for more for everyday that I live in this Earth
because I am part of the greatest, most useful group of humans alive...
I am a Peace Keeper along with all of you... I am so very glad that I
am. I hope you are glad that you are a Peace Keeper too?
Without you there would be no life as we know it... THANK YOU! MY
Commander-In-Chief and I THANK YOU AND WE ARE SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE
THERE... SO VERY GLAD THAT YOU ARE THERE!
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary!!!
Take the best possible care of you as you care for and about others.
See to the needs of your spiritual welfare for it needs to be strong
and no one else can do any of this for you.
Call or write if I may be if any assistance.
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,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety)
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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