AND IT GOES ON AND ON...

And goes... And goes... And goes...

I am talking about life.  As long as one is alive there is the forward motion... The being impelled toward something... Even when we try to stand still, as long as we are alive, life goes on.  The autonomic system, once set into motion, will stay in motion until something called death stops it.

If we had to think about breathing and heart beats in order to keep them going we probably would die prematurely because we would forget to keep the functions going if we were in control of them.  We can learn and cooperate with them.  We can be destructive and stop them as far as our lives here are concerned but we cannot stop life... We can only kill the organism that supports our life here... We call the organism a body... That case of flesh and blood and bone... That thing in which we live... That thing which we often abuse because we will not take the best of care of it as is possible for us to learn and do... This is true, especially when we are young... As we age, leaving youth behind... We learn that the body that has served us well now needs more attention in order to continue to function at optimum performance.

What have we done???  Are we well and vital and alive... Or weak and anemic and struggling to see, hear and breathe... Who has done this terrible thing to us?  Mostly it was us that  caused the failures and weaknesses.  When we are young, we overuse and abuse our bodies... Then when we are old we find that they cannot carry on the pace of our youth.

We turn to creams, lotions, activities, exercise, pills, powders, anything and everything
that we hear might make us feel better and recapture the vitality of our youth... Some get so enamored with recapturing or keeping what once was that we miss the joy of where we are at the moment.  We are working so hard to stay young and vital that we are losing out on other good things that we might have had but now never miss them because we are too busy recapturing our youth.

Generally speaking, in relation to the current wars, twenty-three is old for a soldier on the field in the sandbox... and I am closing on almost three times twenty-three at my current age of almost 68.  When I tell a young recruit that I have been involved in law enforcement for over 45 years they cannot comprehend 45 years because they are only 21 or 22 years old... 22... That's where I started this adventure... I was 22 when I reported for duty in 1962.  Sometimes that seems like it was in another lifetime.  It is a very long road from where I am now back to those days of youth and exuberance... But then something happens that makes the time seem like just yesterday.

Today it was a motor vehicle crash... Four lanes undivided highway... Heavy traffic... Someone was stopped, waiting to get a clear break in traffic for a left turn... A driver was not paying attention and a bone jarring crash happens... Injuries result... The middle two lanes are blocked by wrecked cars and debris... My job... Make the scene as safe as possible... Set out traffic cones to channel traffic where it needs to go... Direct the heavy, approaching traffic flow through the intersection and the scene without further mishap providing safety for vehicles, drivers, passengers, Public Safety Personnel and those of us controlling the scene... Forty-five very active and difficult minutes later the roadway is clear and traffic flow is restored.  All of this activity and this scene transported me back to those similar scenes in 1963 and '64 on a very bloody section of four lane undivided highway...

That was another time and another place but it was all very present and very real today.  Thank God, today was only two cars... Unlike those in the days of my youth when they were 8 and 10 cars involved.  I have seen fiberglass Corvettes crushed like an egg shell.  I have seen the aftermath of a convertible car spraying the occupants all over the shoulder and the roadway as though a giant hand had spun them off in an effort to sling them out over a wide area of pavement.  Whatever condition the human body can come into I have witnessed at one time or another... And all it takes to see it all again is for something to trigger the memory... And it is all there again as real as ever in my mind's eye.

Memory is a most powerful thing.  The experience of today testifies to that.  Another thing also testifies to how powerful it is... A wallet sized photograph of my Sweetheart taken 51 years ago sits just below the corner of my computer monitor... Each time I look at it I see those soft brown eyes and that precious face and some measure of memories flood through for as long as I want to allow them to be there.  Memories can be so vivid as to almost experience the whole event all over again... Some people can actually see, hear and smell the things peculiar to each memory when they concentrate upon them.

I have said all of this to lay a framework upon which you can build.  I understand the hell of being separated from that significant other person with whom you have shared life before time and distance became a separating wall.  I know the sense of tears brought on by receipt of a perfumed letter.  I know the joy of a new photograph showing the loved ones and how children have grown...  And I know the experience of the ultimate separation that separates us from ever seeing that special one in this life again... For over six years I have lived it... But there is a way for us to live in spite of what we cannot have by cultivating and sharpening what we do have while we have the opportunity.

I overcame loneliness and more... many times by focus of memory or by focusing upon something at hand that needed to be done that would benefit someone else rather than me... I changed my thoughts to pleasant memories and focused on those... Or I took a call to handle a Suicide case or an accidental death case... I ask only one thing when I am dispatched on a crisis call... "Cause me to be a blessing..."  from then on, whatever I need will be provided.  It has been so for all of my career as a chaplain... It will be so until I have answered my last call for service here.

Thought changing and concentration are two tools given to us for our good.  We must learn how to activate these tools and put them to use for our good and for the good of others... And they will work wherever you are whenever you put them to use... And their use will refresh us.  These tools are not to be used when we are in a situation of crisis or danger while on duty... These are tools to use in those moments when there are no other demands upon you and you need restoration.  Some of us have even learned how to concentrate so well that we can control the adverse affects of stress and lower our own blood pressure... Yet still be awake and alert to our surroundings.

During my last physical I was going through the paces and the doctor said bend over and show me how far toward your toes you can reach... I touched my knuckles on the floor.  Then I was instructed to climb upon a table and sit down while my blood pressure was taken.  It was high.  I said give me a few minutes and it will be where it should be.  Then I went through all of the rest of the process.  At the end of the process several nurses were checking my blood pressure and it was still up... I told all of them to go out of the room and leave me for a few minutes... "Being surrounded by pretty ladies is not good for blood pressure..."  They went out and gave me a few minutes... When they returned to check it the pressure was just where it needed to be.... And I am not on any medication of any kind except aspirin and herbs.

The ultimate question really is, What do you want and how much effort are you willing to put into getting it?  I spent a lot of years learning and undoing all of the things I had done to create problems for myself and my body.  I did research... I wore out some books... I learned it well enough to teach it to a few others who really wanted to learn and to help themselves... I learned it well enough to become an instructor and train others in the art of stress management... Even as I write I can see some of those faces.

A man by the name of Dietrich Bonhoffer who was imprisoned and tortured by the Third Reich in WW2 taught me a lot... Charles Finney, an Evangelist from the late 1700"s, taught me a lot... Peter Marshall taught me a lot... My dearest friend in all this world taught me more than anyone else except the Holy Spirit, Himself.  This friend was the sole survivor of several massacres in Korea... He was stabbed with poisoned knives... He was my motivation to learn how to see with more than my eyes... He taught me the power of right thinking rather than stinking thinking.

I have taken the gifts and experiences of many men of the past and present to arrive at where I am and who I am.  In the research I had the same goal no matter what or who was the source.  I vowed to find the good and use it... And to avoid anything destructive and negative.  I vowed to become the best that was possible for me to become in the spirit realm and in the natural realm.  I am who I am because a lot of other seekers shared their discoveries with me and I took the best of it all and put it to use personally to see if it would work for me... IT HAS!!!... And the key that makes it all work for me is my spiritual relationship with My Eternal Captain, and through Him, my relationship with My Commander-In-Chief plus learning from the Operations Manual for Life (the Bible).

Many or you wrote to me after you read last week's message about my daughter's health.
Today (Wednesday) she is home in her own bed.  She came through a very difficult ten days... She is on home health care, the strongest antibiotic they can run into her body by IV process and nurses will be here to tend the surgical wound the next two days and probably three times weekly after that.  I will keep you posted on her condition.

Thank you for who you are and for what you do.  Thank you for being on the front line for all of us.  This world would be a terrible place in which to live if it were not for each of you and all of you Peace Keepers taking your place and telling evil it cannot win... THANK YOU... ETERNALLY THANK YOU.

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

Call or write if I any be of any service.  Thanks you again for all of the beautiful and powerful responses that I received from many of 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

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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