Another one lost

I was at work when a friend and teammate came in and told me that another one of his friends on a different department had committed suicide earlier this week with his service weapon in the front lot of his department in his personal car.

These acts are becoming alarmingly and tragically too common. We are currently killing ourselves at a rate higher than twice the rate at which we are murdered. We are worse on ourselves than the bad guys are on us.

Law enforcement now has the highest rate of suicide when compared to any other profession.

We are trained and strive to be independent and emotionally bullet proof. There are no easy answers to this problem. But each and everyone one of us can take positive actions to at least stem the bloody tide, lets all start right now and really pay attention to the officers around us. Ask questions and become more involved in their lives and INTERVENE. Maybe one of us can help another not become one of them.

John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

God is in Control

By nature and further by training, Police Officers charge into problems and take control. On the street it is imperative for an officer arriving on scene to take absolute and immediate control in order to keep him/herself safe, maintain the safety of the public and to control evidence. Officers who come in softly or allow others to dictate the situation rarely are successful or injury free.

However, with God this situation is the exact opposite. HE is in control and we are to follow God's urgings rather than direct our own lives. This can be incredibly hard for someone in law enforcement to do. I can not tell you how may problems that I have made worse, when I go charging ahead on my own strength and drive, with an eye to solving what ever is troubling me, when in reality I make the situation much much worse.

Finally, after so many doors at work were closed in my face (usually blooding my nose) I finally had to come to grips with the fact that, by my hand I could do nothing to fix what I had done (with the best of intentions but I really kept shooting myself in the foot) and had to step back and for really the first time, place it completely in his hands. And the result, after nine months of trust and faith, an opportunity arose that no one could have predicted and further if somehow they would have known would never have thought I would have been in trusted with it. GOD was working.

Another situation has just arose that reminded me of this lesson that I had to learn. I have to admit that I racked my brain on how I would be going about fixing the situation (this time not self-inflicted for a change). But a solution would not present itself. I then stepped back and again placed it into God's powerful hands. I would like to say that I did not worry but it did stay in the back of my mind. However, again without any actions of my own, it worked itself out in the only way it could have, that would have garnered a positive result. Again my lack of action and God's providence provided an outcome that was greater than anything I could have accomplished.

Trust in the Lord and he will always keep his promises-on his own time in his own way.

Psalm 27:13
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

Unassisted Triple Play

I was watching ESPN Sports Center when I heard about the unassisted triple play that
Asdrubal Cabrera of the Cleveland Indians turned.

The description from The Cleveland Indians Official site (http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080512&content_id=2686835&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle)

The play came about with the game locked in a scoreless tie, Cliff Lee on the mound, Kevin Mench on second, Marco Scutaro on first and Lyle Overbay at the plate. The Jays attempted a hit-and-run with both runners going, and Overbay smacked a sinking liner up the middle. Cabrera, manning second base, made a diving catch of the ball near the bag, stood up, stepped on second to retire Mench and tagged Scutaro for the third out.


I thought that was cool and unusual but then I found out that there have been only 14 UTP's since 1936. To put that into prospective a perfect game has been pitched 17 times. So the UTP is a very rare animal.

That got me to thinking what is the rarest record in baseball? The answer: 2 no-hitters in back-to-back starts Number of occurrences: 1 Johnny Vander Meer June 11, 1938 (Boston Bees) and June 15, 1938 (Brooklyn Dodgers) for pitching and 2 grand slams in an inning Fernando Tatis, April 23, 1999 for hitting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUG6e3xyH_0

Second Phase

I was told this story from a friend of mine the other day, his words...

At the range the other day, I walked over to one of the agents that I had known when he was still in the field asked him what this reteired agent what he was going to do. He said he had gone back to school. He was asked by another agent what program he had joined and he said "mechanics school". We all thought that was cool and told him so and he shared with us the three classic cars he already owned that he had planned to rebuild once he finished his classes. At this point another agent pointed out that he was taking classes that were advanced way beyond simple vehicle repair and rebuild.

The retired agent looked at him and said, "well that's right. I plan to go to Africa and help the people there. I need to know how to rebuild things like power generators and well pumps when they go out at churches and stuff." The group of agents paused and finally one said, "what for like, the peace core?". The retired agent just said "no not them" and walked away......

When I heard this story I realized right then that this agent was going to use the opportunity open to all of us in law enforcement in that we basically retire with a max of 30years on leaving 20+ years of working life left to go. This retired agent was going to use the security of his pension to educate himself and travel to Africa in the mission field and help.

What an incredible opportunity for all of us to serve in whatever way we wish once our police career comes to a close, that few other people have in any profession. I have to say that I was heartened and inspired by this retired agent's plan. It goes to show that even when we are finished with our career our career still aids us in full filling God's plan in places where we never thought we would go and after we have hung up our gun.

Joshua 22:5
But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."


Acts 11:18-20
18When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
The Church in Antioch
19Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. 20Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

Doctor Who

I am a huge fan of Doctor Who. The show originally ran on British television starting 1963 and ended 1989. I found the show much like I found all my favorite British television shows (Monty Python, Black Adder, David Allen, The Young Ones), after coming home late Friday or Saturday night from some kind of "goings on" and flipped on Channel 11 (local PBS)and there was this strange cheap sci-fi.

The series was reincarnated and back on the air in 2005. I have resisted watching it till now because I did not believe it could have possibly been as good as the old series. Wow was I wrong. Not only is the show on par with the original but it has sired two spin offs, Tourchwood and Sara Jane.

I now have once again reserved Saturday as my Doctor Who day, but this time I have the added bonus, Ross and Rebecca now sit with me a watch it.

Psalm 104:14-15
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. (substitute Doctor Who for Wine).