NEW LIFE

res⋅ur⋅rec⋅tion
–noun

1.	the act of rising from the dead.

2.	(initial capital letter) the rising of Christ after His death and burial.

3.	(initial capital letter) the rising of the dead on Judgment Day.

4.	the state of those risen from the dead.

5.	a rising again, as from decay, disuse, etc.; revival.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME (< OF) < L resurrēctiōn- (s. of resurrēctiō) the Easter church-festival, equiv. to resurrēct(us) (ptp. of resurgere to rise again; see resurge ) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms:
res⋅ur⋅rec⋅tion⋅al, adjective
res⋅ur⋅rec⋅tive, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

In my area life is bursting out all over. My apple tree is blossoming and it is growing green leaves. The yard grass has gone into high gear with growth. The pine trees are covering my yard with their sprouts that look like tan worms. The whole area is bursting with new life that broadcasts Spring to the inhabitants.

In my youth I attended a few Sunrise Services. In the beginning of ministry experience I conducted a few Sunrise Services. Now that I have come to the real understanding of resurrection I rest well on Sunday morning and do not rush out to brave weather nor elements. The meaning of resurrection to me is that He (Jesus Christ) did that for me so that I could have new life. As a man, I became filled with new life when I met Him like a plant that has been lifeless all Winter is filled with new life in the rising of the sap in the Spring.

Like a tree in Winter I had life before but it was not a fruitful life... Vitality was missing. I experienced cycles when there was no growth, no production. It was as though the main ingredient was not there. The Joy of the full experience of life was missing. I knew it was missing. I knew what was missing had to do with something I needed from God but I did not know how to make the connection and no one I knew could tell me how to make the connection. I prayed as best I knew how... and I sought information and guidance... And I experienced cycles like a fruit tree, life and then shut down... Life and then shut down.

From my earliest memory I knew there was someone else bigger and greater than anyone I had seen that was in charge of life. No one taught this to me. I just knew inside me that I knew it. Twenty years I prayed and sought... until one night I met a man who showed me how to meet Jesus Christ for myself and Jesus would teach me about God whom He called Father. I put the information to use immediately and began the Journey that brought me here to this moment. Within hours of the receiving the knowledge of how to meet Jesus Christ and putting that information into action, I prayed for help, guidance and direction for me and a way to meet the needs of my family. I was foundering in the job I had and all money was fast disappearing.

I prayed that prayer on Sunday afternoon... The answer came as the world got back to business on Monday morning. A company in another city called me to talk with me about working for them. I had never approached that company in any way. I was not in that line of business and had not been for several years.

They paid my airline fare to their city and asked what it would take to get me to work for them... I received a package offer that to this day still astounds me... Plus they put up the money to buy the house I still live in today. I took the offer... Came here and went to work for them... Got involved in a church and began to pray for knowledge as I studied the Bible to see what I could learn that applied to me and how to live the best way possible for me and the provision for my family. As I learned and grew, I received the call to teach and preach... Subsequently that led to more education, more training... The call to become a Chaplain to police officers... And to getting back into law enforcement as a volunteer police officer. By that time I was self employed and a pastor in a church.

The first night on the street I saw miraculous results and the die was cast... I had left the Virginia State Police looking for the ingredient that was missing that I knew I did not have... The ingredient that would make me a better law enforcement officer... And now make me effective and useful as a chaplain to law enforcement officers as well.

Years of service here... A major civil disturbance that gave birth to a need that I was here to fill... More years and thousands of hours of service to the officers and the people... Meeting a man that had a need he wanted me to fill in the area of writing that would bring about the fulfilling of a vision I had received many years before... Losing the lives and presence of my beloved wife and my youngest son... Giving even more of myself after those losses... Being in the right place at the right time for meeting the immediate and sometimes life threatening needs of innumerable people... Wearing out four computers and six printers... And being responsible for the deaths of so many trees as I used up the paper produced from them... All of this has brought me to the appreciation of New Life as it is described in the word "resurrection".

Each time I fall into deep sleep and awaken, I get a taste of resurrection... Each time I go so deeply into slumber that it is as though I am dead and I awaken, I get even more taste of resurrection... Each time I take the time to look back upon all that has happened to me and the fact that after meeting Jesus Christ I was literally recreated into a new and very different man than the one I had been before... Each time I tend a wound or an injury and watch the process of regeneration and restoration... Each time I have experienced the phenomenon of tending to a person who has ceased all life and activity and been able to restore them to life and consciousness... Each time I meditate upon the event of my receiving New Life the moment I met Jesus Christ as the Eternal Captain of my whole being... In each of these times I get a marvelous taste of the reality of resurrection... The reality of life coming back into a place where it had been, from which it had departed and now life had returned again just as vital as it was before and sometimes even more vital than before.

Death and I have met many times. We even wrestled a few times... Me to keep from going and secure justice... he to end my life and dispatch me from here. He has never succeeded. I am still here. Each time I have met an enemy on the field that has tried to take my life and he be in charge, I have survived and I am still here. Those enemies are not still here. Each time an event took place in which I should have been killed or injured, should not have survived... I am still here.

I believe in the keeping power of my Commander-In-Chief and my Eternal Keeper, the Holy Spirit. I have seen and experienced the Resurrection power of my Eternal Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ so I do not fear duty and performance in this life whenever it must take place.

This is my testimony of my Journey through this life as a Peace Keeper. First I tried it without a certain knowledge of God and His plan for me and life because no one had instructed me or could instruct me even when I asked.... As I worked as A Trooper, that brought me to know that I lacked something that I needed in order to be fully successful as a Peace Keeper.

I left peace keeping to find what I was missing... I needed it desperately. I made a lot of money but money was not what I needed. Those last few months of searching took away all the money and all the success I had gained up to that time. My wife became a nervous wreck. I was not able to meet my family's needs.

I learned how to contact Jesus Christ and dealt with Him personally. I prayed... All of life immediately turned around for me and I started an upward Journey that has been most rewarding and adventurous because it brought me back to the peace keeping profession and peace within. It was as though I had died and had been resurrected as a very different man. The adventure of the Journey has been amazing since I learned to do it His Way. I am not celebrating Easter which originally was a non-Christian Spring Festival... I am celebrating Resurrection and I celebrate Resurrection every day, not just one day in the Spring of the year... For knowing the reality of the Resurrection is a Way of Life... NEW LIFE!!!

Thank you for who you are, what you have done and what you are continuing to do. The battle is on and life in this world would be terrible if it were not for people like you in this world. My Commander-In-Chief calls you Ministers of Rightness in this world.
I am so glad that you are there. I would like to thank you in person and share some time and refreshments with you but since I cannot do that I do it by writing. My Commander-In-Chief and I are eternally grateful that you are there.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" SOMETIMES EVIL WINS, TEMPORARILY, AND TAKES A PEACE KEEPER OUT OF THE BATTLE... THESE SACRIFICES OF THE HEALTH AND LIVES OF PEACE KEEPERS ARE HARD FOR US TO BEAR. TRY NOT TO BE CAUGHT UNAWARES... ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary. Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others. See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you. Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.

Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.

My daughter, Donna, had another surgery this week, on Tuesday. She now has a new hole in her upper right abdomen that is large enough that I could place my balled up fist into it up to the base of my thumb. The surgeon found some foreign material and a web of tunnels that were oozing blood and dark fluid. He remove a large chunk of flesh cleaning it all out. When I examined the wound when she arrived home I found two more channels that he missed and advised him of their location in the upper wall of the wound amidst the bulging tissue. I will continue care to see if any further problem develops or if the channels stay clean and close. We are looking at many weeks of care for this hole so I will be here well into summer unless we receive a miraculous result. The wound on the right side is almost healed and the open wounds that were so terrible on the front of the abdomen are almost healed... So we have had some good progress. Thanks for all of the prayers.

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

Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!

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...
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper...

D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
Senior Chaplain and Chaplain Administrator VBPD,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety) VBPD
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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