STANDING DUTY…
WE ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR, THANK AND APPRECIATE OUR PEACE
KEEPERS ALL OF THE TIME!!!
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During the years of my early peace keeping career, we troopers
alternated the duty
of all holidays. I remember well those times it was my turn in the ice
and snow alone.
No restaurants nor businesses were open. Roads were often treacherous
but there
was seldom anyone else out there. One of the local restaurant
operators always
extended to me an open invitation to come to his home for food and
refreshments if
I had the time. Most times I could make it. It was a strange
phenomenon for me…
few others say the same thing… but I had no calls then between 6PM
Christmas Eve
and 6 PM Christmas Day… and have had only one call in the past few
years…
between the hours of 6 PM Christmas Eve and 6 PM Christmas Day…
That one call was for two pairs of shoes for two little boys who had
just lost all they had in a fire and needed shoes. Of course no place
was open
where they could be bought but the Chaplain Unit, the Police Department
and the
Sheriff's Department had personnel working together in a ministry of
helps for the
needy. It was just a short trip for me to the facility and a few
moments to find just the
right shoes for the boys and get back to my own home.
Many people wish me a quiet and merry Christmas. My usual answer is
that it will
be merry because of my relationship with my Eternal Captain (Jesus) and
with my
Commander-in-Chief (my Heavenly Father, Almighty God). With that one
exception
my Christmases have always been quiet… but life always speeds up and
takes over
again very quickly.
This season is a very difficult time for many people. Many are alone
and lonely.
Some are old, alone and lonely… some are not so old, but still lonely
and alone.
Some of the lonely and alone are on watch and combating evil in
homeland security…
some are on watch and in the same battle on foreign fields. The lonely
and alone
are often missing something or someone that was once very close to them
in their
personal lives but is now gone or so very, very far away and not
accessible.
Loneliness is a difficult fight if allowed to fill our conscious
thoughts. I know that from
too much experience of my own and with the experiences of others.
It was Christmas season, just eight years ago, that my dear wife and
sweetheart, Sue,
lost her battle with life and disease the day after Christmas… her
heart stopped and
she became totally paralyzed. I was there with her when she departed
this world
the day after New Year. Even now as I write this message on the day
after Christmas
I must often pull my conscious mind back to things at
hand because it wants to
wander back to things that once were that I will never experience again
in this
life. Pulling my
mind back to life at hand is a technique that I had to learn long ago.
It always works
as long as I use it to keep me in the right attitude and right state of
mind to deal with
life as it now is. Oh, I enjoy memories as much as anyone can but I
learned that if I
tarry there too long it hinders me from living now. When you make the
journey to the
enjoyable past… or think on the things that are planned in your
future that you look
forward to enjoying… enjoy but do not dwell there. The present
moment is all that
we really have and dwelling too long in the past or the future will
hinder the present.
Make plans and enjoy the possibilities. Enjoy memories and experience
again the
joy of them… But not for too long… If unpleasant memories come
up… Please do not
dwell there at all… Unpleasant memories dwelt upon hinder our
ability to live now…
Altering our attitudes to be less than productive and hindering the
quality of life that
you should and could have. Dwelling upon unpleasant memories can lead
to
depression and eventually to debilitation if the thoughts are not
caught and changed
to more useful thoughts or pleasant thoughts. A wise man said it so
well many
thousands of years ago… "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
(Proverbs 23:7)
I just received a letter today from a lady in Arkansas that is spending
a lonely Christmas. Her husband died in August and this is her first
Christmas without him. I identify and I pray for her as I pray for all
of those who read these words and for all Peace Keepers…
Peace, Success, Safety and Needs met today and every day!
Hundreds
of thousands of Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans have sought health care through
the Veteran's Administration medical system. Many thousands of Iraq
and Afghanistan
veterans have a preliminary diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Mental
problems are the second-most-common medical issue for veterans from
those
conflicts.
Hundreds of veterans are enrolled in the PTSD clinic at the
Hampton VA Medical Center. Many of them are Iraq and
Afghanistan
veterans.
One of my personal friends also attended that same clinic in Hampton.
His PTSD was
from WW2. We worked together over many years, became friends and
I had
the special blessing of being able to help him deal with this malady
when it hit him
too hard to deal with alone. He has passed from among us now and I
miss him dearly.
This condition can strike any Peace Keeper and/or anyone else following
an
especially stressful or traumatic event. We all need to be aware that
this condition
can strike any one of us from on duty causes and… We all need to know
that it can
happen sometimes from personal life causes… And the only defense that
works well
in the long term is controlling our thoughts and changing our thoughts
when we
realize that they are dwelling upon something that causes us pain of
any kind…
Including conscious emotional pain. We humans are wonderfully
constructed with
the ability to put our conscious thoughts upon whatever we want to put
them upon.
This is not a new thing and effective people have been using it for
thousands of
years.
Peace and liberty are purchased at great price. This is our time. We are here
now as inheritors of a great
legacy. What we do with it will determine what we pass on to those who
come after our time
here. I am most thankful that I have been allowed to make this journey
through life
with you. I am even more thankful that I have been allowed to see what
Peace Keepers have
done just within my life time among you. Acclamation to retirement has
been
difficult. That changed when I became a Traffic Safety/Community
Service Officer but I have been off from that job for 16 months taking
care of my daughter and her wound care. I am looking to see what the
Commander-in-Chief has in mind for me… Stay here… Go back to my
job… Or whatever else He might want when my daughter no longer needs
my constant care. The
adventure and the journey continue. I am looking forward to being
a part of this
great company of Peace Keepers for
as long as
I live and breathe.
For you I wish and pray for the peace that
passes all human understanding that
each of us may receive from Him. I pray for peace, health, strength,
power,
protection, provision and the greatest of blessing for each of you and
your loved
ones. Grace is always available in quantities greater than our
need… Please take advantage of what is available.
The gift of peace and liberty has been passed
on to you and I from so many others
that were willing to pay a great price. May you now enjoy those
blessings to the
fullest. There will be no lasting peace on earth until there is peace
within the heart of man… My Eternal Captain can provide that, but
only when each person wants it and invites Him to come to them and do
it for them.
As always… today and for all of your life
and service… "BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!!" Be alert, watchful,
suspicious and wary.
Take the greatest care of you as you provide peace and safety for
others. Please do not neglect the
spiritual facet of your life. You need it to be strong and you need it
to be a powerful
contributing part of you to all the fullness of you; to the fullness
of who you are; and
to the fullness of what you do.
Donna is in the hospital since Tuesday the
22nd. The surgeon found the deeply hidden pocket of necrotic flesh and
infection that I predicted was there. She has an open wound over 11
inches long and very deep. It poured infectious fluid for days after
the pocket was excised so greatly that the wound had to be cleaned and
packed every hour the first 24 hours because it soaked the dressing,
her and the bed… then every three hours… now they are doing it 4
times a day. The wound is being scrubbed with Betadine and then packed
with Betadine soaked gauze material. The procedure is horribly painful
and one nurse holds her head as she screams and cries while the other
tends the wound. A new germ has been found among the previous germs
and now she is on 2 broad spectrum antibiotics IV. She is so sore that
she can hardly move and the discharge date keeps being pushed further
away. She may not be home until next week. She was in the hospital
for Christmas and her birthday is next Thursday the 31st. It may sound
horrible but this is ground we had to gain in order to bring healing.
I will resume the wound care regimen when she comes home. Thanks for
the prayers and concern…
To subscribe to this free e-mail message for Peace Keepers, write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at 3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.