Attack where the Enemy Isn't -

So there I was, sitting there eating my lunch in the crowded cafeteria at the large hospital where I work - my back to a wall, gun at my side, and me in the perfect spot to see anybody and everyone around me. I happened to observe a certain man with dark eyebrows, wearing some sort of red sweater, perhaps with some festive holiday or Christmas design, but nothing that brings clear memory of detail. I watched him pass by and thought nothing else of him, and I continued to eat my sandwich.

Shortly after downing the sub sandwich, I began eating my chips. I looked up and in the direction of one of the eateries in the cafeteria, the same man, whom I recognized, began walking directly towards my carefully and intentionally selected corner table - with purpose. The paranoid novelist inside could see something strange unfolding, but the professional in me smiled and acknowledged him with a "Hello - how are you?"
The stranger smiled in return, and held two small paper bags from the bakery, and said, "Couldn't help but notice you don't have a dessert. You want chocolate chip, or oatmeal?"
I thought for a moment, and said hesitantly, "Chocolate chip?"

"Chocolate chip it is, sir. Just wanted to say thank you for your service and what you do. Have a great day." Then he placed the chocolate chip cookie bag down next to me on the table. I replied with a words of thanks, and he nodded and walked on his merry way.

So I wolfed down the chocolate chip cookie accordingly, and of course, I started thinking.
Although the paranoid, cynical law enforcement officer in me suspected poison, I was overwhelmed by the random act of kindness. And then I realized, at that moment, when he presented me with an unconditional gift - evil was nowhere to be found...at least not in my vicinity.

The Bible tells us that God, and His Son, are wherever two or more are gathered in His name. So God, and His Son, have the power to be omnipresent. They can be in several places at once (especially on Sundays, no?)
But Satan is shown time and time again in the Bible to only carry out attacks one place at a time. Sure, the 'lord of the air' can mount multiple points of attack with his minions; his demons. But he DOES NOT have the same power as God.

So that is what I was thinking about as I realized the absence of evil in that place, at that time...and I started thinking further. What if all this safety and security, and defense training, while serving its purposes, really isn't what God wants us to use in the constant fight against evil until He comes again.? What if...we are supposed to attack where the enemy isn't?

In other words, when there is no sign or evidence of evil about us, in the presence of strangers - we kill people with kindness. We 'attack the enemy' by showing random acts of kindness. Then someone else notices those acts, and they pay it forward to others. And the action becomes contagious, and spreads, and explodes! What if we could do this, and make it harder and harder for evil to have a place to go in the first place.

Now don't get me wrong; I am still a sheep dog at heart, and I want to attack a wolf when I see him and know he is a wolf. But let's encourage each other to do more random acts of kindness when evil is NOT present, and maybe...just maybe - evil will run out of places to hide.

The Haunted House of Success

So I was thinking about opportunity as it applied to my 13 year old son. Ever since he was 7 years old, he has had aspirations of one day being an officer in the US Air Force. He has recently become active in the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet, and he and I have taken steps along the way to encourage success in this pursuit of his dream. Now he is only 13, so he has plenty of time, unknown events, and opportunity ahead of him. The problem he has had to face most of his childhood has been respiratory health. As a parent, this concerns me - because I know that at a certain point, the branches of the military will look down on his health history if it effects him much longer...so I got to thinking about that word opportunity, as it relates to open and closed doors.

I have enjoyed many opportunities to walk through several open doors in my professional life. I have initiated professional careers in education, fitness, coaching, law enforcement, and writing. I have had doors that I pushed open myself, and I have had doors, or opportunities, open to me. It was up to me to take those opportunities - to walk through those doors.

This brought to mind the imagery of a scary movie - an image of a person stuck in a haunted house, trying to escape. For the person who is trapped in that scary house, it may seem convenient sometimes to find doors along the way...doors they think may lead them to a way out - a way to 'break through' to the outside. Because this is a movie we are talking about, some doors appear out of nowhere; some doors they see way down the hall. Some doors might look frightening, and they think there is no way they are going through that one! Others seem convenient. Perhaps a certain ladder suddenly hangs down from the ceiling that appears to break through to the outside via the roof. Sometimes these doors are only open for a little while, then slam shut when you least expect it. And then sometimes, some doors may even seem like the only way to go, but there is a huge, ugly monster they must get by just to reach the door.

Does this not relate to perhaps how a young person could view the journey to success in this world? On my journey through this professional world, I have taken on some career paths because they were convenient at the time. I have taken others because a door was suddenly open to me, and I thought I saw a unique path to 'break on through to the other side.' I know some people may take what appears to be the easy path - the most convenient doors, while others want to climb that ladder hanging before them and go straight to the top. My current path in law enforcement is a door that both I chose to take, and one that is in line with other goals. But the ultimate path I want to take, to achieve my real 'breakthrough', if you will - is the opportunity I discovered, that seems to line up with a certain divine purpose; the opportunity to succeed in a writing career. But there is this huge ugly monster in the way; this monster has many heads, with names on their foreheads like Target Audience, Critics, Platform, Advertising, and Publishing! My initial intentions were to take this monster head-on; but I didn't realize how many heads it would have. I am slowly realizing that this daunting task will take time, and maneuvering. But I will break out of this haunted house!

Which brings me back to the task ahead for my son, and perhaps other people out there. I hope I can help my son realize that there is no one way to go to become successful. There will be ups and downs, and just when you think you might be walking through the right doorway, that door slams shut. For my boy, that could be his asthma. That may be the only reason the Air Force doesn't accept him - OR - maybe that's just the big ugly monster in the way. Either way, I want him - and others - to realize that you don't have to feel pigeon holed or cornered into one career path.

So...what has your haunted house of success looked like?

'Dabo', Garth, ...and Suffering in this world?

"I told them, 'We give you scholarships, we give you stipends and meals and place to live. We give you nice uniforms. I can't give you guts and I can't give you heart.' And tonight, it was BYOG: bring your own guts," Dabo Swinney told reporters after a hard fought win in a torrential down-pour, against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Now I know, I will be the first to admit, I am a self-professed biased Clemson fan, who likes to see the world through orange colored glasses often. But if you read that quote from my favorite coach, and break it down...it speaks volumes!

And as I thought back to those words spoken by the exuberant football coach, I thought of how many people out there in the world refuse to accept the Word of God, simply because they don't understand how a loving God could just let us all go through this world and have to put up with so much suffering. When it comes right down to it, a football coach is one who gets his players to go through high school and college life, and teaches them lessons along the way. They go out there and have to take on the cuts, the bruises, the tackles, the slobber-knocking hits, the pain and suffering of workouts, the cruddy weather, the coaches yelling in their faces...you know - stuff that me, personally, never volunteered to do growing up. But I have seen others who have, and I have seen how they are better for it. Now, does this not reflect life...as a Christian? Here is the kicker - you don't have to play for that coach. You can try to play football somewhere else. You can choose not to play football at all. But if you decide to follow that coach...where is he trying to lead you?

Now look at this from a Christian perspective. God gives us the perfect life coach in Jesus Christ. Christ came to Earth and taught us everything we need to know in life. He taught us how to pray, what to believe, and what is meant to be. And He even warned us of the suffering to come, just as plenty of football coaches, such as Dabo, will tell his players what to expect - if they want to win the prize. But just like those football coaches, nobody is forcing anyone to follow Christ. Jesus shows the way, but you don't have to put on His uniform; you can choose not to follow Him. You have to BYOG - Bring Your Own Guts, to follow Him and see where it will take you.

All this got me thinking even more when I was on my way home from church, and a Garth Brooks song played on my CD. These words, of a father raising a child, jumped out at me from the song:

"You can cry for them; live and die for them; you can help them find their wings, but you can't fly for them.
'Cause if they're not free to fall - then they're not free at all, and though you just can't bear the thought of letting go...
"You pick'em up....dust'em off...and send'em on down the road."

How much like a father is a good coach? How much is God like the ultimate Father? Does He not weep for us? Read the New Testament...He has wept. Christ lived and died for Us, and Lives again! And if you turn to God and ask for help, He can help you find your wings to take off for Him to do anything you can imagine.

But He still has to let us fall. He still has to let us fail - so we can learn to pick ourselves back up again. And what does it take to get back up and keep going?

Guts.

Isiaiah 25:8 says -
 He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
This is a great Old Testament description of where the ultimate life coach says He will take us. But if you are going to follow the ultimate Father; the Ultimate coach - you have to be willing to suit up. I may not have suited up for a real football coach like some of my best friends - or like my own little brother. But I am willing to suit up now - and follow the Lord.

So BYOG people...let's follow Jesus. And get your Bibles - your playbooks if you will...
And let's go to work :)

Sheep Dogs

I have written a blog on protecting and serving before, and how I have felt called to do just that as a profession. However, I want to look at things at a slightly different angle; I want to take a look at it from the perspective of a sheep dog. Both military and law enforcement have been entrusted with protecting the innocent - the sheep, if you will - from the wolves...the evil people in this world.

Now, these sheep...they don't like the way the wolves look. They don't like seeing a wolf prey upon one of their fellow sheep. As a matter of fact, they can even bare some of their own fangs sometimes - but only for a moment. Most of the time when this big bad wolf is harming a sheep, and a sheep dog is at the sheep's disposal, then they have no problem when the sheep dog comes to the rescue. But there are a couple of things that the sheep and sheep dogs must realize about each other.

First of all, sometimes, a sheep dog can't just bare its teeth and growl and scare the wolf away. Sometimes, the sheep dog has to go all in, actually fight the wolves...and that fight can be messy (you know, shootings, people resisting arrest, tasing, use of force caught on video, etc.). So it may even disturb the sheep when the fight gets messy; this messy fight may get the sheep to look at us sheep dogs with caution, concern, and even fear. Sometimes, the sheep just don't realize what was necessary for the fight.

Second, the sheep need to realize that sometimes, sheep become wolves themselves...or were wolves all along. The very people that seemed okay to trust detect a moment of weakness or vulnerability in a fellow sheep, and they throw off the sheep skin and prey upon that sheep. Enter the sheep dog, to help the victim sheep. But lo and behold, but who ends up being seen as the enemy? Why, the sheep dog, or course...because no sheep would ever want to admit to being fooled by their fellow sheep, when all along that person was really a wolf.

And third, since the best thing to fight the wolves with big sharp teeth is another set of big sharp teeth, sometimes the sheep dogs can be just as scary as the wolves. Some sheep dogs might not even mean to come across that way to the sheep, but they just can't help it. Then there are those sheep dogs who become rabid; infected by the same evil hunger that effects the wolves, and the sheep that go bad.

I was thinking about this today, as once again, I saw all the media bashing of law enforcement, and all the people out there with common sense that still see the need for the 'sheep dogs'. And it occurred to me that I don't need to get too offended - or surprised even - by the people out there who are afraid of cops...afraid of the sheep dogs. Although I intend to be nothing but protective in my job when I am in uniform, it is still easy to tell that some sheep, no matter how evil the wolves get, will never want to trust the sheep dogs, with their big pointy teeth, sitting right there on their hip.