Chaplain Bill Wolfe
Llano County Sheriff’s Department
Hi and welcome once again to the Chaplain’s Corner. Good to see ya. J
New World Dictionary definition: per-haps adv. possibly; maybe.
Perhaps…maybe…who knows?...Lord willing. <sigh> all sorts of ways I could go here. Yes…yes…all sorts. But there I feel that there is someone out there – I’m sure there is someone – that needs a bit of encouragement.
Encouragement!? Nah. Every officer in every department is fired up and ready to go; on board; 100%. We have to deal with the public, equipment, promotions, the public, the chain of command, spouses and family, the public and elected officials. What’s to get us down? Ummm...all of the above? Yes, I think it’s safe to say that at least one of the above has got a bunch of you this month, but the ones I want to talk to in particular this month are the ones that are discouraged about the job.
Perhaps. Interesting word now that I ponder on it. The two words that the dictionary uses to define it could have somewhat opposite connotations: the word “maybe” expressing an element of doubt and second guessing; the word “possibility” expressing an element of optimism. The latter is our focus. J
For our Scripture lesson this month I want to take us into the Old Testament, to a story that takes up a whole Book, albeit a small one, by the name of Esther. The more I look at Esther’s story, the more police parallels I see. I’ll give you the “Chaplain Bill condensed paraphrased version” of the story (meaning I’m leaving out a bunch of details). The events recorded in the Book of Esther happened around 470 B.C., about 9 years after Esther had graduated from the academy…I mean become Queen. Suffice it to say, she found herself in a position where she had a choice to make. A lot of people were about to be affected by some bad decision making on the part of the King, over which they had no control. Esther’s choices were that she could put her life on the line to protect the lives of people she didn’t even know (some probably didn’t even like her) or “pack it up and go home.” Hmmm….that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
So, what does she do? She goes and talks to the Chaplain, I mean, her uncle. And her uncle puts it to her this way: “Perhaps you have come into the Kingdom for just such a time as this.” Being from Texas, J Esther said “I reckon yo’re right.” So she asks the Chaplain, I mean, her uncle, to be in prayer for her; plans her strategy and steps into harm’s way not knowing what the outcome will be, not knowing if anyone would later thank her; she just knows she’s got it to do, and she gets it done.
“Perhaps you have come into the Kingdom for just such a time as this.” I did a lot of talking just to get us to where, perhaps, we can find encouragement in this thought.
Whatever our role in law enforcement might be, we can find all sorts of reasons to be discouraged with our jobs. Somewhere out there a patrol officer is sitting in his/her car or the squad room feeling lonely and thinking “What’s the point? Am I really needed out there?” The answer is: yes. I’m sure you veteran officers can say “amen” to this: some day, some time there will be a situation arise where you are in the proverbial “right place at the right time.”
I’m a firm believer in the concept that God does place individuals in the “right place at the right time.” Sometimes that placement will prevent an incident, it may be that your presence will prevent a situation from becoming worse. I can’t tell you what it will be or when it will be in your career, and it’s probably not going to be a once-in-a-career thing. It may be that you’ll be presented with one of those circumstances when you have the choice to take a life-threatening risk or turn and run. When it happens, ask yourself “Perhaps…”
I’m certain that if you’ll just hang on, the time is coming when someone will say to you: “I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t come when you did.” Again, I can’t give you specifics for your life, but I can give a quick example.
We have a reserve officer for the City, 717. He is a trained, career hospital nurse. I believe God put it into his heart to choose to put on the badge this past Tuesday. His partner, 704, has trained as a medic. First crack out of the box: a 3-vehicle 10-50 – 5 flown out. Then roughly five hours later, a 2-year-old girl gets hit by a pickup out in the street. You can guess who were first on the scene. What are the chances you have two medically trained officers in the same car? What are the chances that you have a nurse who lives and works almost 40 miles away on duty the day you have two such accidents?
“Perhaps…” It’s just possible that tomorrow will be your turn to be in the “right place,” and you may not know it until after it’s all over. J
Think about it and I’ll talk with you next “shift.”
Blessings to you and yours.
Chaplain Bill
llanochaps@moment.net
