Chaplain Bill Wolfe
Llano County Sheriff’s Department
"763, Llano. I just hit a deer. Stand by for damage report." Bother! I did it again! This time it was 60 mph, a 100 pound doe and no time to react. <sigh> This time I went and broke more than just the mirror. Fortunately the County puts deer guards on the cars, so it wasn’t as bad as could have been.
Hi and welcome back to the Chaplain’s Corner. Before I get started I want to extend my condolences to all the departments that have lost officers this year. In Texas we’ve had three officers down in less than 30 days.I’m writing here just a couple of days after the Henderson County, TX shootings and I’m still a little staggered by it. That makes nine in Texas alone so far this year. That’s more than enough.
This month I want to use deer guards and patrol cars for my illustration, bet ya never would have guessed. I know you city folks don’t have deer guards on your patrol vehicles and you probably don’t need them, but out here in the country they make a difference. (City slickers put deer guards on pickups for show, so I know you know what deer guards are.) One thing they’re good for is that when you see a deer guard and overheads, you can tell right away it’s a county officer.
Okay, time to use your imagination a little. I want to use the CV to represent our lives. Those of you that drive Expeditions may have to use a little more imagination.☺ I know we don’t use a vehicle, as such, to simply get us through life, but if you’ll bear with me. as we go through life, sometimes we just feel lazy and we "drive slowly." Sometimes we’ve got a hundred things to do at once and we "run hot, but not code." Sometimes something great happens and we "hit the overheads and siren" and make a lot of noise. If you’re like me, working regular shift plus a second job, sometimes we simply "run out of gas."
Regardless of how fast we’re running though life, there are all sorts "traffic hazards" that we have to dodge as best we can. Sometimes we can see the obstacle a good ways off and have time to formulate a defense. Sometimes it’s just a pothole that seemed to jump out in front of us and we get jolted, but keep on going. Sometimes things to come out of nowhere, not giving us time to react (let alone figure out an evasive move) and we have a "wreck."
So here’s where the deer guard comes into play. The idea behind the deer guard is that in a collision damage is very likely, but the guard will help minimize the damages sustained. (Granted, there are a number of factors that enter into the "equation.") The deer guard, in my little illustration here, equates to our faith in God, our relationship with Him.
We are going to "hit things" with little or no warning in our lives. The things we "hit" all have varying abilities to do "damage" to us. small things when we’re moving slow - no big deal, not much threat of damage. It’s when we collide with the big things that our "deer guard" comes into play. Not only the presence or absence of the guard, but the strength of our "deer guard" will have a bearing on how much damage we sustain.
There are all kinds and qualities of literal deer guards on the market. They vary in gauge of the metal, the quality of the welds, how solidly they attach to the vehicle. The stronger the build and the more solid the attachment, the less the damage. Switching back to our "philosophical deer guard," when the "major wreck" happens and you have no guard or all you have is "my folks sent me to Sunday School when I was a kid forty years ago," well .. chances are the "welds" are gonna pop and the "metal’s" gonna bend.
God is like a cop: He tells it like it is. He never said we’d get through this life without having any wrecks. What He said was "I’ll go through life, and the wrecks, with you IF you want Me to. It will be easier on you if we do it together, but.it’s your choice."
One more quick analogy and I’ll let you get back to work. Prayer is like the body shop; God the "paint & body man." When you wreck out, you take the vehicle into the shop and discuss the damages with the expert. God is the Expert when it comes to repairing damaged lives. He’s been doing it for more years than either of us has been alive. Prayer is just telling the Expert what happened and where the damage is.
I don’t know just how the repairs will be affected on my CV when I take it in, and I don’t know just how God "bangs out the dents" and "matches the paint." I think that when John fixes my car, he’ll start from the "inside" and work his way out. God does it the same way. He starts repairs in our hearts and minds.
Think about it and I’ll be back again next month. Until then: blessings to you and yours.
Chaplain Bill
llanochaps@moment.net
