We live in a world in turmoil. Politics, economics, earthquakes, storms, overcrowding, human suffering, piracy, lawlessness, war, injury and death. There is no country in existence that is not in some kind of difficulty… Some are in worse difficulty than others. China is the largest and they are seeking to dominate world trade because of the low cost of their labor force and manufacturing production. Loaded ships come to the U.S. from China and return to China empty because we are buying from them rather than make our own and we are not exporting goods to China anymore. Check the products you see when you shop… Where were they made?… Predominantly China. Check those products for quality and you will find them often sorely lacking in quality and workmanship.

Then there are the Muslims seeking to dominate because their countries control the oil markets and their religion seeks to dominate everyone who is not Muslim.

All of this effort to control gets down to where you and I must function just to live and it hits us hard. A tank of fuel oil cost me over $100.00 more last year than the year before and the first one this year cost me $50.00 more than last year… but the cost of living index did not rise so my Social Security is not going to be increased this year and next… But they raised my medical insurance premiums so I will get less money to pay for the same things that are needed daily… And politicians wonder why there is a great cry coming from the people… Unemployment just exceeded 10% again, rising for December instead of dropping as they predicted… Some places have 16% unemployment… Some even higher… And they wonder why there is a great cry coming from the people.

The Healthcare Plan being considered by Congress plans to take from Social Security, into which I paid all of my life, and use it to fund the health insurance for those who cannot afford to buy their own insurance and have never put a penny into Social Security… Are they going to pay for my insurance that was just raised??? Not likely!… But they wonder why the popularity of the Democratic President and the Democratic party is dropping rapidly… It is all because those of us at the lower economic living level have been squeezed more than many of us can stand and still survive… I did not say still live… I said still survive.

The economic downturn makes more work for Peace Keepers because frustrated people need more peace keeping. The economic downturn causes more law breaking because people do things to survive that they would not ordinarily do… Yet governments are seriously in the red economically so that the ability to keep paying for active and retired Peace Keepers is being questioned. Just plain survivability is being questioned by some governmental agencies.

All of this affects most people negatively and increases the load on the Peace Keepers and all citizens. People who cannot live alone or separately any longer move in with others… Habits clash… Stress or Dis-Stress increases… People turn to many methods of releasing stress… Drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity, violence, road rage, theft and then right on into the more difficult, more costly crimes of burglary, rape, robbery, assault, injury and murder… Multiple households in one home can foster violent friction and battles… Grown, sometimes married, children return home to live with parents with whom they no longer agree… Reduced economics have a dangerous affect upon the people who can least afford it and least able to deal with it. Households are calling many places to get help for food and utility bills… But little help is available because charities have already been hard hit and have no funds with which to help… Or the ones who have helped them before will not or cannot help them again.

All of this creates despair and discouragement… People lose hope… They become more desperate… Some of the same problems now being given world attention in Haiti are happening right here at home and not getting any attention because there are no funds available through work and jobs nor through charities sufficient enough to make up the great needs… And the government programs that do exist are exhausted because of demand.

There is only one hope for the United States of America… We must have a return to the conservative view of the Constitution, the conservative view of law and the conservative view of living… To the honest ideals of a more productive, more peaceful time. We must return to the business attitude of not subsidizing a business just because it is about to fail. Businesses begin and fail every day. I have conducted several businesses, simultaneously, all of my adult life just to be able to give a good life to my family. Some of those efforts have been successful… Some have failed… Some I closed… Some I downsized. Let business find it’s own level… Supply and demand… Or Demand and supply. Businesses will pick up again… Jobs will be available again. Let business find it’s own level instead of printing more money not backed by anything except our ability to earn and pay taxes and throwing the money backed by debt upon us at the business problems. Assisted banks are now declaring tremendous profits. The man in the President’s seat wants to tax those profits… Now the banks are hollaring.

Of course I am living in a much more crowded place and crowded world than where I grew up. I am living in a much more progressive society than the one I knew as a young person. I am living in a society so open to evil and temptation that what was forbidden in my youth is common place in public today.

All of this has cost us much more than most individuals will ever comprehend. I have lived through the changes and observed them as they were taking place. I have watched and listened as society’s moorings were altered. I have watched as predicted, projected societal changes reshaped themselves or, in some cases, simply disappeared.

The world system calls it all progress. I do not see it all that way, but I have to live in spite of the changes and the fluctuations. That means finding new and better, more economical ways of doing things or just letting go of some things I cannot afford to pay for anymore or do any more. It means doing the same job or profession for less take home pay. It means making compromises… It means doing more with less… It means that I must learn to adjust my economy because my major resource, the church where I am principally employed, is the first societal entity to feel the economic crunch of high costs of living and low pay or no pay because of lowered income to employers.

All of the preceding information and opinions are simply called “LIFE”! Life is what happens to you while you are making plans to do other things. I would go to Haiti to help there, where I have been twice before, but I have a disabled, injured, wounded daughter to care for here. Sometimes we must take care of the one rather than the many. That is described by me as doing the best you can with what you have where you are and leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible. During Katrina I wanted to go so badly to the Gulf Coast but could not because of obligations here… I wanted to go to Iraq to assist in training police and security forces but I could not go for the same reasons… I wanted to respond to 9/11 but was caring for a dying wife and running Hemo-dialysis on her three times a week and I could not go…

In spite of all of the things I could not do, I have done many that made a difference to someone. I have been a very effective teacher for those who wanted to learn what I knew and could convey to them in relation to professions, peace keeping, life itself, survival, success and Christianity. I have written many volumes but few have really read what I have written… I will continue to write still more as time and opportunity present themselves. I may not be able to change nor affect the whole world… But I have made a big difference for a few. I have done, and will continue to do, the very best I can with what I have where I am… And leave the rest to God or to whomever else is responsible. Even if I cannot do a lot, I will do what I can. Even if I cannot save all people from death and destruction, I will do what I can for those with whom I have opportunity.

As I look back over the journey traversed to this moment I can be blessed, be at peace and be satisfied, even if I were to not live to write another word nor to perform another action…

I have known some of the most precious people to ever walk this planet.

I have been blessed to sit under the teaching, training and influence of some of the most effective teachers who ever had a student…

I have been blessed to closely love and intimately know a woman who was beautiful inside and out…

I have been blessed and challenged to be parent to three natural born children, one adopted child and 17 foster children…

I have had few friends but the few I have had have been the very best for the times we were together…

I have been blessed with the talent to achieve whatever I decided to do with my life…

I have been able to meet challenges that many people said could never be done…

I have seen the invisible and done the impossible…

And I have failed in many simple tasks but the failures were not for lack of making the effort

In all of this there have been two common factors… Me… And God… And there was never a time that I did not know He was real… It just took 27 years to find out how available He was to me. Since I personally met the Lord Jesus Christ and connected with God the Father, He has never failed me!

Other than my relationship with the Living God, my most enjoyable times have been:
When I was with my wife…
When I was preaching, teaching or instructing…
Helping someone get up from a difficult place in life…
Participating in a miracle…
Being a Peace Keeper…

To you today I convey this challenge… No matter who you are nor what you do or do not do… Decide to be the very best you can be and make the differences you can make as you travel through your world. Whatever it is, wherever it is, at any moment… Just be the very best you can be at that moment and leave the outcome in the hands of God or whomever else is responsible… Giving your all to each situation. Work smarter. Be more pro-active. Learn and apply all you learn! When you finish a situation, assignment or performance, evaluate it, see if you can improve and set your mind to improve where you can and take deep satisfaction in what you have already achieved. If you do this you will arrive at the end of your career, and ultimately at the end of your life, experiencing a glow within and an enormous satisfaction that you made the trip and affected the world you traveled through for it’s ultimate good.

One more request… Do business with my Eternal Captain, Jesus Christ, so that I may see you in the Kingdom of God even if I never see you here. He has been the source of my greatest joy, my longevity of life and all of my successes.

Peace Keepers, you have been a major part of my life. I thank each one of you for that. It has been a tremendous journey and I am so happy to have made the journey in your company and been associated with all of you. My Commander-In-Chief and I thank you for who you are and for what you do. The world as you and I have known it would not exist if it were not for people like you in it. Be greater blessed and know that you are ETERNALLY APPRECIATED!!!

“BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!” 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.

As it has always been… So it still is!!!

Provided by Chaplain Don Staton

Did you find this information helpful? If you did, consider donating.

Related posts:

1. The Present Moment
2. Chaplain's Column: What Can Come After