The news that I received about the death of Virginia State Trooper Andrew D. Fox greatly affected me for this past week… Trooper Fox was a very special, well educated and highly effective Law Enforcement Officer. He was recently stationed in the Southwestern part of the State in Pulaski, Virginia, after serving five years in Northern Virginia where I also served on my first duty station after graduation from Basic School. He had recently transferred as close to home as he could get just as I did as soon as it was possible for me. He started at the same age I did with VSP at age 22… He was from Tazewell in Tazewell County, Virginia… That was where I served my initial field training.
Trooper Fox was on special assignment near Richmond, Virginia when he was struck down by a jeep type vehicle as he was directing traffic at the Virginia State Fair on Friday night, October 5th… Traffic signal lights controlling the intersection were on flash and under Virginia Traffic Code that means proceed with great caution because, if a Law Enforcement Officer is performing manual traffic control, the officer is the ruling factor, not the traffic signal light. The vehicle stopped on top of him and Troopers and bystanders had to physically lift the vehicle to get Trooper Fox out from under it. Trooper Fox died that night from the injuries he received in the incident.
Oh, how I wish I could mount my steel pony and ride to his Celebration of Life Service to pay my respects in person… But, alas, I cannot! I survived my assignment with the Virginia State Police but Trooper Fox did not survive his… Some of these current incidents strike too close to home and they affect me deeply especially when they have similarities like Trooper Fox’s career in relation to mine. He paid the ultimate price for his service to all the rest of us. Please pray for Trooper Andrew D. Fox and his surviving young wife and his parents, family, friends and fellow Troopers.
This week I was also greatly affected by the life of a citizen who lived to a very ripe old age and was able to accomplish many great things for the betterment of life for all mankind. To follow the life of Thomas A. Edison in great detail was a mind staggering experience. To witness the things he discovered, thought out and invented was mind stretching and mind boggling!.. How could one man do so much?… God has to be the only answer to that question because those talents were instilled into the man for the benefit of us all!
Two lives… How greatly they affected me this week! One died so young doing the best job he could do for all of us. The other lived a very long and industrious life and died after he wore himself out in the process. I find the contrast amazing. It struck me powerfully when I first realized that contrast so many years ago… It still affects me greatly now!!!
Some are here for a very short time… Some are here for a very long time… Others leave this life at every age in between the extremes of life for only moments and very, very long life… The only knowledge we have in relation to our departure is conveyed to us often when someone we know departs this life in the experience we call death… I call it graduation. That incident in the lives of others will cause us to think on it unless we have resolved it for ourselves.
If we prepared during our lives according to the knowledge that was readily available to us to find, receive and use… We can be prepared for that departure from this life to an even greater life hereafter. That is available to all of us if we will ask, seek and knock. It took me a long time of seeking for me to make contact and gain the source of spiritual learning that I so desperately sought and needed… I found it at the age of 27… Thank God Trooper Fox found that knowledge sooner than I did for he departed this life at the age of 27. Have you found that knowledge for yourself? I surely pray that you have!!! Life is really tough without it!
I am so glad that I can pray daily as I have been instructed to do… And that I can ask for the guidance and direction of my Commander-In-Chief. Sometimes very little that I plan goes the way I desire it to go. Sometimes it is just small things that do not get fit into my plan and has to be ignored or accomplished later. Sometimes nothing that I plan gets done and I am directed to do many other and different things than I planned and all of my plans get put on hold. Any moment, any day, any week can be like this at any time because I have prayed in the beginning of each day for His Will and His Way to be manifest so clearly that I cannot miss it and so simple that I will be able to follow it in full detail…
He has my permission to interrupt at any time as He desires to do it. I find His way much more productive than mine when He has something He wants me to accomplish. If He does not intervene, then I use the plan I made and do what I can with it. I lived for 27 years needing His plan but I could not find anyone to help me make contact until I met Charley. When Charley introduced me to Him and we made contact, I asked Him to give me a hunger for knowledge of His way and for Him to teach me because no one else would do it… Charley had moved far away. Father literally took over and guided my way through His plan for me to learn His Way… Then He became my Commander-In-Chief. If you pray like that, be ready to do it, or get out of the way, because He answered me so powerfully that I wore out a new Bible that my wife had given to me for my birthday… He really wants us to know His way.
He has made His Way known to many to have asked to know… Abram who became Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, Sampson, Joshua, Caleb, Ester, Hannah, Jesse, David, Solomon, Joab, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, John the Baptist, Jesus the Christ, John the Beloved, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, Mary Magdelene, Steven, Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the Apostle… General Lew Wallace who wrote BEN HUR after he sought to prove that Paul could not have done all that the Bible and history says he accomplished… Charles G. Finney – the greatest Evangelist this country ever produced… Sergeant Alvin York of WW1, My personal friend, Rev. Dallas Plemmons, who was the sole survivor of three massacres during the Korean War when he was a soldier, was captured by the Chinese Communists and force marched with other captives into Manchuria and escaped as the sole survivor… My dear friend Charley who came to know the Lord Jesus Christ so closely that he could introduce me to Him and get me started on this high speed rocket ride I have been on for 44 years… Many more have come to know Him since I met Him, because of that introduction that I received, and He is still in business!!! Because He is still in business as my Eternal Captain, I sit here weekly and write what I receive to you that you might know what He can do in your life and be greatly affected also.
My tribute to Trooper Fox and to all other Peace Keepers who have given the full measure of sacrifice… My love, care and concern for all Peace Keepers today, the dead, the living, active and retired, knows no bounds… My spirit literally bursts as the love, care and concern flow to, through and from me for all of you Peace Keepers of law enforcement and the military out there in this world who are moment by moment doing whatever it takes to make life better for your fellow citizens and other people in this world… You are marvelous and amazing!!! The world as we know it could not exist today if it were not for all of you being where you are, doing what you do and have done for peace and safety… THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! BE GREATER BLESSED… GO HOME SAFELY AT THE END OF YOUR TOUR!!! WE ALL NEED ALL OF YOU!!!
“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 yourself. Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful. All of this is by your own choice… He has made provision for you but it is up to you to learn it, take it and put it to use for the best results possible.
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.
Donna was informed that the Cortisone shot she was given in her broken foot/ankle was part of the fungus contaminated material causing Meningitis. She became very ill at the end of last week, had surgery on a lymph gland in her leg this week that was swollen and very sore. The surgeon removed a portion of the greatly swollen gland for testing, removed a blood clot from beneath it and other icky material as she described it… She has been staying at her sister’s house since last week and was some better today but the wound was giving her some problems. Now she has another challenge to overcome.
Donnie still has more work than he can get done so I do not see nor hear from him very much.
I have recovered from some kind of situation causing me digestive distress and physical weakness. These last three days have been so very much better. My strength is returning.
Thanks for the responses, phone calls and the care concern and prayers. It is all working well. I appreciate you all so very, very much!!!
As it has always been… So it still is!!!
“VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST…
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST…
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN.” Sun tzu
Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT…
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)…
BE SUCCESSFUL… BE SAFE…
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace... it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for… and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live… with Him and for you I serve…
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not…
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper…
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer,
RETIRED Police Instructor,
RETIRED Chaplain Administrator,
Chaplain Emeritus,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety),
Virginia Beach Police Dept.
Blackwater Alumni
757-486-3881, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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Except for quoted material attributed to a specific source, all material in CHAPLAIN CORNER is my personal opinion gained from 50 years of working with people in peace keeping and is not to be construed to represent the policies and opinions of any department with whom I have served or am serving.
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write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.
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