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I have been fortunate enough to be bi-vocational for many years. Both vocations dealt with people.  Both vocations have been a training and proving ground in God's creative process. As a law enforcement officer for 23 years, I had the opportunity to interact with people at their worst, the worst kind of people, people who were hurting and people who hurt others. Some I could help and some I couldn't.  Law enforcement, as a vocation, taught me discipline, self reliance, character, patience and gave me a broad base of experience in working with all types of people in all kinds of situations.  The skills I developed were the ones I would need and use daily in the Ministry. Even though many of my friends and acquaintances thought it odd that I was a cop who became a minister,  I found that both vocations worked hand in hand with each other. My formal training provided some answers to theological questions and formed a base-line for the practical application of the message of Jesus in today's reality. It wasn't until I stepped out in faith and began to apply God's word to each situation and opportunity, to literally walk the faith walk, that I grew to understand who I was and what the Lord was molding me into. All my law enforcement experiences taught me wonderful, priceless lessons about life. I found there were times I wore both hats, the cop's and the minister's. Both were so overlapping, at times, they became one on me. Let me share an example of what I mean.

Sometimes a policeman's job is a very frustrating and demanding profession. I remember once holding the hands of a mother and father while they absorbed the death of their only child on the night he graduated from high school.  He had been drinking before the graduation exercises began and continued afterwards. At 10:30 PM, he and two other graduates were going from one party to another.  On a back country road, he lost control and drove his car off the road, through a ditch and a field, landing with his car almost vertical on the trunk of an oak tree. One of his friends was thrown from the car and sustained no injuries.  One laid down in the back seat and survived with no injuries. He struck the steering wheel and the windshield and died from a crushed chest.

I was the first unit to arrive on the scene. Other law enforcement personnel and the paramedics arrived within minutes. The paramedics began immediately to try to revive the unfortunate young man. His parents were next to arrive and as they surveyed the scene their fears and anguish could be heard.  They rushed to their son and had to be physically restrained from interfering with the paramedics while they tried to save his life. As the ambulance rushed him to the nearest hospital, I followed with the parents in my patrol car. I was able to help them vent and I prayed with them that the Lord would sustain them through this terribly tragic situation. He was their only son and all their hopes and desires were threatened by what they faced.

I believe that God used me as his emissary that night to help mom and dad over a very difficult rough place on the road of life. At 2:00 AM, the next morning we were sitting in a conference room, holding hands, praying and sorting through memories of their precious son. Because I was a cop, I was there. Because I was a minister, I could share.

I have been retired from law enforcement for five years now.  I am asked occasionally if I miss it.  My answer is "Yes" and "No."  Since I am so satisfied and fulfilled now just wearing the minister's hat, I wouldn't want to go back to work as a cop. But the cop in me is so ingrained in me, such a part of my personality, so to speak, that I am never separated from it for very long. I share stories and experiences in my sermons and use it for fodder in counseling sessions. I am the product of being bi-vocational.