Quiet and Peaceable Life?

 

I Timothy 2:1-2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Every job has its stressors and pressures.  However, in corrections they are magnified and increased by those we are keeping in custody. Inmates add an element of inexpressible strain.

As we are responsible for maintaining safety and security while managing populations of convicted felons, we experience demands on a different level than someone working in a factory or at McDonald’s.  Let’s face it, hamburgers don’t OD, hang themselves, throw bodily fluids, or escape off the grill.

The verse references being able to lead a “quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”  How does one live that while working in corrections? Can this even be possible with deaths in custody, overdoses, the mentally ill, escapes, forced overtime, low wages, staffing issues,  and staff assaults? 

Our grasp and subsequent hold of an individual often proves to be crucial as we fulfill our duties in corrections.  Likewise, there are benefits for us to have a mental grasp and cling to an understanding of the importance of our job and the authority God has given us.  Our main duty is to keep those in our charge inside the walls.  This firm grip coupled with an unwavering personal relationship with Jesus Christ, establishes us in a better position to deal with PTSD and other complications threatening a quiet and peaceable life, that characteristically arise from such an unnatural work environment.

 

Seeking Christ in Critical Incidents

Our legal system is based on Judeo-Christian principles in which God has given us the authority to do our work. Experiencing critical incidents is a part of our profession, no doubt. As we seek to process the personal aftermath of critical incidents, it’s valuable to remember that we are more than just flesh and blood.  While a number of various groups have organized and published programs to utilize and offer a measure of support, may we determine to go to God when problems arise, rather than abandoning the unlimited resources found in the Bible. 

People help us and give suggestions, but realize that even those with the best of intentions and the greatest degree of compassion are merely human.  Those giving aid have struggles too, and even those who would give spiritual direction, lack the ability to give a flawless individualized answer.  Rather than relying on someone who is not perfect, we can find that a deepening of our relationship with the Lord has far reaching benefits.  A supportive counselor can help, but Christ is the only one who can guide us into all truth. The Lord is never deficient, and we can depend on Him to completely understand, provide enlightenment, and bring hope and healing to us.

Pride–Your Personal Assassin

An assassin takes any advantage that affords itself and uses all kinds of devices in order to take down the target.  These trained agents masterfully disguise and deceive to accomplish a mission.

Satan himself is the master assassin and instructor in pride. Our flesh latches tightly to that innate selfish sinful tendency.  Just as the devil, the original assassin, can appear in different forms (2 Corinthians 11:14), so pride, our personal assassin appears in many different ways with the same purpose in mind–to kill. Pride destroys relationships. God rehearses instructions to us about the pitfalls of pride and the view we are to have toward it. 

David approached the battle with the Philistine in I Samuel 17, with humility.  Just because you’re a man after God’s own heart doesn’t mean you don’t fight and do what needs to be done or say what needs to be said.  When we engage motivated by pride, others are hurt, and so are we.  At the root of destruction, pride is found.  Certainly, since God is the one who “teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight,” He has equipped us with the key to carry out our duties including the use of force, in humility.  The only thing stronger than the assassin of pride is humility.  We have the source of humility within us if we know Christ.  He is the Master of Humility.

Phillippians 2:1-8 “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” When you humble yourself it will be seen.  We train for many things in our profession, let’s determine to be instructed in the humility of Christ, realizing we are just dust held together by God’s hand.  We need not die on a physical cross, but we can die daily to our own will and let Christ be seen in our lives.

  

 

Suited Up For CERT

At times, all attempted means to resolve a situation are exhausted, leaving no other alternative than to suit up and deal with it. CERT has a definite purpose in corrections that demands specific equipment designed to help its members achieve the desired outcome of restoring order in an unpredictable condition.

Various circumstances can increase the likelihood, but a potential for riot is always present in the corrections environment. However, the greatest tumults aren’t always faced externally with the inmates, rather the chaos is often found on the battle ground of our heart. The devil uses the daily stress and chaos of the corrections environment to push and beat us back, pulling us to and fro different ways, sending us reeling back and forth in confusion and discord.

Suiting up with the armor of God isn’t a last resort, it is the first action to combat the internal riots we confront and contend against on a daily basis. Make an assessment of the current internal riot situations of depression, actions of fellow staff, verbal abuse, disputes, confrontations, envy, hatred, fatigue, responsibility, duty, or other mutiny that may be rising up in your heart.  We don’t back up in a riot, we push forward, continuing with force, even when it involves an individual that has proven to be hard to deal with.  Some internal riots are harder to face than others, and there are some battles we may dread fighting again, as we experience more resistance being put up from our flesh. 

Each piece of gear for a member of CERT has an important protective purpose, even though upon first examination and use, certain items may seem cumbersome and difficult to fight in, over time one grows accustomed to battling in it and experiencing the benefits, permanently fading any prior reluctance.  It would be dangerous to go into a riot scenario without all the gear on and fitted properly.  We have grown accustomed to trying to fight our spiritual battles without God’s armor on, lacking the protection that it affords, which may lead us to great injury.

God has made all the provision in His Word, we do not have to face the spiritual battles bare and exposed. The shield of faith quenches the fiery darts of the devil. Just as  CERT members suit up for the physical riot, making sure they have all of their equipment on and fitted properly, let’s determine to make full use of everything God has provided for our defense against the riots of our soul.

Ephesians 6:11-18 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in highplaces.Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”

Learn to Do Well

Learning to do well does not come naturally to any of us, and we find that it is possible to resist instruction that goads us in that direction.  Some of us have had good teachers of truth and proper behavior, but really learning it involves measures of  God-dependent self-denial and application of the principles in our daily lives. Without personal application, we may have been taught to do well, but in effect, we haven’t really learned.

Isaiah 1:16-19“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:”

The corrections environment presents a need and a hindrance for us to learn to do well.  Ideally, officers should project distinctly different behavior, which supports the fulfilment of God’s design for us in Romans 13 as a minister of God for good. Various pressures and stark realities of our negative environment can serve as an impetus for sometimes faulty personal foundational philosophies that must be overcome in learning to do well.

Learning to do well is not going to make us a soft pushover.  In fact, a literal look at this admonition identifies the outcome of  being sound.  If something is sound it is founded in truth and cannot be overthrown or refuted.  Firmness and strength are embodied in soundness, which can help an officer recognize inmate manipulation more readily, and stimulate the courage to stand strong against it. 

Soundness of a squad comes from individually stable, tethered members, all learning and striving to do well. This promotes regard for fellow officers, unity, and promptness in execution of duties, minimizing self-serving actions.  It’s easier to be quick to run to a call for help that produces an exhilarating increase in our pulse, prompting us to action than it is to immediately rise in response to the mundane demands of our duty without waiting for an order. However, both extremes require that we learn to do well.

If ye be willing” is a qualification all of us can meet.  Hence, it is possible that any of us can escape the crowded category of the complacent and learn to do well as we seek the truth in God’s Word on a daily basis, while submitting to counsel from those who consistently openly demonstrate well-doing in their daily lives.  Such a pursuit involving communication and collaboration with God and others will reveal His constant willingness to work with us, guiding us into all truth and His perfect will.  On this path of doing and being right, we will find less internal turmoil and strife, leading to peace, allowing us to enter into the “good of the land” to feast on routine soundness in judgement, duty, and daily life.  2 Thessalonians 3:13 “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.”

Unbanned Protection

Corrections work has always posed physical danger demanding a need for personal protection.  Over time, various devices have been available to aid us in protecting ourselves and controlling inmates.  Our facilities differ in policies, protective equipment, and allowable practices which seem to be ever changing often with the inclusion of more restrictive limitations as we seek to conduct corrections operations in a safe and secure manner for all.

Although our personal protective equipment in corrections can be limited, our spiritual and emotional protection is limitless due to the attributes of Jesus Christ.  God is unlimited and cannot be bound. The encouragement necessary to combat every attack we face is supplied by Him, including any oppressive regulations related to being able to do our job. We can find Christ as our dependable shield of defense through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and prayer. As use of force reports get more complicated, the simplicity of Christ has not changed.

 

Will You Fight?

When I had completed the interview process at my department, the Captain who was interviewing me let me know I got the job.  Right away I thought of all the reasons I was not qualified and began to voice my hesitation.  The Captain looked at me and said, “Will you fight?”  I answered affirmatively, but not with intensity until the third time he posed the same question with emphasis.  At my third reply, he said, “You’ll have ample opportunity.” Indeed, the many battles continue in every realm–physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

The Psalmist David reveals that his heart is in the right place as he begins this Psalm 144 with praising God.  It is a good practice for us to learn to acknowledge and praise God in everything that takes place and in everything we are preparing to do.

God not only gives strength, He is strength.  It is a good thing to have strength.  Not everyone is equal in strength.  Strength comes from God—this makes it worthwhile.  Strength is no good without an ability and willingness to use it.  There are a lot of strong people that are not willing to fight—they have no desire.  Strength is no good unless it’s taught, trained, and used.

Corrections work necessitates that we not only fight in order to defend when attacked, but also that we be willing to go to the fight and not just fight, but prevail.  In corrections, we war every day—it’s a constant.   Our hands are taught and trained for the physical encounters, yet the spiritual battles outnumber the physical.  May our hands be trained to reach for the tools of war (the Bible) and our fingers to turn the pages. Psalm 144:1 “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.”

Hope for my Heroes this Christmas

Hope for My Heroes this Christmas

(Written by Mrs. Jacqueline Jackson)

Hope for my heroes on the silver line

Hope to endure what I can’t define

Hope for what they daily face

Hope in dealing with the human race

Hope has come to this dark place

Hope so strong and full of grace

Hope to live and hope to die

Hope to sustain us when we cry

Hope to help in times of need

Hope to give great peace indeed

May you embrace this gift of hope

Through Jesus Christ we all can cope

Merry Christmas Corrections Officers!