|
Chaplains
.........
"In the Commission of
Peace"
INDEX
-
-
-
-
Treats for Troops -
This site is exceptional for sending gifts to your
special person serving this country - also for
sponsoring gifts to someone you don't know ---
yet.
-
-
-
Check
out this special web site:
"Officer Down Memorial
Page" The Officer Down Memorial Page is a Law
Enforcement memorial that honors every U.S. Law Enforcement
Officer ever killed in the line of duty. Brave men and
women will always be remembered as true heros for their ultimate
sacrifice to their communities. Officers who
were killed in years gone by are are being honored on this site
for the first time. You can view historic additions made
this year by visiting the ODMP at:
http://www.odmp.org and select link "Officers
from the past (view all)"
-
-
Poems
(POWER of the Key, the Shield,
and the Fiery Sword - "...Friend, why didn't you tell me?") ("In
the Line-of-Duty by Donna Lane)
-
_______________________________
Meet NRLO's Chaplain
Michael K. Layne, PhD,
ThD
St. Paul,
Indiana
Attention NRLO Members (and site
visitors): If you have questions or comments or
if you just need to talk with Dr. Layne, please contact him at
765-525-6002
or www.copcare911.com or info@copcare911.org or Contact NRLO
New
Message
Past Messages 
NRLO is proud to introduce Dr. Michael K. Layne
who is NRLO's official Association Chaplain. Dr. Layne
has served as full-time and Reserve Police Officer in Texas and
Indiana. Dr. Layne said: "I will be happy to do what I can
do for the needs that may present themselves. Please call on
me at any time at 812-662-9999 or contact me through www.copcare911.org"
 Dr. Layne
is the President of (and Founder of) St. Paul Christian
University. The University offers seminars
designed for Law Enforcement. Dr. Layne is working
on putting a course of study together
for the University for Law Enforcement Chaplains. He will
keep NRLO membership advised of outcomes of this
project.
Get more information on this course of
study on this web site at a later date; and get more information
now at the University's
site (www.spcu.edu).
____________________________________________________________
Back to INDEX
New
Message
We are not promised
tomorrow...
May, 2008
From Michael
Layne, Th.D., NRLO Chaplain
The week of May 15 is
National Police Week. We will be honoring our men and women
who serve and protect our communities and rural areas. We will
also remember those who are fallen Officers. (Be sure to visit Officer Down Memorial Page.)
I am mindful of the most
recent losses we have experienced: a Texas DPS Officer, a
Georgia Deputy Sheriff, and a Philadelphis Officer. Strange
how these situations come in three's ..... but, they do.
As summer approaches, there
will be more activity. Be alert! Don't let your guard
down even if it is someone you have known for a number of
years. With alcohol and drugs, our best of friends can, and
sometimes do, turn on us.
I encourage you to begin
your tour of duty with a prayer. Ask God to help you do the
best job you can do. Ask for HIS protection; and most of all,
ask that He would cause your enemy to be at peace with
you.
Our thoughts and prayers
are with our LE brothers and sisters, whether full-time or Reserve
Officers. Remember, the bad guy doesn't distinguish between
whether you get paid or not to "Protect and Serve."
Here's the thing to
remember ... You will have a lot of bad people to deal with, but you
don't have to stoop to their level in your personal behavior or
attitude in order to do the job.
Well, enough for now.
Blessings to you. Thank you for reading, and know that you may
contact me anytime at info@copcare911.org.
In HIS Grace,
M.K. Layne, NRLO
Chaplain
Past
Messages:
MARCH,
2008: I pray
this update finds you doing well. Here in Indiana, as I
write this letter, we are having a pretty good snowfall. This
is the same system that gave Dallas-Ft. Worth some snow and
ice.
I am home today;
and as I sit in my study writing to you, I have the blinds open and
from time to time I observe the falling snow and accumulation.
The snow that falls today will likely be gone by the first part of
next week.
The now is
temporary, and that is much the way our lives are. Temporary!!
A few days ago I was surfing through the Officer Down Memorial Page. If you have never visited that site, I
encourage you to do so. So many Officers and so many ways in
which they have ended their watch. I visited the page for Town
Marshall Ricketts of West Liberty, Ohio. I lived in this town
as a teen, and I knew about Marshall Ricketts' death. He was
sent on a suspicious person call in 1962. A few minutes later,
he met up with the suspect. The suspect shot the Marshall with
a .22. Marshall Ricketts died from his
injury.
Well, I thought I
would just check the Texas registry in the ODMP to see if there was
anyone listed of whom I had known during my years of Law
Enforcement. I scrolled through the years, and there it was
.... Sgt. William Thurston, Denton County SO. EOW: December
10, 1986. I read the report of how his death occurred.
An automobile crash while responding to a call. There are a
LOT of these types of incidents taking Officers'
lives.
Bill and I go back
to about 1980, when he was being considered for a job at Flower
Mound PD, where I was the supervisor of Records and
Communications. I somewhat laugh to this day about how the
Chief gave me the task of administering the psych test over the
telephone to Bill because he lived in Ohio, and the Chief felt hard
pressed to ask him to make the trip to Texas just for the psych
test. So, I administered some 500 questions to Bill and
he would give me his response and I would mark the answer
sheet. At the hour and a half mark, we had to take a
break! Bill called me back in half an hour, and we completed
the test. In spite of the way we did it, he was hired. I
enjoyed working with Bill. We had some things in common as
both of us were from Ohio. Bill was a very knowlegable
Officer.
I had not known
about his death until these 21 years later. I was saddened by
the news, and I left some remarks on the page. That
process helped me a lot.
It is important
that we make sure we are prepared not only for our shift, but also
spiritually prepared. How are you doing with your
spirituality? Have you made peace with God? We are not
promised tomorrow... especially when we are in Law
Enforcement. I have heard and I have said it myself, "I'm
going home to my family tonight when this shift is over."
That is a wonderful statement, and we need that mental
preparedness. The truth is, we don't know who or what is
lurking out there to do us harm. I am reminded of an Officer
who was going back to the station from lunch; a subject pulled
up beside him in a vehicle, and he fired a round into the Police
vehicle, killing the Lieutenant. We jut don't
know.
Be careful out
there. Prepare yourself mentally/emotionally for your shift,
but don't leave out the spiritual preparedness. I had a
retired, Harris County, TX, Constable tell me once, "I always
asked the Lord to make HIS enemies to be at peace with me before I
would begin my tour of duty." He lived to a ripe old age
and loved God.
Here's the thing to
remember ... You will have a lot of bad people to deal with, but you
don't have to stoop to their level in your personal behavior or
attitude in order to do the job.
Well, enough
for now. Thank you for reading, and know that you may contact
me anytime at info@copcare911.org.
In HIS
Grace,
_____________________________________________
Back to INDEX
Thinking about the
holidays of summer........
Over the summer
months we encounter the summertime holidays, and along with that
comes the various episodes of outburst. People will be acting
out with behavior that will land them in jail or with
citations. You, as the Reserve Officer, realize that the
actions you take when you arrest or cite someone will probably mean
court time. This will eat into your life style.
Being a Reserve
Officer calls us into a unique position to "Protect and Serve" with
personal time commitment in which there is no pay. Obviously
every Reserve Officer has given this much thought before signing up
for the position. The summer holidays will, most often, call
for extra time and effort to help the full-time Officers do the
job. If you haven't yet, you will soon, find that people who
act out with bad behavior are difficult to deal with. The
question is: How well do you handle those type of
situations?
I started my Law
Enforcement career in 1977, and spent the next ten years in
full-time employment. We moved to Indiana; and ten years
later, I entered Law Enforcement as a Reserve Deputy Marshall.
I was amazed at how things had changed in ten years. We were
now looking for things on traffic stops that we never dreamed of in
1977. Talk about pressure!! Now we have meth, crack, and
other substances.
Understanding
these pressures, how well equipped are you to handle the
stressors? Of course, the first thing I must encourage you to
do is to be spiritually tuned up. Your relationship with God
is foremost because none of us know when we will be called upon to
pay the supreme price for doing the work we do.
Early in my
career, a retired Houston (TX) PD Officer told me this: "I
always started my shift with a prayer like this - Lord, cause my
enemies to be at peace with me." He said he swore by that
prayer.
Spend some time
for spirituality every day, whether you will be on duty or
not. You wear a badge along with 700,000 fellow Officers; and
whether you like it or not, you are marked.
During these
summer holidays with all the craziness, be careful, be vigilant, and
be spiritually prepared.
If I can
assist you in any way, just contact me. (812-662-9999 or contact me through www.centerforredirection.")
Feel free to contact me
at any time if you need to talk, about
anything!
Dr. M.K. Layne,
NRLO Chaplain
___________________________________
Stolen
- the Ten Commandments: In front of the small sign at the
University is - or was - an even smaller sign that is composed of a
wire frame with a plastic sleeve that has printed on it: "We
support the Ten Commandments" with a picture of the tablets of stone
with the Commandments written on it.
We all know that
one of the commandments is "Thou shalt not steal." I was
driving up to the University and about to pull into the driveway
when I noticed that the Ten Commandments sign is missing, gone,
stolen.
Now, I don't
know why; but that struck me as funny. Sad, but
funny.
The Bible says,
"Let him that stole, steal no more." The enemy of our life
will do all he can do to mess us up on every hand. The enemy
is good at distractions, pulling us away from what is most
important.
I could spend a
lot of energy in getting upset about the theft. What good
would it do? None! We must focus on things which are of
great importance; and that means spending time in prayer, study, and
observation.
If you are not
already doing it, I encourage you to MAKE time for quiet reflection
and asking God to help with situations which seem difficult.
Pray and get in touch with your spiritual self. Read Psalm
40:1-3 and know that God is waiting to hear from you to help you out
of any situation you are in.
(Have a Safe
4th on Patrol): Greetings to all! The
Fourth of July is upon us. Please be safe while you are out on
Patrol. I am reminded of the scripture,
"Trust in the Lord with all your might." When we have
little to no control, that is when the Holy Spirit
intervenes.
Blessings to
each of you, and PLEASE have a safe summer.
__________________________________
Homecoming: There's
just something about a homecoming. The other day my
wife Donna and I attended a homecoming for a dear friend
"Jim." Jim is a Marine Reservist, and his unit was called up
for active duty in Iraq.
Jim's mother and Donna work
together, and I have known Jim for several years. He is a
Deputy Sheriff for one of the two counties in which our town
(St. Paul, Indiana) is located. At the homecoming, I met
people I had never seen or met before. I was reminded of what
Heaven will be like. We will meet with fellow Christians who
have belief in the Saving Grace of our Lord. It will
be a "family" get-together that will last for an
enternity.
Several weeks ago, we heard on
the news that a tank had overturned into a river; and the crew had
drowned. We waited with anticipation. "Is Jim
OK? Was that his tank?" Then we heard that he was
alright. He told me that his tank was in the area on that
tragic day. Jim came back safe and sound, and we rejoice in
that. We were also reminded that there are several whose
reunions will be at the cemetery.
Well, it was great seeing my
friend and fellow Officer. He is now reunited with his wife,
children, and other family members. A family reunion is coming
one day for all who believe upon the Lord. Are you ready
for that joyous occasion?
When I was starting my career
in Law Enforcement many years ago (1977), there was a Constable
from Harris County, Texas, that had retired from the Sheriff's
Office who told me this: "Never begin your tour of duty without
prayer; always ask the Lord to 'Make my enemies
to be at peace with me'." He indicated that
he prayed that prayer before he went 10-41, and it worked for
him.
The homecoming for Jim was
great! However, I walked away from that reunion with a new
understanding of how fragile life is. Are you prepared for
whatever you may encounter?
Feel free to
contact me at any time if you need to talk, about
anything!
__________________________________________________
Back to
INDEX
NOTICE TO CHAPLAINS
EVERYWHERE: NRLO is actively
seeking input from Chaplains. If you are
a Department Chaplain, a NRLO Member (or would like to become a
Member), and would like to have a national publishing forum,
please let NRLO Chaplain Michael Layne know by contacting
NRLO. The spiritual welfare of our nation's "ULTIMATE
VOLUNTEERS" is extremely important, and you can contribute
significantly to their wellbeing. Please contact
NRLO.
**************************************************************************
Need a new Flag?
NRLO Recommends U.S.
Flag
Click here
for Reasons for Correctly Folding the
Flag
Click here for the Pledge of Allegiance and to hear the voice
of JFK at the web site of U.S.
Flag
(use the "back" button in your
browser to return to this page)
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Adopt a Platoon
www.adoptaplatoon.org
(Select "Contact Us" to see
what you can send them - e-mails, products, etc.)___________________________________  
Treats for
Troops
Visit our Web site:
www.TreatsForTroops.com
CHECK THIS OUT -
GREAT GIFTS
__________________________________________________________
PRAY FOR OUR
TROOPS
Psalm
85:10 Matthew 5:9
******************************************************************************************
FOLDING THE
FLAG
By Captain Chuck Mantkus, NRLO
Director of Training
Have
you ever notice at military funerals that the Honor Guard pays
meticulous attention to correctly folding the American flag 13
times? Here are the reasons:
-
The first fold in our flag
is a symbol of life.
-
The second fold is a
symbol of our belief in eternal life.
-
The third fold is made in
honor and remembrance of the veterans departing our ranks who gave
a portion of their lives for the defense of our country to attain
peace throughout the world.
-
The fourth fold represents
our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God,
it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war
for His divine guidance.
-
The fifth fold is a
tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur "Our
country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right;
but it is still our country, right or wrong."
-
The sixth fold is for
where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the
Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all.
-
The seventh fold is a
tribute to our Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces
that we protect our country and our flag against all of her
enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of
our republic.
-
The eighth fold is a
tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of
death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother,
for whom it flies on Mother's Day.
-
The ninth fold is in
tribute to womanhood; for it has been through their faith, their
love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women
who have made this country great has been molded.
-
The tenth fold is a
tribute to the father, for he too, has given his sons and
daughters for the defense of our country since they were first
born.
-
The eleventh fold, in the
eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal
of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies in their eyes, the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
-
The twelfth fold, in the
eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and
glorifies, in the eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy
Spirit.
-
When the flag is
completely folded, the stars are uppermost reminding us of our
nation's motto: "In God We Trust." After the flag
is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of
a tucked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under
General George Washington, and of the sailors and marines who
served under Captain John Paul Jones, who was followed by their
comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States,
preserving for us the rights, privileges, and
freedoms we enjoy today. This final condition
represents the thirteenth fold.
_____________________________________________________________
Back to
INDEX
You won't believe your
eyes!
Stare at the four dots in the middle of this
inking for 30 seconds. Then either close your eyes, or just
look at the white space beside the inking. Wait just a couple of
seconds. What do you see?
NATIONAL
RESERVE LAW OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 6505 SAN ANTONIO,
TEXAS 78209
(210) 805-8917 FAX: (210) 804-2463 E-MAIL: nrloa01@earthlink.net |
