Unloved

Matthew 18:5-6 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

In my current job, I work with police departments across the country to map the social networks of street gangs, cartels and more recently, human trafficking organizations. The power that pimps have over the women they sell for sex is nothing short of demonic. The psychological grip these suspects hold over women in their teens and early twenties is so strong that it can take years to break the victims free from the sex trade. This control is rooted in the reality that these women are starved for parental love, affirmation and support that they do not get at home. The evil is that the twisted love offered by pimps is nothing more than mind control that starts with the promise of forever, expensive gifts and “protection” from people who have let them down. What follows is a nightmare of sustained physical and mental abuse from which these women do not believe there is any escape.

The war to free these victims is in the hands of men and women in law enforcement whose mission is to arrest the perpetrators and work to break the cycle of sexual abuse and violence. The police officer who can stay focused on finding ways to prosecute the suspects and simultaneously care for the victims to get them out of the cycle servitude is nothing short of incredible.

This cop story is about Kim. She is a detective with a California law enforcement agency and currently assigned to a human trafficking task force. As for her faith, Kim grew up with agnostic parents. She started a search for a church five years ago; being baptized on Easter Sunday just over two years ago. I got to know Kim after she was pulled into a brief I was giving on social network analysis (SNA) and how it can be used to break criminal enterprises. It was the final brief I was giving to a group of detectives and Kim was brought in late, having no idea about the meeting she was being told to attend.

The key to getting police departments to use SNA is to find that person in the organization who sees the value of targeting networks to reduce crime. Kim was the one who “caught the vision” of SNA, jumping in to learn the methodology and application. Over the next year, Kim gave me a crash course in human trafficking that I had not previously known or understood. As she worked to use SNA to map out prostitution rings using SNA, I noticed that there was something about Kim that made her stand out from other detectives. She had compassion for the women she was trying to free from a life of sexual bondage. Her motivation became clearer to me over time as she talked about the cases she worked and the girls she tried rescue.

Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will 

stand.”

Like many of us, Kim had plans for what she believed was the right professional path for her law enforcement career. She wanted to be a homicide detective. She worked hard as a patrol officer to gain experience responding to violent crimes and attended various training events to learn the craft of homicide investigation. When the opportunity came for her to test for detective, she was selected…to the Narcotics and Vice Unit. It was not the direction she wanted to go but accepted the position and eighteen months later, was reassigned to a human trafficking task force.  Kim would say, “It is in God’s hands.” But that did not keep her from a small grumble now and then about not getting the spot in homicide. Here is where I came in…

I was with Kim a few weeks ago wrapping up my project with her department. Her team and I presented how the SNA processes were used at their department to the command staff and homicide detectives. Kim was up late the night before dealing with a prostitution case where they rescued a young girl from a pimp. The homicide detectives knew about the investigation and were quizzing Kim about the case. They wanted details about what the victim had to say. Kim did not interview the girl because as she said, “She was just too tired and she needed to get some sleep.” My impression was that the other detectives were more interested in the facts of the case and not so much about the condition of the victim. Kim told me later that these guys could be difficult and were not always team players at the department.

It was not long after the briefing ended that Kim got a telephone call. At first I thought she was talking to her daughter, “Hey darling! How are you feeling today? Did you get some sleep because you looked so exhausted last night?” As the conversation went on, I realized that she was talking with the girl she rescued the night before. I was humbled at the compassion that Kim showed as if this little girl were her own.

After the briefings ended, it was time for me to get going to the airport. Kim was walking me out of the building and I told her that it was (and continues to be) God’s plan that she is fighting against prostitution. I told her that if she had been selected to be a homicide detective, she would be frustrated. She would be working with people she did not respect. Not only that, she would not be able to help murder victims since they were, after all, dead. No, Kim was right where God wanted her to be. She was the, “an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Check out Romans 13) More important than that, Kim is loving the unloved. She is the light on the hill showing compassion and giving hope to prostitutes. She is the hand of Jesus.

Who is it in your life who is unlovable? Have you accepted your calling even though it might not be exactly what you think is the best for you? What is it that God calls you to do?

Bonus Time

As you read through this Cop Story, the quoted scripture is from Psalm 34.

¹ I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.
² I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

Glenn is a man of God. He served for 22 years as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces with multiple deployments to the Middle East working with communities to build up local police departments. In 2012, Glenn prepared to leave on his final deployment overseas and started to believe that he was not going to return home. His intuition told him that he would be killed on the battlefield. The feeling was so strong that he reached out to a good friend, a pastor, and asked him to officiate at his memorial service. There is nothing like a “the end is near” feeling to drive you to get right with God. He realized he had many worries in his life and after prayer and contemplation, he found himself at peace. He had to be. He was not going to return home.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.

Out on deployment, Glenn volunteered for the more dangerous jobs when his team went out on patrol. He knew he was going to be killed and he could keep other people safe by taking these positions. Glenn took point (first in line), walking in the open and ready to repel any attack. Bring it.

⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

Glenn would walk down narrow streets that were known to be places where insurgent forces would set ambushes. He was, after all, going to die. It was better him than someone else. On one particular patrol, Glenn found himself on point, moving into an alley that he should have walked passed. Halfway down the narrow passage, Glenn took a step. As his foot fell, he looked down and saw a dirt-covered, metal plate. It was the trigger of an improvised explosive device.  In a split second he realized that he was about to step on and set off the bomb. He could not stop in mid step and recognized he was about to die in a fiery explosion. His fellow soldiers would be lucky if they found a shoelace after the dust settled. His foot depressed the trigger, he heard the “click” . . .  nothing happened. The five gallon container filled with homemade explosives designed to take out a truck did not go off.  He was not dead.

¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

After the adrenaline of not getting blown up wore off, Glenn found himself in a spiritual crisis. Like Jacob wrestling the angel, Glenn wrestled with two questions: “Why didn’t I die?” and “Why did God keep me around?”

⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.

Glenn’s answer, his life was all Bonus Time. God had other plans for him. Now to figure out what those plans were. Glenn made it safely through his final deployment and returned home. He was even more steadfast in this faith. He started going to church with consistency and recommitted his life to Christ being baptized in the process.

¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

Glenn’s next assignment was at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Cal. He was the leader of a research and education team supporting military and law enforcement professionals to map the networks of gangs, cartels and terrorist groups. He was not at the tip of the spear any longer, but assisting with the development of crime and terrorism reduction strategies. It was here that Glenn and I met. A retired Assistant Police Chief in his Bonus Time walking alongside a warrior who was nearing the end of his military career wondering, “What was next?” Glenn and I talked a lot about his future. What was clear was that Glenn was not content being in the rear with the gear. His Bonus Time was the call to continue to serve as a warrior; God was calling him to be a police officer. Glenn would retire from the military in 2015 and six months later would be sworn in as a police officer in Layton, Utah. His Bonus Time will be to keep the Layton community safe just as he had served our Nation to keep the world safe. Perhaps his feeling that, “the end is near” was more about worry. God would fix that in an alley, half-way around the world.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.

The Badge - A Cross to Carry

The call to be a police officer brings with it the burden of seeing the terrible darkness that exists in this world. We see first hand what greed, lust, hate and twisted thinking does to drive people to commit acts of evil against others. There will times in the course of a career that you will feel like the writer of Lamentations. Forsaken in the midst of thieves and murderers sometimes brings with it a sense of dread where all of your actions are scrutinized by the media, the public and critics of all stripes. There are times that it feels like God brings us to places where we think we are forsaken. Itis as if God has left us to fend for ourselves, surrounded by adversaries.

Yet in Lamentations 3:21-26, the writer says, "But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

God is with us. He calls us to service as peace officers as Paul writes in Romans 13:1-4, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."

As you start you day, rest on these word from Lamentations and Romans. You are not alone and your battle for justice in not in vain. In fact, our battle is not against flesh and blood. Consider Ephesians 6:12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

A number of year ago, my eldest daughter spent a semester in the UK. She got to visit many churches and monasteries where she discovered a prayer written by St. Philaret that is recited to this day by many faithful Christians in our world. Consider this prayer each day you go out to serve, even when it feels like you are forsaken and abandoned by God. It is not so. God loves and cares for you. He calls you to service and His mercies are new every morning.

O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforseen events let me not forget that all are sent by You. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering or embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of this coming day with all that it will bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray You Yourself in me. Amen.

Post script: St. Philaret also wrote a prayer for prisoners. You can find it at this link: Prayer of the Prisoner

Fix My Kid

One of the more common calls for service for any police officer involves parents who drag their child to the lobby of a police department and demand a law enforcement professional fix an out of control son or daughter. These parents are under the illusion that their failure to parent is somehow going to be changed miraculously by a police officer sitting down with little Johnny or Sally and “scare” them into good behavior. The truth is that a police officer can’t undo years of spoiling, failing to set boundaries or holding a child accountable in 30 minutes or less. You are not going to find success at a police station for winning the war for a child’s mind, body or spirit any more than you will find it dragging a child to a church event. The following is a story to serve as a reminder that forcing a child (or anyone for that matter) to church is not going to teach them how be a better person.

My wife and I recently volunteered for the Compassion Experience hosted by our church. The Compassion Experience is an outreach by Compassion International. (https://www.compassion.com/) This ministry works to provide food, elementary education, trade schools training and sharing the love of Jesus Christ in twenty-six impoverished countries across the globe. The Compassion Experience brings a semi-truck and trailer to local communities to provide a three dimensional experience for people to see what it is like for a child struggling to eat one meal a day, live in dirty conditions with little hope for the future. There are two experiences to choose from that tell a story of a boy and a girl who started in poverty and through the support of Compassion, were able to turn their lives around. It costs less than $40 per month to help one child in need.

We were responsible to usher people into the Experience, providing them with head phones and an audio presentation for a ten minute walk through tour. During our shift, a mother and young son, who was about 10, came into the welcome area. The mother told me that she brought her son because he was spoiled and not appreciative of how good his life was. We got them set up for their tour and sent them into the exhibit. Within seconds, the boy came running out screaming at his mother he was not going to go through. His behavior bordered on out of control and he ran out of the welcome tent and out to the family car where he took refuge in the driver’s seat. The mom apologized, gave us the audio equipment and left explaining that her son had sensory overload problems. We had compassion on the boy, thinking that he was fearful of the dark room.

Ten minutes later the mother and son returned. We refitted them with the headphones and watched as they entered the exhibit. Once finished, they had the opportunity to sponsor a child by selecting a package that had photographs and biographies. From where I sat, I could hear the son talking with a Compassion representative. I was hopeful that he might learn something from his experience. Sadly, he paid no attention to the faces of children in the photographs, but was trying to convince the host that Compassion should be making an exhibit about him. He was, after all an expert video game player and knew for certain that his story would be just as interesting as the two children he learned about from Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic. He had sensory overload…an overload of materialism. I was sad for this boy who was unable to see what he had in his life. I was sad for the mother who somehow believed that a ten minute walk through was going to make her son see something that she had failed to teach him. Our compassion turned to frustration as we began to understand that it was not fear, but self-absorption and materialism.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11-13, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.”

What is it that God is trying to show you about the blessings in your life that you refuse to see because what you have is not quite what you think you deserve? Are you the ten year old looking for validation or the parent looking for the quick fix? What is it that you want God to “fix” when in reality, He has already done that and wants you to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow him?