The Heart Beyond the Badge

Sam Cielakie

Description

These 31 daily devotionals will inspire law enforcement officers to grow both personally and spiritually in the hard profession that has chosen them.

Sam Cielakie, a longtime police officer, shares thirty-one uplifting devotionals for those serving in law enforcement.



Drawing on his experiences with the patrol division, criminal investigations, and administrative services, he highlights struggles, challenges, and life lessons from his career while relating them to Scripture and the Word of God.



Some of the insights he shares include:

• It’s the silence before the storm that keeps us on edge.

• We need to focus on Jesus when stressors overtake us.

• Being lost is not bad when we have guidance.



The author also emphasizes that we must remember that our lives are not defined by being law enforcement officers. When we go home, we have to be husbands, wives, dads, or moms. We are people foremost and should never be branded only by the badge we wear.



After each devotional, the author includes a prayer and further reading from the Bible, so you can capitalize on your learning and move closer to the Lord.

Sujets

• Christian Living
• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• Police officer
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 28 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664277304
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Heart beyond the Badge
SAM CIELAKIE


Copyright © 2022 Sam Cielakie.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7731-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7732-8 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7730-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916298
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 9/28/2022
Contents
Chapter 1Lonely Road
Chapter 2Anxiety Overwhelms
Chapter 3Lost
Chapter 4Mistakes Made
Chapter 5Should Haves
Chapter 6Hard Times
Chapter 7Guarded
Chapter 8Accidents
Chapter 9Tough Times
Chapter 10What Just Happened?
Chapter 11Overworked and Underpaid
Chapter 12Dirty
Chapter 13Worn
Chapter 14Hats
Chapter 15Partners
Chapter 16Pursuit
Chapter 17Identity
Chapter 18You Forgot What?
Chapter 19He Did It!
Chapter 20Hanging by a Thread
Chapter 21Seen
Chapter 22Habits
Chapter 23Loss
Chapter 24Voiceless
Chapter 25The End
Chapter 26Stress Relief
Chapter 27Peek-a-Boo
Chapter 28Broken Arrow
Chapter 29B.O.L.O
Chapter 30Language
Chapter 31Saving Lives

This is dedicated to the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives in the line of duty serving their communities.
“Greater love has no on than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
—John 15:13
Chapter 1
Lonely Road
I remember many days when I worked midnights. The county I worked in was very rural in the west end of my jurisdiction. At 2:00 a.m., there I was driving all alone with no signs of movement or life in sight. The silence of the radio and the winding roads reminded me of how alone I was. It is often like that in police work. We have much support from many people, including the citizens we serve and our coworkers, friends, and families, yet it is often a pit of loneliness inside our four-doored offices. Law enforcement is a quiet and lonely occupation. Police work is not only a job—it becomes a calling. It is something that we get dressed for, leaving our homes and families and not knowing if we will return. It is about service, it’s about passion, and it’s about doing what many would never want to do.
It’s the silence before the storm that keeps us on edge. Even when we feel the loneliness, calls happen, and we must have the best mindset in order to be safe and get the job done. We never know when we will have to respond to different situations and face all kinds of problems. It is important to know and understand that we do not have to deal with these horrific situations on our own. That is why police officers often struggle so much in their personal lives. We always try to help others and never seek the help that we need in order to get through this career.
I am reminded of Isaiah 41:10, which says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” When you signed up for this career, you never knew how disheartening this profession could be. While God never promised us an easy life in our careers or in our personal lives, He promised us a life with Him if we accept His Son and give our lives to the Creator God. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” God’s grace is our salvation, and our loneliness can fade if we know that Christ is living in us. Remind yourself today that your strength comes from the Creator God, and He will uphold you as you serve your communities and serve all those who you come in contact with today.
Prayer: God give me the strength to persevere in my job as a public servant. Take away loneliness and help me rely on You for my power to assist and serve those who are in need. Thank You for loving me and sending Jesus to show me how to be the best public servant.
Daily Reading: Isaiah 41.
Chapter 2
Anxiety Overwhelms
W ith every call, there seems to be a series of patterns and thoughts that run rampant through our minds. It never seems to fail that, as police, we tend to watch videos that involve worst-case scenarios and that often end in officer-involved shootings and officers being hurt or killed. It’s nuts, really, if you think about how those minor disputes and petty calls could end your life. I will never forget going to a DOA (dead on arrival) call when I was a rookie; it really made me open my mind to this reality. An older gentleman in his seventies had passed away due to prostate cancer. As unfortunate as this was, the man’s son was extremely upset and unstable. As I was inside the house collecting the needed information and awaiting the detective’s arrival, I heard yelling coming from the street in front of the house. As I ran outside, I observed the man’s son fighting with his female neighbor, who was trying to console him for his loss. In the following seconds, I observed the man pull a gun from his waistband. I was so very close to the man, I was able to grab the gun and disarm him. He was taken in for a mental evaluation. Fortunately, no shots were fired and no one was injured during the incident; however, I learned a lot about anxiety that day in police work.
As police officers, we constantly deal with the thoughts and what-ifs that arise with every call we respond to. We know our lives and the lives of others could be changed in an instant. These thoughts often lead to anxiety and stress to our bodies and to the lives of our families. We often shut down and turn to things that we use to consume this anxiety and stress. I know that most of the time these stress relievers are not positive ones. Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” While everything in police work can bring anxiety, presenting this anxiety to the Lord through prayer and with thanksgiving is the key. Be thankful for your added awareness that the Lord gives you in responding to calls. Be thankful that God has trained you to prepare for the evil that is in this world. First Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” We are humans and not robots. We have fears and anxieties that the job brings. We need to focus on Jesus when these thoughts and stressors overtake us. We should give them to God while thanking Him for helping us understand what we can do to protect ourselves on each and every call we will respond to.
Prayer: Jesus, while my job as a police officer is very stressful and often brings anxiety, I am thankful that You care for me. Thank You for making me aware of the dangers that may come my way. Please give me a heart and mind of peace while I trust in You for protection.
Daily Reading: Philippians 4.
Chapter 3
Lost
T here are many times in our profession when there is nothing to say other than we feel lost. It’s not as if we are physically lost; rather, we are lost in how we deal with a call or the mental disruption of what we are experiencing. We don’t know how to appropriately deal with everything that we see or hear. I will never forget a call I was dispatched to many years ago. The call came out as a missing person. When I arrived on scene, I was met by a woman in her twenties with her small child. She told me that she and her fiancé had had a pretty big fight. She stated that she left to cool down, and when she returned, she found a suicide note on the table. The missing male’s parents had just arrived on scene and started immediately berating the young woman.
After they were separated, I took a walk around the house. The house next door was for sale. I knocked on the front door and got no response. I then walked around back and saw there was a screened-in porch. It was almost a sunroom-style porch. As I approached, I was able to see two legs of a subject who was sitting on the floor. I approached and called to the individual. When I opened the porch door, there was the male sitting on the floor, deceased, with a gunshot wound to the head. I was sick to my stomach. I knew I was going to have to make death notifications to th