We all have a biological family. Some family members may have died long ago, but families are usually a mom and dad, brothers and sisters. Some families are smaller. There are adopted families and sadly a few with no family. The point is we usually have the family we were born into. That's the family where we sit around at holidays telling stories about our younger days and the things we did as kids.
Then there is our law enforcement family. Frankly there are times this family is closer to us than our biological family. It's usually because of the law enforcement sub culture isn't understood by outsiders. So that thin blue line is formed. Our police family is close really close. And when we are hurt physically or psycologically we all bleed blue.
99% of us joined the force because we wanted to protect and serve; we wanted to help people. We learned to back each other up. I've got your back is a common statement we all hear. I've got your back.
In police work we take care of each other and we serve and protect the public as well. I remember a close friend of my wife's family. Harry was a retired FBI agent and he had loads of stories to tell us. He wanted us to know his law enforcement family.
There is a third family we all belong to wither we know it or not and that's the family of God. It's a pretty special family. Actually it's much like our police family where commitment and doing for others is really important.
Just like our law enforcement family when you are in the family of God you serve others. That's what it is all about. In police work we serve in the face of danger, when others are coming out we are going in.
God calls us to his family, there is an open door for us to walk through and join the family of God. When we do this our old blotter is wiped clean. That's a pretty good deal. Any reprimands or being on report are cleared out of our life's file, just like you are a brand new recruit.
I'm thankful for all three of my families. I adore my wife, three daughters and four granddaughters. I love my police family. I've been a police Chaplain for over 20 years - 15 of those years as a COP.
And I love to belong to the family of God where we are all brothers and sisters, just like we are often called in law enforcement.
So indeed we are a band of brothers and sisters. We have a biological family, a law enforcement family, and we belong to the family of God.
I love all three families. Because you see, in some cases I get to pick my friends and pick my family too.
Think about your three families today. How's the family ?