Will You Answer The Call?

     Many times we feel like we can't do the things that God requires from us.  Moses was one that told the Lord, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."  Mike Bowling is a recently retired Pastor that ran from the Lord for nine years when God called him to pastoral work.  He was 22 years of age and he had an attack of appendicitis and had to go to the hospital for surgery. He went to St.Francis now known as St. Francis Downtown.  He was placed in room 417.  They did his surgery and as he laid there he began to pray and the Holy Spirit began to deal with him.  He told the Lord he would do more for him if he would see him through this because it was quite an ordeal with his appendix nearly rupturing.  After the surgery he went home and really didn't think anymore about what he prayed about.  Ten days later a cyst appeared that had to come out, he went to the hospital for a second time and they said they didn't have any more rooms available.  They told him he was just going to have to lay there until they could get him ready for surgery.  Finally they said they have a room.....room 417.  This was the exact room that he promised God he was going to do a lot of things for him.  He went home, and as he was recouping he was lying in the bed and about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning he woke up and he could see his self sorta like a vision standing in the pulpit of his home church; Rutherford Rd. Baptist Church.  He saw his self preaching there.  Pastor Bowling told his wife and then he began his education to be a pastor. While he was at the University of Carson Newman in Tennessee a church called the University wanting a young man to come over and preach, he went and preached 2 consecutive Sunday mornings and Sunday nights.  The pastor of the church then asked him to be there pastor and Pastor Bowling turned them down because he thought he wasn't ready.  That man came to him for 5 consecutive nights and asked him to be their pastor and all 5 nights he turned them down.  It wasn't until God spoke to him through a message his pastor gave about "Listening To God's Call" that got a hold of his heart again and he surrendered to the ministry after 9 years of running.  Pastor Bowling was ordained and God did a great work in him.  (I suggest you read his complete testimony in it's entirety, it is posted on the blog.) Click Here to Read More on Pastor Mike Bowling


     Robby Raines answered the calling that God set before him to be a police officer.  If God calls you to something he will "equip you with everything good for doing his will" Hebrews 13:21. God exposed Robby to police work at a young age. Robby's dad, Mike Constance was a police officer as well.  How cool it must be for a little boy to ride around in a police car with their dad.  But as an adult, did Robby answer the calling right away?  When Robby attended college he took industrial electronics, after his first semester he switched to criminal justice because of the nagging feeling that kept pulling at him.  He said he still wasn't sure what he wanted to do in law enforcement, he didn't know if he wanted to be a police officer or deputy sheriff.  He really wanted to be a game warden but because of the long waiting list he decided to be a police officer. Robby done an internship at the sheriff's office and was able to get out and ride with some older guys such as Keith Galloway who is still at the detention center, and Jody Cartee, Woodrow Kelly who are no longer there.  He got to see what it was really like to actually take part in police duties other than as a child.  Robby put it this way, "He got bit by the bug".

     We live in a world where danger is all around us, and we expect our law enforcers to be there for our safety when we need them.  I asked Robby how he deals with the fear that he faces each day as a police officer.  "It's not a job, it's a calling, it's not a job that everyone gets into.  God calls people to do this job."  He said that he has fear, he doesn't know how he suppresses the fear he has, he just does.  He also said that you have the fear but you don't let the fear control you.  I asked him about the danger of being a police officer, "There's danger every day I put the badge and gun on and get in my car and come to work because I am a target."  Robby and I touched base on the school shootings and on gun control.  He said that he is prepared if something happens because that is his job and that is what he was trained to do. Robby said that Pickens High School is safe, the doors stay locked and you have to be buzzed to get in.  He said that there are things here and there that can be fixed but over all it is a safe place.  I asked him if you can prevent school shootings and he said there's no way to prevent them because if someone wants to get in they will find a way.  Robby said all you can do is contain it and that is what he's here for.  He made this statement, "I am better than anyone coming in this school".  He made this statement not to sound cocky or arrogant but to be prepared, he said you have to think this way, you have to tell yourself this.  He also said he has to tell himself that he knows how good he can shoot and he knows how to do his job.  Robby said, "At the end of the day, I'm going to see my kids."  When I asked Robby about gun control he said don't get him started on that subject, however he did make this statement, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."


  "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established". -Romans 13:1  Robby acknowledges that all authority comes from God and that he has been placed in this role of authority.  He said that there are some people that wear a badge that don't need to have one and it doesn't take long till they no longer have their badge.  Police Officers have to see  some devastating things when on duty and Robby wants you to know that they have to cope with it the best way they can.  He said if you see police officers laughing or cutting up not to think that they don't care but this is their way of coping with all the things they deal with on a daily basis.  The best way to describe police work is when something traumatic happens everyone is quick to pray and ask God for help, but when everything is going great we want to kick God out of everything.  When you need help you are quick to call a police officer and they are there to help you.  Robby wants you to have that same kind of  respect for police officers when you are not in need of their help. 

     Robby was born and raised here in Dacusville, he said he loves the Dacusville community. He works at Pickens High School keeping our kids safe. Robby is very modest about telling of his accomplishments he has received.  I think he would want you to know his greatest accomplishments are his two children.  I asked Robby what was his most gratifying part about his job, he said,  "If I have made a difference in someone else's life."   

Check out "Behind The Badge" for some true police humor @ www.behindthebadge.net
    

http://www.behindthebadge.net