The Prince of Egypt

Luke 6

27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them.

33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.

35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I was going to type up a blog entry based on my working-progress experience obeying this scripture but as I typed on, I found that my questions to the agony of the lack of recognition of appreciation was simply answered in the very scripture that I wanted to quote.

So instead of my usual abortion of a blog entry, I've decided that I would like to share, with whoever reads this, my current mindset as I attempt to obey the scriptures as I put it into practice.

Ever since I started NS, I've based a lot of my thinking and mindset according to how God instructs us in the Bible, and to little surprise, they were to my success. Of course all glory and honour belongs to our Lord but I am just so fortunate that I have a God who chose me to give me the instruction book to life.

And as much as it sucks to follow it at times, the rewards of having to endure such hardships are always worth it. So I'm putting my trust in what God has promised and will continue to love all regardless of what they have done to me. However, during the past coming days, I've noticed that there have been more and more recent multiple occasions when I am not 'repaid' for my relentless efforts to show the love that God has transplanted into my heart. And to be honest, I was really getting frustrated with it all because I am still human. I wanted recognition. I wanted to be repaid for my efforts. At least a simple thank you would do. But there was none of that. Worse still. It was as if they didn't realise that I was doing it.

But all that is behind me now. I don't care whether people repay the efforts I put in. All I care is that God sees what I'm doing and that in due time, my reward will be given from God.

The reason why I've said all this was to hopefully encourage those of you who are walking my same path, or even those of you who haven't started yet, to keep persevering. Don't give up. Never give up. Cause at the end of the day, everything will be made right by God.

When I first went into the Police Academy for the first time in April, I lived upon a couple of Bible verses. But these two really stood out to help me through.

Luke 9:48
Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest."

Being the youngest in probably the whole of the Police Academy, I realised that greatness was possible. All I had to do was lower myself to be the least among the rest and I would stand out and be the best. And at the end, it happened! The key element was humility. I took the time to see to it that everyone in my squad was ok and would talk to them every now and them. Even if it was just a simple hello and a short chat. At least that kept me on par with everyone else and as I did, I made sure I didn't develop a big head. I think at the end, everyone basically supported me to get into the OCT course and it was really touching because comments were made when I was in for the running for the course. My good friend Raimy told me one day that he and the rest of the squad will revolt if I didn't get into the course. lol, thanks guys.

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

My desire was to get into the OCT course. I don't think I need to say much about this other than a lot of effort was put in. This was one of the few handful of verses I kept on my heart throughout the duration of the training and sure enough, it was helpful for me as I received the desires of my heart. =)

And when I moved on to the police station, God had another scripture for me to carry - the one above. I've been trying as much as I can to put it into practice and boy is it hard. It took a lot of effort to see to it that the payment for my efforts were not rewarded. I kept doing things to show the love again and again, hoping that people would see that there was something different about me. Being the only christian I know in the station, I had to stand out from the rest, and I believe I've done that.

Yesterday at work, I was really touched by the words that were mentioned from the regular officers. One particular officer told me that they will miss me. And really, even those few words made everything worth it. At least it told me that I was not going unnoticed. And they were nice. I understand why I've faced some troubles working with them due to my 'different' character and speech - it's because the life of a policeman can be really really boring. I'm not talking about the experiences that policeman faces time after time, but rather the repetitiveness of it all. Some of these guys have been in there for 20 years. Imagine the things they encounter day after day during their work. After a while, it can get a little stale, as do a lot of other jobs. Which is why after a long time, someone like me rocks up and they are suddenly having a lot of fun. Of course there were times when I would question why they were saying the things they were saying to me, but now, I understand. It's like a breath of fresh air to them. At least if I can give them that bit of spice in their police life for that short while, that'll do.

And if I thought the appreciation doesn't end there, during the beginning of my shift last night, I was bombarded with invitations to stay on and not return to the Police Academy for my officer course. It was actually quite nice to know that these people felt this way. I couldn't help but laugh it off and hope they weren't serious. There were even threats that they would tell one of the Heads to block my move back to the PA. How funny.

My next tour (day and night shift) will be my last. I have no idea what they might possibly do to me but I know for sure that I will miss working there. The friends that I've made. The laughs we've had. The funny moments when we would make fun of accused will all be but memories. I really had a good time working there actually. The working hours were crap but the moments were gold.

Coming out to division life was a good move. It gave me exposure and I reckon more trainees should be doing this. When I go back, I will definitely have a greater understanding of the police system and will probably have a greater advantage when it comes to studying later on for the exams.

Anyway, I'm glad for how my NS life has turned out and is turning out so far. I will have experienced so many things that only a small handful will ever get to experience. I've realised that at the end of my NS, I will have a large wardrobe of different police uniforms. Maybe one day, when I accumulate all my different uniforms, I will post them up so you guys can have a look =) At the end of the day, I should have four different types of police uniform. XP All different from the rest.

For now, the end of this chapter of my NS life is coming to a close and another one will soon re-open. Hopefully I will find the time to blog when I come out from there each weekend. But I don't think it will be a problem. So to all my friends in Delta division who might read this, it's been an honour serving NS with you guys. All the best and I will hopefully see you guys again!