Here is what I wrote about Wild Goose Chase:
I haven’t even finished the book yet, but I’ve already been blown away by what I’ve read. God has been using your work to reveal some amazing things to me.
I’m a police officer in a metropolitan city. I have worked for the same agency for almost 15 years. For the past five or six years, I have been experiencing an incredible season of spiritual growth in my personal life. I’ve had the feeling that God is preparing me to do something incredible for His kingdom. But because he is the An Geadh-Glas, I haven’t really understood what it is he was preparing me for. Of course, I knew I was in good hands, but it’s been a bit stressful to not know what he was planning. I am only five years away from being eligible for retirement, but I knew that he was planning to use me sooner than that. I had the distinct impression that I would be working in the missionary/evangelism field, so I assumed I would have to turn in the badge and gun and go to work for His church.
When I read the description of the “Cage of Responsibility” in chapter one, particularly the words “God-ordained passions tend to get buried beneath day-to-day responsibilities” I suddenly understood what it is that God has been preparing me for. He wants me to do His work, from where I am.
You see, police work is about helping people. You ask almost any police officer why he/she chose that line of work and nine times out of ten the answer will be, “I wanted to help people.” Sure, for most of us, excitement also played a large role, but helping people was the primary reason we chose the work we did.
When I stopped to consider what my God-ordained passion is, what makes me mad, glad or sad, I realized that the thing that gives me the most personal satisfaction is helping people. Unfortunately, however, I had stopped “helping people” a long, long time ago. Sure, I help people. It’s impossible to not help people in the line of work I’m in, but I had long ago stopped including my heart in the process.
There are a number of reasons for this; and, as I continued reading, I realized that each of them fell into one of the Six Cages. As an example, one of the experiences that most negatively impacted me occurred early in my career. At the time, we had a significant gang problem in the area I worked. As it turned out, I came to know a young gang member that wanted out of the lifestyle. We came to know each other well and I began investing a lot of my heart in helping him to turn his life around. To make a long story short, after months of working with this kid, and just when I thought I was making some serious headway, he got arrested for a significant crime he had committed and was subsequently sentenced to a long time in jail. Wow! That really broke my heart! Because of this experience, along with a number of others, I allowed myself to be trapped in the Cage of Failure (I was not able to do enough to help), the Cage of Guilt (I should have done more), the Cage of Assumptions (everyone I tried to help would disappoint me) and the Cage of Fear (If I don’t get involved, I can’t get hurt).
There were a number of lessons that God has been teaching me lately, that came together as a single revelation as I considered what you had written. One of those was a lesson that came from a recent “Wall Builders” episode when one of the founding fathers was quoted as saying that God does not judge us by our results, but rather by the actions behind those results. For me, that means I need to get back to what led me to police work in the first place. When I help people, I feel more in touch with God and with my true self. Sure, there will be a lot of disappointments along the way, but if I can bring even one person to Christ, then I’ve been successful.
What’s even more incredible than the revelation itself is the way God has been preparing me for this revelation for some time. He has put me in a position to be able to do incredible works.
About a year ago, I was transferred to a new position. This was a new position for me, but was also a new position in the department. This position was created to supervise a new unit that would identify the most dangerous parts of the City. Once identified, we would “clean up” the area and apply measures that would lead to lasting change.
For the first six months or so, we were highly successful. Everyone in the city was singing our praises. Then, about a month ago, we were told that we were being too aggressive and need to do more to involve the community. I was devastated. I had invested so much in what we were doing. I had poured my heart and soul into this project for over a year and now I was being told that I was doing it all wrong. I was angry and hurt….until God told me that I needed to let go of my pride. He then followed that up a week or so later by putting your book in my hands. That was when he revealed to me that my critics were right, but that it was OK, because that was all part of his plan.
He suddenly began revealing so many things to me that we could do as a police department to help people improve their lives. Every person I come in contact with as a police officer is a person in need; even the people I arrest. I had long ago quit thinking of “suspects” as people in need. The truth is that those are the people that need the most help. Those are the people in direst need of God’s mercy and grace.
Interestingly enough, at the same time that I was appointed to my new position, I also began working a part-time security job at a very large church in the area that my unit is working in. During my time at the church I have made some amazing contacts that I now understand will be critical to meeting the needs of the community in which we are working.
It’s only been a week since God revealed all of this to me and I’ve already been able to minister to several people in need. One was a suspect I was arresting for running from and fighting with the police. Two weeks ago, I would not have considered this guy worthy of being helped.
I could go on and on for days about how God set me up for this minute when I would read this passage; how much he did to prepare me to receive and put into effect what was revealed to me through your work. Be encouraged in the knowledge that God is using you in some really fantastic ways. I know that God has big plans for me as I learn to escape from the cages that have kept me confined for so long.
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