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The Olive Principle

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Contents

Preface....................................................xiChapter One: Do You Remember?..............................1Chapter Two: The "I Factor"................................11Chapter Three: Where Do You Stand?.........................23Chapter Four: The Olive Principle..........................29Chapter Five: A Murderer and a Brawler.....................41Chapter Six: Take the Worn Trail...........................51Chapter Seven: The Way to He, Not Me.......................61Chapter Eight: Now a Servant...............................75Bibliography...............................................83

Chapter One

Do you remember what it felt like when you first came to know Jesus as your personal Savior? Do you remember how your face shined with a type of glory, and how you could not get that middle-school grin off your face? Do you remember how you could not get enough of the Bible, and how you told everyone you knew about Jesus, regardless of whether he wanted to hear? Take just a moment and close your eyes and allow your mind's eye to take you back to that time. I would guess that right now you have that silly grin back on your face and that tingle in your heart like the first time you fell in love. Do you remember?

I remember one evening when I arrived at work at the Northeast Oklahoma Police Department, where I had been employed for nineteen years. I was confronted by the records clerk with the question, "Hey Lieutenant, what's going on? There is something different about you." The question caught me off guard. Firstly, because I was known as a focused person who was always on a mission, and secondly, because I strived to show no emotion around those with whom I worked (Mr. Spock on Star Trek was my hero).

The records clerk, Mona, said, "Dan, your face is shining, and you don't have the scowl on your forehead that we're used to seeing." (Mona was a Christian lady who made a habit of avoiding me, as I had a history of coming into her office, grunting orders, and walking out.) I went to look in a mirror to see the difference in my demeanor that seemed so obvious to others. I saw something that put me back on my heels, along with a smile and true look of peace on my face. It was at this time I heard a small voice inside of me say, "It is because I am now part of your life." I knew the voice was that of Jesus, whom I had come to know just the evening before.

I remember being forced to take the life of another human being one evening in September of 2000, as several officers and I were attempting to stop a possible drunk driver in a pickup. Upon stopping the pickup, the male driver exited and charged my squad car, brandishing a knife while cursing at me. This man made two lunges toward me as I commanded him to drop the knife and attempted to get my squad car between us. The man, I thought with the second lunge, had accomplished his goal of stabbing me in the chest. At this point in time I was forced to shoot and kill the man, to not only protect myself, but also the other officers running up to the scene. I felt numb and empty inside.

Even though I was cleared of this event as a justified shooting and went right back to work (back on the horse, so to speak), I continued to feel an emptiness inside. During my career, I had been involved in drug investigations and had taken part in many drug raids, and I was proud of the fact that I'd never had to shoot or kill anyone. Every day after the shooting, I put on my leather "lieutenant face" and went to work, while slipping further and further into a deep depression. After several months of sleeping only an hour or two a night and never leaving the house except for work-related activities, I felt desperate. I cried out to this "God" I had been told about at different times in my life. Something inside was telling me to talk to a pastor, a man I knew from a time in my past when I'd been seeking something more. I never took to the Bible or the church thing, being both self-centered and self-reliant; my pride prevented me from having my emptiness filled.

One day I decided it was worth the risk of letting my guard down just once in order to get some advice from this pastor. I hoped to make peace with whatever was eating me alive like a cancer. I drove the few blocks to this pastor's home, sat on his couch, and told my story. I was disappointed, to say the least, when he did not have any magical formula for me to feel good about myself. Instead, he handed me a key to his church. The pastor said, "Dan, you need to go talk to the only one who can help you—Jesus Christ." I was given instructions on how to go up to the altar, get down on my knees, and ask Jesus for help. Arriving at the church, I went up to the altar and did as I was told. Three hours later, I was on my face bawling and asking for forgiveness for my past. I remember the amazing thing was that when I got up I felt a peace inside of me that I had never felt before, and there was something different about my heart—it felt clean.

So here I was at work and people were telling me I looked different. I went into Mona's office and shut the door (probably to her dismay) and told her that I had surrendered my life to Jesus Christ the night before. I then asked her what to do next. After Mona finished hugging and squeezing the air out of me, she told me to go buy a Bible to begin reading, and that I needed to start going to church.

I went to the local Christian bookstore and bought a Bible (the New International Version), and began reading it from cover to cover. I became one of those maniac Christians: Do you remember what it was like? Do you remember being terribly excited and making sure that everyone heard about your Jesus? I spent every free minute reading my Bible and other books on prayer, fasting, and how to live a holy life. I just could not get enough of God and could do nothing but smile and tell Him over and over again how much I loved Him. The change was earthshaking for an old seasoned cop, especially one who'd become pretty cold and indifferent to people's pain, and who worked hard to show no emotion while on duty (or in his private life). I repeatedly read Psalm 63:1–6,

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. (NIV)

I got it! I understood how the writer of this psalm felt. I once again could not sleep, as I was in love with God and had difficulty thinking about anyone or anything else, and my face shined. Do you remember?

In my hunger to identify with the Bible I did a character study of Moses in Exodus 34:29–35. I thought hard about how he would go up on Mount Sinai and stay in the presence of God and when he descended, his face would shine so that it frightened the other Israelites, and he was forced to wear a veil. Moses knew what it felt like to have a real and personal relationship with...