Blue Life Support
/Blue Life Support
By: Chris Amos
I am Pastor Chris Amos, a member of the team of LEOs put together for the sole purpose of encouraging and supporting our brothers and sisters in Blue. I’m a retired police officer. I worked almost 27 years for the Norfolk Virginia Police Department, retiring in 2014. My youngest son, Jesse, is currently on Norfolk’s SWAT or Special Operations Team. My oldest son, Seth, was also a Norfolk police officer before dying in 2018 from complications of an infection he received while training for SWAT School.
I’ll share more about Seth in the future but today I just wanted to say thank you, offer a quick word of encouragement and extend a challenge.
In 1999, I was ordained as a pastor. In fact, I spent the last 15 years on the NPD as a bi-vocational pastor. That simply means I made a living bouncing between the frying pan of police work and the fire of pastoring.
I’ll never forget the shortest sermon I ever preached. It went something like this: “Good morning folks. Glad to see you. If you have your Bibles turn to …” before I could finish my sentence I was interrupted by a call from work. I was needed at a domestic-related homicide suicide scene not far from the church. After getting the message, I turned to the congregation and said let’s pray. A couple minutes later I was out the door headed to a gruesome crime scene and my folks to the Greasy Spoon café.
Seriously, though I as a pastor I have officiated more LEO funerals both active and retired, than I can count. I was struck by one I conducted just a few days ago. A good man and retired NPD officer named Willie had just passed away at young age of 68. While preparing for his funeral service, his wife told me his favorite Bible was his Archeological Study Bible. It was a Bible filled with study notes, graphs, maps and pictures of archeological sites and important historical excavations and findings.
I couldn’t help but smile. Think about it: Is there an occupation where an individual is lied to more than that of a law enforcement officer? “ain’t my car”, “ain’t my gun”, ain’t my jacket”, or my favorite right after pulling crack out of a suspect’s pockets, “Officer, these ain’t my pants.”
After years of being lied to who can blame you if you don’t believe most of what you hear?
That brings me back to Willie and his love for his Archeological Study Bible. Willie was able to not just read words on a page and choose to base his life on those words. No, he found a way to dig into the archeological and historic record to find supporting evidence on the reliability and truthfulness of The Bible. Even more importantly, on the claims of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God. His final conclusion as a veteran Cop and detective, “Yep, Jesus is the real deal.”
Friends, I just want to encourage you to conduct your own investigation about Jesus and His claims. While much of what He stated MUST be taken and accepted by faith, there is a boatload of evidence that corroborates His life, death, and resurrection from the dead! The very foundation of the Christian faith.
How important is corroboration? On Jan 3, 1996, at 1931 hrs, I was shot twice before returning fire and killing my attacker. Our homicide investigators spoke to me while still in the hospital. I told them what happened. A year later I looked at the file of my shooting and saw that a 19-year-old young woman was on the street at the time of my shooting. I never saw her. As I read her statement I discovered it corroborated everything I had said. Would the facts have changed had she not been out there that night? Nope, but her first-person eyewitness account that corroborated my statement sure didn’t hurt.
I had the opportunity in 2005 to go to Israel. I can tell you my first-person eyewitness account is simply this: The vast archeological records in Israel, from the Sea of Galilee in the North to Jerusalem in the South, and everywhere in between corroborates what I have been studying in the Bible for 32 years.
Friends, I challenge you to do a little digging. The Bible can withstand even the greatest of scrutiny. Trust me, if on trial Jesus would be more than able to withstand the most aggressive of cross examinations. In the infamous words of Detective Willie, “Yep, Jesus is the real deal.”
If you want additional information please check out Bluelives.Support. That will take you to The Cornelius Project; a goldmine of resources to support and encourage you, your marriage, and family. The best part, it’s by LEOs for LEOs.
God Bless, be safe, and Lord willing, I will see you at the Finish Line!
Chris Amos is a retired officer and former spokesperson for the Norfolk Virginia Police Department. He is currently the pastor at Chr1st Fellowship Church in Norfolk. He is married for over 30 years and is the proud father of three children, two of whom are police officers. He serves as the volunteer Chaplain for Norfolk Police Dept. and Norfolk Sheriff’s Office.
