“No one else can walk with God for me.
No one else can be a husband for me.
No one else can be a Dad for me.
Everything else that I do, someone else can do.”
Crawford Loritts, Jrpayday loans LENDERS ONLINE
I strive to make this the blueprint for who I am.
First, I am a Christian. I have given my life to Jesus and each day I try to understand him better and follow him more closely. Second, I am a husband to Cathy, my bride since 1995. Third, I am Dad to four great kids; Michael, Julia, Alexandra and Greg (actually step-Dad to half that group, but my own step-father taught me that is an irrelevant distinction). We have a blended family that is a testimony in itself to the restorative power of Christ. Fourth, I am a cop.
The job does not like to stay in fourth place, and it has topped the list at times. While it keeps fighting to move up the list, I am committed to keeping my priorities. This is the first among my priorities that Crawford Loritts reminds me, “someone else can do.” I try to remember that.
Aside from a paper route as a kid and working in a pizza joint during high school, being a cop is really all I have ever done. Some would tell you that means I have never had a real job. In 1988 I began a career as a police officer in a northern suburb of Chicago and am currently serving as Chief of Police. During this time I have had the privilege of attending Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command and the F.B.I. National Academy.
All this to let you know my perspective. I believe that truth and wisdom are timeless and that lessons in leadership and ethics from antiquity, principles that are able to withstand the passage of time, are the keys to effective leadership today. I will speak as a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband, a Dad and a cop who is trying to understand the world before asking anyone to understand me.
Kevin Woodside
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
- Micah 6:8
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
- Matthew 5:9
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
- Psalm 127:1b
