I have a confession to make:
I am a Gear Geek.
I love gear, mostly outdoor
gear. If it has to do with being outside in the mountains, then
sign me up. The bike shops, ski shops, REI, they all know me by
name, and build their empire on people like me. Someone once
said there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear, and
I’m a passionate believer.
My gear geek fetish has
followed me all of my life; as a kid playing sports I always had
the best gear, and it didn’t hurt to have a great mom and dad
who were always there to foot the bill.
Enter Police Life... you
always know the fresh faced rookie on the street, he’s not only
the one with the really shiny boots, rosy cheeks, and no hash
marks on his sleeve, but he couldn’t stuff another piece of gear
on his very stiff and shiny new equipment belt (known in the cop
biz as a Sam Browne) unless he gained about 20 pounds (which for
most cops is inevitable). He’s got it all, semi-auto pistol
with laser sight, four pistol magazines (if you count the one in
the gun that’s 76 rounds), two pairs of cuffs, two lights,
radio, two knives (one which has to be the venerable push
dagger), two backup pistols, rubber glove pouch, Taser pistol,
baton, Capstun... on and on and on.
That was me too. I thought I
had to have all this stuff, until time wore on, and I realized
how much I didn’t use most of this stuff. With each hash mark I
put on my sleeve my back got tired of carrying all that stuff
and I slowly began to take the pieces off. Most of it just
didn’t matter. After watching many a sunrise by myself behind
the wheel of a squad car it began to sink in: Over the years I
realized that I had gained the experience to accomplish just
about any problem with the stuff I carried between my ears, not
on my belt. I didn’t need a better tool, I just needed to be a
better craftsman with the few tools I had. And besides all
that, I realized that there were usually plenty of Gear Geeks
showing up at calls that had plenty of tools I might need but
didn’t need to carry. We called them mules, “Hey kid, hand me
your pneumatic window punch!” And what I really started to
learn is that I really cared less about the gear and more about
the people with whom and for whom I worked.
In the cop world, you also
see a lot of this on the firearms range. You always know the
Gear Geeks, they’re the ones who have little skill or work
ethic. They are the ones who show up to the range every other
month with a new pistol, thinking they have found the magic
pistol with the magic bullet that will make them the magic
shooter—until some crusty, old veteran shows up and pulls out
his trusty old .38 revolver with the bluing worn off. Most of
the time this is the first and only pistol he’s ever carried. He
knows it better than the back of his hand; and he uses his old
school revolver to school the Gear Geeks and their wonder guns.
One of my greatest mentors, Officer Dave Keller once said, “Take
the money you would spend on a new pistol and buy ammo, then
shoot it till your hands bleed. It doesn’t really matter what
you shoot, it’s how you shoot it.”
The Western mind seems to be
enamored with gear. Stuff. Things. There is an emerging part of
my soul that longs for the mature simplicity of skill,
experience, craftsmanship, excellence. Paul of the Bible once
wrote, “I have learned the secret of being content in any
situation.” As a recovering Gear Geek, I wonder how many times
I may have missed an opportunity to learn how to better use my
skills because I was looking for a better tool? And how does
this affect my development as a Christ follower, a husband, a
father, a friend, a pastor? Am I so enamored with stuff that I
somehow miss the true substance and simplicity of relationships
and life in the moment?
I don’t need a different car,
a different house, a different wife. I just need to be content
and thankful for what God has given me—balanced with the
decisions I have made so far. This is true freedom, true
health. Yes there is a thirst for more, but the “more” should
not be a collection of new or different things, it should be to
master the things I already have… lest they master me.
As I get a little older, I
hope to drop a few unnecessary pieces of gear off my spiritual
Sam Browne. Isn’t it time I cared less about the stuff of life
and more about the people I’m doing it with?
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