Today I went to Portland and learned all about crime victims' rights... appropriate since this is the national crime victims' rights week (bet you didn't know that). The seminar was way over my head, as usual, but I tried to be a sponge, soaking up everything in hope that one day when I needed the info, I could withdraw it from the recesses of my brain.

The seminar was attended by two groups of people; non-profits and law enforcement. I'm coming to realize how closely these two have to work together. Law enforcement has been given authority to impact and enforce the law. But they can't (and most of the time don't want to) do much else. Non-profits come in and take care of a lot of the post crime little stuff, like helping victims get back on their feet.

Seven years ago, when I left the pseudo law enforcement field of Safety and Security at a local hospital, I was happy to be on to other things. It was a relief not to have to be constantly suspicious of everyone I met. I was tired of locking doors and standing guard over mentally unstable patients in the ER.

I always thought that the only thing my four years of security experience amounted to was a good college job and some interesting stories. I never expected that my time there would have seriously useful applications later in life. Yes, I know it was only a silly security job, but I was trained as low-level law enforcement. I began to see the world from the eyes of a law enforcer.

People weren't really people, they were potential problems. If someone came in completely sloshed the most important thing to do was find out if there were any beds open in detox. The name of the game was do your job and don't get involved. Hand off a problem person to some other agency as fast as possible.

Having that experience, I feel like I can understand a few issues facing this odd teamwork of non-profits and law enforcement. It amazes me how God wastes no experience. A college job with no foreseeable relevance to my life ends up providing me with much needed insight. Could it be that God planned this all along? Could it be that way back in college God saw where I'd be today and smiled as I applied to be a security officer at a hospital? I think so.