The recent opportunity to sit down and talk with the Rev. Dr. James H. Taylor III or Chaplain “J” as he has settled on, was as refreshing and encouraging a conversation as I have had in quite some time. That upbeat feeling carried me through the article announcing his appointment and well into my next story before a different perspective of the job he had in front of him began to settle in to the point that I had to pay attention to it.

The simple fact is, the chaplain of any department, fire, police, Army, Navy and so on, is charged with a responsibility that is hard to imagine. I had to do a little out of the box work to understand it myself. From a logical standpoint, I understood the job he had taken pretty easily. But I understood that his experience as a policeman gave him something in common with his fellow officers. They would have it a little bit easier trying to talk. I was still missing something. I remember thinking about “… the magnitude of his job,” and “how much of himself” and … it took a while for me to realize that I was looking at this from the wrong angle. From a man’s perspective — I could not see a way for Chaplain “J” to offer himself to serve, especially in his position, without running down until I realized that it was exactly that part of himself that would run down, the body of faith that carried him through every day, would allow him to do his job. Chaplain “J” has been charged to the protection of our protectors. It is a simple statement about a life of service. It is also enough to cause one to consider their own amount and quality of service on this journey. Is it ever enough?

Noel Oliver is a staff writer for The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia, LLC. He can be reached at Noel.Oliver@FarmvilleHerald.com.