Vigilance

After the October 31^st terror attack in New York City you may have seen Ray Kelly on the news talking about the incident. Kelly is the retired NYPD commissioner (if you have seen the show Blue Bloods, think Frank Reagan) who spent more than twelve years at his post. He was named acting commissioner for a short span in 1993, just in time for the first World Trade Center bombing, and then became commissioner in January 2002, fewer than four months after the 9/11 attack.

Kelly understood something that many overlooked throughout the nineties and early part of the new century, and that is terrorists must be addressed differently than carjackers and domestic abusers. In agreeing to serve as police commissioner, Kelly insisted on enhanced police presence around certain areas, and he created an NYPD counter-terrorism division, with detectives placed undercover in Europe as well as in strategic areas of New York City.

In his book Vigilance, Kelly describes the sixteen terror plots in New York City that were thwarted on his watch. Sixteen times his city could have been attacked—from the Brooklyn Bridge, to the metro system, and even a coordinated effort to attack multiple synagogues—but New York’s finest rose to the occasion each time. The theme of his book, as the title suggests, is that the good guys must always be on guard. Evil doesn’t take a day off, and Kelly’s team had to always be ready. They were able to combat the enemy because they understood the enemy.

Peter had the same idea when he wrote to the believers in Turkey, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).” The first way to withstand the attack of the devil is to know that he is on the offensive. He never takes a day off. We must remain on guard at all times, knowing that giving him an inch in our lives can have disastrous results.

As foolish as it would be to police New York City with a pre-9/11 mentality, it is just as foolish to live as if the devil doesn’t. Keep your guard up at all times. Be sober. Be vigilant.