As most of us know the Bible says that we are to walk like Christ. We can never be perfect, but we are to consciously make those choices when faced with any junction in life. When God came down from heaven and wrapped himself in flesh, he gave his own life for us so that we may have a chance to have our sins pardoned – giving us a way out of hell and being able to live eternity in heaven with him.
There are many ways anyone can – like Christ – give life to others as he did to us. It could be by donations to the sick or the poor, it could be inviting someone to church who later gives their life to God, or like this officer, it could be donating a kidney to a total stranger.
All officers take up an oath when they first put on their badges. However, throughout the time the meaning of that badge begins to tarnish for some, but not for Guy Kitchens who makes sure he carries that oath with him the same every day just as he had done on day one.
“On or off duty, I’d run into an active shooter, you know, and try to stop and save lives, so this was just a different form of it,” Kitchens said.
Guy Kitchens, 39, has proudly worn his badge with the Jupiter Police Department for nine years and counting, and never imagined that something he read in the previous year could have altered his life so dramatically this year.
"*" indicates required fields
“Something kept coming up in my head,” Kitchens said. “It was one of those things where, for some reason, it was like the only email ever to constantly replay in my head over and over.”
Straightforwardly the words continuously echoed in his mind. Somebody was at serious risk, fighting for their life, holding on by a thread. However, the main difference this time around was that Kitchens wouldn’t require his badge or sidearm, but instead his heart and faith.
“To give the gift of life is the most beautiful gift you can give anybody,” Jeff Cooper said.
Unexpectedly, Cooper had resigned from Broward County as deputy and was on the opposite side of that email. He was counting down the last of his days. His kidneys were fizzling and dialysis was pulverizing him.
Cooper would speak about how bleak things were, and how just about all hope had been lost. “It’s the not knowing that’s really hard.”
Kitchens being a man of God knew that God will open doors that no man can close and likewise will shut doors that no man can open. He will protect you, and if you heed the subtle voice of the Holy Spirit, he will guide you.
“In my life, if something was meant to be, God always flung the doors open and none of these were shut, so I was pretty sure I was supposed to do this,” he said.
Heeding that small voice he went forward with the operation after everything added up on February, 3. The procedure took 6 hours, and by the end of the day Kitchens’ kidney was pumping life into Cooper’s body.
The two are connected by the badge and oaths they took up, and are now inseparable for life.
“He’s my living angel, my little brother that I never had but I always wanted,” Cooper said.
Kitchens had just one thing to say post-operation: “The main reason I became a cop is I wanted to change lives, especially, I wanted to save lives.”