Julie’s Gems Introduction

When I used to work for the police department, I published the department newsletter called “Beyond the Badge” from January 2002 until December 2003 (24 issues). I was told by many how much everyone loved my version of “the best newsletter” anyone had ever seen. I not only included department info such as promotions, awards, team projects, trainings, etc, but I included a humor column (on police life, of course) a recipe that men & women would enjoy, movie/book reviews, the chief’s column, and my own column. A lot of people loved it b/c I let them contribute to it, and I was told it boosted the morale of the department. I was even awarded the “employee of the month” for the entire city in August 2002. (This was in the days before I went from hero to zero.)
I wrote all that just to say that the next 20 blogs are going to be copies of the columns I wrote for the newsletter (I’m not including all 24 columns I wrote). B/c I wrote for a secular job, I could not make it spiritual, but they were all positive, and hopefully encouraging, messages. My column was called “Julie’s Gems,” so I will refer to the blogs from the newsletter as being from them. They won’t all be relevant to November 2006, but here they will be anyway! I may still write an “original” article from time to time before I get through the next 20 entries as the mood strikes.