SPOONER -- In 2011, Trevor Peterson became a cop. After following his father’s carpenter footprints for eleven years, Rusk County’s Trevor starting thinking seriously about becoming a police officer, thanks to the guys he hung with - cops.
In 2002 his best friend was murdered and Trevor struggled with it, big time. He spent years asking God why that happened and why this had to happen to his friend’s mother.
He decided to go into law enforcement, become a cop in order to make a difference in people’s lives. Every day when he puts on the uniform he thinks of his best friend and his mother. He spoke to her the other day and she told him that she no longer asks why this happened, but prays that God will use this tragedy to bring others to Christ. Her testimony and attitude are great examples of God’s power to forgive.
The decision to become a law enforcement officer meant he needed to go to WITC for his Associate Degree, and the decision was not an easy one to make. He and his wife, Rhianon, a nurse, had to sell their house and move into her mother’s home for a year along with their one child in order to pay off all their debts and to pay for his two years of schooling.
“For the first 25 years of my life, I was searching for its purpose, a purpose that would fill the empty void that I felt every day. No matter what I tried to fill the hole with, it ALWAYS was short-lived and had little meaning.
“I always liked the idea of God but was too fixed on my own selfish ways to realize there was more to life than just me. I always thought I was a good person. A hard worker and I would always be willing to help someone in need.
“One of the important people in my life was a police officer that I really looked up to. This police officer had a Bible study and I decided to attend.
“Things really changed for me when I was confronted with the fact that I was breaking some of God’s commandments on a daily basis. I knew if God was real, that he would be a God of justice. I also realized that if God were to judge me for the sins in my life, I would go to hell. That really scared me. I thought I was doomed and there was nothing I could do to save myself.”
“Through this officer’s Bible study I learned that Jesus was crucified and died on the cross for MY sins and I knew that I had to make a choice; continue my way of life or put my faith in Jesus.”
“It was then that I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and let Him have His authority over my life. I can see now how God put people in my path to soften my heart in order to receive what Jesus did for all of us. When I finally chose to follow Jesus Christ, I experienced His love and grace and He filled the emptiness in my heart.”
As soon as he graduated from WITC, God opened a door to a police officer position in 2011. Now this man, his wife, and their two kids are happy in their new town and Trevor is devoted to his job in law enforcement.
“As a police officer and Christ follower, I see the absence of God in people’s lives during nearly every shift I work. I pray for people all the time, God has put those in my path that are at their absolute rock bottom. People who have no hope and want to end their lives.
“When I am in those situations I ask people if I can share my faith with them. I have never had even one person say no. I share with them that God has a purpose for every single one of us and that purpose is far greater than any plan we have.
“For me, I did not see His purpose in my life until I totally put my faith and trust in Him and by giving total control of my life over to God, He revealed a greater purpose, a purpose I never would have imagined.”
He’s proud to work at his police department because of his chief’s pro-active approach to law enforcement and community policing philosophy. His department reaches out to the public through their community policing programs; coffee with cops, 5K Run/ Walk, dunk tank event, bicycle patrol, haunted house, Drug/alcohol/violence school programs, and their citizen’s police academy along with their active Facebook page, that alerts citizens of current scams and public service announcements they even print their activity log so citizens can see how they spend their shift time. Trevor is also the K-9 officer and makes lots of friends and establishes trust through his dog, K9 Bleu. He always puts people at ease by telling them, “Call me Trevor.”
Trevor recently attended the Meth Summit in Trego and is convinced that Meth Does Not Have a Face. In other words, drugs and even alcohol affect people from young to old, people that have holes in their lives they can’t fill no matter what they try.
He shares some of his favorite Bible verses with anyone who will listen. Verses like “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.”
Or the verse he’s chosen as his life’s verse, it’s in the book of John, chapter 15, verse 5. “I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; for apart from me, you can do nothing.”
Whether on duty or off duty, Trevor leaves people with this encouraging message, “No person deserves to be known for the worst thing they have ever done.” This message, Trevor says is one that his pastor uses. “I feel that this message offers hope to everyone.”
Trevor and his family worship in Rice Lake at the Red Cedar Church as many other locals do. They are the ones with the yard signs that say Try Church.
There’s writing on one of Red Cedars’ inside walls that simply says;
Everybody’s welcome.
Nobody’s perfect
Anything’s Possible.
Last Update: Apr 28, 2017 8:57 am CDT
