FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Disease starts secretly. It enters your body secretly and grows secretly. Then it begins to sap your strength, rob your appetite and weaken you. Unless something is done, unless you go to the doctor and treat your condition, it can do serious damage to you -- even kill you.

All of us can make poor decisions in life; we can't get better if we don't learn from our errors in judgment. People can choose to play with fire without realizing its potential danger. I've taken sin for granted. It's like the analogy of the frog.

If you take a frog and place it in hot water, it will jump right out. But if you place a frog in cold water and slowly heat it up you will eventually have frog soup. The point being, when we see the first signs of danger in our lives we ought to be concerned, so much so that we take the necessary steps to get ourselves out of the water before it starts boiling, and we cook to death. The sad reality for many of us is that we often don't do anything until it's too late -- until we're in too deep, the pain too severe and our lives hopelessly out of control.

Don't fall into the trap of being your own worst enemy. I'm here to tell you, it is not too late to change your vector, to get out and get help.

Doctors of medicine will tell you an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

In the Air Force we pass all kinds of policies that enforce prevention. We make sure we are trained in fire prevention, we are computer trained in recognizing potential viruses in our computers. We are becoming better aware and trained to recognize and prevent terrorism. We are trained in work area safety. Anything that can improve our lives and keep us safer is good.

Should it be any different for you and I that we have good prevention habits and coping skills to protect our hearts and souls? Absolutely not!

Today, if you find yourself in a situation that has taken you down a few notches and you feel weakened or even depleted of your physical, emotional and spiritual energy -- don't wait until the fever or infection gets so bad. Seek out help where help is to be found.