“11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Tim 4:11-16 ESV)

Creational experiences, stark contrasts, earned segmentation, differences: crazed Testimony has a personal, ownership element. It must be defended. It must be held close to heart in any social setting or time of sharing. That we have Educationally, Experientially, Episodically, Endemically earned or attained unto some heights, and the better our years as they go, the more we learn Relevant and not cynical but Realistic expectations. From the conversational partner. From the body politic. From the gathering.

After all it is even more Stark than the whispers suggest: that we were dead in sin and trespass, and here enter the Classic Faith, like a ship cutting through the wake, God helped us: the holp God. Yet to begin to see as our Assets and Valuations things Experiential in Intangible: this is a nod to our educational attainment, however focused even to the point of obsession; it is a nod to our downtimes however intent on some private learning or study or work hard, play hard mentality. It is a nod to those we befriend and then imitate: where, from where cometh our composure, when all life is so saddening, so broken, so unfair, so unforgetful of our personal sins; yet the holp God. Help is on the way. Happiness is, illogically, ours to own and cherish.

The help meet called Spirit, He or She takes us to a time Felt and Symbolic or Cultivating: the rock bottom state of Existence, the tunes listened to, the wild hayride around some Choices made on our behalf by the earlier generations, that we be these sorts of folk and not these others, in all loving vibe and peacemaking. Style was ours, was initially a set of lyricisms and dress, only to morph into the urgent Cry for Aid: Jesus, help me. And that became much more a full-bodied Response. To life. To heartbreak. To self-protectionism at times to a fault: we must learn, even in the warm embrace of Faith, to continue to “Die”, to continue to “Share” and be “All-In”: can I say a word, we might ask. That God is sovereign and we, His people, are fighting the good fight.