“14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17  “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18  even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19  And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20  the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26  therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27  For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28  You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35  until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”” (Acts 2:14-36 ESV)

Capacities to thrive broker Calm and Resolve in the soldier’s mind. More, healthy self confidence we impute to others, we treat them as themselves Composed and Judicious in decision-making. We put our faith in a parent, a peer, a friend, a neighbor, a brother, a sister, in other words. Never or rarely do we quite Ask: from whence comes this confidence in Thriving? Why is my internal monologue greeting the day as if from some New (for we acknowledge education and life experiences that accumulate) pristine Perch, some posturing after Careful and Intentional Decisiveness. We Decide. We Analyze situation. We throw in our all, especially in the knowledge of fates worse than dying: the Christian and the Soldier alike, dutiful to a fault, helpful as a companion, honorific as a son or a daughter.

Do we quite “get there”? To the vantage point of Parent and Peer mission central, checkpoint monitoring, ushering in Tomorrow’s war? We pray for such as these. We motivate ourselves around Visions most Sublime, the rare worry that we have hurt our friend, our parent, our peer, our junior, is met with their wave and acknowledgement: no harm done! Yet see our clever instincts bandy about and lunge forth, hurtful or rebellious. See our original Conversion Story most germane, that Man is born in sin—it being the great Equalizer—and leans on Christ who took sin upon Himself.

Because when we thus sign on the dotted line, are we allowing for the seasoned sinner to ante up, that is, on their deathbed to make, finally, a confession of sin and of faith? Have we bargained with this Bargain to end all bargains? More, the enemy who leaves “options open”, options trading, freeze the proposal in time and save it for a rainy day. The enemy who argues, let me destroy my fixation, my object of passionate obsession… and then hear me Repent. But sure, O Christian, you can then repent, but will you then also align with the motivations and Causes of your alter-ego? Is that part of your one-day confession? Because to die… the Mission and the Cause, they do not die alongside the saints in the land who die in Faith.

More, we can injure a Christ-Movement, a movement towards the conjoined Confessional, by say ninety percent. We can blockade ninety percent of the Potential in the world. Or so it would seem to the naysayer and pundit. Because while some literally become modern-day gypsies, others are Thriving: Jesus’ people shall not be curtailed. And the errors made by pope and pontiff are errors not self-aware of the rampant hot knife through butter, of what’s at stake. That Christianity itself faces a reckoning, a modern reformation, a survival as though through Fire.

More, as we flip-flop: Am I saved? Have I deadened the evil counterpoise within myself? Have I reckoned with the distraction, the pride, the false calm? Have I rested in Christ’s embrace, and that alone? Will my judgment be salient, calm, copacetic, plentifully pleasant? Or will it turn out… that same intellect that drove the first Penitential Tears has deduced a clever unconfessed Posturing?

The Christian’s Cause is soldiering, requiring bold pronouncement and hearty Getting Along. We heartily “Get Along” with a smile on our face vis-a-vis it being the face of a dying martyr or a patiently long-lived saint. We talk ourselves up to a positioning most salient and purposeful, glad the juice still flows, the come-down isn’t yet, at least. Our existential dread of “coming down” from the spiritual High, our all-hand-on-deck Calling, our reason for the season and the Momentary Service to this Hour: all of it beckons, a warm reminder, a gracious Invite… to cope even as all dreams fall to pieces. Even as we hang up on a Broken Status Update. The flipside to Joy: the compromised Posturing and end of fruitful mentalism. But to the Hope, again: it is not our Duty to design lives, either for ourselves or for others, but to Preach the Gospel. In this we are successful, and the marriages are made, the coming togethers are invoked, the reformation is occurring, the friends are bolstered, buttressed. And what more Confidence do we need than this: that Christ went the way of dying For Us, that we might no longer fear death.