“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. Paul’s Change of Plans 12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you. 15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. 2 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” (2 Co 1:3–2:4 ESV)

Just who will rise to the occasion: the mettle of our convictions, it goes blah, hokey, flimflam, and Reflective of the simple Nature of our Humanity. But all is not lost! There is nothing “fun” about Engaging Tomorrow’s War, only this: that our Convictions shall be tested as mettle is tried, and we will scramble-dash across the Finish Line quite Amazed at this, our Walk on Water; our Walking by Faith not by Sight; our Jurisprudence Sublime and Cachet Divine. We were Destined for this Hour, Destined to be him or her who Rose, Destined to see all conniving Life’s Puzzle distantly disappear with that distant dull roar: we were “Sinners”; now we’re “Occupied”. Too “occupied” to worry any longer.

We were Grandiose in season, and Pitiable in season: we were Loud-Mouthed on a strange jaunt that really requires some meditation or coaching to get us back to the answer as to why it was even a “good move”. Because we go flim-flam, at times. We can’t stand our own choice of deeds, at times. Strange light, however, from the Godhead, for whom all is potentially a strange brand of Genius; His brand of Genius; His Frontline unwearied but tested Mettle for the hour. To think it all a give-and-take, is to Deny the Victory over Sin, of Christ on the Cross.

Christ’s Victory spelt radical Accomplishment, “Borrowed” unction from the Jewish Church of the time, a sublime “you’re gonna hate me for this…” Deed Done, not intending the chief message to be “Piracy! Grab the altar, make it post-Jewish!”, but rather, Necessity: God doing what is Necessary for that great confluence of Jewish Rabbinical Life with the Broad Roman (pagan) State. See? Just as our literal deeds in life do save or damn us, so too was Christianity derived from literal History and contributory Cultural Remnants. 

To our Weary, then, refusal to go “flim-flam” or hokey: spiritual attack was never far from the Game, though we may have forgotten. Its a game of plausibilities, indeed, that we take certain Care not to give the enemy any reason to Doubt us, to Malign us, to Gossip about us. More, we are forged like steel in a furnace, not granting credence to a devil who says, “Take greater risks! Put everything on the line! You can afford a little wandering!”. We can afford no such thing.

Rising to the occasion, then, is a strange Aspect of the Post-Experiential life of faith. We had the Experience wherein, all “natural aspects” of things went belly-up: there is no “Standard dialog” any longer but rather, drink the KoolAid, Christ literally, painedly, beckons us to come Home to the Altar, to the Cross, to the Strange non-intuitive Mindset. It suddenly is by-and-large Okay: okay to hold up the loving dialog; okay to whisper sweetly into the night; okay to draw Near without either pretense or fear. We draw Near to His painful but decisive, loving Correctives and Plum Home Bases. Suddenly in light, again, of Concrete facts of Sin, we experience the whispering winds of Satiety, of Conclusive Evidence of a sacrifice having been made, of Him the Soldier having gone belly-up, hung on a Cross, and now… now with but the slightest hint of pain that remains, carefully, lovingly walking alongside of us, us now Giddy, on the road to our own Emmaus. Conversion. Something that Persists, to Write Home About, but what words to use?

It is Post-Erroneous or Flim-Flam decision. It is bravely undertaken as a Gifted Lease on Life. Suddenly, is our output hardcore enough? Suddenly, we begin a small grin in the face of bombs bursting in air. So I am, after all, in a Blessed Place, a Forgiven Place, a Beloved Place. We can be this and more, because of the Gentler Love of the Son: a Son whom we can indeed Injure with our unthoughtful actions, our hasty impulses or instincts; but who embraces the Onslaught, and takes it Home to His Cross: His Final Destiny being in fact not unlike Ours. If we’re willing. If we’re Able. To laugh a bit: life is Brief, but more, we have accomplished even One Good Deed, well that is enough to Live and Die for.