“4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Eph 4:1–16 ESV)

Redux, replayed, game day second iteration, the Christian soldier’s training has repeatedly, madly, extensively, reinforced the Ability to be calm through the storm, the Patience not to Test the Spirit of God in ill fashion but to know what and how the homecoming—the war front met—is to play out. We play out the slack in the line this time Determined, calm through storm, to Cope and to Mope no longer, to “Hear”: “if you only knew what I know, you’d be…” fill in the blank. You’d be up all night. You’d be pouring your heart and soul, your will for your family and friends, into your Screed and Script. Not because of any dastardly denouement, but because… cheer from the Front, cheerful Disk Jockeys and Psychologists, Mentalists and Front Office secretaries. Everyone has their blue clouds of down time. Everyone makes perfunctory judgments. Everyone accidentally gets their men and women into a pickle by an oversight or Failure quite to go Redux, Replayed Game Day, this time shall see it through, promise and scout’s honor. 

See through the Tormenting, Tortuous, Head Games so easily and abundantly Healed by Prayer, by a Word from a friend we felt we’d offended, childhood Trauma and Repetitive “you’re not worthy, you’re not good enough, you aren’t Cut Out for this” met with Deep symbiotic childhood Blessing and Unction, Missive and Calling: “You could have it all, you could go the distance, if anyone can do it, O Friend, you can”.

The stylized and Waves of Repetitive washings, the waves of war fronts, the first Wave knocking down for the count certain peoples or places, institutions and passing Specters in the night; this, already, is a loggerheaded Encounter with those who hate us, nothing to be glib about or take for Granted. This victory… it means going non-suggestible, non-agreeable, non-conciliatory. Sometimes we do have Something to stand up for in court, and the inimical enemy’s Waves too, we glance off of, we see wash over us, over our breakwaters, but do not Flinch nor Concede.

The promise of, hey you Mr., Ms. Soldier, why not perhaps just this once open your Bible mid-day and listen for a Word, something to heal the present distress, some News as in yesterday’s Lectionary, Matthew 23, or perhaps… what does Christ have to say to us Here and Now: are the scribes and the Pharisees Today just as empty-headed, are we to be just as Stout-hearted? Guide us, O Jehovah. The Waves… they leave this poor sinner feeling one step short of Panic-driven, angst-ridden, lethargic or hypnotized, doing Battle but worrying the even-keeled Prerogative might go rogue and insane.

Unmeasured. Unsensible. Irrational. Yet in some Wild Evolutionary mentalist’s measuring rods, measuring electrical devices, we are Tip of the Iceberg an Evolved species, over and above that Judgment day when some reincarnate as chipmunks, others as birds, yet others as wolves and bandits of human stripe. Indeed, what is a worse outcome, that we fail to “earn the promotion”, that our Unction is once and for all Passed Over for promotion, that we Failed in contrast with our nearest Competitor? Or that we aren’t Peace and Believing in all things?

God will not Abandon us. Man may have, but God will not. More, we have this Peace within us, within a ramshackle helter-skelter give-as-good-as-you-get World, that we are Always Favored and Frontline, the lyrics scream in our ear, “You’re the best I’ve got”. And we in turn pass this message on to our Friends: God ain’t making no junk.