“11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Co 11:1–15 ESV)

Calmly defiant, the ante is upped because the Truth finds Traction. Of that mindset called Decisive, called Unbellicose, called Patient and Measured: we bear in our souls the fruits of Decisive Action and Reactionary Precision. We are Precise… to react to the grift, to the mocking laughter, to the degradations and plea of the Common Man: help us!

Because the hope of the poor shall not be taken away: this Soldier is bearing in her or his Heart the invisible myriad Realities overlaid and coexisting. Some things, they go invisible, but the measured Facial Expression, the sense of Duty and “Being There”: it is a frown most Sincere, Severe towards lazy sin, and yet willing to Smile and find Mirth.

To find one’s actions—from whence did they come—one’s actions Bellicose, is to face squarely Ruinous Decisions alongside Calmly Escalatory Decisions. We hate to ruin love. We moreover are Taught: some loves cannot be hindered, attacked, dismounted. So to our personal “Trip”, our vibes and our Calm Demeanor: others will never understand.

Understand that Christ had zero-day game-day focus on the Sins of the Church. Never… never do we quite Achieve, Attain to, that sense that all our deeds are writ in the Lamb’s Book of Life as being executed in Sincerity, in Peaceful Tidings, in Calmly Reasoned measured response. No, our lusts, they remain, and only we pray are channeled to a lust or passion for the Dialog, for the Coffee Date, for the brothers coming together, sisters coming together, stronger for the self-awareness.

Christ went hog wild to Exact His missionary’s torch-passing of Revenge, of Comeuppance, of Schadenfreude. He taught and the world Listened: because His words had a Power long since buried by the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. Where He nipped and tucked, the scribes and Pharisees had long since gone Bloated. Where He cut down to size, the scribes and the Temple Authorities had long since aggrandized and emphasized (should be with embarrassing self-awareness) their own Pride and Conceit.

Therefore to the Mission, to the Front, to the Head Spinning screech of Pedal to the Metal New Day, First Day, war. Because we gave up on “getting along”, rather, our no-fuss and no-nonsense Response was to Love on the Enemy, such that we learnt to Speak a Healing Word, to humble ourselves that they might be center and front for an hour. What does that feel like, to have someone—a Christ—make it “all about you”? It feels so unusual, our gruff greetings somehow eeking a bit, warming a bit, to letting the smile unleash, letting the handshake be with gladsome tidings.

Principles we developed, curated, and lost. Our Principle is Christ For Us, the meek for the undeserving. And we do not resent the Love He has shown to the populace, to the undeserving, to the Manifest Attention-Grabbing Sinner. We Restore. We Forgive. We live as One Body, each others’ sins shared with ourselves, so that when one falls, it is a burden to be borne by the Community.