"Ideally, operational commanders fight only when and where they want to. Their ability to do this is largely a function of their ability to maintain the initiative and shape the events of war to their purposes. 'In war it is all-important to gain and retain the initiative, to make the enemy conform to your action, to dance to your tune.' Retaining the initiative, in turn, is largely the product of maintaining a higher operational tempo, which we will discuss later in this chapter." -- MCDP 1-2: Campaigning
Initiative is inescapable. Your life and livelihood will be determined by initiative: either yours or someone else's. There is no scenario where you live uninfluenced by internal drive or external force. Someone's initiative will force your hand. Make that initiative yours and move your hands where you want it to go or withhold it from where you don't want it to end up.
Initiative shapes, passivity is shaped.
Be a man. Have agency. Look to God. Observe all He commands by working your hands as hard as you can.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
day no. 15,121: five hundred pounds from here to there
"We must make this campaign an exceedingly active one. Only thus can a weaker country cope with a stronger, it must make up in activity what it lacks in strength." —Stonewall Jackson
You can lift 500 lbs. by being strong enough to do it all at once or by being active enough to do it 100x in 5 lb. increments. If the job requires 500 lbs. to be moved, you will have to either find the strength or the perseverance to move it. But not all jobs grant the time it would take to do it in 5 lb. increments. And not all objects can be broken down. Some require all at once or not at all kind of strength. Others can be broken down, but cannot be assembled back together again. While still others can be broken down, but cannot be reassembled with the same structural integrity exhibited prior to being broken down. If you have the strength to lift 500 lbs. you have options. If you aren't strong enough, you have limited options in proportion to your limitations. If you're weak, lifting it all at once is not an option. If you're strong, you may opt to lift 50 lbs. 10x, not because you have to, but because you find that advantageous. But either way, you must work with what you have and if the gig is 500 lbs. from here to there, then you must flex whatever resources you have available to you.
You can lift 500 lbs. by being strong enough to do it all at once or by being active enough to do it 100x in 5 lb. increments. If the job requires 500 lbs. to be moved, you will have to either find the strength or the perseverance to move it. But not all jobs grant the time it would take to do it in 5 lb. increments. And not all objects can be broken down. Some require all at once or not at all kind of strength. Others can be broken down, but cannot be assembled back together again. While still others can be broken down, but cannot be reassembled with the same structural integrity exhibited prior to being broken down. If you have the strength to lift 500 lbs. you have options. If you aren't strong enough, you have limited options in proportion to your limitations. If you're weak, lifting it all at once is not an option. If you're strong, you may opt to lift 50 lbs. 10x, not because you have to, but because you find that advantageous. But either way, you must work with what you have and if the gig is 500 lbs. from here to there, then you must flex whatever resources you have available to you.
Monday, March 16, 2020
day no. 15,120 continued... panic mafia
Panic mafia, n. Someone who takes the responsibility of relaying the newest facts very seriously without taking any responsibility for the ensuing panic their prophesying produces. They want to look like they have done everything they could while denying that they had anything to do with the attending consequences they caused. And when all is said and done they will congratulate themselves for how their panic propaganda saved the day while blaming all of the attending infrastructural consequences on someone else's unpreparedness and incompetence.
day no. 15,120: post malone y'all
Sometimes you're making a k-cup of afternoon coffee... when inspiration strikes.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
day no. 15,119 continued... throwing shade at the situation
Acts 5:12-15
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
The church once publicly gathered as many sick people as possible together into one place that perhaps even the shadow of God's people might pass over them. Now it passes on the opportunity to gather together publicly, encouraging the sick to stay home, and avoids the possibility of coming into contact with even the shadow of another believer.
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
The church once publicly gathered as many sick people as possible together into one place that perhaps even the shadow of God's people might pass over them. Now it passes on the opportunity to gather together publicly, encouraging the sick to stay home, and avoids the possibility of coming into contact with even the shadow of another believer.
day no. 15,119 continued... the ides of March and coronavirus
Keep calm and carry on.
Times like these test the sentiment, "To live is Christ, to die is gain." (Php 1:21)
Paul, believing this whole-heartedly, did not seek to put himself more in harm's way than necessary, but was assured that where the harms were necessary, the greatest danger was not being in danger, but in being compromised in one's commitment to Christ.
All of Christ for all of life... come hell or high water (or the coronavirus).
Times like these test the sentiment, "To live is Christ, to die is gain." (Php 1:21)
Paul, believing this whole-heartedly, did not seek to put himself more in harm's way than necessary, but was assured that where the harms were necessary, the greatest danger was not being in danger, but in being compromised in one's commitment to Christ.
All of Christ for all of life... come hell or high water (or the coronavirus).
day no. 15,119: out in the weeds on this one
"A man should not think he makes any progress in godliness if he does not walk daily over the bellies of his lusts" - John Owen
Gardens produce weeds. That is not their intended purpose or design, but nevertheless it is a given side effect of having a garden. There will be weeds. You can solve the problem of having weeds in your garden by not having a garden, but then you just have weeds. Or you can solve the problem by pulling weeds in order to protect the garden. The plot of land is a garden, but it has weeds. It is not a weedy garden, it is a garden with weeds. If it is a weed garden, that is just another way of saying it's not a garden. Gardens don't make weeds because they wanted to do, but because that's what the land was going to do anyways. A land without a gardener is like a sheep without a shepherd -- that is to say, in danger of being devoured. This particular plot of land, called a garden, still produces weeds, but it is identified by the presence of a gardener, not the presence of weeds. Conversely, it doesn't have to wait until there is an absence of weeds in order to be called a garden. A garden can and will produce weeds, but it does not tolerate or cater to their presence. There is no weed section of any garden. To have a section allowed for weeds to thrive is to have a garden that is about to become completely weeded.
“He who wants to keep his garden tidy does not reserve a plot for weeds.”
-- Dag Hammarskjold
Saved sinners produce sin. It is an unfortunate side effect of being a sinner, even if you are the saved variety. There will be sin. You can solve the problem of sin by not being saved, but you still have sin, you just no longer have a problem with it. Or you can solve the problem by pulling sin up by the root and cutting if out of your life. You will be saved, but you will still have sin. You are not a saintly sinner, but a saint who sins. If you are a sinful sinner, that is just another way of pointing out that you are not a saint of any kind. Saints don't sin because they want to, but because that's what sinners do. Saints are a type of sinner. Sinners gonna sin. If you are marked off as a saint, it does not stop you from sinning, but you are identified as a saint because you oppose the sins you produce and demonstrate this by violently extracting them from your land when you identify them using your field guide for assistance since some are sneaky and take on, to the best of their ability, the shape of fruitful plants. You do not have to wait until you are sinless to be a saint. If that were the case, it would just be another way of saying that there is no such thing as a saint. A saint does not tolerate or cater to their sins. There is no private harbor for sin to survive without interruption. To have such a place is just another way of saying you are a future apostate. No one can tolerate the presence of sin without eventually becoming identified entirely by it.
Gardens produce weeds. That is not their intended purpose or design, but nevertheless it is a given side effect of having a garden. There will be weeds. You can solve the problem of having weeds in your garden by not having a garden, but then you just have weeds. Or you can solve the problem by pulling weeds in order to protect the garden. The plot of land is a garden, but it has weeds. It is not a weedy garden, it is a garden with weeds. If it is a weed garden, that is just another way of saying it's not a garden. Gardens don't make weeds because they wanted to do, but because that's what the land was going to do anyways. A land without a gardener is like a sheep without a shepherd -- that is to say, in danger of being devoured. This particular plot of land, called a garden, still produces weeds, but it is identified by the presence of a gardener, not the presence of weeds. Conversely, it doesn't have to wait until there is an absence of weeds in order to be called a garden. A garden can and will produce weeds, but it does not tolerate or cater to their presence. There is no weed section of any garden. To have a section allowed for weeds to thrive is to have a garden that is about to become completely weeded.
“He who wants to keep his garden tidy does not reserve a plot for weeds.”
-- Dag Hammarskjold
Saved sinners produce sin. It is an unfortunate side effect of being a sinner, even if you are the saved variety. There will be sin. You can solve the problem of sin by not being saved, but you still have sin, you just no longer have a problem with it. Or you can solve the problem by pulling sin up by the root and cutting if out of your life. You will be saved, but you will still have sin. You are not a saintly sinner, but a saint who sins. If you are a sinful sinner, that is just another way of pointing out that you are not a saint of any kind. Saints don't sin because they want to, but because that's what sinners do. Saints are a type of sinner. Sinners gonna sin. If you are marked off as a saint, it does not stop you from sinning, but you are identified as a saint because you oppose the sins you produce and demonstrate this by violently extracting them from your land when you identify them using your field guide for assistance since some are sneaky and take on, to the best of their ability, the shape of fruitful plants. You do not have to wait until you are sinless to be a saint. If that were the case, it would just be another way of saying that there is no such thing as a saint. A saint does not tolerate or cater to their sins. There is no private harbor for sin to survive without interruption. To have such a place is just another way of saying you are a future apostate. No one can tolerate the presence of sin without eventually becoming identified entirely by it.
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