day no. 15,013: a laudable error

"In a commander a bold act may prove to be a blunder. Nevertheless it is a laudable error, not to be regarded on the same footing as others. Happy the army where ill-timed boldness occurs frequently; it is a luxuriant weed, but indicates the richness of the soil. Even foolhardiness— that is, boldness without object—is not to be despised: basically it stems from daring, which in this case has erupted with a passion unrestrained by thought. Only when boldness rebels against obedience, when it defiantly ignores an expressed command, must it be treated as a dangerous offense; then it must be prevented, not for its innate qualities, but because an order has been disobeyed, and in war obedience is of cardinal importance.” -- Clausewitz

Boldness is to be encouraged even when it makes mistakes. But boldness only grows in an atmosphere rich in mercy. If you promote efficiency over ingenuity, you will inhibit the development of boldness and you cannot simply demand boldness from men from whom you've demanded caution.

It is better to encourage boldness and endure the presence of its besetting sins than to discourage it and end up regretting its absence 


In other words, bold activity is better than timid passivity.

However, boldness should only be fanned into flame provided it does not accompany disobedience... while ill-timed boldness may be a luxury, obedience is a necessity. 

If the soil is intolerant of error, it removes the organ yet demands the function. It says, "Stop breaking things!" in times of peace and then demands, "Go break stuff!" in times of war.

If we want to raise a generation of chivalrous men, we must provide room to make mistakes and praise of the boldness that produced them.

day no. 15,012: attack gaps

"Put simply, surfaces are hard spots—enemy strengths—and gaps are soft spots—enemy weaknesses. We avoid enemy strength and focus our efforts against enemy weakness with the object of penetrating the enemy system since pitting strength against weakness reduces casualties and is more likely to yield decisive results. Whenever possible, we exploit existing gaps. Failing that, we create gaps... If our main effort has struck a surface but another unit has located a gap, we designate the second unit as the main effort and redirect our combat power in support of it. In this manner, we 'pull' combat power through gaps from the front rather than 'pushing' it through from the rear."

When you attack an enemy's strength, you increase the number of casualties on both sides. When you attack an enemy's weakness, you decrease the number of casualties on both sides. So it is in everyone's best interest for you to attack your enemy's weakness. This allows the enemy to be defeated without being annihilated.

When you see a gap, attack it.
When you don't see one, create one.

day no. 15,011: a good plan violently executed now

"We must have the moral courage to make tough decisions in the face of uncertainty—and to accept full responsibility for those decisions—when the natural inclination would be to postpone the decision pending more complete information. To delay action in an emergency because of incomplete information shows a lack of moral courage. We do not want to make rash decisions, but we must not squander opportunities while trying to gain more information.

Finally, since all decisions must be made in the face of uncertainty and since every situation is unique, there is no perfect solution to any battlefield problem. Therefore, we should not agonize over one. The essence of the problem is to select a promising course of action with an acceptable degree of risk and to do it more quickly than our foe. In this respect, 'a good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.'”

Some opportunities are lost in waiting until you have all of the information. The law of diffusion of innovation suggests that the innovators are the 2.5% who act on little information and take upon themselves a large amount of risk. They live in uncharted waters and blaze trails through territory without maps to guide them. They hack away with a why waiting for them at the other end of the overgrowth. After them come the cartographers who map out where those brave men have gone. These are the 13.5% who adapt early on and jump on board. They are the first to walk behind the trailblazers and reap the advantage of having eyes on the new path. They set up shops and initiate maps and brands which will become common lingo for those who eventually frequent the path. The next 34% are the early majority who get it now that they've seen it done and been convinced that it can work. The next 34% are late to the party, but round out the last of the majority forming the 84% who buy in and ultimately become familiar with the path. By this point, the path is flooded with all of those opportunists looking to capitalize off of what the originals opened up. But the opportunity to do anything new has passed. 

All that to say, if you wait until conditions are perfectly predictable, you will miss out on many opportunities. You may still enjoy many good things, but they will be the products of those who braved the unpredictable in order to provide you with them.

day no. 15,010: adversity as a means of maturity

"We must therefore be prepared to cope—even better, to thrive—in an environment of chaos, uncertainty, constant change, and friction."

Everything has its problems. If you enroll in a math class, the first thing they do is give you math problems. Problems are a part of life. Some are a result of sin, like the thorns and thistles that accompany our efforts, and some are a result of mission, like logistics involved in conquering the world through fruit-bearing and multiplication. Problems are part of the mission and made more complicated because of the presence of sin.

Coming to terms with problems moves you from a fragile state to a place of resilience. Fragility is expecting life to go off without a hitch. Everything is fine... and then all of a sudden, it isn't! That is refusing to cope with the fact of problems... which is its own problem. Resilience is accepting the fact of friction. But that is merely the willingness to deal with the fact of problems in theory and the presence of problems in practice. That is a step in the right direction, but it has yet to reach the intended destination.

The destination is a place where you pursue problems. Fragility hopes difficulty never knocks at the door. Resilience knows better and commits to opening the door. Antifragility opens the door in order to go and invite more problems over for dinner... the right kind of problems, the ones that come with increased production.

Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

It is madness to be angry at an ox for making a mess in its manger. Wisdom comes to terms with the crap that comes along with the ox. Fragility either keeps its fingers crossed for a crapless ox or kills its ox in order to avoid any more crap. Resilience accepts the fact of the crap, which is a step in the right direction.  However, the destination is a place where you purposely purchase MORE oxen in order to plow MORE fields knowing full well that it will mean MORE crap in your barn. 

In other words, the goal is not merely to put up with crap, but to joyfully invite as MUCH of the right know of it into your life.

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The goal is to thrive in times of change and friction. Many of us would do well to stop wishing for a world without difficulty and to start dealing with a world that is difficult. But we would do better to pursue difficulty and leverage it to our advantage, to grow stronger because of the opposition we face, and to invite adversity into our lives instead of merely accepting it when it tracks us down.

Proverbs 24:10
If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.

day no. 15,009: quick and hard, where and when

"“Many years ago, as a cadet hoping some day to be an officer, I was poring over the ‘Principles of War,’ listed in the old Field Service Regulations, when the Sergeant-Major
came up to me. He surveyed me with kindly amusement. ‘Don’t bother your head about all them things, me lad,’ he said. ‘There’s only one principle of war and that’s this. Hit the
other fellow, as quick as you can, and as hard as you can, where it hurts him most, when he ain’t lookin’!’” —Sir William Slim

“Now an army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness” —Sun Tzu

As quick as you can.
As hard as you can.
Where it hurts most.
When he ain't looking.

This presupposes a fair fight, meaning both sides know that they are fighting. It is no grand achievement to sucker punch someone who didn't know you were quarreling. However, if the enmity is articulated and agreed upon and both sides know that they are fighting, the advice contained above is a bite-sized battle cry for fighting.

Quick keeps surprise surprising. Hard makes the effort as impactful as possible. Hitting an impenetrable place quick and hard leaves no mark and wears you out. Hitting them where it hurts most, especially if quick and hard, is the best way to exponentially increase the effect of your efforts. When he ain't looking eliminates his ability to subtract any force from the blow, counter attack or discount the amount of force you are using.

All these things combined make for short wars.

So realize that our enemy is looking to employ these principles against us as well. He seeks to be quick and force you to react without thinking. He sends the house in order to take you out in one fell swoop. He aims at your area of weakness and he looks to catch you off guard.

But God has weaponized our weakness

2 Corinthians 12:10-11
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And there is no reason to be caught off guard or to be unprotected.

Ephesians 6:13
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

day no. 15,008: the mind is an officer's principal weapon

"Finally, every Marine has an individual responsibility to study the profession of arms. A leader without either interest in or knowledge of the history and theory of warfare—the intellectual content of the military profession—is a leader in appearance only. Self-directed study in the art and science of war is at least equal in importance to maintaining physical condition and should receive at least equal time. This is particularly true among officers; after all, the mind is an officer’s principal weapon."

1 Chronicles 12:32
Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.

To know what's up, you have to know where you're at. To know where you're at, you have to know where you come from and how you got here.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

If you want to topple the towers, you have to know who built them, how they were built and what will keep them from being raised again. 

Our weapons are our minds, our worldviews are our battlefields and the Word is our only hope to sharpen the one and succeed in the other.

day no. 15,007: a ticket for admission

"A subordinate’s willingness to admit mistakes depends on the commander’s willingness to tolerate them."

We must learn from our mistakes. Part of this involves admitting them. If we don't think we have made a mistake, we won't confess them. If we don't admit them, we can't learn from them and avoid them in the future. But the atmosphere of mistake management contributes to this. It creates a culture in which learning and improvement are goals, so admitting mistakes and teachable moments are encouraged. That environment fosters a willingness to admit mistakes and a willingness to be corrected for a common goal of maturity and wisdom. 

If a commander, parent, or pastor, cannot tolerate nonsense of any kind, he will create a great deal more of it... not less. Nonsense of every kind will increase off grid. It will still be happening, only he won't know about it. It will be done in the darkness and it will encourage more of it because it cannot be corrected in the light. It will spread in the petri dish of darkness and grow worse, producing even more of the very thing expressly not tolerated. 

You can erase mistakes through ignorance or forgiveness. Ignorance removes them by increasing them somewhere else. Forgiveness removes them by erasing them in your presence. In other words, ignorance doesn't actually do what it's attempting. It reduces the number of sins you see and increase those you don't. Forgiveness insists on seeing the sin and reduces those that are hidden.

So if foolishness and mistakes are to be decreased, they must first be given the opportunity to be confessed. And as if admitting you were wrong was not difficult enough in itself, the added weight of an mistake-intolerant atmosphere makes it all the more less likely. In that home, at that church, in that organization, in that battalion, errors increase, wars are lost, marriages broken, children wounded and community destroyed.

day no. 15,006: many advisers, one decision

"Relations among all leaders—from corporal to general—should be based on honesty and frankness regardless of disparity between grades. Until a commander has reached and stated a decision, subordinates should consider it their duty to provide honest, professional
opinions even though these may be in disagreement with the senior’s opinions. However, once the decision has been reached, juniors then must support it as if it were their own. Seniors must encourage candor among subordinates and must not hide behind their grade insignia. Ready compliance for the purpose of personal advancement—the behavior of 'yes-men' will not be tolerated."

Proverbs 20:18
Plans are established by counsel;
by wise guidance wage war.

Generals may be above their subordinates in rank, but the must not be above hearing their opinions. Good ideas do not, by necessity, originate with those of rank. 

Proverbs 11:14
For lack of guidance, a nation falls, 
but with many counselors comes deliverance.

It is wise to get as much information and guidance as you can when making decisions that affect the lives and deaths of many.

Proverbs 15:22
Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.

No man can foresee every angle or pay proper attention to every detail. We all have abilities and interests, but we naturally see the value of mining the depths of some dimensions while ignoring entirely the benefits of others.

Proverbs 24:5-6
A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

But still, there comes a time for a decision to be made, and at that point, the General must make a definitive decision based on the information and counsel provided. To be the General means to be humble enough to hear ideas and confident enough to choose one.

Leaders must be humble enough to hear ideas, yet proud enough to pick one

Trumpkin and Caspian understood this. Trumpkin was a man under authority invited to share his opinion. He shared it. Caspian heard it and decided a different course. Trumpkin did not share insisting that his counsel had to be followed in order to qualify as it having been heard. Caspian was Trumpkin's superior. Caspian was responsible for the nation and made the decision he believed best after hearing Trumpkin's counsel and Trumpkin, in response, fell in line immediately under his head.

"But I thought you didn't believe in the Horn, Trumpkin," said Caspian. 

"No more I do, your Majesty. But what does that got to do with it? I might as well die on a wild goose chase as die here. You are my King. I know the difference between giving advice and giving orders. You have my advice and now it's the time for orders"

day no. 15,005: bringing up boys in boldness, initiative and responsibility

"Boldness is an essential moral trait in a leader for it generates combat power beyond the physical means at hand. Initiative, the willingness to act on one’s own judgment, is a prerequisite for boldness. These traits carried to excess can lead to rashness, but
we must realize that errors by junior leaders stemming from overboldness are a necessary part of learning.6 We should deal with such errors leniently; there must be no “zero defects” mentality. Abolishing “zero defects” means that we do not stifle boldness or initiative through the threat of punishment. It does not mean that commanders do not counsel subordinates on mistakes; constructive criticism is an important element in learning. Nor does it give subordinates free license to act stupidly or recklessly. Not only must we not stifle boldness or initiative, but we must continue to encourage both traits in spite of mistakes. On the other hand, we should deal severely with errors of inaction or timidity. We will not accept lack of orders as justification for inaction; it is each Marine’s duty to take initiative as the situation demands. We must not tolerate the avoidance of responsibility or necessary risk."

There are few better words one could reduce masculinity down to than, "initiative." It is the very essence of manhood. Do something in light of what you know. Adam was given a mission and marching orders and then left to demonstrate his initiative in seeing to the mechanics of making and multiplying. Adam was free from original sin, but that doesn't mean he could not through initiative discover better ways to accomplish what he was doing. 

Everything has problems. Problems are not a result of the Fall.  An overgrown world in need of a gardener is a problem. Adam was made to solve it. The problems were his playground. Sin did not introduce problems, it introduced new, more problematic ones. Sin did not make Adam's mission difficult, it made it MORE difficult. Difficulty is not inherently evil. It is hard-wired into the way God made the world and initiative is living in light of God's commands, using God's gifts to glorify Him in one's initiatives.

As parents, we must raise our boys to be bold. We must encourage their attempts to take initiative and cheer their boldness. When they inevitably use their initiative or boldness to sin, we correct the sin, but not the boldness. We discipline the sin, but not the initiative. Be careful in correcting men to separate the initiative, which is good, from the particular initiative taken, which may have been bad.

If a boy takes responsibility, but foolishly or sinfully executes the office; efforts should be made to correct the error and discipline the sin, but also to encourage the taking of responsibility. If measures are not taken, we will beat the initiative out of our boys. We will teach them that taking responsibility ends the same as if they hadn't taken it. 

You get more of what you incentivize and less of what you penalize. 

day no. 15,004: assume war, adapt to peace

"Operating forces should be organized for warfighting and then adapted for peacetime rather than vice versa."

Assume war in your planning and preparation and adapt to peace. Too many Christians assume peace and then are forced to adapt to war.

Jeremiah 6:14
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

Blind to the reality of battle or offended by the prospect of having to fight, many Christians paint over mold and call the problem solved. They don't want to think about dirty things like sweat and blood and tears and fear. Those would require real faith. But the fetid fumes of warfare like smelling salts threaten to wake them up, so they cry, "Peace" in the streets in order to diffuse the nervous energy of impending doom. 

Ezekiel 13:10
They have led my people astray by saying, "Peace," when there is no peace, and since when a flimsy wall is being built, they plaster it with whitewash.

You cannot whitewash a collapsing wall. It doesn't need a better PR department, it needs the violence of demolition and the diligence of construction: dust and mortar and sweat and brick and work.

day no. 15,003: trailblazers have more scars, but better stories

Mark 10:29-30

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life."

If you are the first to hack your way through an untamed landscape, you are bound to receive your fair share of set backs, thorn pricks, thistle burns and blisters. But the stories you receive are worth it. The peculiar joy of blazing trails belongs to those willing to endure difficulties in order to allow others to pass in their footsteps more easily.

day no. 15,002: let's start keeping score again

I think it's time we return to keeping score.

The self-esteem era ushered in along with it an endless supply of participation awards. Everyone began getting ribbons merely for entering the competition because winning isn't everything. And while it is true that winning isn't everything, it most certainly isn't nothing. In fact, in a competition, it is necessary.

The reason we celebrate Lightning McQueen choosing to lose in order to assist The King across the finish line is because he had to lose in order to do it. But if we remove losing as an option, we remove the ability to put anything above competition. Sure, we run the risk that some will take winning to an extreme and do whatever it takes to get the only blue ribbon available, but when we remove the one blue ribbon and replace it with one million purple ones, we run the risk that everyone will stop running altogether. 

When we remove the competitive element of an event, the gesture becomes meaningless. It doesn't mean anything to give up winning if everyone gets a trophy in the end. It doesn't mean anything to try or to not try, to lose or to win.

1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

When the outcome of the race doesn't determine anything, people won't run to the finish line. Can you imagine the absurdity of Paul attempting to inspire people to run the race of faith as hard as possible in a participation award culture?

Do you not know that in a race all runners receive a prize, even if no one runs? So run... or don't. Either way, we're all going to a better place in the end.

That's lame. 

Let's start keeping score again. It's good for morale. It encourages people to try. It may mean losing when you wanted to win. It may mean forfeiting the win in order to love your opponent. It may mean that some lie, cheat and steal in order to try to get the one golden trophy. But in the end, God is keeping score and the meek shall inherit the trophies that were stolen from them.

day no. 15,001: better anybody than nobody

"I know myself to be an unworthy monitor, but a monitor you must have; and it is better for us to hear of our sin and duty from anybody than from nobody." -- Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

We do not need our shepherds to have degrees in flock management or herd psychology. If the person is beneath you, but their observation sees into you, the reaction cannot be based on their qualification, but on your disqualifying sin. If we are sinning, we need to know about it and it is better to hear about it from someone than no one, from anybody than nobody. We should be so lucky as to have so many interested in our purity. 

It's better to be lit up today by someone you think is beneath you than someday by Someone who's definitely above you

day no. 15,000: fifteen thousand

Fifteen thousand days ago I was born in Orange City, IA to Teunis and Jacqueline Van Voorst on the 24th day of October in the year of our Lord, 1978.


Psalm 90:10-14 
The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Fifteen thousand times the sun has risen and set on my breath. Each one a reminder of life and death and renewal. The liturgy of the earth's rotation speaks of light piercing the darkness and the world plunging itself back into darkened chaos. Teach me to number by days and to be instructed by the script each one conveys: there is life and there is death and there full expectation of renewal in the One who commands the sun to march across the sky and earth to spin on its axis.

day no. 14,999: keep alert. suit up. bulk up. stand.

"During times of peace, the most important task of any military is to prepare for war. Through its preparedness, a military provides deterrence against potential aggressors. As the nation’s expeditionary force-in-readiness, the Marine Corps must maintain itself for immediate employment in “any clime and place” and in any type of conflict. All peacetime activities should focus on achieving combat readiness. This implies a high level of training, flexibility in organization and equipment, professional leadership, and a cohesive doctrine."

The time to manufacture bullets is not when you are being shot at.

"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war." -- Sun Tzu

Those who devote themselves to being in fighting trim will have to fight less and when they do, their fights will be shorter and more favorably decided.

Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

The time for putting on the armor is today. Not waiting for the darts to fire. The time to stand is now. Not tottering around until determination and stability are required.

The deeply rooted tree endures the storm by going deep when skies are blue.

Keep alert.
Suit up.
Bulk up.
Stand.

day no. 14,998: our character employs our will to accomplish what we want

"Our truest character employs our fiercest will in order to accomplish what we ultimately want most. "“The essential thing is action. Action has three stages: the decision born of thought, the order or preparation for execution,and the execution itself. All three stages are governed by the will. The will is rooted in character, and for the man of action character is of more critical importance than intellect. Intellect without will is worthless, will without intellect is dangerous.” —Hans von Seeckt

Who you are determines what you do. If you don't know who you are, you don't know what you're doing. When a person says that they want to do something, that isn't entirely true unless they make every effort to do it. There are things we wish we wanted to do. But for the most part, we do what we want to do. We give weight to whatever factors ultimately matter most to us and act in accordance.

Our character employs our will to accomplish what we want.

Our truest character employs
our fiercest will to accomplish
our deepest desires

In other words, we do everything we can to do what we want to do more than anything.

Who you are is more important that what you know. A man who knows the right thing to do, but lacks the will to do it is worthless. The man who does whatever he wants without thinking about it is dangerous. 

The man of action must be a good man looking to achieve good ends by good means.

Isaiah 32:8 
He who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

Our truest character employs our fiercest will in order to accomplish what we ultimately want most.

day no. 14,997: weak will opportunity

"The ability to take advantage of opportunity is a function of speed, flexibility, boldness, and initiative."

Galatians 6:10
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Some opportunities are a product of careful planning or a natural outcome of having followed previous plans. But some opportunities are provided by unforeseen circumstances. A mistake you hadn't planned on making, a mistake you hadn't planned on your enemy making, a change in weather or terrain under which you and your enemy must both adapt, etc... 

The fact of opportunities is inescapable. The ability to act in the face of them is not. Some are prepared ahead of time or in the moment better equipped to shift in light of opportunities. This ability determines whether or not you can turn the turn of events for your favor. Speed, flexibility, boldness and initiative are needed in order to make full use of the opportunities God provides.

Ephesians 4:27
Don’t give the devil any opportunity to work.

The devil cannot create opportunities. His only means of creating anything is by convincing you to provide them to him. He does not have your PIN. Do not provide him an opportunity you could have kiboshed by keeping him at arm's length.

James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

day no. 14,996: boldness

BOLDNESS!!!

"Boldness is a source of combat power in much the same way that surprise is. Boldness is the characteristic of unhesitatingly exploiting the natural uncertainty of war to pursue major results rather than marginal ones. According to Clausewitz, boldness “must be granted a certain power over and above successful calculations involving space, time, and magnitude of forces, for wherever it is superior, it will take advantage of its opponent’s weakness. In other words, it is a genuinely creative force.” Boldness is superior to timidity in every instance although boldness does not  always equate to immediate aggressive action. A nervy, calculating patience that allows the enemy to commit themselves irrevocably before we strike them can also be a form of boldness. Boldness is based on strong situation awareness: We weigh the situation, then act. In other words, boldness must be tempered with judgment lest it border on recklessness.

There is a close connection between surprise and boldness. The willingness to accept risks often necessary to achieve surprise reflects boldness. Likewise, boldness contributes to achieving surprise. After we weigh the situation, to take half measures diminishes the effects of surprise."

Proverbs 28:1

The wicked flee when no one pursues,

but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Boldness is not just rushing headlong into any endeavor one supposes is advantageous. It is the patience to wait for the pristine moment to produce itself. It is allowing the enemy to advance in order to wait until they've opened themselves up. It is holding your ground because you have the ability to control your impulses. 

2 Corinthians 3:12

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold

Boldness is not merely attacking what's in front of you, but loving what's behind you.

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” No hero marches into battle merely to destroy for the sake of destroying. He marches into battle for the sake of conserving. He marches not because he is trying to break free from something, but because he is bound to something. Love is not blind; that is the last thing that love it. Love is bound.” - G.K. Chesterton

Boldness is not unchecked animalian impulsivity. That is NOT boldness or courage because it isn't choosing anything. It's reacting to passions without appealing to principles. Boldness of the variety the MCDP is equipping its marines to employ is that of calculated, directed courage that waits and then acts when the right time arrives. 

In other words, boldness can endure the difficulty of waiting and can conjure great strength and energy when the time comes to pounce.

Acts 4:29-31

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

day no. 14,995: surprised by coy

"By surprise we mean a state of disorientation resulting from an unexpected event that degrades the enemy’s ability to resist. We achieve surprise by striking the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which the enemy is unprepared. It is not essential that we take the enemy unaware, but only that awareness came too late to react effectively. The desire for surprise is “more or less basic to all operations, for without it superiority at the decisive

point is hardly conceivable.” While a necessary precondition of superiority, surprise is also a genuine source of combat power in its own right because of its psychological effect. Surprise can decisively affect the outcome of combat far beyond the physical means at hand."

2 Corinthians 2:10-11

Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

God does not want us to be surprised by Satan's schemes. God is omniscient, Satan is not. We are not. So God reads Satan's mail to us so that we know what to expect from him. 

One extremely common tactic Satan uses to erode individual souls is unforgiveness and bitterness. This he then leverages into eroding relationships with others: marriages, families, neighbors, friends, communities, local churches, workplaces, etc... 

This is not new information. This is how that always works. So we should be on guard and ready for it and prepared for it. This removes the element of surprise from it. When we feel the temptation to be embittered, we should not be wearing our shocked faces. We should not be undone by the presence of this temptation thinking, "I never imagined I would be tempted to be so mean-spirited or unforgiving." You should have imagined it and been preparing for it. The problem isn't the temptation, it is giving in to it or being surprised and unprepared for it because you failed to see the possibilities God was clearly warning you about ahead of time.

day no. 14,994: a crucified Christ is my only hope

A Christless cross no refuge for me;
A Crossless Christ my Savior may not be;
But, O Christ crucified! I rest in thee!
- B.B. Warfield

If the cross remains without anyone in my place upon it, then on it I must die and pay for my own sins. Someone must die for sin and the soul that sins shall die. If I die to myself, but Christ does not die for me, then even the carrying of my own cross proves insufficient to fend off God's wrath.

If Jesus only came to correct our misunderstandings about God without dying for them, I find no harbor in Him. I will have a better realization of how far I fall short, but I will have no mechanism or means of bridging the ever increasing gap. Awareness of the problem does not fix the problem. My ignorance of the problem, in other words, is not my only problem. Knowledge only reveals how bad it really is in increasing measure.

My hope is in Jesus' vicarious life, sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension. Because He lived the life I should have lived and died the death I should have died, my life's work is covered by His death and His life's work covers my death. Because He rose from the grave defeating sin, Satan and death, I can rest assured that the Father has received and accepted Jesus' sacrifice on my behalf as paid in full and can fully expect to be saved from the penalty of my past sins, from the power of my present sins and from the presence of sin altogether in the resurrection. Because He lives and is seated next to the Father even now, He can hear me and intercede for me constantly until His return when I will meet my crucified Mediator face to face.

day no. 14,993: defense is a shield made up of well-directed blows

"An effective defense must assume an offensive character, striking at the moment of the enemy’s greatest vulnerability. As Clausewitz wrote, the defense is “not a simple shield, but a shield made up of well-directed blows.” The truly decisive element of the defense is the counterattack. Thus, the offense is an integral component of the concept of the defense."

When someone rears back to punch you, they open themselves up in a unique fashion. When the offense hikes the ball, they open themselves up to loss by attempting to gain ground. You can view an enemy attack through fragility, resilience or anti-fragility.

Fragility is seeing an enemy attack as the end of your peace. Everything is fine... until it isn't. Well, there goes that!

Resilience is seeing an enemy attack as an opportunity to hold your ground. You are prepared and ready for this. You've been waiting. Bring it! We aren't going anywhere.

Anti-fragility is seeing an enemy attack as an opportunity to do damage. You are prepared, but not just to absorb their blows, but to seize the weak spot they created by their aggression. 

"Defense is not a simple shield, but a shield made up of well-directed blows." - Clausewitz

The best way to shield yourself from trouble is not just to endure the blows of the enemy, but to counter strike at the point of the weakness they created in their ranks by attacking. This type of shield not only endures the enemy's attacks, but makes future attacks less likely and/or less powerful.

Defense is not about merely holding ground, it is about gaining ground. It is not the fear of surviving aggression, but the faith to aggressively engage the attacker in a way that gains ground for you precisely because you were attacked. In this understanding, the enemy attacking produces a net gain for you and loss for them. How frustrating to throw a punch and find yourself on the ground, eye-blackened because of it. That is the type of frustration we delight in supplying generously to our enemies.

day no. 14,992: initiative is imposing our will upon our enemy

"All actions in war, regardless of the level, are based upon either taking the initiative or reacting in response to the opponent. By taking the initiative, we dictate the terms of the conflict and force the enemy to meet us on our terms. The initiative allows us to pursue some positive aim even if only to preempt an enemy initiative. It is through the initiative that we seek to impose our will on the enemy. The initiative is clearly the preferred form of action because only through the initiative can we ultimately impose our will on the enemy. At least one party to a conflict must take the initiative for without the desire to impose upon the other, there would be no conflict. The second party to a conflict must respond for without the desire to resist, there again would be no conflict... Actions in war more or less reflect the constant imperative to seize and maintain the initiative.

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion

One of the most fundamental essences of masculinity is that of initiative. It is knowing what to do, when to do it and then doing it. It is imposing your will. God created Adam and gave him marching orders and objectives. He was to be the imposer of God's will upon all of creation, stamping God's image upon it and bearing fruit from up out of it. He was also called to impose his will and subdue any threats to the world under his feet or the objective on his soul.

Initiative is essential because resistance is a given.

The world will not produce more fruit than it has to, sin will not mortify itself and praise will not vivify itself. The imposition of the Spirit-guided and empowered man of God is to spread the glory of God to and through all of creation, to each and every place, in every nook and cranny, to every height or depth... all of life under all of Christ.

But the darkness will not go quietly into the light. The greater the diameter of light, the greater the circumference of darkness. As the light swells, the perimeter grows, resulting in increased contact and touch points with the darkness. The skirmishes increase as the opportunities for battle increase. Where the spotlight is growing, the battlefield grows. The front lines increase as the light bulges. 

Genesis 3:15 
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.

day no. 14,991: fear is conquered by bits

"The public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-training that was necessary to conquer fear." -- Harry Houdini

We remember the martyrs for being martyred, but we forget that the glorious moment of spectacular faith and faithfulness was back-filled with unglamorous, daily, difficult faith and faithfulness. We see the faithful tied to stakes and bearing it well, but we fail to see the long days of being faithful while being overlooked. We miss the miserable work completed without complaining. We fail to consider the broken nails, bruised arms, battered egos, bitten lips, swallowed tongues, etc... that made them the kind of person who endured such exquisite difficulty so elegantly. Behind the thrill of the trick is the thrashing of overlooked, faithful drudgery. The daily grind did not turn these martyrs into powder or ash. It sharpened them for the day their sword would be fashioned in fire. And after having been heated and beaten, battered and boiled down, they are left pure and sharp. 

But this does not just happen. Onlookers only see the completed feat before them. The martyr sees the years of practice behind them. Fear was not conquered merely at the moment of climax, but over the years bit by bit, in whatever climate it came.

day no. 14,990: do the work of a man

"If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, 'I awake to do the work of a man.'" -- Marcus Aurelius

Imagine what your day would look like if you woke up saying to yourself, "I need to get up and do the work of a man today." 

I wonder what many guy's lives would look like if that is what got them out of bed, if that vision is what led them through their day and if that sentiment was on their mind as they closed their eyes at the day's end, "Today, I did the work of a man."

The work of a man is fulfilling the responsibilities in keeping with masculinity. It is noble work. It is hard. It is made for men and men were made for it. It is more difficult than what a boy would do and requires more of a man that what he would do by default, but it is the work that God has put men on earth here to do.

The dirty, difficult, worthy work of being a man.

day no. 14,989: annihilation and erosion

"There are two ways to use military force to impose our will on an enemy. The first is to make the enemy helpless to resist us by physically destroying their military capabilities.This has historically been called a strategy of annihilation.

The second approach is to convince the enemy that accepting our terms will be less painful than continuing to resist. This is a strategy of erosion, using military force to erode the enemy leadership’s will. In such a strategy, we use military force to raise the costs of resistance higher than the enemy is willing to pay."

You can destroy an enemy's weapons or you can destroy your enemy's faith in their weapons. Achieving either of these objectives will help you win the war.

God has given us many weapons with which to fight and defend ourselves: His Son, His Spirit, His Word, prayer, baptism, communion, your neighbor, the local church, etc... Any of these, when wielded well, can do great damage to the darkness and the temptations it hurls in our direction.

The enemy, therefore, seeks to cut us off from them by making us too busy to read or pray, too resentful to forgive, too nervous to get baptized, too sensitive to take communion, to picky to pick a local church, too depressed or too proud to reach out, etc...

If the enemy cannot keep us from these weapons, he will attempt to keep us from using them by eroding our faith in them.

What good is the Bible against current affairs? What can an old book say about modern problems? Why should I pray if God is just going to do what He wants anyways? Why go to church when I could just as easily listen to spiritual music or a podcast at home? Why confess my sins when it only makes me feel worse?

If the enemy can erode your confidence in the weapons you have, it is the functional equivalent of disarming you. And all the while ammunition is being smuggled away from the guns we no longer believe to be firing properly or effectively. 

2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

We know what Satan is up to. This does not need to catch us off guard.

And let us not forget, these strategies can be employed by us as well. We can diffuse the devil's bombs by refusing to believe in them. We can disarm his arsenal by cutting their power out of our lives. We can annihilate the sinful habits of lying and hiding sin by dragging them into the day light of confession, faith and forgiveness. We can watch them shrivel up and see the life go out of them. We can cut out sinful eyes, cut off sinful hands and enter eternal life. We can wear away the success of his schemes against us by standing firm in Christ. And rather than being wore down, we can be sharpened to a point in the process.

day no. 14,988: delaying hard work does not make it easier later

"By avoiding labor and suffering , I shall draw on myself a thousand times more than I avoid." - Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

When we put off hard work, we create harder work for ourselves in the future. Hard work doesn't get easier by being put off until later. It typically, as Baxter points out, gets harder.

Whatever made something difficult to begin with will not be made less difficult by delaying it. Hard things become harder and the habit of putting off hard things will be more hardened. Thus making the likelihood of doing hard things even less likely as they become harder and you become softer.

day no. 14,987: rocco is 4 today!!!

Rocco Henry Warfield Van Voorst, you are officially four years old today!!!

You are an amazing son and I'm very proud of you. I love seeing you and interacting with you. You love cuddling and sitting on my lap when we watch television. You, like your brother Finneas, have taken to the habit of walking around the house in your undies. You always choose Raisin Bran for cereal night. You sometimes like your hair done "like Atticus" which means parted with a swoop in front and sometimes you want it done like "a fauxhawk" combed to the middle. You love playing with your big brothers and fancy yourself a big kid, but also enjoy playing with Laurelai where the odds are more evenly matched. You often fall asleep in the van if the car ride gets long enough and you love sneaking sips of milk from your cup in the fridge in between meals. You can be trusted to play outside as long as another big kid is around. You are a good little brother and a great little son. I love everything about you little man and pray for you every morning on my walk to work.

day no. 14,986: a battle won is an enemy converted or consumed

“Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.” —Winston Churchill

If the goal is to stop the enemy from firing upon you, you can accomplish this by decreasing the enemy's numbers. You can also accomplish this by flexing in such a way as to beat the fire out of them without beating the life out of them.

The best leaders discover ways to defeat their enemies without having to eliminate them. The best way to destroy an enemy is by turning him into an ally. The next best way, of course, is to destroy him. You can only do what you can do at the end of the day, and some enemies won't stop fighting until they stop breathing. Some refuse to have the fight beat out of them and thus require the light to be beat out of them. They provide no other way to end the altercation. Sin, Satan and death fall into this category. They never have enough, never quit, never lay down arms. They will continue to war until they require Jesus to snuff them out completely. And one day, by His grace, He will.

1 Corinthians 15:26
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

day no. 14,985: defend when inadequate, attack when abudant

“Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack. One defends when his strength is inadequate; he attacks when it is abundant.” —Sun Tzu

If you are an immovable object, you can retain and hold on to whatever you hold precious, but you cannot stop the assaults from coming. You can rest knowing that they can't get through, but you cannot find any rest from their banging about at your walls.

Victory is only possible by leaving the security and invincibility of the walls and attacking the enemy at its source.

"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war." -- Sun Tzu

The time for getting strong is when the enemy isn't at your door. During that time, you can heal from former battles, bulk up for future ones and prepare and plan for the next altercation. This isn't just passively waiting for the next time the enemy knocks at your door but actively going out and attacking them by busting through theirs.

I talked with my friend, Josiah, more about this last night (10/15/19) after Connection Group and developed this idea a bit more.

"Don't let the enemy win" is an inadequate battle plan. It is certainly part of the plan, but it cannot be the entire plan. The plan must be "win the battle." If the strategy is merely don't let the bad guys destroy everything we hold dear, our vision is not up to the task.You need a bigger vision to survive, a grander aim in order to succeed. 

Think of it in terms of a football game.

"Don't let the other team into our end zone," is an inadequate game plan. The goal is "win the game," not just "don't give up too many points." Part of the plan to win the game must involve limiting the number of points you allow the enemy to score, but it must also involve advancing your team's cause toward the goal of scoring points in the enemy's end zone in order to have more points than them when all is said and done.

If we are fighting from a place of defense, we are reacting to our enemy and allowing them to set the agenda. If we lose, they win. If we win, we merely keep what we have. However, if we go out and attack, we take the risk of losing out there, but the failure is one of not expanding our kingdom beyond our walls as far as we would have liked. Whereas if we fail on the defensive, we lose everything we have. Attacking requires a vision of where we want to go and setting the agenda of what we intend to accomplish and impose on the world around us. Merely playing defense is resisting the enemy's vision for your life.

While God may have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, our enemy has plans for us as well: to hurt and harm us, to shrink us and shame us. Our strategy cannot merely be to fend off the devil and his wiles, but to run toward God, embrace His purpose for our lives and do damage to the darkness along the way.