Discipling – Discipline (Sun Tzu 1:7) (Luke 13:31-35)

Who has disciplined their troops?
Will you go and then say, “Oops –
They’ve got us beat, we’ve lost before
We left our homes, walked out the door”?

“God will preserve our going out,
And coming in”, without a doubt;
But battles start before we leave
Our training grounds – so check and see –

Who’s got it all together now?
Not down the road, as if somehow
By magic you’ll the short-term win
Your battles without discipline.

Now Jesus said the same, it seems –
“Disciple” – discipline it means –
That’s what He called His folk of love,
An army trained from up above.

The word that’s used can varied be:
Called doctrine, law, or rules – indeed
It all comes down to what’s involved
In preps, when talking won’t resolve –

Disputes; when folks won’t settle down
And work things out; but churn around,
While thinking, “I can settle this
For might makes right, with iron fist”.

Slow down, my friend, just do the math;
Check out the mobilizing path –
Is it to date? The structure there
To manage men put in your care?

How ’bout the “Tao” of your command –
Firm your control? All understand
The role each plays in leading troops?
Or will armed tyranny he loosed?

Logistics, ways to quick supply
The troops deployed?  receipts for why
Goods flow the way of greatest need?
Are roads maintained for greatest speed?

Then stop and ask the same of foe –
Their rules and regs – all set to go?
Their methods, rules and discipline
Are all in place? All set to win?

When Jesus started up His task
Four men was all He chose, and asked
If they would come, disciples be;
For half His time He helped them be –

The men He needed for His task;
Then He gave pairs to each (He’d asked
They pray for more young harvesters
To join the work – both His and theirs).

From four, to twelve, then seventy-two,
His group of trained disciples grew;
He trained, then trained them how to train;
Trained trainers how to train again.

When He approached Jerusalem,
A pyramid flowed down from Him;
No more dependent on the top,
They’d make out fine if He got bopped.

That’s what Sun Tzu meant by this note –
Stop, do the math, and so he wrote;
Last factor in this list of five,
Cool heads embrace the chance to thrive.

Christ’s body – we have leaders here –
Five types (Paul made that aspect clear);
Chain of command, discipling has
Deployed resource – and all that jazz.

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