“Assignments” (1 Corinthians 12:12; 15:24-28; Ephesians 4:5) [Sun Tsu series 10 – 3B]

I used to second-guess the places given
By Jesus to His people ’neath the heaven;
Especially when the evil one appeared,
And tossed agendas out as he came near.

Or when I pictured battles in some book,
With best of class in front who impact took;
I wondered if that was the best approach;
If it were me in front, I’d feel reproach.

Of course the van is pumping others up,
For ones in front inspire when they are tough;
It is the impact of the team, en masse,
That is considered in initial clash.

Small troops against unnumbered troops can’t go,
For very quickly they would feel the blow
Come on their heads, and they’d defeated be;
So number-counts commander needs to see.

A weaker force gets beaten by the strong;
To set up such, commanders do it wrong;
Evaluation, estimates, and counts,
Must fathom own and enemy amounts.

When this is not the order of the day,
They will get to beaten, routed, run away;
Such downfall lies at each commander’s feet,
As a recipe for imminent defeat.

Dieppe, the raid, disaster was indeed;
The rationale was secret-service need
For info critical to later fight;
Still, small against the larger was not right.

Trench warfare, thinking horses still had part
To play, as though such warfare, as an art,
Had not evolved – machine guns now deployed,
Changed estimates of power faced by boys.

Sure, smaller forces have a role to play,
But not alone – more in the broader way
Like Guns of Navarone and small attacks –
Bridge Over Kwai’s destruction was like that.

Resistance movements play this smaller scale,
Like harpoon tips that penetrate a whale;
But still, one doesn’t think small can compete
With larger force – a punt against a fleet.

I find a kind of peace comes over me
Regardless if in Vanguard I’m to be,
Or on some skirmish in some distant land,
Or just a part of Jesus’ merry band.

For knowing it’s His issue, not my own,
Sets me at ease, away, or in my home;
The One in charge thinks “Body life” is best,
And asks us to take action with the rest.

For first time in my life I am relaxed –
Aware commander Jesus has the facts,
And knows our hearts and minds, skills, where we’ve been,
To place us far beyond the mean and mean.

Thanks Lord for this.

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