- When: 04/08/2020
- QIC: Hot Pursuit
This period of distancing and isolation during the war on COVID-19 has caused us to think about alternate activities during the disruption of our normal routines. Most all of us have had to rearrange our calendars and find alternative activities and priorities within the constraints and restraints of the current “flatten the curve” situation. This national strategic pause caused me to think about some of my former Army logistics training and the concept of “Reconstitution” operations on the battlefield. This might be a time for us to give some thought to the idea, as we have this unplanned opportunity to reset some things in our relationships and spiritual lives.
In military circles:
- Reconstitution involves actions taken to rapidly restore functionality to an acceptable level for a particular mission, operation, or contingency after sever degradation [in combat].
- Reconstitution involves those actions, including regeneration and reorganization, commanders plan and implement to restore units to a desired level of combat effectiveness commensurate with mission requirements and available resources.
Normally military logistics planners think about re-arming, re-fitting, repairing and re-manning crews and equipment. Reorganizing amounts to assessing what resources a unit still has, its functionality, and then looking at cross-leveling to redistribute and reorganize to address the deficiencies.
Regeneration is a deeper and more resource-intense operation that basically takes a unit back to the rear and re-builds personnel and equipment from baseline.
Where am I going with this? Well, seldom in life do we have a mandatory “hard stop” of our normal busy lives and routines like we are seeing now. I feel that this is a time for us all to look at our personal dimensions and do an assessment of our “combat effectiveness”, especially in the spiritual fitness and personal relationship realms. Using the analogy or metaphor of a unit in combat, there are a lot of parallels of we think of this as a time to pull our “unit” off the life combat line, do a damage assessment, and do a deliberate reconstitution operation after self-assessment.
- What areas of your life are “degraded”, or not “fully mission capable”?
- What do you need to re-arm (supply with “ammunition” which could be encouragement to family members and friends in need of it)? Re-fit/upgrade? Repair? Re-man (bring the right people/crews in to help for Godly/wise counsel)?
- Are there some areas that need re-prioritization and cross-leveling of resources (time and money, etc.)?
- Make two lists. #1 contains areas where a little adjustment is needed (re-organization), #2 contains areas that may need serious work…. total regeneration (think deep scaling and complete reset). God can help with both lists.
Maybe it is time to take the step of assessment with your significant other, in prayer, and using biblical standards as the guide? Don’t let this rare opportunity pass by without spending some dedicated time to reconstituting your life for the “combat operations” that lies ahead for all men in this world. The Bible’s words for this are transformation and the sanctification process. The Holy Spirit is here to help. Jesus says of His spirit that it is the Comforter, and a source of power.
I’m challenged to come out of this period of time a better man, with re-stored focus, direction, and the right kind of combat power to return to life’s fight. If we just end up returning to the status quo of yesterday, we will have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for reconstitution and another important “re” word…….revival.
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Colossians 3:9-10 (NIV)
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
Hot Pursuit Out