Tactical Triumph

Escape is not retreat. Rather, escape is a tactical move that allows you to get back into the fight. The reason you work to escape is so you can come back to fight again; it enables you to get repositioned for engaging.

As corrections officers, we have temptations that are somewhat universal for our profession, they are common, but look what God promises here with the things we face: “a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.” I Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

There are tactical moves we have learned in training that we use to get out of holds, to free ourselves from the grasp of one who has seized us.   We practice many different scenarios, but in our profession, we cannot predict every scenario that we will engage in physically. However, God has provided an escape for every temptation we will ever engage in spiritually, including emotional disturbances from our duty that grip us.  

What “temptation” are you facing today?  The temptation may be anger, fatigue, financial, despondency, callousness, depression, emotional isolation, paranoia, relationships, or countless others; whatever it is, God has provided so we will be able to “escape.” This provision allows us to “be able to bear it” as we fulfill this position He has ordained for us on the line that protects society.  This escape cannot be made on our own; we need Him.

Corrections work tends to entice our flesh to find a way to escape from what we have seen, felt, heard, and smelled that plays over in our mind and has so permeated our being yet we cannot find a way to express to another person, finding relief.  There are different things each of us are drawn to try to use out of desperation, convenience, or familiarity, and although some of those things may bring a temporary numbing, anything other than God’s methods and moves is of no true remedy. Let’s practice His tactical moves.

 

This post was written by
Founder of Heirs of Restraint Ministries & Missouri Correctional Officer

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