I will visit you after passing through Macedonia—for I intend to pass through Macedonia— and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. ( 1Corinthians 16: 5-9)

Ephesus is near the Aegean coast of what is now Southwestern Turkey. It would have been a quick crossing of, perhaps, two days to Corinth.

But Paul is planning a summer "campaign" to Philippi, Thessalonica, and others in Macedonia, ending up in Corinth where he will spend the Winter. In the ancient Mediterranean there was very little travel by ship or road from late November until late March.

Paul is worried about the gathering at Corinth. He is giving it attention. But he does not want the problems at Corinth to distract him from the opportunities at Ephesus or in Macedonia.

We are often inclined to feed problems and starve opportunities. Given the praise that Paul extends in letters to the Philippians and Thessalonicans, he intends to feed those opportunities (and be fed by them?) before he spends a winter dealing with the problems in Corinth.

This focused, sequenced, and persistent work fits with Paul's disdain for distractions and emphasis on clear priorities.