Why try?
If it appears that you will lose, why even try? Same question...over a hundred fifty years apart.
I have just returned from vacation with my family. The boys are going to study Texas history this coming school year, so we took a little Texas history tour.
The State Capitol, the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, the Alamo, the San Jacinto Battlefield and Monument. We even stayed in the same hotel in Galveston that I stayed in when I was a boy (our own little part of Texas history).
Most everyone knows about the Battle of the Alamo. Those fateful days in March of 1836 that cluminated in the death of some of the greatest men ever to live in Texas.
It would be easy to have asked the question, "Why try?"
It was a doomed battle. They knew they were likely to die. The night before the final battle, William Barrett Travis drew that famous line in the sand and asked who would join him to fight and die for Texas. As the story goes, only one man didn't cross that line.
And it was Travis who wrote the famous letter asking for reinforcements in which he wrote "I shall never surrender or retreat…Victory or Death."
It was a sad day for those inside that old mission, but a great day for Texas. For their sacrifice on March 6, 1836 did not destroy the spirit of Texas as Santa Anna had imagined, but strengthened our determination.
About six weeks after the Battle of the Alamo, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican army was defeated in the Battle of San Jacinto. Those fighting for Texas were outnumbered two to one, but they killed 700 Mexican soldiers and captured another 730 by attacking them head-on in broad daylight across an open field. Their cry that day was 'Remember the Alamo!'
The Battle of San Jacinto was the shortest battle in American military history. Just 18 minutes.
That victory on April 21, 1836 would likely not have occurred had it not been for those men a couple of months earlier fighting when it seemed there was no reason. Men who answered the question, "Why try?" by crossing the line and fighting for what was right.
We face that same question today, those of us who believe in marriage. Not the new-fangled idea of marriage. But the original one.
Some say there's no way an amendment protecting marriage as between one man and one woman can make it past the many hurdles in the way.
Why fight if you know or even think that you will lose?
Because it's right to fight for what's right. Without regard for the outcome.
Sometimes we will lose, but there are some things worth fighting for even if you lose.
And there is no way to know the outcome of something like the fight for marriage. God doesn't follow the polls. I don't believe God cares what people say they will do or how we believe people will vote.
I believe God cares about fighting for what's right. I believe that's when God blesses. I believe that's when miracles happen.
I believe God sometimes chooses to make it obvious that He has stepped in and made a way where there seemed to be no way. When it appeared all was lost, that for things to turn so dramatically, it must have been supernatural. It must have been Him.
I don't know what our government will decide about marriage. But I believe it's right to fight for what's right.
And our country standing for marriage is right.
Why try? Because it's right.
Who will cross this line and fight with me for marriage?