Your Legacy
Ron Walters
Custer's Last Stand. Three little words that epitomize complete and utter defeat.
On an otherwise peaceful afternoon of June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, commanding officer of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, bivouacked in a postcard-like setting of southeast Montana, known as Little Big Horn. He had been sent to teach the Native Americans a lesson. But Custer, with his penchant for making headlines, planned to perform genocide on the Sioux Nation. The end result, however, was the most lop-sided defeat ever suffered by the United States Military.
George Custer was a West Point graduate, a seasoned war tactician, a 19th century George Patton. His tactics were often questioned, but never his success ratio. During the Civil War he had been given a battlefield promotion to the rank of General. He personally accepted the white flag of surrender from General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. This man knew how to wage war...and win.
So, how was this expertly trained and highly decorated veteran out-planned, out-foxed, and outfought by some of history's most independent and disjointed people?
The accolades for this colossal upset fall to one man, Chief Sitting Bull, the spiritual leader and chief of chiefs among the fractured Sioux nation. Without the aid of a formal education, the strategic development of a military academy, or even the one-liners of a Zig Ziglar seminar, Sitting Bull redefined a nation's purpose and vision. Few leaders have meant more to his people. His resolve saved a nation from extinction. Yet he was neither charismatic nor flashy. His management style was built upon humility. Wisdom and persuasion were his calling cards.
For years he had warned his people of the impending trespass of the white man. The Blue Coat soldiers had broken every treaty. The gold miners had desecrated the sacred Black Hills. The hunters had come to kill ta tanka (the buffalo) as sport. But the other Sioux leaders weren't so sure. They were tired and discouraged. Intimidation had left deep scars. Nothing could stop the migration from the east, they thought. To resist the Blue Coats was hopeless. The Great White Father had too many sons to fight.
But Sitting Bull was in no mood to give in. First, he was resolved to achieve consensus among his people. He argued, "You cannot negotiate with a predator by offering him your children for dinner." Though he kept his agenda simple and clear, he spoke with relentless passion and vivid imagery. Picking up a pinch of earth he said he would not give up "even this much" of the Black Hills to such a murderous people.
Next, he forged an alliance with a new generation of rising Sioux stars. He appealed to their idealism and energy. To Four Horns, the philosophical conscience of the younger Sioux, he spoke of social justice. "Can a people who slaughter ta tanka be trusted?" To Gall, the reigning champion of hand-to-hand combat, he asked, "Will you allow others to wrestle away your dignity?" To Crazy Horse, the new military phenom, he demanded, "Will you stand by and watch your forefather's vision be destroyed?"
And finally, Sitting Bull proposed an honorable plan. He issued a call for all Sioux to meet in the sacred land of The Greasy Grass - Little Big Horn - to honor the legacy of their ancestors. To reject the invitation would be to disinherit their past. To battle the Blue Coats on that sacred ground would draw from generations of strength. To die there would honor their nation's cause. But, to win would perpetuate their manifest destiny. And so they fought, as no army had ever fought.
Custer never had a chance.
Throughout time, visionaries like Sitting Bull, have had to nurture, cajole, question and prod in order to raise up an army to do the unthinkable. For 40 years Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed God's judgment on apostate Judah, all the while enduring opposition, beatings, and imprisonment. Isaiah's story was the same as he warned Judah of their compromises with the world. Hosea and Amos took their warnings north to Israel. The response was the same, but the prophets' resolve never wavered. No declining culture has ever been safe when God's men of passion were unleashed.
Today that same breed is at work here. Faithful men and women, armed with a beacon, turning darkness into light. The art of pointing out eternal hazards in a dense fog is a specialty. The process may seem tedious to some. But to those of us in the work, this is why we were born.
Press on, dear soldiers. Your legacy lives. As the pint-size shepherd said as he took on the giant, "For the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands."
Blessings,
Ron Walters
Vice President of Church Relations
P.S. If you're looking for great preaching tools, don't forget Preaching Magazine. It's my favorite. Check it out at Preaching.com. Do your congregation a favor by subscribing.
Copyright 2007 by Ron Walters | | | | 
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