I’m a bit of a nerd. Consequently, I tend to draw analogies along those lines. I tend to gravitate toward history and movies, though in the word-nerd category I’ve got some clout. I enjoy deliciously crafted run-on sentences that break all the rules. Shelby Foote once wrote a sentence in The Civil War that took up an entire page. I still kick myself for not marking it out of apprehension for scarring a beautiful hardcover — even with a pencil — but secretly look forward to re-reading all 2,968 pages of its three volumes in order to find it. Books are a passion, but I get downright sick about Star Wars.
The Battle of Endor began as a raid. The Rebel Alliance had sneaked deep behind enemy lines on a covert mission that was supposed to facilitate a surprise attack, swift victory, and perhaps even the death of the Emperor himself. But from the get-go it seemed nothing had gone right. Setbacks mounted, and the plan had quickly gone completely out the window. Then it got worse. The enemy was a step ahead in every detail, and though the Alliance adjusted and countered effectively, it seemed to merely postpone an inevitable retreat. They were losing.
Our family is going through a hard time. We are not where we want to be, nor are we where we thought we would have been by now. We feel like we are in the midst of a major transition; to a new home, new job, new ministry… a transition we thought would be swift and decisive, but has turned out to to be anything but. We’ve been blindsided by unexpected opposition; health, finances, repairs, familial obligations, have all forced us to readjust priorities and resources to meet overwhelming challenges from every direction, and it feels like we’re losing.
I begin to lose heart.
Are we losing? Is this where we sound the retreat and cede the battle? We were obviously wrong in thinking this was going to be easy. Were we also wrong in thinking it was even possible? When is the breakthrough going to occur?
And then the Ewok dies.
In the heat of battle, two Ewoks are thrown to the ground by an explosion. When the dust settles, one rises slowly and then takes his comrades hand to help him up, but it’s too late. As the realization sets in, the Ewok drops to his knees, lays his head on his friend’s chest, and weeps. But if you’ve seen the movie, or if you know good storytelling, you recognize that this is the moment when things begin to turn around.
This is when Chewbacca hijacks an AT-ST and puts a legion of the Emperor’s best troops on the run.
Or, it’s when Inigo Montoya pulls the dagger from his belly, stands up straight, and tells his enemy, “Prepare to die.”
Or even the moment when the earth shakes and a seven-inch thick curtain in the temple is torn in two, and a King claims His victory.
This is where we are right now. We are going to choose to believe that this is the moment when the tide shifts and the victory is realized. We are going to hold our heads high and walk in faith and know that the challenges we have faced along the way, and the opposition we are facing as we speak, are only going to make the prize that much sweeter, because we know that the moment the Ewok dies is not the end of the battle, but a part of the victory.