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When the Ewok Dies
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.
Published in General
There is no profession like ministry that places so many demands on an individual and their family. In the last few years, I have seen three area pastors either quit the ministry, run to “greener pastures” or violate their relationship with their congregation and be forced to leave. In ministry, you live in a glass house with many critics and maybe a handful of supporters.
That said, don’t lose heart! It is precisely the critics that need to hear your message the most, and then rely on those supporters around you to help in the daily battles you face. Hang tough and press on in the faith.
Liked the Star Wars movies ok, the first 3 anyway, didn’t really care for the ewoks. They couldn’t even blink. Dumb.
Praying for you and your family. Ministry is tough. Stay true to your faith and to each other. The rest will follow.
It’s always darkest just before the break of dawn right?
Matthew 7:7
Sounds like you have this nearly in hand. Give energy to your trials or give energy to your desired outcomes. That is always the choice.
I don’t know the details of what kind of ministry you’re in, but the mere fact that you are makes you a prize target for the enemy. I agree with @ericmadison. I’ve seen very strong priests and ministers fall too – they are human. I am guessing at this, but it seems clergy and others are available 24/7 almost, and caring for so many burdens of others, even if its just listening, many times they’re own needs get shelved. Balance is so important.
When I read the lives of the saints, I wonder how they persevered. I love the book, God Will Answer – 52 Meditations by Ron Susek. If you have time, read it with your wife – you can get it for pennies on Amazon. it’s a short lesson each week (for 52 weeks) with 5 questions – one for each day. My sister and I did it over the phone – we never shared our answers – but it prompted many great conversations and the book is outstanding. We learned that being in the mercy seat stinks, but sometimes it is God’s refinement process.
Just this morning our (church) men’s study group was discussing the end of Acts 7 and beginning of Acts 8 (the stoning death of Steven, the dispersion of the church members to Samaria, and the introduction of Saul (later to become Paul)). Had I been part of the church at that time I would have wondered if this was the end of this band of Jesus-followers. But we (living much later and being able to look back) see that the dispersion of the church following Steven’s death brought the Good News of Jesus to the non-Jews beyond Jerusalem. We who know “the rest of the story” also know that Saul – complicit in the execution of Steven – would eventually take the Good News even farther afield. Nevertheless, having these hindsights still doesn’t usually make it easier for me to look up when I’ve got the contemporary figurative equivalent of Steven’s lifeless body in front of me.
(Hope Heather Heyer was an Ewok.)
Great post showing the virtue of persistence. Thanks.
Here’s what you do: When you start a book, fold a full-size 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of note paper in quarters, to form a bookmark. As you read, even if you’re marking the book, keep track of pages, and write quotations, make notes, record thoughts, etc. If / when you fill one bookmark, start another, keeping the completed ones in the back of the book. There ya go – an index of the things you want most to remember.
My Foote books are packed with bookmarks.
To which I would add…
Frodo : I can’t do this, Sam.
Sam : I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are.
It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy.
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened.
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.
You sir are a genius.
@anuschka Sam’s internal dialogue in the end of The Choices of Master Samwise (last chapter of the The Two Towers) is one my favorite scenes in all of literature. The other is when Aslan reveals himself to Shasta in The Horse and His Boy.
Hope things improve for you Vince. I know it’s not much comfort but I and a lot of other people are also struggling. Hopefully, we can support each other on the journey.
Without a doubt. Feel free to PM me prayer requests anytime. That goes for all of you by the way. It’s what we do.
Excellent post, though I suppose like many others the Ewoks are not what I think of when I consider the turning point of a struggle, but I salute your nerdy embrace of the little teddy bear creatures none the less.
Stay resolute, there are many in your ministry that have your back, even if not said outright. I currently sit as president of our church council, and as such look at my Pastor with a knowledge of the nitty-gritty side of a Pastors life. Things like salary, work schedule, juggling family obligations with the needs of the congregation. I am in awe of anyone who chooses that life, the desire and more importantly the ability to serve God and your fellow man in that way, well it has to be one of the most demanding and toughest jobs anyone could ever do.