Believe In a Cause

 Recently, Pat and I went on a trip to the Southeastern part of the USA.  We have never been in that part of the nation, and wanted to see the sights.  Additionally, we like things historical in nature, so planned our visit around various museums, a Civil War battlefield or two, and other historic places in that part of the country.

One of the places I wanted to see was the Edmond Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama.  I well remember as a young person watching the news accounts of the attempted “March to Montgomery” on a Sunday when the marchers were attacked by the police and forced to turn back.  I recall, as a youth who had been living a relatively sheltered life in a small rural town in Kansas wondering just what it was I was seeing, and why.  Why did these people think they needed to march to Montgomery?  Why were they being beaten for wanting to do so?  What is it that makes people do these things to other people, regardless of the reason?

When we arrived in Selma, one of the first things we did was walk across the bridge ourselves to a museum.  We toured the museum and walked back across the bridge.  Our walk that day was a far cry from what happened there almost 50 years ago.  And had I not seen the news reports back then, I would have a hard time believing what happened there.

I could concentrate this article on several points, but the point I wish to make is that the marchers knew before they began that they would be turned back.  They knew they may well be attacked.  They new some might be gravely injured and some might lose their lives.  Yet they went on, believing in the cause…believing even to the point of dying for the cause.

Do you believe in any cause for which you are willing to suffer the consequences, including losing your life, should it come to that?  If you are a Christian and don’t quickly mention the cause of Jesus Christ, perhaps you need to re-think your priorities.  The New Testament is filled with stories of people who loved the cause of Jesus Christ to the point that they were willing, not only to suffer, but to lose their lives for that cause.

Seeing Little Rock Central High School, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Battle of Vicksburg Civil War battlefield, and the hotel where Martin Luther King was shot has given me pause to wonder if I have what it takes to suffer and possibly die for a cause that I have for much of my life said I believed in…just as countless people in times past have done for causes they believed.

What about you?