Remember the Alamo!

Today is a special day in the history of the State of Texas. It is a story that has thrilled Texans for more than 175 years. It is a story of desperate valor and high adventure; of grim hardship, tragedy and romance; it is the story of the epochal battle that established the independent Lone Star Republic, on April 21, 1836, and indelibly inscribed the names of Texas patriots on history's scroll of American immortals. The actual battle of San Jacinto lasted less than twenty minutes, but it was in the making for six years. It had its prelude in the oppressive Mexican edict of April 6, 1830, prohibiting further emigration of Anglo-Americans from the United States to Texas; in the disturbance at Anahuac and in the battle of Velasco, in 1832; in the imprisonment of Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas," in Mexico in 1834. Immediate preliminaries were the skirmish over a cannon at Gonzales; the capture of Goliad; the "Grass Fight," and the siege and capture of San Antonio all in 1836. The Texas Declaration of Independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, officially signalized the revolution. So it was, with the cries of “Remember the Alamo” that Sam Houston and his ragged band of 910 pioneers routed Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President and Dictator of Mexico and self-styled "Napoleon of the West," with his proud army, and changed the map of North America! Being a Texan by birth it is easy for me to celebrate this day. However, it also calls me to remember another great day of victory. Here’s how the Apostle John describes that day: On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:19-23 ESV). It was in this little room, where a small group of men and women had gathered that Jesus announced a “new state.” It is the beginning of real freedom. We should take the time to celebrate this freedom seriously. What may have appeared to some as the greatest of defeats became the ultimate victory! Jesus is alive! Remember the Resurrection!