It was back in 1966, during the Vietnam War, deep in
the Vietnamese forest, an amazing story surfaced of
hanging tough during unbearable odds. And instead of
it being about U.S. soldiers, it was about 108
Australian soldiers (our allies) surrounded
by over 2,000 Vietcong. Those are 20 to 1 odds.
After the Australian base came under heavy Vietcong
mortar fire, several soldiers headed out to search
for their attackers. However, instead of finding the
mortar squad, they found an entire VC regiment with
one objective: convince the Aussies to go home.
The Vietcong poured heavy machine gun fire into the
trees that the Aussies were moving through. The next
hours were spent in shallow foxholes, exchanging
heavy machine gun fire. The Australians held off
wave after wave of assault. These 108 soldiers were
down to their last 100 rounds, when reinforcements
arrived forcing the Vietcong to abandon their ideas
of a siege. Up against odds of 20 to 1, when the
smoke cleared and the dust settled, what was
discovered was literally hundreds of Vietcong dead
on the battlefield and only a few Australians. It
was an amazing victory, and an amazing story of
being outnumbered.
What have we just learned? Outnumbered does not mean
outmatched.
Everyone loves a good story of an underdog. You know
the one someone with all the odds stacked against
them but somehow they still rise up to take an
amazing victory. It is the classic Hollywood script.
Remember the Bad News Bears? (I know, very dated,
right?)
Regardless, there are countless true stories of just
such victories as well. Remember the 1980 Olympics
and a team of college hockey players going up
against Russia’s all star, all professional team?
The American victory is now known as Miracle on Ice.
The first time football players were integrated in
Virginia in 1971, it inspired the film Remember the
Titans! Remember young David against Goliath? David
was the classic underdog. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego were all underdogs. It would appear God
loves a good underdog story as well.
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Outnumbered does not mean outmatched! What is making
you feel outnumbered right now? Finances? A job threat? A loss of
relationship? Schedule demands? Health issues? It could be any
number of things.
As you can see, it’s not difficult to fall into despair and a loss
of hope. Humans can live without a lot of things, but hope is not
one of them. Hope is essential right up there with oxygen. So, how
does one face overwhelming odds? How do we face our moments
of being Outnumbered? That’s the exact question we’re about to
answer in our pcoming summer sermon series.
Join us as we look at Great Comebacks of the Bible. “Outnumbered” is
a series of sermons looking at the seemingly unwinnable battles we
find throughout scripture. They are there to inspire us. They are
there to teach us about God. They are there to give us
Hope!
[Ron Otto
Preaching Minister, Lincoln Christian Church]
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