One of my all-time favorite moments in cinematic history comes from the 2002 blockbuster The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The movie features a battle scene of epic proportions wherein the peaceful people of Rohan flee to the stronghold of Helm's Deep to make a stand against the advancing forces of evil. Evil in this case came in the form of a vast army of monsters, each of them bred to be the incarnation of our most dreaded nightmares. The people of Rohan had made the mistake of hoping that evil would pass them by if they would only keep to themselves and keep a low profile. But as we know all too well, that is not the nature of evil. So the king mustered a ragtag army of well-meaning amateurs, most of whom had never fought before, and they fled with their wives and children to the depths of a mountain fortress. That night the men on the ramparts heard the approach of the enemy long before the innumerable lights from their torches appeared on the horizon. They alone stood between their families and a fate that would be too terrible to imagine. And with a roar, the charge ensued, and King Theodan of Rohan grimly uttered: "So it begins." The battle raged and the men of Rohan fought valiantly, but the sheer number of the enemy was too great, and the fortified stronghold began to fail. One narrow stone bridge led to a gate that was of particular strategic importance to anyone who wished to gain entrance to Helm's Deep, so the evil army (called the Uruk) focused on that point. Meanwhile the men inside reported to the king that they would not be able to hold the gate much longer. So the king gave the order to pull the women and children into the deepest recesses of the fortress. Then he turned to Aragorn, a man who knew how to hunt evil, and said: "Hold them!" Aragorn responded: "How long do you need?" The king responded: "As long as you can give me." And with that the king turned to see to the women and children and to muster his men to make what would undoubtedly be their last stand. Without hesitation, Aragorn called to his friend Gimli. You see, they had been in tight spots before; they had history. Together, the two of them leaped onto the bridge, two men, hand to hand with the embodiment of evil, hatred, and fury.
I won't spoil the ending if you have never seen or read the conclusion of the story, but that moment when the king knew who to call on, and the way that Aragorn and Gimli responded, well that's what men were made for. The fury of a world that rages against the one God, bears down and batters at the gates of our homes. It hopes to terrorize us and our families. It is insatiable, and thrives on the ability to exploit the weakness of men who are out of practice and unprepared to wield the Sword and to wear the armor that we have been provided by the Lord. Gentlemen, warriors are not born. They are trained, raised on the stories of heroes, and shown by their fathers how a man ought to live.
"Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle" (Psalm 144:1).