Good morning,

We’ll close out the week with Michael Quinn Sullivan reflecting on how we should go about picking sides. 

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens 

Friday, July 23, 2021
Update your email preferences.

• As a humanitarian disaster continues to unfold at the Texas-Mexico border, Republican candidates for governor are calling out Gov. Greg Abbott for his failure on the issue and outlining what they would do if elected.
   
• Jacob Asmussen takes a look at each of Abbott's Republican challengers' plans to secure the border. 
   
• In the last few months, pressure has built on Gov. Abbott to do more on the border situation, as some have perceived his behavior thus far as weakness. During the regular legislative session earlier this year, Abbott declined to name border security a priority for the Legislature.

• The governor's race is continuing to receive national attention. Yesterday, one of Abbott's Republican challengers announced a big endorsement. Former State Sen. Don Huffines released an endorsement for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Jeramy Kitchen has the details.
   
• The endorsement comes on the heels of a recent terse exchange between Sen. Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in which Paul accused him of lying to Congress regarding gain-of-function research done in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
   

• The current primary field for Texas governor includes incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, conservative humorist Chad Prather, former Congressman and Republican Party of Texas Chairman Allen West, and former State Sen. Don Huffines.
   

• In early June, Gov. Greg Abbott announced his endorsement for re-election from former President Donald Trump, and he also boasts the support of the former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, who recently sent out fundraising emails on his behalf.

• Erin Anderson reports that a state lawmaker shakeup is coming to Denton County next year, as voters in the North Texas county will fill at least three, and possibly four, open state legislative seats in 2022.



• Earlier this month, longtime State Sen. Jane Nelson (R–Flower Mound) announced she will not seek re-election to the Texas Senate, where she’s served since 1993. Republican State Rep. Tan Parker, also from Flower Mound, quickly announced his candidacy for Nelson’s open seat—creating an opening for the House District 63 seat in southwest Denton County that he’s held since 2007. State Rep. Jared Patterson of Frisco, has also told constituents he’s considering entering the Senate race.
   
• Meanwhile, Democrat State Rep. Michelle Beckley (Carrollton) announced she’s running for Congress rather than seek re-election to House District 65 in the southeast corner of Denton County.
   
• Redistricting is the biggest unknown for candidates considering runs in 2022. The decennial political map redrawing, delayed due to slowed census data collection during COVID, will shake up districts across the state.

Friday Reflection: Choosing Sides

William Travis famously drew a line in the sand, asking his fellow Alamo defenders to join him in putting their lives on the line for liberty in Texas.

When it comes to choosing a side in an important debate, most politicians prefer to hang back and see where the crowd is going before they commit themselves to a position. Unlike Travis, they want to be on the “safe” side of every fight.

The politicians don’t say that, of course. They say they are being judicious, thoughtful, and diligent. 

To quote Teddy Roosevelt: “Bullfeathers!” 

What the politicians are most often doing is waiting to see where the majority will land, and calculating the latest point at which they can pick a side in service to their personal ambitions.

I want to take you back a couple thousand years and 7,000 miles, to the plains of Jericho, where a pivotal question about “sides” took place. 

After crossing the Jordan River, the Israelites camped on those plains in preparation for God’s command that they march on the highly fortified city of Jericho. 

Joshua, who had only recently taken over as the Israelites’ leader, was confronted with a mighty warrior who suddenly appeared outside the encampment. That this warrior was a fearsome sight is not in question. Who was he? Was this simply an angelic being, or – as many theologians argue – a “pre-incarnate” visit by the Son of God? 

Either way, Joshua decided he better be on the right side of this guy.

So Joshua asks the ultimate whose-side-are-you-on-anyway question: “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” Seems like the right question before a big fight, right?

The response probably isn’t what is Joshua was expecting: “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

That answer should ring in our ears as loudly as it did for Joshua. 

It is so easy to be consumed by the perceived righteousness of our cause, and spend so much time worrying who is and isn’t on our side, that we lose sight of why we fight in the first place. Joshua had to realize he wasn’t merely fighting flesh and blood for a worldly prize. His job wasn’t to be successful, but to be faithful. 

Same goes for each of us, and for me.

In preparing for the battles ahead, I need to worry less about which side other people are on, and more focused on being on the right side for the right reasons.