A man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him.
(Proverbs 26:12)

     During the Indian Wars, George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) was a spirited U.S. Army commander seeking to achieve a place of fame in the annals of history. His assignment was to return renegade Indians to their reservations. A Gatling gun squad was offered to aid him in his mission. Feeling proud and overconfident that the 7th Cavalry could handle everything all by themselves, he refused the offer stating that they would slow him down. As a result of his decision, on June 26, 1876 he lead his understaffed force to their doom in a fateful battle remembered as Custer's Last Stand.
     Custer found a place in history, but sadly it was not as he had hoped. He ended his military career proving that "pride goeth before destruction" (Prov 16:18). Let us therefore learn from his mistake and "be clothed with humility, for God... giveth grace to the humble" (1Pe 5:5).