Real Heroes

I was reading a story recently about someone who was deemed a hero because of something he had done.  Talk shows and the media snatched up the story.  It was front page news.  A few days later we learned that the story wasn’t the story and the real story was “elsewhere.”  It was disappointing.  It again reminded us of how quickly the media likes to report things for pure scintillation.  I couldn’t help but think about the hundreds of other stories that happen on a daily basis that are inspiring to say the least but never get a headline because they don’t come package with celebrity of some kind.  Do we know what a hero is…really?

A recent poll of 9-12 year old boys and girls in metropolitan Indianapolis revealed that ordinary people don’t rank high on their list of heroes.  The top spots belonged to sports figures, business moguls and celebrities of different stripes. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer."  Not exactly what our culture puts forth as the definition of a hero is it?

Who we choose as heroes tells as much about us as it does about the heroes we choose.

When the writer of the letter we know as “Hebrews” selected people to inspire his readers toward courageous faith, he chose ordinary people who responded to the call of God in their everyday moments.

Hebrews chapter eleven is one story after another of people living “by faith.”  No cameras.  No microphones.  No newspaper coverage.  No talk show circuit to ride.  Just people living in their moments according to what God asked of them.  Did they struggle?  Yes.  And that is a big piece of the story.  They weren’t special people.  They were people living out their lives to the beat of God’s drum…by faith!

Hebrews 11:35-38 says:

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

We need people like that in our lives.  We need their stories of faith.  Why?  Because they show us what is possible.  They remind us how to live in our moments “by faith.”  They teach us how to struggle, fall, get up and keep going.  Crawling sometimes.  Running at other times. 

Who do you have in your life now or from your past who speaks to you about walking with God? 

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”  (Hebrews 13:7)

Father, thank you for people who show us how to live as disciples of Jesus.  May our lives be markers for someone in days to come.  Thank you for Jesus who is our greatest marker.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas