Heroes

I have been thinking about hero's the last few days. There are these commercials right now for a new show that will be on this fall called "hero's" and it is all these seemingly average people who suddenly realize they have some super hero type power. One that is funny to me is where a guy is sitting at his desk and starts to stare at the clock and look as if he is trying very hard to "go big" as we used to say at our house and finally hand on the clock moves back one minute. One that is annoying is a man who is considering suicide. He is ready to jump off a building and when he starts to fall he realizes he can fly.

My first question is what is so heroic about suicidal tendencies? And if it takes three minutes of grunting to set time back one minute, what good have you done?

I guess I just don't look at hero's the way Hollywood or TV land does. Not that that is s huge surprise really, I don't agree with much of what they say. But it has made me stop and think about what I do believe about heroes. I do believe that there are heros all around us, they just don't fly in invisible jets, or "ghost" through walls.

So who are my heros? Well, I am glad you asked. I thought I would dedicate the next few days to telling you about some of my real life heros. They will be in no particular order, no one is more significant than another in my life today, they are all part of what makes me who I am though.

The first one that comes to mind is an obvious one-my Daddy. I was only 10 years old when Daddy died of brain cancer, but he taught me things in those 10 years that I sit live by today. He was a gentle man who was a loving husband and father. He was a Godly man who lived out his faith for all to see. Mom used reminds me that he was human and not perfect, and not to think he could never do anything wrong. I know that is true, but he tended to be more good than bad!

Daddy first had cancer when I was in first grade. He was told that he would only live 6 months; he lived 5 years! I didn't know it at the time, but later my mom told me that he told her he would live long enough to teach me the most import lesson in life-how to handle a tough situation-in those five years I became a Christian and was baptized on Easter before he died in December. He taught me that the way to handle a tough situation was with dependence on God. That there was nothing I could face that God would not go through with me. He taught me through his death.

Daddy was never visibly shaken by his own situation. He did everything to help my mom and I prepare for what was coming. He lived out his faith to his last breath. There are a few times that I remember really showing that faith. One of those was when he was in the hospital shortly after surgery and mom and I went to visit on a Sunday afternoon. He asked mom to read the scripture from Sunday school that morning. She didn't want to, but she did at his insistence. It was Ecclesiastes 3-for everything there is a time...a time to be born and a time to die...He talked her through the reality of that in our lives. He pointed us to God for strength. There are more stories like that, but they would take far too long to tell here.

Daddy was/is a hero because he stood firm in his faith. He stood firm in his love for his family. Because he did what had to be done with grace and dignity and showed me how to handle the rough times of life. Not because he turned back time and took away the trial, or not because he tried to end his suffering and found out he could fly. He was a real man with real pain and yet he found real peace and strength and was able to teach through it all.