Real Heroes

How do you define the word hero? What does a hero do? Do they save the day with the game winning home run? Perhaps a hero to you is not in the realm of sports. Maybe your hero is the first responder to a fire and saves a life by running into a burning building. This certainly gets closer to a real hero. It could be that the hero you envision goes into the classroom and saves a student others gave up on a long time ago. Who could argue with that picture of a hero? Is your hero one that saves our country and protects our freedoms? I cannot think of a hero without thinking of these men and women. In a sense, the athlete, the first responder, the teacher, and the member of the military are all heroes in different ways and at different times. Let me tell you about some heroes of mine that I got to hang out with last week.

They work in different parts of the world. They are various ages. They use different strategies. They are not interviewed by news agencies and are rarely in the limelight for their heroics. They have little of this world’s goods but seem perfectly content with that. They come from different backgrounds and have different tastes and styles but all are guided by one compelling vision. Sometimes their very families do not value what they do or understand why they do it. Some even see them wasting their lives. They don’t save games but are used in saving work. Their saving work may involve a child being rescued from failure but it involves so much more. Like the first responder, they are busy plucking people from a fire that will never be quenched. Like a soldier, they wear armor but it is armor that the human eye cannot see. And, like a soldier, they are targets of the enemy.

By now you have probably figured out who my heroes are. They are missionaries. What an example these that I have been with were to me and to Woolsey Baptist Church. These are hard working, how can I serve you kind of hero’s. They did not come to leave us thinking of them but of the One whose fame they are seeking to make known. If you missed the Global Impact Celebration let me tell you that it was truly an impact. I do not think it’s a stretch to say that the results of the work of the hero’s I spent time with last week will be felt for a long, long time to come.
To my “hero’s” that spent time with us last week- Thank You!