Heros - The Way It Should Be

Our hero was our father.  Then our hero was the policeman or firefighter or teacher.  We had neighborhood heros that all the kids and some of the adults looked up to.  They were a hero because they did amazing things.

As a child a father was the protector who always caught us before we fell.  We could depend upon him to always be there.  He was larger than life itself.  He taught us things about bugs and why sky is blue.  He helped us with homework and took us to the zoo and told us about the animals.


He taught us to fly a kite, to ride a bicycle, to ice skate, to bowl and play cards.  He taught us that there was someone who we could depend upon when all else fails.

Then he left.  Our hero was a grandfather, an uncle or a neighbor.  Sometimes it was even Mom when she had time to be with us after working some menial job to put food on the table and clothes on our backs.

We moved around and our hero was a character in a book or someone in history.

History was changed and we found out that the hero owned slaves or polluted the planet or had children out of wedlock.

Our hero was a sports' figure and he used steroids or gambled on the game or beat his pregnant girlfriend.

Our hero was a rock star until they overdosed.  We found a new hero whose rap was banned because it glorified rape and killing policemen.

We emulated our hero and found the act of following was not satisfying.  The idol worshiping was not the same as the doing.  Our lives became filled with lost dreams and visions of a reality that did little more than torture us with their vagueness and we looked for another hero and when it was found the media ridiculed it and tore it down if they mentioned faith or belief in God.  Goodness and faith is reviled while men having illicit affairs and destroying hotel rooms are held high with massive coverage on the evening news.

We need a new hero for the children.  They need someone to uphold clean living and wholesome moral values.  They need to know that there is someone they can depend on so when it comes time to know God, they have already had the experience of knowing what goodness is, of knowing The Messiah through the human representation of Him through that one He used and we knew as a hero. 

We need to know that the children have someone other than a drunk, drug dealer, undressed rock star pulsating on stage or the pedophile next door to look up to and emulate.  They need a Noah, a Joshua,  a Jabez, a Boaz, an Esther, a David or a Paul in their life.  They need a living Bible that they can point to and say, "I want to be just like that when I grow up."

We need to know that their eyes are upon us each and every day.  They need a hero.  They need to know there is goodness and mercy in the world.  They need to know that God lives within us and is there to help us through the bad days and rejoice with us in the good times.