You're a Hero!

If you read the article on my blog entitled "Heroes", which is right under this one, you'll see that Heroes play an important role in all of our lives. My prayer for everyone is that God would grant us the blessing of being touched and influenced by many heroes. Men and women who live their lives heroically around us and in front of us. But let me shift the focus in this article. Not only do you need heroes in your life, some people are probably going to need you to be a hero in theirs. Too Many times we forget to play our heroic roles in the lives of people that look up to us. We miss the opportunities God brings our way to impact and influence people we know and love. And that is just not right. You and I have what it takes to be a hero in someone's life.

So who is it in your sphere of influence that is needing you to stand up or show up right now? Who needs you to rise to the challenge, to sacrifice your time and money or to make that call? Who are the people around you that God is asking you to take a risk on? Who are the people that God wants you to care for or speak a word to? Who needs you to influence them?

I mean think about it. Every child needs a hero. Every wife is looking for a hero. Every husband wants to be married to a wife that plays her heroic role. The opportunities to be a hero are all around us. The disconnect is we don’t view ourselves as heroes. And the reason is, we don't really know what a hero looks like. We think heroes are people that have no fears or have no failure in their life. We think heroes are perfect people who have all the answers and possess all kinds of super human strength. And most of us know that's not us. So we play average roles in the lives of those around us. And because of that, we miss heroic opportunities and we fail to hear God's nudge to be play our heroic parts.

Look at this story from the Bible and notice what heroes really look like:

Eccl 9:13-18 (NLT)
13 Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works. 14 There was a small town with only a few people living in it, and a great king came with his army and besieged it. 15 There was a poor, wise man living there who knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought any more about him.

The hero in this story had one ingredient that made him a hero - He knew what to do and he just simply got up and did it.

So what are the attributes and Characteristics of a HERO? Really there are just two things that that make someone a hero. (1) Clarity and (2) the irresistible urge to act.

A hero is a person who walks into a circumstance as big as war or as small as a relationship and they are able to see the situation for what it is. They see what others miss and they sense what needs to be done. And in that moment of clarity they act. They find the strength and courage to respond to the sense of urgency they feel.

Heroes are not people who have no fear. They are not always famous or popular. They are not always the strongest or outwardly the ones who seem to be the most confident. Heroes are people - who have clarity about who they are and what needs to be done. And out of that clarity they are compelled to act. Heroes are people who, like the story from the Bible, see with CLARITY what needs to be done. And they do it.

I think there are a lot of Heroes out there that will read this article and be challenged. Challenged enough, I hope, to realize that they know what needs to be done. They just need to get up and go do it.

May God give all of us the courage to be the heroes He is wanting us to be. Now get up and go be a Hero!