A Hero Is...

Have you ever thought about your heroes?  Who they are, why you chose them, what it is about them that you find heroic?  There's no question that we have them.  But why do we choose them?

What makes a hero a hero?

Recently my family and I spent an afternoon with my grandmother, a couple of aunts and uncles, and several cousins.  Due to the miles between us, it is rare for so many of us to be in one place, and we all jumped at the chance to catch up on each other's lives.  At one point, my aunt shared a story from her work as a chaplain in a children's hospital.

There was a little girl in my aunt's wing of the hospital.  "A precious baby," my aunt said.  She was there because her father shook her "until her brain turned to jello."  The baby's foster parents had two adult biological children, two adopted tweens, and this little girl was their thirty-sixth foster child.  "She knew she was taking her in to die," my aunt said of the foster mom and the baby.  "She was giving her a place to die."

The week we were visiting, the little girl's health had declined, and a meeting was held with the doctors, biological mother, and foster mother.  The child's biological mother was obviously struggling with the painful situation.  As hard as it was, she made the best - and most difficult - decision for her child's care, and then broke down.  The baby's foster mother, no doubt struggling with the situation as well, went over to the baby's birthmom and hugged her.  "You will always be her mother, no matter what," she told her.

Sometimes the heroes we choose have epic stories.  Just think of Captain America, Batman, or Superman.  Even when we choose actual people as heroes, we tend to exalt those like Gabby Douglas, Amelia Earhart, or George Washington.  People we have never met (and never will).  People who have performed amazing deeds, accomplished incredible feats, changed the world.  Their unforgettable stories stick with us, lodging in our minds and coming back to us even years later.  Are these people inspiring?  Yes.  Should we know about their lives and contributions to the world?  Sure.  But does a hero always have to be larger-than-life?  Could a hero be someone...normal?

"A hero is someone who excels in what we prize," I recently heard someone explain.  Remember that, I told myself.  It sounded profound.

"A hero is someone who excels in what we prize."

We pick our heroes because of what we want our lives to look like.  Whether our hero is Captain America, George Washington, or LarryBoy, we look to these figures for inspiration or even guidance as we go about our lives.  We think that, as we look to our heroes, we will somehow become better individuals.  Who we choose as heroes says a lot about who we are - and who we are becoming.

My aunt ended her story as she told how the foster mother loved the baby and the biological mother - reaching out to both in their time of need.  "I have a new hero, I guess," she finished quietly.

It is a story my aunt will always remember.  I know I will, too.  Heroes are usually hard to forget.

image credits:  Captain America  George Washington  Gabby Douglas 

Insignificant?

It has been awhile since I read an entire book in a single day.  When I first cracked the cover of Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place late yesterday afternoon, I didn't think I would finish that night.  But I did, eight minutes before "last night" became "this morning."  I was familiar with the ten Boom story - I think I read a short biography of her once - but I had never read The Hiding Place.  Wow!  I was blown away by her account of faith, love, peace, and forgiveness during one of the darkest times of modern history.  In her book, she traced God's work in her life from her childhood all the way through to the end of the war, and it is a beautiful story. So many aspects of her story have been imprinted on my mind, but I was surprised at how much one insignificant little sentence stood out to me.

A few chapters into the book, Corrie describes their daily routine at the clockmaker's shop there in Holland, aptly summarizing it this way: "And so was established the pattern our lives were to follow for over twenty years."

Twenty years!  They kept that same pattern for twenty years?!  Day in.  Day out.  The family members all had their assigned tasks and responsibilities that they fulfilled each and every day.  They even took their daily walk at the same time each day - on the same route!

They were so content to live that way - no "next big thing" or exciting "change of pace."  They were faithful in the little things (daily walks) and the big: the ten Boom family took in eleven children over the years who needed a home.

Throughout The Hiding Place, through all the stories and anecdotes Corrie ten Boom shares of her childhood as well as her adult years, the ten Boom family was known as a loving, welcoming family.  No matter someone's social standing, problems, or needs, they were welcomed with open arms.  Always.  Even if they had nothing to offer in return.  Even if they were a "competitor," such as the watchmaker down the street.

For so long they had kept the same routine.  For so long they had done things "normally," even, perhaps, somewhat monotonously.  There was nothing significant or incredible about their daily lives, except that they spent each day in faithful service to God and love toward others.

As the black clouds of World War II spread over Holland and the life that they had known for decades began to change drastically, the ten Booms rose to the challenge.  No more daily walks on the same route.  No more simple clockmaker life.  "This was evil's hour," Corrie wrote, adding that "we could not run away from it."  And they didn't.  Even though their entire way of life was completely changed, they faced each new day just as they always had.

Before the War, they had lived in faithful service to God and love toward others.

During the War, they lived in faithful service to God and love toward others.

That's it.  In a way, everything changed.  In a way, nothing did.  The ten Booms still sought to please God in every area of life.  They still kept their hearts and home open to anyone in need.  They still sacrificed their own comfort, ease - now even their safety - for the sake of others.

I'm not saying it was easy, or that they never struggled with the new challenges they faced.  Somehow, some way, those twenty years must have prepared them for this.  Interesting, isn't it?  Even though their circumstances changed so drastically, their attitude before God seemed to be the same as it had been before.  Faithful service and love.

The ten Booms' daily, ordinary, almost-monotonous, seemingly-insignificant life was the setting where God chose to work.  What might He choose to do through ours?

"But this is what the past is for!
Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for a future
that only He can see."

Corrie Ten Boom

Image Credit

A Thrilling Life

If you could meet someone from history, who would it be?  I remember talking about this with a group of young adults recently, and I enjoyed hearing all their different answers!  A few chose people from the Bible (like Esther or David) and some chose historical Americans (George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were popular with this group).

I know exactly who I would choose: Amy Carmichael.  I have always been fascinated by her life.  Set in the exotic backdrop of India, she had an amazing story of rescuing hundreds of children and watching the redemption of their souls occur right before her eyes.  What a thrilling life!

But Amy didn't always see it that way.  She did not move to India to spend time with children.  No, Amy entered India with big plans.  Burdened by the moral darkness of the land, Amy wanted to evangelize the masses that had been in spiritual bondage for so long.  Organizing a small group to go with her, Amy traveled India, spreading the Gospel everywhere she went.

But one by one, little girls in need were brought to Amy's attention and added to the little group.  Traveling evangelism became more and more difficult with little ones afoot, and Amy eventually began arranging for them to be cared for while she went on evangelistic excursions.   Gradually, she realized that even this would not work.

Amy believed God called her to India.  She was passionate about the little girls, yes, but felt her purpose in India was to preach.  Eventually she began to understand the Tamil proverb: "Children tie the mother's feet."

And so the days of traveling and boldly preaching the Gospel ended for Amy.  In its place, she began to take up the daily, monotonous tasks that mothers worldwide find monopolizing their days.  Now there were meals that needed cooking, clothes that needed sewing and washing and mending, children who needed tending.  It wasn't glamorous work.  There must have been so many days it did not feel exciting or exotic.

As the family grew - exponentially - these tasks were divided up.  But there was no task Amy would ask others to do if she was not willing to do it herself; she had come to understand the greatness of even these little tasks.  As she later wrote, acknowledging that Tamil proverb, "So we let our feet be tied for the sake of Him whose feet were pierced" (Gold Cord, by Amy Carmichael).

Maybe Amy Carmichael lived in faraway India.  Maybe she had responsibility for hundreds more children than anyone I have ever met.  But Amy was faithful where God called her - even when her ambitious plans did not line up with God's call on her life.

I may never go to India.  I will likely never be responsible for hundreds of children.  But I can choose to be faithful where God has placed me, just like Amy Carmichael chose to submit to God's will for her life.

One day I will meet Amy Carmichael, but not by going back in time.  Amy now lives in the ultimate realization of her hope - with many others.  Children who were born in India with a dismal future, but were rescued.  Children who were literally enslaved, but later set free for the rest of their lives - and eternity.  All because one woman left her plans behind and followed God's leading.  Even when it wasn't very exciting.  Or thrilling.  Or exotic.

Because she chose to let her days be filled with cleaning and cooking and the needs of hundreds of children, Amy was able to see redemption take place in the lives of children (and adults) around her.  There are so many needs even right here where I live.  There are orphans in my city.  There are widows.  There are lonely, hurting, desperate people everywhere.  In our neighborhoods, churches, homeless shelters, crisis pregnancy centers - everywhere we go - we can see redemption in the lives around us.  What a thrilling life!

Image credit: Christianity Today

The Rest of the Story

Have you ever read an account in the Bible and wished you could read the rest? Sometimes it seems as though the story ends too soon.  We read of a person's crisis, God's intervention, and maybe the immediate results, but there was so much more to their story, right?

Take Zacchaeus. As a tax collector in that day, he knew how to cheat extra income into his own pocket.  One encounter with the Son of God and he emphatically declared his deceptive days over, vowing to give back four times the amount he had stolen and donate half of his true income to the poor.  But then it ends.  Luke moved on to the next event, leaving Zacchaeus behind.  What happened next?  Did he really do it - did he really return all of that money?  Did those he had cheated forgive him?  Did he continue to live honestly, and did he follow through with his generous plans?  What about the Romans - did Zacchaeus ever face any ridicule for his radical change in lifestyle?

Or what about Naaman?  As a Syrian, he was technically an enemy of the Israelites.  But after taking Elisha's advice to dip seven times in the Jordan, he was cleansed of his dreaded leprosy.  At that point, he said: "'from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord'" (2 Kings 5:17).  Did he keep his word?  Did he worship only the one true God for the rest of his days?  What did the other Syrians think of that?

Have you ever wanted to read their epilogue?

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-44). 

I wonder if this had happened before?  Had she given her last cents away many times, or was this a first - an act of obedience, perhaps after a sleepless night spent in worry and "what-ifs"?  Maybe she had given "all she had to live on" away before and had experienced the unmistakable provision of God, so she knew He would provide for her again.

Did she know Who was watching her?  What happened next?  How did God provide for her needs?  Was it through a friend, a relative, a stranger - someone completely unaware of her plight?

I don't know the rest of her story.  When she placed those copper coins in the box, she did not know the rest of her story, either.  But she trusted that the One who had led her this far would never leave her stranded here.  So - clink, clink - she put the coins in the box.  And left the rest of her story to God.

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