Unlikely Hero

You’re My Hero
You fight when there’s reason to run
You’re brave when there’s reason to fear
You go when there’s reason to stop
…You’re my hero
You believe even though it’s hard
You try even though you might fail
You play even though it hurts
…You’re my hero
You smile because you’re alive
You dance because you can
You dream because there’s hope
…You’re my hero
You live and never stop loving
You reach out and never stop caring
You push for more and never stop inspiring
…You’re my hero
My life is forever changed
The way it was no longer enough
I won’t, I can’t be the same
…You’re my hero

Heroes are those people whose lives call to ours. Their story speaks so loudly to our own we are ignited in such a way that we will never be the same. I have found that some of my greatest heroes are not world famous, they don’t hold a prestigious position or have great wealth. In fact the older I get it seems the people I want to be like when I grow up are getting younger. Because of these heroes how I lived, the way it was, is no longer good enough and so is true because of 11 year old Erin Buenger. Diagnosed at 5 with cancer, battling this disease for 82 months she fought without fear. Not because it was easy, but because she could. She could still smile, love, fight, encourage, believe, hope and live and that’s exactly what she did. When I think about Erin mediocre is no longer good enough. The circumstances that once defined my life become not smaller because others are going through worse, but they become less powerful. I am reminded of her smile, her energy, her life in the middle of it and that calls to me, it speaks to me, it ignites me to more and now I won’t, I can’t be the same.

“Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.”
I Peter 2:4-5 NLT

Jesus was not the likely hero. There was nothing extraordinary about being born in Bethlehem and being a carpenter. He was so ordinary that many people missed Him as the savior they were looking for. It wasn’t that they weren’t looking; they just didn’t think Jesus measured up to what they were looking for. He was the unlikely choice and was rejected by many because of it. Yet God chose Him to be the Savior, the hero for those who saw past the ordinariness to His extraordinary love found no where else. All throughout the bible we see many other stories of unlikely heroes. Of people like you and me, who feel they don’t quite measure up in some way or another, feeling not up to the call. When we read the stories it’s easy to wonder why they feared knowing that God in all His power and sufficiency was calling, until we realize we do the same thing. We feel like the unlikely choice and so we step back. However God says that He is building you, He is calling you, inviting and asking you to be His holy priests because of Jesus. Jesus was the unlikely hero who sacrificed everything for you and now you are invited to come to Christ, to follow God’s call, though you feel like the unlikely choice.