Everybody needs heroes!

Everybody needs a hero.  Some of us have one maybe two.  Some may even have more than that.
We look up to people.  Set them on a pedestal.  Some are deserving of the accolades, most are probably not.
But what actually makes a hero?
We have real heroes and fictional heroes.  We have sports figures that are fallible and fictional heroes like Superman that honestly has only one nemesis.
But what have they done that is so heroic?
Throw a ball?  Run a race?  Swim a lap?  That is heroic?
Throw a bus?  Run down the Riddler?  Fly to the moon?  That is heroic?
I guess it depends on your standards.
I don't generally have heroes like that as a rule. 
I do have people that I admire and think they have made accomplishments in their lives that are far more than I could do.  But I do not believe most people have done any thing so heroic or outstanding that I would fawn all over them, unless they pass the test.
I do believe there are people that have done heroic things.  They have been through battles and continue to push forward in their lives.
I do have a test that someone must pass before they reach hero status in my eyes.
I think of Joni Erickson Tada.  She is a real hero.  She has been in a wheelchair as a paraplegic since she was a teenager.  I am sure she had moments that she wanted to just give up but she didn't.  She pushed herself and continued to push herself.  But I would venture to say she did not do it on her own strength.  She is woman of integrity. A woman that loves God and works tirelessly to further the kingdom of God.  She does these things in spite of her hindrance here on earth.  I have never met her but I do know that some day I will be able to walk up to her and let her know how she inspired me and she will be able to walk over to someone that she admired and do the same.  She is my hero.
I will be able to walk over to Corrie Ten Boom, the hollocaust survivor.  That through the loss of her family and friends in the most horrible of ways was able to minister to those she was imprisoned with.  She and her sister were able to be missionaries in the darkest of all places.  God was their hiding place.  She alone was able to escape the grip of death at that place.  Only to go on and tell everyone that she could about the love of God.  A woman that I can't wait to meet.  She is my hero.  She passes the test.  I can't wait to meet up with her and hug her and tell her how she inspired me.  How her example of forgiveness encouraged me to be able to do the same.  What a hero.
I can't wait to meet Abraham Lincoln.  Wow!  I mean, really, he stood his ground in a time when no one stood with him.  He knew the right thing to do and he did it.  He paid with his life because of decisions that he made.  That is a hero.
How about Job.  Oh my goodness.  I want to meet him.  Talk to him and ask him what made him so sure?  So determined to serve God even with everyone all around him telling him to do the opposite.  Yet he didn't cave to their taunts and the fears that they tried to imprison him with.  He knew that he knew that he knew.  A real hero.  I can't wait to thank him for the example.
How about those three Hebrew children.  They as well as Abraham had unwavering faith.  They kept their eyes on the prize. 
Abraham followed God even though he had no idea where he would end up.  He trusted God to have children at a very old age.  Now that is a hero.  Those three boys were taken, taken I tell you, from their home and made to be slaves in a foreign land.  And even with the threat of death looming over them they were NOT going to bow to a king of this earth.  They knew who their King was and would not waiver from His kingdom authority.  God brought them through.  Hereos.
David facing Goliath, facing Saul, facing his own faults, yet he persevered.  Can't wait to meet that man. 
How about Stephen?  Even as they were stoning him he continued to look to the heavens where his help comes from.  The forgiveness that he displayed to those that would take his life.  He died a martyr just as many after him have.  What a hero.
There have been so many that have done heroic things.  And it wasn't throwing a ball or leaping over tall buildings.  It wasn't writing the worlds greatest novel or discovering a cure for the hiccups.  It wasn't acting in the most movies or tv programs or even creating the wheel.  While these things are admirable and sometimes challenging it does not make one a hero.
To be a hero it costs something of you and it pours into those who would have need of encouragement or be in need. 
Who is your hero?  It could be a special teacher that sacrificed his or her time to make sure you "got it."  It could be a doctor that stood on his feet for hours to operate on you or a loved one to give you just one more day with them.  It could be your mom or your dad.  The sacrifices they made just so you could have the things they didn't have growing up.  Maybe dad worked two jobs so mom could stay home and raise the children.  Maybe they worked different shifts so that they knew that they themselves were the ones pouring into your lives. 
Are your heroes passing the test?  Are you?  Who are you being a hero to?  Who are you encouraging, pouring yourself into? 
Be a hero.  Find a hero.  Just make sure they pass the test though. 
Remember, everybody needs heroes!