In today’s post to his blog, Jack’s Winning Words, Pastor Freed used this quote – “There’s no excuse for young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are. (Nina Simons)
Every era has people that are popularly identified as heroes to us all, usually someone who has done something extraordinary or achieved something that is remarkable. We hold them up to be heroes – people that are worthy of emulation. We want to be like them.
But the concept of someone being a hero in anyone’s life is a very personal thing. Many successful people when interviewed will point back to a teacher or perhaps to their parents or a sibling as a key influence in their life – someone who was a hero to them.
What makes these people heroes is usually that they set an example of how to live, how to be brave and how to persevere in the face of adversity that others could see and use as a role model. Under that definition of hero, it is easy to see what Jesus is held up as a hero for so many. To Christians everywhere, Jesus is the role model for their lives. No one can really be like Jesus, but we can certainly learn from His example and pattern our lives after the words He spoke and His actions.
The other thing that we can do is be more conscience of our role as heroes to others, especially our young. We need to stop and think every morning about that role and the things that we can do during the day to provide good examples for the youth around us. The young learn by watching us. If they see us skirting the law or becoming irate and cursing out someone else, perhaps for an incident while driving them to school, they see that as something that they too can do later in life. They also learn many of their first curse words from listening to their parents.
In many modern movies and TV shows about heroes, the hero or heroine changes in appearance when in hero mode – they may don an outfit, like Ironman or The Black Panther, or just magically become different (think about Hulk suddenly changing from Dr. Banner). We don’t get to do a costume change before becoming a hero to our children, but they see us in a different light when they think we are doing something worth emulating – something heroic. We become Super Dad or Mom or Brother/Sister.
It is important to stop and think about your role in the lives of others and the impact that your actions may have during the day. Perhaps taking the time each morning to ask God for help will keep that in the forefront of your mind. Ask God to help you live during the day in such a way that you will be proud of your decisions and actions and happy that someone else might have found them worthy of emulation. That is certainly better than having to ask for forgiveness and being embarrassed by how you looked to others during the day.
Maybe you could use one of those little wrist bands with WWJD on it to help you do the things during the day that will make you a hero. It’s certainly a better feeling at the end of the day than embarrassment and contrition. We are all being watched by others, especially by our young. Be aware of that and be a hero today!
NormsMilfordBlog 
While I don’t agree with him in many ways, Trump is an example of a hero (to many people).