We All Need a Hero

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and they rescue us from all different kinds of things.  Nearly six months ago, a tiny, premature, drug-addicted baby was placed into the foster system and needed a hero.  My son and daughter-in-law stepped up to meet the challenge.  Within about an hour, their family dynamics, work life, monthly bills, and sleep habits changed drastically!  To this expressionless, helpless one with partially transparent skin, whose weight has now more than tripled since that first day and whose smile and personality have begun to develop, my kids are true heroes.  And as they prepare to return this child to the biological parents soon, they are also my heroes.  God has called them to this wonderful ministry of love called foster parenting; but it isn’t something he has called all of us to.  Out of six foster placements in their home (so far), this baby is the fourth who didn’t get to stay forever.  This kind of heroism is not for the faint of heart.

We all have real needs as well as felt needs.  They differ as much as we differ from each other, and the complexity of our needs grows as we reach adulthood.  Most of us are looking for someone or something to step up and be our hero to help meet or alleviate some of these needs.  People talk about historical heroes, military heroes, superheroes, and other types of heroes.  But the greatest hero has already arrived on the scene in the person of Jesus Christ:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”                                                        Philippians 2:6-8

When God came to earth in the form of his Son, Jesus, and died on a cross while bearing the full weight of the sins of all of mankind, he rescued us all as no one else could.  Romans 5:8 tells us that Christ did this “while we were still sinners”.  In other words, he became our hero before we even knew we needed one.  Much like the baby placed in my kids’ home, we have all been given the opportunity, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, to be placed into the kingdom of God.  This baby was asked to trust new parents after being temporarily betrayed by biological parents; and we are asked to trust God regardless of all the untrustworthy people we may have encountered in our lives.  He is the only hero who can truly rescue us and meet all of our needs beyond our expectations and wildest dreams.

Babies take for granted the care of loving parents, and they won’t have any memories in the future of the first part of their lives.  Before they even know what they need, someone is their hero.  May we never take for granted the rescue that God’s love provided for each of us through the gift of his Son, and may we seek to follow Jesus’ example by becoming servants to those around us who are all looking for a hero – whether they know it or not.   

We Still Do

Weddings are fun – most new beginnings are.  But marriage is where the rubber meets the road; it is the daily working-out of promises made at the wedding.  Celebrating our anniversary this past week has reminded me of my own wedding 39 years ago.

My husband and I always smile and squeeze each other’s hands when we attend a wedding.  We listen to the vows being said and remember with fondness the vows we made so many years ago.  But we smile because we now know that marriage is really nothing like the wedding.  While we meant with all of our hearts every word we said that day, we really had no idea what living out those vows would mean in the years ahead.  Our love-starred eyes could only see the present while we made long-term promises for the future.  And while faithfulness to each other has never been an issue, facing the challenges that life has brought and continues to bring to us hasn’t always been easy.

What does commitment in marriage look like when life is long and perhaps includes more “worse” than “better”, more “sickness” than “health”, or more “poorer” than “richer”?  Yes, our marriage has also had much joy – shared experiences, raising children, becoming grandparents, serving together in ministry, traveling.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to “do life” together and for the continued blessing of God on our marriage.  But our commitment to each other and to God has to be our guide as well as what we lean on when the things we share (such as our recent anniversary) include one of us recovering from unexpected surgery, throwing up all night, and needing the other’s help to change wound dressings.  No dinner or flowers this year!  Life together is not always fun, but we are blessed to have each other to walk with.

And we are grateful that the two of us do not walk alone.  God, who came up with the idea of marriage, has been walking with us for nearly four decades now – and we can be sure that he will not stop.  His completely faithful commitment to each of us individually and together as a couple will never waver; his character makes it impossible for him to be unfaithful (Psalm 146:6).  As we acknowledged through a song that was sung at our wedding, the vows we made that day were “the binding of a promise between God, a woman, and a man”.  Staying faithful to those vows may seem more difficult when life is hard, but it really is as simple as continuing to draw our strength and commitment from God’s strength and his commitment to us.

Then we’re able to say, “we still do” – bring on the rest of our life together! 

Choosing to Be Present

It’s official . . . a Grandma’s heart is destined to be melted!  I recently wrote about my 4-year-old grandson’s first unsolicited expression of love for my husband and me and the effect it had on our hearts.  But my grandson has struck again!

As a long-distance Grandma, time spent with my grandchildren is extra-special because it is infrequent.  Every hug is precious, and every word matters.  The joy brought by interaction with my grandchildren carries my heart through the months that occur between visits.

My grandchildren recently came to visit us for a week with their parents.  We had lots of special moments, and many sweet memories were made; but perhaps the sweetest came on the day they were preparing to return home.  Upon being told by his father that they were leaving that day, my grandson looked at me and said, “I’m going to miss you so much.”  Let the Grandma-melting begin!  The following day, when my son called to tell us they had safely reached their destination, a little voice came from the back seat of the car: “I miss you, Grandma.”  Melt, melt, melt!  Now I know that my grandson will return to his daily routine and will not miss me every day; but his sweet comments will carry me through until the next time we get to be together.

Once again, I am reminded that we are made in the image of God – which means that God’s heart is also touched by what we say and do.  What if God is missing me today because I didn’t spend any time with him?  What if he is longing to hear us express to him that we miss him when we choose the demands of a hectic life over time alone with him?  Have you ever felt the angst expressed by David in Psalm 42:1-2?

“As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?"

If we have a true relationship with God, I believe that time away from his presence should make us miss him; and I believe that God misses us when we are absent.  Nothing that crosses my path today and nothing that I pursue is more important than my relationship with my heavenly Father.  My goal for the future is simple:  to use the warm feeling brought about by my grandson’s words as a reminder to do everything I can to keep God from ever missing me again!  It’s a choice I have to make every single day.

“I have set the Lord always before me;

in your presence there is fullness of joy.”

Psalm 16:8a & 11b