Hero

A number of years ago, Michael Tait, the frontman for the Newsboys wrote and starred in a Rock Opera called “Hero.” I confess, I’ve never seen or heard Hero. Confession number two: I have no real desire to either.

I watched the first three seasons of the TV Show Heroes. I always enjoyed it, but I quit watching it. I’m not 100% sure why.

The anthem of the summer, for me, was Skillet’s single “Hero.” I still love smashing the drums while I listen to that song. It’s a sweet song, and I thoroughly enjoy turning it up as loud as I can.

I have a tattoo of Superman’s logo on my right arm. He’s the ultimate hero.

In fact, while I was sitting here writing this, my friend walked into my office and started talking to me about VBS this year… It’s called “Hero Headquarters.”

Here’s the simple truth, everyone wants a hero. Those who don’t want a hero want to be a hero. We buy shirts with other people’s names on them. We have posters of heroes from movies. We go see movies about heroes (Iron Man 2 comes out in a couple months).

I am feeling saturated with the idea of heroes. But I have a problem. My heroes all seem to let me down.

For one reason or another, I find myself wanting more when I really get to understand my hero.

My original hero was Dan Marino, and he got so broken down and bad at the end of his career that I could hardly stand to watch him.

I started watching baseball in college and loved Andy Pettite. Then he admits to using performance enhancing drugs.

And so-on and so-forth.

My heroes always seem to let me down.

I find myself screaming with John Cooper, “I need a hero! Save me now!”

I went for a run yesterday, praying to God to help me understand why I face this problem with my heroes. Why can nobody seem to live up to the mantle of Hero?

Then it came to me.

We are, inherently, flawed. We, as humans, are not worthy of being heroes. We do not deserve to be revered. We do not deserve to be followed and mimicked like a hero. So, what am I supposed to do with that information? If we aren’t supposed to have heroes here, then why do we have heroes?

The reality is that there’s only one hero. It’s not Dan Marino. It’s not Jim Tressel. It’s not Andy Pettite or Derek Jeter. It isn’t Dave Ramsey and it’s not Rush Limbaugh. It’s not Barack Obama and it’s not Sarah Palin. It’s not your mom and it’s not your dad.

There is only one hero, his name is Jesus.

“Lord, help me to realize that you’re the only true hero. You’ll never let me down.”