Is There a Hero Inside of You?

Heroes - Ordinary People Discovering Extraordinary Abilities.


This is NBC's new epic drama -http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/about/. The second episode opens with one of the characters pondering whether his life was meant for something more. Does this thought spin around in your noggin? Churn in your insides? If so, where does this thought/feeling orginate? I am not saying I know, but would you process this with me?

I am currently reading N.T. Wright's Simply Christian. In the first few chapters, Wright argues that all human beings hear the echo of a voice calling out to us. We hear this echo in our "search for justice, the quest for spirituality, the longing for relationship, and for the yearning for beauty." These echoes function "as signposts to something which matters a great deal but which we can't grasp in the way we grasp the distance from London to New York..." He later admits that these echoes in and of themselves do not necessarily point us directly to God. But at the very least, they lead one to consider that there is something going on in the cosmos beyond themselves and what is visibly seen.

I'm guessing that this is not an exhaustive list. One echo not making Wright's list (so far) is an echo that our lives were meant for something more in this life. Have you heard this echo? Does the idea that your life means more than eating, sleeping, and working ring true to you? It does for me. Recently I saw Erwin Mcmanus (pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles) speak at a conference. He had the audience recall watching movies such as Braveheart (my favorite movie) and Gladiator (one of my favorites). I am paraphrasing, but He said something like, "When you watch a film like these don't you most relate to the hero of the story? This is the individual you are cheering for and wish you were like. You're not rooting or empathizing with Longshanks. You are whoo-whooing Wallace. "

Personally, I hear an echo whispering to me that I was meant for something more in this life, I was meant to be a hero--an ordinary person doing extraordinary things, sacrificing my life and being used to help mankind. I don't claim and know if I have done any of these things, but the longing is still there. It should be noted that what extraordinary things may be completed in my life would not be done for my glory but for the One enabling me to accomplish such things.

I leave you to consider, hear and ponder this echo and the verse below.

Jesus said to his followers, "...anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)