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Personal Reflection
by Mark Davey, Cadet –
I was fascinated and enthralled by comic book heroes growing up. I loved reading about the adventures of Superman, Captain America, The Flash, Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Green Lantern and even Wonder Woman. My favorite was always Batman because he was an ordinary guy. Batman wasn’t an accident of mutation or a spider bite, and he wasn’t an alien. He was a regular human blessed with lots of money. I always felt as a kid that if I had lots of money I could afford to train my body and build cool gadgetsI could be Batman.
Eventually, I lost interest in most of my childhood hobbies but my affinity for comic heroes remained. It’s not just that I am enamored by the cool costumes, gadgets or vehicles. I love heroes because they want to make a difference in the world. With their gifts and talents, they fight injustice, help the helpless, and bring hope to the hopeless.
I now find myself searching and hoping for real heroes. They do exist. Fire fighters, police, and military personnel all work to make the world a better, safer place. The Bible also has heroes who work for change.
Joseph is one of the Bible’s heroes. After he had decided to quietly divorce Mary, Joseph was sent a message in a dream. God wanted him to stay with Mary and raise Jesus, who was coming into the world to save it from sin. He was called out of an ordinary life into a life that would be astonishingraising the Son of God.
Like Joseph, we too have a calling from ordinary to extraordinary living. We too have the call to be heroes. It is God’s desire for each of us to utilize our gifts, talents, and skills for the betterment of his kingdom. Accepting the call is what made Joseph a hero. Accepting God’s calling for our lives is what makes us heroes.
We have a choice to answer the call to make a difference. God calls each of us to a ministrythere is a way for all of us to share the love of Jesus Christ with the people we meet every day.
Many times, however, we are held back by fearfear of failure, fear of not being in control, fear of unbelief. Biblical heroes were not without fear. When Moses was called to lead the people out of Egypt, he first said that people wouldn’t believe him, that he was slow of speech and that God should send someone else. We often feel inadequate like Moses, like we don’t have what it takes to accomplish what God asks of us. As with Moses, God promises to equip us for the adventure and to be with us.
As described in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We need to hear God’s call and we need to accept it. We need to take a leap of faith and step out into the world to do what he wants us to do, to make the world a better place, to be heroes.
This New Year, as we go through our daily lives, let us not neglect the call to be heroes every day. We are called out of our ordinary lives, out of comfort zones, to a life that is extraordinary. From the Bible days to now, there are countless stories of heroeswith talents, gifts and faults just like each of uswho have taken up God’s calling for their lives.
Let’s make a differencelet’s become heroes.