Team USA isn’t about to get a heroes welcome home, though they played valiantly in the World Cup. BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward, has become our new anti-hero for the callous attitudes he’s shown toward his company’s spill. I’m re-thinking what our definition of a hero is and should be.
Two bona fide American heroes of yesteryear died the same day: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was presented. Of the 56 signers of that document, five were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. All this came because they signed their names on a document, pledging “our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.” They knew what commitment and sacrifice was all about--two characteristics of heroism and greatness.
Tom Brokaw made a case in his book (by this title) that “the greatest generation” also knew the meaning of those two words, and demonstrated both throughout the Great Depression and World War II.
But where are the signs of commitment and sacrifice today? Not in Hollywood, nor the arenas where our professional athletes play. One place is shown on the new signs that hallow the main highway through Alliance. They remind us that heroes are still being born and made. On these signs we read the name Corporal Dan McVicker, who paid the ultimate price of commitment and sacrifice in the Iraq war.
Two biblical heroes re-define heroism. Caleb and Joshua swam against the tide of popular opinion for a cause they believed was right, because God was in it. God commanded them to take possession of the Promised Land. But no one else wanted to join them because it would be too hard (Numbers 13:1-3, 26-32; 14:1-4).
The rest of their countrymen wanted to go back to Egypt where they had “food without cost” (Numbers 11:4-5). The only reason the food was free in Egypt was because there, they were slaves. How many times have we underestimated the true cost of pleasures that have imprisoned us?
Five times I find Caleb described as “serving the Lord wholeheartedly” (Deuteronomy 1:36; Numbers 14:24; 32:12; Joshua 14:8, 15). His name means “all heart.” That’s why he could conquer the hilly country of the Promised Land at age 85 (Joshua 14:10-15).
He was also a man who believed that the promises of God were already his EVEN IF he could not see their fulfillment. That is faith, another characteristic of true heroes as God defines them: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see…And without faith it is impossible to please God“ (Hebrews 11:1, 6).
How we define heroes affects our ability to make them.
