Who Is Your Hero

Who is my hero? Who do I look up to and admire? When Micheal Phelps won all of his gold medals at the Olympics and just the way that he seemed to carry himself and the way that he talked, I thought now there is a guy that our teens can look up to. Then I open the paper yesterday and see that there was a picture of him (allegedly) smoking pot. I must admit I was a little hurt. It was like he had done something to me.

This got me to thinking, who do we have that our young people can look up to and admire and think, I want to be like him or her. So I thought of several different categories of people:

Sports figures: I remember when I was young, I loved the LA Lakers. Magic was the man, I loved to watch the run and gun style of basketball that they played, it was "showtime" in LA. I remember when he came down with HIV, I was devastated as I heard different stories about my admired sports figure was not as perfect as I thought he was. I was let down and again I felt hurt and betrayed in some way. It was not like I actually knew him or anything, but I had him on a pedestal. Can sports figures be our hero's, ones that we look up to and say "I want to be like him or her?" Sports figures are certainly not perfect, they are human and make mistakes and I seem to judge them too harshly sometimes maybe, but they are in the spot light, our teens and young people look up to them, they must realize this. There are some that are great examples, that strive to be great examples, Tony Dungy comes to mind.

Politicians: I am not sure that I have ever looked up to a politician. But as we see these people are in the news all the time their lives seem to be an open book. Just recently we have found out that some of our elected officials that are put in charge of the Nations finances, did not pay their taxes. Wow, that made me angry, why? I am not sure, I guess because I think they should be perfect because of the position that they are in. Maybe this is my problem, maybe I am looking in the wrong places for my hero.

Ministers: I have realized lately that being a Youth Minister is not just about teaching a class on Sunday morning, Wednesday nights and going to youth rallies and entertaining kids at my home. They are watching me, not just my youth group but others. Parents, other teens in the community, sometimes I think that they want you to fail. It makes them feel good to see someone fail, that was looked up to by others. I look at my life and think, have I lived up to the expectations of someone that maybe is looking up to me as a Youth Minister. I would have to say probably not. This is a lot of responsibility on someone. When the pressure is put on me, i think have I put too much expectations on these other figures that I have looked up too? Living up to someone Else's expectation is harder to do, its not so funny when the shoe is on the other foot. In fact it may be impossible to live up to others expectations. I wonder why I put these same expectations on others?

So who then, who is out there for our youth and our kids and me for that matter to look up to, as an example as something to strive for? The answer is so obvious, that it sometimes slips my mind as well: I have to ask myself, why is the obvious so hard to see?

Christ: He is everything! Why is it that I look up to someone that can score 40 points in a game or run for 2,000 yards a season and score touchdowns each time they touch the ball, and I forget about the one that DIED for me. The one that healed so many people while on earth, not just physically, but more importantly spiritually and still does the same thing today. The one that has turned my life around, and blesses me each day of my life. Is it because he did not have a fancy car, and not make millions of dollars, or wear a hat turned around backwards on the sideline and act like a he is 10 instead of his age. Christ is the answer to our lives. We can have fame and not have Christ and be lost. We can have the world and if we do not have Christ we have nothing. Christ is the answer to everything, he is my hero, he's much more than that, he is my savour. He is the one that we must as Youth Ministers, Parents, Churches and Communities steer our youth towards to be their hero's. All of the others above will let us down, not because they mean too or because they are bad people, but just because like me they are human. Christ is the only one that will never let us down. We may lose some of our privileges our freedom even, but we will always have Christ, he is the One.
I will probably continue to look up to the sports figures and to the others of the world, and they will continue to let me down at times, but when asked who my hero is it is my Christ. He will never let me down, he never has. Thank you Christ and I am sorry that at times I have put you behind some of the others. I pray that you continue to open my eyes.

So who is it that you look up too, who is your hero?