Heroes Say Yes

VBS theme #3: Called to be God's heroes -- Light unto the nations -- Traits of God's heroes.

As I began thinking about this theme today, the biblical stories of people like Moses, Abraham, Samson, Mary and Paul came to mind. Called by God. They weren't perfect people, and each one had his or her flaws, but they became God's heroes.

Then, this afternoon, we went with our Sunday school class to see the DaVinci Code (more about that later). One of the MANY previews that was shown prior to the movie was for World Trade Center. Setting aside the question of whether I'm ready for movies centered around September 11 or not, while I was watching this preview, I was taken back to memories of that day. There is one scene in the preview where a Port Authority policeman (played by Nicolas Cage) is telling those under this command that they need to evacuate the building. He asks for volunteers. Several men step forward and say "Yes."

Heroes. That's what they are. Heroes are people who say, "Yes."

They aren't perfect like Superman. They aren't rich and famous like Tiger Woods. They are simply and wonderfully people who say "Yes" when they are called by God.

"Will you go into a burning building that has been struck by a jet in order to evacuate people and hopefully save their lives?"

Yes.

Will you join Teach America and go to an underserved, undertaught part of the country to be a teacher?

Yes.

Will you join a mission work team to help people recover from a hurricane?

Yes.

Will you teach Sunday school? Watch children in the nursery? Sing in the choir?

Yes.

If you notice, at no point do any of these questions ask if you are a really good public speaker.(Moses wasn't) Experienced. (Mary wasn't) Faultless (Paul definitely wasn't). Intelligent (I don't think Samson was). From a well-known family (Abraham wasn't).

God equips us for our mission and then asks us to go. God's heroes are those who say, "Yes." Thank God for them.

On anther topic, we did see the movie The DaVinci Code. All who attended thought it was good. I was especially impressed by a conversation at the end. Skip this part, because it is a Spoiler, if you don't want to read it prior to seeing the movie.

Robert is talking to Sophie, and he tells her, "It all comes down to what you believe. Why does it have to be that he was either human or divine. Why can't the human be divine?"

I don't have the quote exactly right, but the meaning is there, I think. And Amen. It all DOES come down to what we believe. We don't believe that he was only human or only divine. One of the great mysteries of our faith is that we believe he was BOTH human AND divine.

That conversation wasn't in the book, but I liked it.


Images: All taken near 1st Street at sunset today. The last one is the sunset reflected off S's car. Heroes say "yes" to reflecting God's light onto the world.