Men, Let's Be Real
This week at windsor e-news
Let’s be real. As boys, we learned to find the hero. For most of us the first hero we found was our dad. But as we grew into men, we had to face that the fact that our dad, no matter how noble his qualities, was more man than myth.
Now as men, we are still looking for the hero. Its why we engage in endless debates about athletes. It’s why we love Westerns, war movies, and underdog stories. It’s why the language of rank, hierarchy, and responsibility makes us feel safe.
But what if we can’t find the hero? When that happens, some of us try to be it. Many are still trying. Others crumble under the reality that ours is not a hero story.
So, far from striving to save the world, many of us are simply trying to be the hero at home. Maybe we can overcome the doubt. Maybe we can become the support we didn’t get. Maybe we can make a mark. Maybe we can leave a legacy – not of disappointment, but of inspiration, strength and hope. We could be content with this.
“What if we can’t find the hero?”
Do you don the cape of a career; saving others by your silent self-sufficiency? Do you ride into battle mounted on your own reputation? Are we winning? And, who are we really fighting? Could it be nothing more than the spectre of our own failure and inadequacy?
For millennia Abraham has been a hero figure for God’s people. But what made Abraham rich - indeed, the ‘heir of the world’ - was not anything he did or accomplished. Before he was a father, or an heir, or had any legacy to leave, he was a man who prayed and believed.
What if God didn’t ask us to be heroes, but to pray, listen and believe?