Holding Out for a Hero
Bonnie Tyler
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong
And he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the morning light
He’s gotta be sure
And it’s gotta be soon
And he’s gotta be larger than life!
Larger than life
     With the events of the recent hurricanes and the Las Vegas Massacre keenly in focus, I was reading Ann Voskamp’s amazing book “The Broken Way” and her family was facing the death of a family friend with cancer when her young daughter asked a most difficult question, “Why does God allow cancer, allow pain? ” Broaden that to Why does God allow Hurricanes or a tragedy like the Las Vegas Massacre?. Ann’s son offered a profound answer that has stayed with me all week.
     He told his hurting little sister , “I picture pain like wolves encircling the flock of sheep, the pain brings out the heroes.”
     A number of years ago I was interviewing a Chaplin who had worked ground zero on 911, he said that many, many Christians were asking a similar question that day, “How could God allow this?” One non-Christian who was soon to give his life to Christ that week, answered with something also profound to my thinking. “If it weren’t for God everyday would be 911.”
     In the Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall (Free by the way on Google Books) William points out that one of the biggest goals of our adversary, Satan is to get his victims to the point of despair. Despair is a giant slap in God’s face, in anyway buying into the concept that God is not coming to the rescue. Gurnall, pointed to Proverbs 12:10 as a key to bring up your Shield of Faith:
10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
     Gurnall’s keen spiritual insight brought out that the more righteous the more merciful and who could be more righteous than God, so who could be more merciful? You need a HERO it’s spelled, J E S U S.
     Unfortunately the other side of this verse provides the answer to the question I have heard all week. “How could this Stephen Paddock do this?” Simply put, unrighteousness, cruelty they go hand in hand.
     You may think I digress, but really, when it comes to Mechanics I have some heroes I would love to share that view. Just like the tender mercies of the righteous animal owner with our Jesus Labor of Love program every week I see hero’s tender mercies to single moms, widows and families in crisis.  After literally years of prayers that God would supply us with a hero in the Raleigh, NC area two weeks ago I received and email Joe Wenger. Joe works at Colony tire in Raleigh, he a mechanic, not the owner or even the manager, but he stepped up and said I want to help and today while this show is going on he is driving over to Durham to help a single mom.
     Patricio with Alegria’s auto repair here in Winston Salem, it would be a rare week that he doesn’t step up and donate 2 hours to every applicant I send him and often that is more than one a week. Often that puts him in a very difficult position of trying to help folks that are hurt mistrusting and, I’m trying to say this graciously, less than appreciative.
     My Christian Body Shop and Wrecker Guy, Jerry from Ray’s Body shop and his wrecker dispatcher, Trig. Time after time, when I have no where else to turn they step up and tow or send help. I could and maybe should go on with all the guy heroes but I don’t want to leave out the ladies. Bob Young my Christian Junk Yard guy’s wife, Lori Young, she is the one who keeps the money straight, getting your donations to the bank, dealing with my receipts for parts or service people all over the country, often pictures of receipts taken by phone.  I have women prayer warriors and board members of our 501C3 non-profit and our tax lady Audrey Blackburn who has never charged us a dime so we could use all your donations to help. Speaking of donations so many heroes this year far more then ever before have reached out for these folks in pain…..Yes, look around heroes abound. If you wish to donate click here
     So does pain unfortunately and we sure need some more heroes this week. We have a couple of rural folks way up off the main highway on dirt roads. One lady is trying to keep her two grand children one a six year old who is special needs, she told me her income is something like $700 a month and her 1993 Nissan Sentra has busted tie rod ends, her pastor just stepped up and bought her CV Joints and Axles but now she needs these tie rod ends and we need $135 to get that done. This other woman also back on a dirt road; her brakes are so bad that she says they push back at her. She and her disabled daughter live alone back up this road and all they have is this 2004 Ford Escape that now needs to be towed back up out of there in the Mt. Airy area and we have no one up there. So yes, God is offering a chance for more heroes to jump in to the fight… I do love how Bonnie Tyler puts it “He’s gotta be strong, And he’s gotta be fast, And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight”….. I would say that describes my hero, Jesus.
HERE ARE 26 Bible Verses that Describe Our HERO!!!

Exodus 15:3 “The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.

Isaiah 42:13 The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry He will prevail against His enemies.

1 Samuel 1:3Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD there.

1 Samuel 1:11 She made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

1 Samuel 4:4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

Jeremiah 10:16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.

Jeremiah 31:35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:

Jeremiah 32:18 who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God The LORD of hosts is His name;

1 Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

2 Samuel 7:26 that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.

Amos 3:13 “Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts.

Amos 5:16 Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, “There is wailing in all the plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They also call the farmer to mourning And professional mourners to lamentation.

Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: “I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains.”

Amos 6:14 “For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD God of hosts, “And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the brook of the Arabah.”

Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of hosts, The One who touches the land so that it melts, And all those who dwell in it mourn, And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;

Amos 4:13 For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind And declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness And treads on the high places of the earth, The LORD God of hosts is His name.

Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Hosea 12:5 Even the LORD, the God of hosts, The LORD is His name.

Amos 5:27 “Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Micah 4:4 Each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

Jeremiah 20:11 But the LORD is with me like a dread champion; Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed, With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

Job 16:14 “He breaks through me with breach after breach; He runs at me like a warrior.

Joel 2:11 The LORD utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it?

Joshua 5:14 He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”

Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

James 5:4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

From Bill Mixon:

I have been blessed with a lot of heroes in my life. I looked up to my father and mother an sister. My father could see someone he had not seen for decades and recognize them and remember what they had talked about last and what was important to them. He was a great leader who was loved by those who worked for him and with him. He was respected and liked and loved by a great many people. He loved my family and taught me a great deal. My wife, daughter and son are my heroes. My wife and daughter went through my daughter’s chemo treatments with a strength and grace and determination that still awes me. My wife and children are some of the most loving and kind and giving and centered people I have ever had the pleasure to know. I have learned a great deal from all three.

Many Gideons I have the pleasure to know are heroes to me. They place Jesus first in their lives and diligently endeavor to be ambassadors for Christ and lights on the hill and a time of refreshing to those around them. It is a great pleasure to have breakfast with them once a week.

Robby Dilmore Is a hero. He has made my life much more enjoyable. He has shown me what a true friend is. He has taught me many things including how to persevere with class through great hardships and how to overcome adversity utilizing the power of the God. He is an inspiration.

The Chaplins and staff of our local Forsyth Jail and Prison ministry are heros to me. They give a great deal to make life much better for those Jesus told all of us to visit and support. My guess is they have far larger hearts than the vast majority of people I know.

The founder of Nationwide Insurance, Murray Lincoln, is a hero of mine. He did not set up a business to make himself rich, he set up a non profit Mutual company to benefit those he knew were being over charged. He helped farmers join together to make a living wage from there efforts to provide food for the nation. He set up farmer’s co-operatives and an insurance company that has grow into one of the Nation’s largest insurance companies..

Our nation’s founders, including Abigail Adams, are heros to me. Benjamin Franklin is my greatest hero from our county’s history. He had great ideas and found ways to implement those ideas. He set up the nation’s first teaching hospital, its first fire departments. He laid the groundwork for the first fire insurance companies. He laid the groundwork for the advances in electricity and all that electricity brings mankind.

The apostle Paul is a hero. I love how he is willing to share his many faults and mistakes in an effort to help others grow in their faith. He shares how God wants us to be dependent on Him and that if we have chosen to be children of God’s we are not to beat ourselves up over repentant sins but are to share with others how much our Father in heaven loves us and that we are to love others.

My heros are all dedicated to others, even before themselves. My heros are very hard workers. They are, or were, visionaries who relied on prayer and Christ. They are or were leaders, dedicated and effective and all overcame adversity and then taught others how to do the same.

Thank you to my Heros.