Be a new kind of Hero

“Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”- ― Jodi Picoult, Second Glance

Our world is in desperate need of new Heroes. It seems that humanity is feeling more and more fragile at this point in our history - it just takes a few terrorist activities to "up" the levels of fear in our world. Things are tough at the moment, don't you agree?

Or maybe I should change my previous paragraph to start by pronouncing - 
"Perhaps we just need to realise that our world is in need of a Saviour!"

This is what Advent will be all about - the longing for a Saviour, a hero to break into our time and space - to bring Peace, Love and Mercy.

Psalm 89:19-20 (Message)
“I’ve crowned a hero, I chose the best I could find; I found David, my servant, poured holy oil on his head, And I’ll keep my hand steadily on him, yes, I’ll stick with him through thick and thin."

Living in Grace
D3LM3 

Who are your Heroes of Faith?

Trying to make a list of the influential heroes of the Christian faith is a tough exercise. If you have never thought about it, who would be in your top 5. Which five people have shaped your Christian faith in such a way that you would refer to them as Heroes of the Faith?

I realise that a lot of the people I look up to are no longer alive. Many of them shaped the History of the Church and were hugely influential in their generations. Take for example, people like Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Anthony the Great, Thomas Aquinas, John Wesley, Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jim Elliot, Corrie Ten Boom, Mother Theresa .... the list goes on.

Someone that I often quote is Thomas a Kempis and so undoubtedly I would call him a "hero of the faith" for me. Another one would be C.S. Lewis and even Charles Spurgeon. Wow, it is hard to narrow them down to just a handful.

The Bible has a great list of some heroes of Faith. You can find it in chapter 11 of Hebrews. Take a read of that list when you get a moment.

Please let me know who you consider to be a hero of the faith. I would love to hear from you.

"This embrace of God sets ablaze a fire within the soul with which the whole soul burns for Christ. It also produces a light so great that the soul understands the fullness of God's goodness, which it experiences in itself, and which is, moreover, much greater than the soul's experience of it. The effect then of this fire within the soul is to render it certain and secure that Christ is within it. And yet, what we have said is nothing in comparison to what this experience really is." - Angela of Foligno

Living in Grace
D3LM3