Sunday our pastor’s message was about ordinary
heroes. Pastor Mark talked through Ehud,
the left hander’s life, as an ordinary man, perhaps a disabled man because in
the Hebrew ‘left hander’ really implies that the right hand could not function
normally. So maybe Ehud was also looked upon as disabled and probably was
bullied as a child. The right hand was
used for clean chores, the left for other chores – like picking up dirt or cleaning up after using the bathroom.
Despite his left handedness and all that it meant,
Ehud killed the ruling king freeing the Israelites after 18 years of slavery. I
could repeat the message here; it was fascinating, but the point is, Ehud took
risks and was greatly used of God despite his low status. We remember him as a hero.
Then we were challenged to be ordinary heroes, but what
stuck with me, beside that challenge, was the ordinary heroes in my life. I think of the student who, when asked for
constructive criticism after I led a panel discussion, took the time to give me
very thoughtful and very helpful counsel.
He didn’t have to do that, but he did, and as a result, I have to
believe we were better able to communicate a serious message about integrity.
Thanks Austin.
I think of Eleanor Mosher who has been a faithful
prayer warrior for BBC, and I would hate to think of what Satan could have
accomplished without faithful prayer warriors like Eleanor and Peggy and Helen –
heroines, like the women in Romans 16.
Funny, the things God brings to your mind like John,
mentally and physically disabled. I see him at work in a fast food restaurant
and I see him at church, and his faith encourages me. And then there’s Ken,
retired from the police force and serving at BBC, loving and protecting and mentoring
students, and I have to say, more than one adult – even if it is a side-ways
mentoring, an accidental mentoring that occurs only as we watch and work with
him.
I think of the young man who came to visit one of
our freshmen girls, and I gave them permission to go to church and dinner and
shopping alone – unusual for freshmen.
He came to me before he left campus to thank me for the special
permission and to tell me about the great church they had gone to - encouraging
me to send anyone looking for a church to that one.
OK, I could go on and on, but today, I am grateful
for the ordinary heroes in my life, young and old. Thank you God for such sweet gifts.
