So one of the many shows I’m currently addicted to is NBC’s hit showHeroes. The show has a huge cast of people and many of them as you might suspect have extraordinary abilities. The premise of the show is that all these people are different in both their abilities and circumstances, and over the course of the show their paths begin to cross. It doesn’t take long for them to realize that something is about to happen in the future: a huge cataclysm, which they all want to stop. The thing that’s really interesting is how they each have a different destiny, yet the same goal. Let me explain what I mean. As the show has unfolded certain characters have stood out as the “bad guys” while others would be associates with the “good guys”. The crazy thing is that as the show progresses some of the characters that appeared to be bad redeem themselves, while others fall away. It’s a continuous progression that seems to get more extreme the further we get from the beginning. Sound familiar? But here’s the biggest thing… Each character has come to view him or herself as the hero, or the one whose destiny it is to save the world, but in the process they’ve all made enemies of one another. Each assumes that he or she is right, and that everyone else is wrong. But who is it? They all have the same end goal in mind… maybe it’s that they can’t see things from the grand perspective of the outside viewer. We here in the real world often find ourselves as the hero of our own story. How many times have you said, “Why is this happening to me?” or “What am I supposed to do?” We often assume that it’s all about us. But maybe the roll we play is one much bigger than any dream or aspiration that we ourselves can comprehend. What if we each have a purpose incorporated into a master plan? The plan perfectly designed by the hero of our salvation. Just think for a moment… We all want to have perfect fellowship with God, but we screw each other up by making ourselves the hero of the story and we take sides against others. We bash churches, and people who have different approaches to worship and we tell everyone that we’re the only ones right. We isolate ourselves from the rest of the body and loose our functionality. We all have an important roll to play… a heroic one if you will, but we must work together. So may you live today as a hero, not alone, but a part of a community of heroes under the banner of Christ’s love. May you see that God has a plan for your life and a destiny different from those around you. May you live in such a way that you use the abilities that God has given you to join with those around you in bringing God’s kingdom here… a kingdom of heroes.
