We all love super heroes!

• Superman

• Iron Man
• Spider-Man
• Batman

• Captain America
• Green Arrow
• Hulk
• Aquaman
• Ant-Man
• Thor

And the list could go on and on.

We have a love affair with super heroes.  We dress up like them.  Our children carry backpacks with their images.  We buy comic books, watch movies and TV shows where their daring adventures thrill and entertain us.

But why?

There are probably as many reasons to love super heroes as they are people who love them.  But I think some of the reasons might be:

• They give us a feeling of safety.  In this world with all its dangers it’s nice to imagine there are heroes who can protect and save our world.
• We see all about us the struggle of good against evil and we love the idea that good will always overcome evil.
• They stand up for the little guy – and most of us are little guys who love the idea of someone fighting for us.
• They give us a sense of hope.  In spite of evil around us, we have hope that good will ultimately triumph.

For me, growing up I loved Batman and Superman.  Something about the idea that these super guys lived ordinary lives only coming to the rescue when danger demanded it.  Yet, never revealing their super hero side to those they lived and worked with.  To me they made them seem somehow not only brave and strong, but humble.  A hero that does not need to be recognized for his good deeds.

In my reading today in Psalms 16:3 I read where the Psalmist mentioned his super heroes.

“The godly people in the land are my true heroes!  I take pleasure in them.”  – NLT

“The holy people in the land are the ones who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.” –   CJB

That scripture got me thinking.  How many of the “real” heroes do we know about?  How many of the stories of the “real” heroes have we shared with our children?  Who do we (and by example, our children) look to for inspiration and who do we admire?

After all, as much as I loved the stories of Superman and Batman, I knew they were only fantasies and not the real world.  In reality, no super hero is going to jump over the skyscrapers of New York or fly through the air over the Midwest and bring peace and safety to our land.

While we can enjoy these fairy tales, when real trouble comes who are we and our children going to have for an example of dealing with real life difficulties?

Had to ask myself, how many of the true stories of these “real” super heroes do I or my children know?

People like:

• Amy Carmichael

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Frederick Douglass
• Jim Elliott
• Sojourner Truth

• William Tyndale
• Harriet Tubman

Question:  How many of these real heroes do you know – and how many of the stories of  these real heroes have you shared with your children?

Who are your heroes?