{"id":1013,"date":"2021-09-10T09:07:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T13:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1013"},"modified":"2021-09-10T09:07:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T13:07:19","slug":"heroes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/10\/heroes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For the past 20 years, since the 9\/11 terror attacks, heroes have been front and center in the American imagination. 

It\u2019s impossible to forget the images of the rescue teams emerging from the rubble of the World Trade Center towers, and the poignant still photos of the first responders who went into harm\u2019s way and never returned. 

\u201cHeroic\u201d is a word that quickly became attached to some of the passengers aboard United Flight 93.  Their actions apparently brought down the jet in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, well short of its designated target in Washington D.C. 

The pandemic has made heroes of thousands of doctors, nurses, researchers, and hospital workers who continue to risk their own lives while saving others in the battle against COVID.    
Hollywood, meanwhile, has cranked out more than a hundred superhero movies, fueling the fantasy that if you really want to make a difference, you\u2019ll need superpowers or super training or super good luck to end up in just the right place at the right time.

But it isn\u2019t so. 

A hero is someone who by the quality of their everyday life raises the level of character in everyone around them.  That means that you and I can be heroes. 

And that\u2019s the call of God on our lives.

Since 9\/11 I\u2019ve heard several people sigh, \u201cI\u2019m so glad that I\u2019m not the President right now.\u201d  But you are<\/em> the President right now.  You are the President of a small but oh-so-important domain: your own heart.  And what happens in that realm, as a partnership between you and God, has the capacity to make a world of difference. 

John Ashcroft was sworn in as a U.S. Senator from the state of Missouri on January 4, 1995.  The night before the inauguration he gathered with family and friends. 

One of those present was his father, whose health had been progressively declining but who had resolved to be present for this special event.  Ashcroft recalls the moment when his father, who was seated on the couch, addressed the gathering.

\u201cJohn,\u201d he said to his son, \u201cplease listen carefully.\u201d  Those present gave him their full attention. 

\u201cThe spirit of Washington is arrogance and the spirit of Christ is humility.  Put on the spirit of Christ.  Nothing of lasting value has ever been accomplished in arrogance.\u201d

The room was absolutely still.  Ashcroft asked for prayer.  He writes, \u201cThen I noticed my father swinging his arms, trying to lift himself out of the couch.  Given my father\u2019s weakness \u2013 a damaged heart operating at less than one-third capacity \u2013 getting out of that couch was a major feat.  I felt terrible. 

\u201cKnowing that he didn\u2019t have the strength to spare, I said, \u2018Dad, you don\u2019t have to struggle to stand and pray over me with these friends.\u2019  \u2018John,\u2019 my father answered, \u2018I\u2019m not struggling to stand.  I\u2019m struggling to kneel<\/em>.\u2019 

Ashcroft\u2019s father died the day after his inauguration.

In all of our passion and struggle to help America stand, are we willing to answer the call to do something truly heroic? 

By God\u2019s grace \u2013 struggling as we go \u2013 may we do all we can to show our country how to kneel.
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For the past 20 years, since the 9\/11 terror attacks, heroes have been front and center in the American imagination.  It\u2019s impossible to forget the images of the rescue teams emerging from the rubble of the World Trade Center towers, and the poignant still photos of the first responders who went into harm\u2019s way and never returned.  \u201cHeroic\u201d is a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[306],"class_list":["post-1013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-heroism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1015,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions\/1015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}