Heroes

When I think of “heroes”, the first thing that comes to my mind are “Super Heroes”; larger-than-life, cape-draped slayers of evil, doers of good, serving up justice to villains and bringing safety and well-being to the citizens of their made up towns. Whether Superman was leaping tall buildings in a single bound to save the entire world from Lex Luthor, Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder were outsmarting the Joker just in time to save Gotham City from sure disaster or Wonder Woman was tying up bad guys with her Golden Lasso of Truth, and flying around in the coolest airplane I’ve never seen – Super Heroes bring hope when all seems hopeless, victory for the common man, snatched from the jaws of defeat and a reminder that in the face of evil, ultimately good will prevail!

As made up as they were, the Super Heroes of the ‘golden age’ of comic books – actually did bring relief to a worried nation as Americans were off fighting in World War II for ‘real’ Truth, Justice and the American Way. More than 400 thousand ‘real life’ military heroes never made it home from the battlefields. For 10 cents, and an afternoon spent reading, the Comic Book Crusaders would save the day again – even if only in the daydreams of war-weary readers briefly escaping the realities of real-life evil.

We love our Super Heroes! We’ve made legendary crime-fighters out of bats, spiders, turtles, and ticks. We even thank our lucky stars every time a mighty, little mouse comes to ‘save the day’ at least once an episode! But for our beloved Super Heroes, where would we be? How would we manage in the face of danger? Who would save us when the bad guy hatches a scheme to take over the world?! And there was cause for concern, as even Superman had Kryptonite.

Back here in the real world, we have no such ‘Super Hero’. If we were to see a guy swinging from building to building in a red and blue spider suit, we would see an ambulance close behind him with a one way ticket to the psych ward. There is no nerdy guy ripping off his business suit in a phone booth to save the world or a “bat signal” calling up a masked avenger to come and protect us all from doom. But no worries. For us, calling up a real-life hero is as easy as dialing 911.

Policemen, Firemen, Emergency Medical Technicians, any first responder will come to the aid of the citizens they serve at the first sign of trouble. They take their lives in their own hands as they arrive on a scene filled with unknown dangers, risking maybe never seeing their own families again to save a stranger in need. These men and women have some kind of different heart to take on jobs that others would run away from. It’s not for money or fame or prestige. I believe they are simply instilled with a calling to serve others. Men and women after God’s own heart – wanting to help people for the sake of helping. They are the ones making the world a better and safer place – forces of good in what can be the worst of times. And just like our cartoon Super Heroes, their ‘alter-egos’ live normal, everyday lives but always at the ready to spring into action should some need arise.

If you’re lucky, you know one of these people personally. I do. Jason Black is a firefighter for the Mt. Holly Fire Department.  And he’s my friend. In reality, where Super Heroes don’t exist, Jason – along with his first responding brothers and sisters - are out there saving the day for the citizens of our town and is every bit of a real-life hero to those who know and love him!

Jason is a member at my church. And even more than that, he and his family and I are all in the same small church group together. Over the last few years I’ve gotten to know Jason, his wife Jen and their two beautiful kids. Our “Life Group” is like one big family, and it’s safe to say that we all love and care about one another a great deal. If any of us need anything, someone from the group is there to provide. I’d like to call myself ‘lucky’ to be a part of such a group – but more than luck, I think God put us all together! (But that’s for another blog post!). As a single mom, I sometimes find myself in need of a handy guy. Jason has come to my rescue more than once when I had car trouble, he and his family along with others from the Life Group helped me move my gigantic and ridiculously heavy furniture when I moved, he’s trimmed my trees, cut my grass, even let my kid in our house once when he was locked out. If I was ever in need and he was available he would come. And I’m just one person. He’s done the same for others – that I know about – and no telling how many others just during the course of his day. He – and his wife Jen also – is just like that. Helping because someone needs help.

As a fireman he was once on the scene of my friend’s house fire. That night was so scary and chaotic. The house wasn’t completely burned down but very, very heavily damaged. There were a couple of things in the back of the house that my friend was going to need. Jason let me go inside. Guiding me with his flashlight, he lead me to the back of the smoky, wet house. I’d never in my life seen anything like it. It was dangerous and awful being in there after the fact – I just couldn’t imagine actually running into a burning building. What bravery these firefighters have. I would think running towards something that could easily take your life goes against nature. Seeing him and the fire department at work that night brought comfort to me. And they saved my friend’s house from complete destruction. No cape. No mask. No super powers. But every bit a hero.

About a month ago, in our small little town, one of the big churches on Main Street caught on fire. The fire quickly became massive. Immediately the Life Group hit the group chat, checking on Jason, to see if he was there. His wife told us that he was. We watched live news feeds of the fire burning away at the roof of this 100 year old church.  Jen said Jason had slipped down some of the front steps with a hard landing only to get back up and run into this burning building. He was ok, she said, but asked us to pray for him and the firemen on the scene. The Mt. Holly Fire Department along with fire departments from all over the county fought this fire for hours. Later that evening, my son and I drove up to Main Street. I told Jen I would check on her husband while we were there. Just seeing the smoke rising from a gutted church, surrounded by people, flashing lights, police everywhere, news reporters, EMTs, and fire trucks in any direction made me anxious and nervous. It was sad and it was dangerous and there was urgency in the air. My adrenaline was high – and we were just walking along the side walk. I couldn’t imagine what Jason must have been feeling. I found him in a crowd of firemen and waved him over. And he was as calm as a person could be. While he was as cool as a cucumber, I rattled off a bunch of ‘bystander’ kind of questions, he answered. I asked him if he was ok and he said he was fine. I told him I had never seen anything like that before in my life and he said – as calmly as if he were reading an instruction manual for something easy – it was the biggest fire he had ever worked.

I sent a message to Jen letting her know I had spoken with him and he seemed perfectly fine. And then I told her that I felt like Matthew and I had just talked to some sort of hero or super star! I was literally in awe of the things he and the rest of the department did that day. And the fact that he stood there and had a calm and normal conversation despite the chaos all around him was, I believe, a testament to the kind of man he is. Jen said when he got home that night he was fine. He was just really hungry! Do Super Heroes eat? I’m sure they must.

A week later Jason went to the emergency room and had emergency surgery. The doctor found a tumor and the fear was cancer. A few days later it was confirmed. The tumor was cancer – and it was still there. I thought back to him fighting the biggest fire he’d ever seen without fear and wondered if this would be the thing to scare him. It scared me for him, and for Jen and the kids.

Last week at Life Group, Jen and Jason were there. It was the first time I’d seen them since the surgery. They both looked a little tired but no worse for the wear. I couldn’t help it, but I watched them that night. Jen pulled the chair out for him and helped him sit down. She would ask him if he was ok and he would assure her that he was. She kept looking over at him – just to check on him, I guess, but if love was little pink hearts floating over the heads of those affected, then Jen would have been engulfed by them! He would look back at her and smile as if to say “I’m fine”. It was the vow “in sickness and in health” in action. And it was precious. They told us what the doctor said and that a treatment plan would be put together soon. And that was that. And then we went on about our Bible Study.

During our prayer that night, Jason spoke up and prayed aloud. He put his life and his health into the hands of God and had faith that God was in complete control. And then he thanked God for using the cancer and his life as a testimony for others. He did it again! Landing in the middle of a chaotic scene of dangerous diagnoses and unknown futures and bringing comfort to us scared and worried people. Still calm and collected. Turns out Cancer would not be his Kryptonite.

I’ve made much out of my friend Jason on this blog post tonight. But let’s be clear. Jason, even if he tried, is not faster than a speeding bullet. He is not able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. I assume he doesn’t have X-Ray vision and he doesn’t live in a mansion with a fireman’s pole down to the bat cave. He can’t spin a web any size or catch thieves just like flies. He doesn’t wear rocket boots or wear a super suit and he doesn’t fly around in an invisible airplane. So what makes him so special?! Besides being a fire-fighting, grass-cutting, car-fixing, furniture-moving, kid-rescuing guy I know who evidently laughs in the face of danger…

He brushes his little girl’s hair.

And he dresses up for her birthday parties.

He teaches his little boy to play guitar.

He’s a role model for his kids.

And a role model for other people's kids.

He’s a family man.

And he’s great husband.

He’s a volunteer at church.

And he’s a friend.

And that’s more than enough to make him a hero to me!

Jason and Jen have a battle ahead of them. They have been surrounded with love from friends, family, co-workers and church family. All I have to offer that hasn't been done for them already is this blog post, letting them know that I love them, pray for them and their family daily and will continue to pray throughout their journey back to good health. And I can urge others to pray as well, believing that healing is in the hands of our great Creator!

Jason, Jen, Olivia and Jase, May the Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. ~ Numbers 6:24-26