That’s the question on the front-side of a recent Seth Godin blog.  The question started me thinking about my youth.  I was a comic book collector, but I was not drawn to the standard super-heroes, no Batman, Superman or Spiderman.  I went for Jonah Hex — a cynical scarred confederate solider translated into an apocalyptic 21st Century.  I went for Nova, a randomly selected high school student, chosen by the last surviving Nova Centurion of the planet Xander’s elite Nova Corps, to inherit his power and succeed him in the rank of Nova Prime.

One of the questions we always ask the participants of Leadership Advance (a three day leadership/calling experience) is, “Who is your favorite superhero?”  Now you might think that this is a wasted question, but it’s actually there for a purpose.   I think sometimes God gives us a dream/purpose/calling/destiny/assignment but as we ponder the possibilities, it appears that superpowers will be necessary to accomplish the task.

Since superpowers are only real in comics, movies and the tv series “Heroes”…we pass on the dream.

But the reality is that God has shaped each one of us with certain strengths, gifts and abilities.  Everybody knew Superman’s powers, but the rest of us are on a journey to discover and use those strengths, gifts and abilities.  But the greatest superpower any of us have — is not spinach, think Popeye — it’s the Spirit of God.  God has this ability to use even seemingly insignificant moments grasped with seemingly mundane hands and bring about life-changing destiny-fulfilling transactions.  No moment/act is too small for the Spirit of God to use and no moment/act is too large for the Spirit of God to accomplish.

So… what is your superpower?  I used to think it would be cool to have x-ray vision, or to be able to fly.  But now I think that having the ability to love with a love that never fails would be pretty cool as well.  So… what is your superpower?

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  This is the second greatest commandment for the followers of Jesus — second only to Love God with all your heart.  But here’s the question, “Who is my neighbor?”  I know that my neighbors are those who live on my block.  I think a good case could be made that my neighbor is anyone who is a part of the Calvary family.  How about anyone in Happy Valley?  I mean surely everyone in Happy Valley is my neighbor, right?  In fact it could go beyond HV.  Maybe I even have neighbors on Facebook?  Because what if geography doesn’t define neighbor.  Especially in today’s e-world.  So here is a thought that keeps going through my mind lately — Every child is my neighbor.

Love your neighbor like you love yourself.  Every child is my neighbor.  I mean if there were children in Happy Valley who were getting kicked out of their homes, I would help.  I would do what I could.  Probably even try to take a few into my own home.  Because our hearts go out to kids in need, regardless of their geography.

In the space of less than a month ~30 orphanages will have been closed in MM.  Hundreds of children will have no place to live, no food on the table, no one to be their neighbor.  All this because a government is afraid of losing control.   But we can still help.  We can pray.  We can give.

In a week or two I will share with you a way that we can help.  But meanwhile.  Pray, ask God to help us love our neighbors like we love ourselves.  Ask God to give us eyes to see… that every child is our neighbor.

The answer is, “Love Your neighbor like you love yourself.”   That’s what Jesus said.  The question is, “But who is my neighbor?”  That’s what the religious lawyer said — he was looking for a loophole.  So in the space between answer and question, Jesus told a story.  We call it the story of the good Samaritan.  It answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” with a question, “Who is a good neighbor?”

While we were in Myanmar, one of our favorite little kids was Abraham.  Abraham and his sister are both part of the Agape Orphanage family.  We aren’t really sure what happened to Abraham, we suspect abuse, but maybe it was just an accident.  Hot water, melted his hand together and left burns on his face.  But what a sweet little boy.  Before we left, we asked about the possibility of surgery for Abraham.  We were told it would be about $700.  So our family got together and pooled some money and left it for Abraham’s surgery.  It happened last week.  This is a picture.  Feels good to help others.  Can’t wait to see him again.

I came home yesterday to find a CNN twitter update waiting for me. Fred Winters had been killed.  I didn’t know Fred Winters, but there were enough similarities between the two of us that it made me stop for a moment to ponder life.  Fred Winters was…

• – in his forties
• – married with children
• – the lead pastor at a baptist church of about 1500 people
• – at the church for over 15 years.
• – preaching at the church’s 8:00am Traditional Worship Gathering.

The main difference is that last week, Fred Winters worked on the last sermon he will ever give.  It was on a favorite topic of his, the joy of giving.  Last Sunday, while he was preaching during the first service at First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL, a man walked up the center aisle and shot him.  The first bullet hit his Bible, there would be three more shots, one of them straight to the heart.  The congregation was caught off guard, in fact many people thought that this was just part of a sermon illustration (Pastor Winters would often use unusual illustrations and dramas during worship).  It was all over in seconds. Pastor Winters was pronounced dead at the local hospital minutes later.

Most of the news briefs I saw on tv yesterday focused on “church security,” but the reality is that none of us are secure from death.  I think what hit me most is simply, the last sermon part.  If last weekend would’ve been my last sermon.  It would’ve been preached to possibly the smallest audience I’ve preached to in a number of years — my first spring break weekend to preach in a long time!  It would’ve included a children’s sermon — for maybe the first time in 15 years?  It would’ve been on Psalm 34 with a focus on the goodness of God.  Not a bad way to go out, but I’m not sure if it’s what I would’ve chosen if I knew it was my last sermon.

It’s good — sometimes — to ask ourselves “last” questions.  Like if this was my last day to live, how would I invest my time?  Or if this was my last year with my kids at home, what would I focus on?   If I had one last conversation with a person what would we talk about?

Paul challenges us in the book of Ephesians to redeem the time, to make the most of every opportunity.  Fred Winters is a reminder of that challenge.  Pray for his wife and his two daughters.  Pray for his church.  Hard stuff, but God can redeem hard stuff.

It is one of my favorite shows, but it’s also a great real-life question.  Who are our heroes?  According to a Harris Poll conducted among 2634 American adults, the top 20 list includes a few of the regulars like Mother Theresa, God, Billy Graham, Jesus Christ, and Martin Luther King.  The list also includes a surprise or two.  For example Oprah Winfrey just made it at #20 and Sarah Palin just missed at #21.  Bill and Hillary Clinton both made it but Hillary is at #12 (just above Billy Graham) and Bill is tied for #16 with George Washington and Collin Powell.  It may be a surprise to you that 12 of the top 20 were politicians…and number 5 was George W. Bush! (No the poll was not taken in Texas).  Two relative newcomers to the hero scene made the list, one was Chelsey Sullenberger, the pilot who landed his plane in the Hudson, and the other — of course — was Barack Obama.

In fact Barack Obama beat out Jesus: Barack #1, Jesus #2.

Now stop.  This is not a political post.  President Obama has not said, nor does he think that he is a step higher than Jesus.  In fact nobody actually chose Barack over Jesus.  The poll did not give a list of potential heroes from which people could choose.  They just spoke who came to their minds.

But some thoughts came to my mind when I read the poll.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1. It is the rare person who truly has Jesus #1.  We follow those we hold up as heroes.  It is easy to say Jesus is our hero, harder to live it.

2. I wonder how many people thought of their mother or father as their hero.  Perhaps general categories were not allowed as heroes, only specific people.  But my father and mother would definitely be in my top 10.

3.  I wonder if the poll indicates a lack of good biographical reading on the part of the American people.  By and large the people chosen are public figures.  My heroes would include people I’ve read about but never known.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Amy Carmichael, and George Mueller.

4.  12 of 20 were politicians, if I remember right, none were athletes?

5.  John Wayne made the list in the last Harris hero poll (2001) but dropped off.  My dad obviously was not a part of this poll.

6. No biblical heroes, but at least three pastoral type people.  Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, and Martin Luther King.

7. Reminded me of a great website.  I Am Second. You should check it out.

8. Heroes are never born in a moment, but sometimes it takes a moment for them to be recognized — like Chelsey Sullenberger.

9.  We identify our heroes for a variety of reasons, some who made the top 20 list would never make my top 100.  But then again, I probably wouldn’t make theirs either.

10.  There are scores of heroes whose stories we will never know till we get to heaven.  I think that will be one of our greatest privileges…story-time in heaven.

11.  Who are my heroes?  That’s a post for another time.

Nope.  I’m not confessing.  Well okay I’ll confess.  I didn’t do my LifeJournal today, true confession.  I ate one of Lynn’s rice krispee bars, even though I’m trying to eat healthy and I annoyed my daughter, true confession.  I’m way behind on responding to my e-mail, not sure if that’s a sin, but it is a true confession.  True confession, I have too many credit cards, Dave Ramsey would call that a sin wouldn’t he? I know, you are pondering the amazing emotional courage and the raw authenticity that comes through in such true confessions. No, probably not.

I was talking to someone today about the dynamics of confession and repentance.  (Confession is simply agreeing with God’s assessment of my actions.  Repentance is changing my path back to a God-ward direction.)  We were talking about the power of public confession and our general reluctance to do so… Decades ago, one of my heroes of the faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a small book called Life Together. It was a guide to authentic community for an underground seminary during the Nazi regime.  The last chapter is called, Confession and Communion.

In it he asks the question, “Why is it so easy to confess sin to our most Holy God, and yet we cannot confess to a fellow sinner?”  Bonhoeffer suggests the possibility that often our confessions reach no higher than ourselves and we in turn absolve and forgive ourselves.  In confession to a fellow Christian we break out of the circle of self-deception, for we know that we have come face to face with Christ existing as community.  Bonhoeffer is not suggesting that we go to a priest for confession and absolution of our sins.  He makes it clear that we do indeed have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, who in turn forgives us.  Yet he is stressing that in God’s plan for the “body”, community is for confession, and confession leads to community.

So back to true confessions?  Do you have someone — or a group of someone’s, like a LifeGroup — with whom you can come clean.  And I’m not talking about, rice-krispee bar confessions.  I’m talking about the kind of stuff that has a dangerous hold on our lives.  The kind of stuff that James was probably talking about when he said, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other, so that you can be healed.”

Don’t worry.  I’m not working up to one of those ministry-breaking-see-all-pastors-are-slimy confessions, but I do sin.  And True Confession — true confession is not easy…but then again good things rarely are.

I ran across this blog post tonight.  Thought provoking… take a moment and read “Confessing Safe Sins.”

I’ll never forget the call.  It was something like, “Son we would like to have you come home for Thanksgiving…we are going to burn our home.”  “What?!!! Are you crazy?”  I think was in the general vicinity of my response.  Mom and Dad had decided to burn the house I had grew up in.  They now had a nicer, newer house on the farm, and the property tax on the old one wasn’t worth the rent they could get from it.  So — not to be accused of being sentimental — they wanted to have a house-burning.  So we went home that Thanksgiving.  I walked through the house to say my last goodbyes, picked up a few momentos, watched my kids do what they had always dreamed of doing — completely destroying a house, and then watched it burn.  I lost a home that day.  It’s hard to lose a home — even when you already have one..

My Grandfather was one who knew something about being away from home.  He spent much of his life “away from home.”  When I was a kid, he lived on our farm, in a little wooden mobile home.  I remember going out to his place before the school bus came.  I would sit with him and watch for the bus — I was probably 7 or 8 at the time — and drink a cup of coffee.  I’ve been drinking it ever since.

What I remember most…were his stories. He could tell stories like you wouldn’t believe.  Stories about the road; following the harvest; riding the rails; meals with hobo’s and other great adventures.  As a young boy there wasn’t much better than Grandpa’s stories. Growing up I idolized grandpa and his life on the road. But as I grew older, I came to realize that his life was not quite as glamorous as I once thot.  It wasn’t so much a life on the road, as it was a life without home.  His life on the road was the journy of an alcholic abandoning his family for long periods of time…and I know it was hard on him.  Life without a home is hard.

For the last few weeks in Myanmar, children have been losing their homes.  The government has gone on an orphanage closing spree.  So far, I am aware of five homes that have been closed.  There are likely many more.  At least three of the small orphanages we (Calvary) supports are in danger of being closed.  I realize it’s a Buddhist country, but I’ve been sitting here tonight trying to figure out why a government is closing orphanages that are caring for children that the government would just as soon forget.  I don’t know it just seems harder than my house-burning and even my Grandfather’s running.  When an orphan has to deal with a lost home  That’s hard.  Please pray.

At a church in Minnesota, the children’s sunday school was going through a curriculum focused on prayer.  During one stretch the children learned that prayer is conversation with God, which means that God also speaks to us and we should be able to hear Him.  Shouldn’t we?  I mean think about teaching children the reality of something we so often fail to value.

Anyway, a number of weeks later, a mother shared this story about her six year old son. After one of the classes he had come home quite thoughtful, somewhat concerned.  He finally asked her, “Mom what does God’s voice sound like.  Our teachers said that God talks to us, but I’ve never heard Him, what does God sound like?”

Not an easy ?…but she did her best.  Over the next few days, her son’s concern intensified, this little six year old, so badly wanted to hear God speak, but could not.  The mother was ready to go ask the Children’s Pastor for advice, when one day, her son came running into the kitchen yelling, “Mom it finally happened. I heard it. I heard it.”  “Heard what dear?”  “I heard God’s voice.”  “Oh,” she responded, “and what did it sound like.  He paused, then looked up at his mother and said, “Hmmm, It sounded like a whisper past my heart and out my ears.”

Wouldn’t take much to miss a voice like that would it?   Listen maybe the first word we need to hear Jesus saying is, “Would you just slow down?  In your pursuit of all you want, you are missing the one thing your heart craves and your life lacks.  Would you just slow down.  Don’t worry about all you have to do.  I’ll let you know if the world is going to fall apart without you.  But meanwhile I just want to be with you.  I miss being with you.  Be still, it’s okay.  Take time to listen to me.  I will tell you wonderful things that you never imagined.”

Listen.  Maybe God is whispering to you right now.

One day a man named Moses — He really lived, not just a character in a Dreamworks animated movie (Prince of Egypt) — walked past a bush.  Most likely he had passed by the same bush a hundred times before.  Just a bush, everyone in his neighborhood had a bush.  Some people had three or four.  But this moment was different.  This time the bush was on fire with the presence of God.  It was on fire, but it wasn’t burning up.  Moses looked at the bush and he said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”  Moses exercised a little divine curiosity.  He stopped to look.  He paid attention, and he heard the voice of God.

Do you see how everything hinged upon his willingness to exercise his curiosity?  Everything hinged upon his willingness to interrupt his schedule and pay attention to the presence of God.  God didn’t force him to stop, no burning wall in front of him.  It wasn’t an obligation.  He had people to see, sheep to herd.  He could have looked away.  He could have glanced once in his rear-view mirror, hoping he might have another chance someday when things were a little less hectic.

At Calvary we have been talking about the WORD.  I think one of the difficulties we have in hearing God is that we have no divine curiosity and everything else is jockeying for priority in our lives.  God’s Word is just another one of those things we need to fit in, check it off the list.  We think it’s a no-brainer, if I had been there that day I would have stopped to check out the bush.  But would we have stopped?  Or is it the case that in the busy pace of our lives, in the midst of a secular society, many of us have become so preoccupied, so busy, that we might run right past a burning a bush and not even stop long enough to find out that it’s holy ground?

He could have missed an encounter with God.  He could have missed his calling.  He could have missed the adventure of a lifetime.  He could have missed his purpose for living.  But He didn’t.  He stopped.  He listened.  He responded.

I’ve been pondering the connection between hope and perseverance.  Paul says in Romans 5:3-5,

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Isn’t that interesting?  Perseverance begins a process that ends in hope.  Well okay, actually suffering begins a process that ends in hope, but suffering is just the context which requires perseverance and I don’t really have any control over my suffering calendar, but when it comes, if I choose to persevere it begins a process which leads to hope.

Perseverance produces character.  Character produces hope.

What seems really odd to me is that if you asked me to list the process I would have said that hope begins a process which leads to perseverance.  If I have hope I will not give up.  But in fact Paul says that if I do not give up I will develop hope.  His challenge to someone who is facing overwhelming odds would be… If you are out of hope, don’t give up, hope is on it’s way.

That was confusing to me.  When people are ready to give up, I think what they need is hope.  Until I realized that hope is a gift.  Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:16,  “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope..” Hope is a gift which Father God gives if we do not give up.

Reminded me of story that most of us have heard.  Click and listen…(sorry for two sports blogs in a row!)

See Derek encountered suffering.  He did not give up and hope arrived in the arms of his Father.  I think that is exactly how God works with us.  So if you woke up today to find that suffering had been scheduled in on your calendar, don’t give up, hope is on it’s way.  Father God started the race with you, and He has already decided to finish it with you.