Wanted: Everyday Heroes

Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

Courage comes in so many different ways.  Recently in the news, watching the divers attempt to rescue the soccer team from the caves in Thailand...wow, THAT was COURAGE!  And the team?  Surviving in a dark cave for two weeks?  The bravest.
All around us we see courage demonstrated in the most dramatic of ways:
Firemen pulling a child from a burning building.
A policeman stepping in front of  a shooter to protect the crowd.
A mom grabbing her baby before oncoming traffic could change everything.

It really is inspiring to see courage displayed so vividly and so selflessly.

Courage can wear a different uniform, however.  It can be in mom jeans and a stained t-shirt as she  answers the same question already asked a thousand times....with patience.  It can be in a three piece suit having solved complex problems all day and then choosing to face the little chocolate stained cheeks inside the front door asking for attention... with a smile

Photo by Becca Tarter on Unsplash

.   It can also be in the extra large youth jersey, totally unsettled from all of the turmoil in his life, choosing to face his own  challenges and stepping out to confront the demons of his past.  That takes courage.  Big time.

This life presents so many opportunities to witness everyday heroes. I get to watch these miracles take place on a regular basis.  Kids who have been through the worst of beginnings with parents who couldn't or wouldn't take care of even their most basic needs but somehow they  muster up enough courage to trust someone else!!  Or, bravely return to the home they are afraid of to see if the one adult in their life who is supposed to care for them is sincere about their promises.  That takes guts.

Or, I see families bravely step forward  to claim a child, or children as their own.  They take them under their wing, line them up with their own brood and make room for someone who needs them. They go through training, intense scrutiny of their own baggage, background checks and home visits...all to take over the task of raising a child.  Oh friends, I wish you had my view of these heroes.  It is spectacular!!

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

Right now we are desperately in need of everyday heroes. Adults who will take on the task of ministering to a child from a hard place.  Sometimes the problem seems overwhelming.  Children come into care each day and those of us who work in this field fret over where they will go.  Who will step up?  But did you know that if only one family from each church in our little area of the world were to foster, then BAM!  The problem is solved.  Children will have a place to call home.  The hurting and belief that they are unwanted can stop.  All can be well with the world...or at least begin to be.

Every wound healed.  Every child, a home.