Heroes

I'm sure there is some music that you listen to that you wouldn't want ANYONE to know you like. But on some level, it speaks to you and you just can't help it. For me....oh yikes.....I SWEAR this doesn't mean I'm old or anything. But, I love The Oak Ridge Boys. On my 26th birthday (which was just last week for whoever is counting) my sister sat in line for over 18 hours....camped out in the parking lot...to buy tickets to their concert. She got us front row center tickets. And I was hooked. I have to listen to them in private because my family goes into something resembling death throes if I dare to put it on in their hearing. This past week I got two CD's in the mail because I made a donation to Feed The Children (quite clever marketing for folks like me, huh?). One of them is their greatest hits, the other one is their newest release. There's this one song that keeps going through my mind...well actually more than one since I have listened to it about 347 times in the last 24 hours....

It's called Closer to Home. It's comparing the heroes he had as a child (Superman, Johnny Bench and then George Jones) with the heroes he has now -- Rescue Workers who put their lives on the line when the alarm goes off, the man who delivers his newspaper in the morning and then goes to his job at Wal-Mart because his grown daughter came home and left her two children with him to raise while she took off. It ends with looking at his sleeping children and realizing that his mom and dad sacrificed all they had for him. "Used to be Superman, Johnny Bench and then George Jones. But lately I've been finding all my heroes closer to home."

That makes me think of the heroes I have in my life. I couldn't write about all of them...but today I'm thinking of 3. I have to give credit to my sweet hubby. Not many men would have thought a woman with 3 kids was a catch -- but I think he wanted them as badly as he wanted me. I can't begin to enumerate the struggles of raising kids to be adults who had such deep scars caused by an absent father -- our life has been nothing if not interesting. He's sometimes worked 3 jobs to support us, given his all for all sorts of expenses we never dreamed we'd have. And the crazy guy has done it all for 14 years now with a grin bigger than Dallas...through it all. Maybe that is the secret!! He's crazy. My #2 hero is my oldest son. Certainly Matt has done more than his fair share at turning hubby's hair from brown to gray. (Mine is just turning loose.) He's made some wrong turns - ran smack into some dead ends -- but finally over 2 years ago he made a decision to turn his will and his life over to the care of God and what a testimony the boy has. Matt is going to school to become a teacher -- wow, won't he be able to relate to those fringe kids that every class has? His faith in our Lord is growing...and it is exactly that - his faith. He has made a tremendous impact on so many people at church. I'm so proud of him. And finally, I have to mention the man who more than anyone else I know embodies the spirit of Christ - and that would be one Frank P. He's a Panhandle Texas farmer, hat on his head, boots on his feet and callouses on his hands. But you aren't in Frank's presence longer than 5 minutes before you know for certain that you are in the presence of something holy. A man who loves with the love of Christ like no other I've known.


And so, this afternoon I'm finding my heroes Closer to Home.