Heroes

On the evening of May 31^st 2010 I stood holding my son in my arms; not even an hour old.  As he fussed a little one of the nurses told me to sing him a lullaby.  Oh crap….Cedric are you serious….you can’t remember any lullabies?  What?!  You can’t remember ANY songs!  I went from sheer awe of this little child to almost panic because I couldn’t remember a single song.  Then the nurse put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Just sing from your heart”.  Ok then, my heart.  I closed my eyes and slowly began to sing my son his first ever “lullaby”.

Isabelle is a belly dancer with a kleptomaniac's restraint

Tried stealing Helena's hand basket, made a fast getaway, but McQueen she ain't

At the courtroom Joshua judges her ruthlessly on account of Ruth walking out on him.

In the Big House Isabelle is a-telling all to the chaplain who's become her friend.

She says: I don't know why you care, I don't know what's out there,

I don't know where or how just take me to your leader now, take me to your leader now.

I can tell you now that I have very few “favorites” in my life; Mt. Dew and the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers are atop a very short list.  When it comes to music it is a clean win to my top spot as well; a group from “down under” called Newsboys.  My favorite “Newsy” was lead man John James.  He was wild, he was on fire for Jesus, and he shaved his head.  On top of that, he was so cool and tuff that he had TWO first names!  I got my hands on every last thing dealing with Newsboys and John James.  Posters, movies, cds, samplers; anything that was connected with them I knew inside and out; the man and the band inspired me.  I memorized each song from their album “Take Me To Your Leader” and could, if given the first note of the first song on the album (God Is Not a Secret), sing the whole cd in order and their proper keys.

One summer, when I was in junior high, I read in 7-Ball magazine about the newest Newsboys album “Step Up To the Microphone”; lead man John James was no longer one of the “Boys”.  I sat in shock in the K-Mart parking lot in Williston, North Dakota in my mother’s minivan and wondered why this had happened.

The years went by and I was still a devout “Newser”.  When conversations about the band came up I always threw in my trump card “John James”; the best boy of them all.  He was an inspiration to me; he was my childhood hero.

During my last year of college a friend gave me a link to a Newsboy article.  I visited the site as soon as I was done with class.  I was destroyed.  I read about my hero; how he got tangled in a world of alcohol, drugs, and adultery.  This just could not be, the article must be wrong or a fake.  John James was not a boozer, druggie, or untrue to his wife…he was a rock star, a legend; he was my hero…a super Christian, supposed to be set apart from the everyday normal struggles in life.  He was now human, flawed, and fallen.

The truth hurt very badly; I remembering listening to “Take Me To Your Leader” over and over again in a almost comatose state.  Thank God I had not found this out as a younger child…who knows what I would have felt.  I may have given up on Newsboys, a band that has helped shape my musical style and life.

I thought of another very tough guy named Samson; toughest man you’ll ever hear about.  He was big, strong, and hair to shame Fabio.  Just like John fell so did Samson; by telling a secret that God told him not to share.  Consequently Samson was blinded, bound, and made a public mockery of.

Isn’t it funny how we put people on a pedestal, expecting extra-ordinary things from them (things that we couldn’t perform ourselves) and when they fall we abandon or even ridicule them?  We expect god-like qualities out of mere men and women.  Samson and John are mere men.  They were raised to a height of greatness and when they forgot about Christ and his power over all things, when they forgot to fix their eyes upon him, there was no power great enough that they possessed that could stop their mortal fall.

But their story, as you may know, does not simply end.  Both men were humbled, strengthened, and raised again for God’s glory.  Samson destroyed the palace that housed his enemies.  John has since worked on repairing his marriage, recovered from drugs and alcohol, and has become an active member in his church.  Both of these men, these once heroes and fallen, have “re-focused” their eyes on the hero…Jesus Christ.

We can make the world of ourselves and each other but we will fall.  It is only through Christ Jesus that we are able to stand strong.  Never lose the only one ever able to sacrifice himself for you, and then, after three days, conquered death for you; you know, the true hero.