Heroes

Where would we be without heroes in our world? They are amazing and wonderful.

They remind me so much of Jesus and what he went through here on earth. He died so horribly, and yet he rose again and is now in heaven or paradise, depending on how you relate to heaven, and he is there to welcome you and me.

There are definitely heroes in our world, as this lady would completely agree. Here she was, walking down the street with her three children. She is a 46-year-old mother, and her children are aged 10, 11, and 16.

They really had no idea what was about to happen to them as a family. They obviously had a plan for the day, and little did they know that that plan was about to go in reverse. None of us can possibly know in advance what is going to happen to each of us day by day.

This family was visiting Melbourne from Phillip Island - such a beautiful place - and they had no idea at all that they would end up being taken to Melbourne hospital with severe but non-threatening injuries.

The family was just walking down Spencer Street in Melbourne, just outside the police headquarters, when a man approached them; he then very randomly punched the 10-year-old hard in the stomach and then seemed to keep on walking, but then he grabbed the lad's mother in a headlock and kept on stabbing her in the back with a pair of scissors. 

The guy seemingly kept on walking by after he had punched the boy, but then turned, grabbed the lady, and then continued to stab her. The poor lady has suffered horrible injuries. 

Jesus himself suffered inexplicable injuries when he was arrested by the Pharisees, and then the Roman soldiers continually beat him, punching him severely in the face, whipping him, and the crown of large and sharp thorns was jammed on his head. Half naked, blood pouring out of him, huge blood-soaked eyes, no skin on his back, and then dragging a huge, splintery cross on his naked back up to Calvary!

When the family in Melbourne was attacked, there was a hero bystander who saw the guy attack the family and then ran over and tackled the offending guy to the ground halfway through his violent attack on the lady. If that hero hadn't tackled the guy and wrestled him off the lady, I hate to think what the outcome would have been for that family.

More guys quickly jumped on the offender and held him down until the police got there and arrested the guy, handcuffed him, and whacked him in a prison cell, and he will be facing court soon. He was a 27-year-old man, obviously with loads of problems himself, but it really makes you wonder why these sorts of things happen.

When you see something like what happened to the family on Spencer Street, it just gives you a small taste of what is happening in the world today, and of what happened years ago when Jesus went through hell himself. It's certainly an eye-opener.

Melbourne Police superintendent Dunstan praised the guy who jumped on the offender and dragged him off the woman. So fortunate our hero did that; I hate to think what the outcome might have been if he hadn't. Supt. Dunstan said, "Without a doubt, and without their intervention, it could have been a lot worse, so we are so grateful for their assistance."

Others also helped the hero, and they all ended up being heroes. They held him down until the police arrived. Well done!

Jesus was a HERO; he gave his life. Why? Because that is exactly how he paid for all of our sins, every single one of them. But if we don't come to God and accept the very fact that our sins are paid for by the excruciating death that Jesus went through, then we will never see heaven and will pay for our sins in hell.

All we have to do while we are alive here on earth is to come to God and ask His forgiveness for all the sins we have committed, asking Him to lead our lives, and make Him our priority. 

I love this verse in the Bible, in Romans chapter twelve and verse two (in my words only); it says not to virtually jump into conformity to what the world's pattern for life may be. In J.B. Phillips translation of this verse, he says, "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mould."

In other words, don't get swayed by some earthly things happening in the world around us and falling into some sort of pattern and doing what everyone else does just to conform. Leaving God as some sort of whimsical feeling and a funny sort of mystic. 

God is real, and if you turn to him, he will change your life, giving you a true meaning and purpose.

Regardless of what is happening with each of us, even though things may go haywire when we are living in this very confusing place called Earth, giving our lives over to God and making him the very first in our lives will certainly get us to meet God in Heaven. 

That to me is incredibly marvelous and extraordinary. Jesus is definitely my HERO. Without him, life will just get worse, and we will get carried away, just living day to day, coping with this and that, solving life's problems as best we can.

With Jesus at the helm, he guides our thoughts and lives, and even when things go wrong, he is there, and we totally rely on him in everything we do, and everywhere we go, and whatever comes along.

God's huge blessings to you this week. Contact me through here if you have any questions at all.