Monday, April 11, 2011

thoughts on meeting your hero

Last weekend, I attended a conference in the lovely town of Monroe, MI. My hero and the woman I aspire to be was speaking, so I bought a (fairly expensive) ticket and went instead of working to make ca$hmoney or hanging out with friends who will soon be living in far away states :(

I've heard many times throughout my life that it is not a good idea to meet your hero. I assumed this was because you would be disappointed by him or her. Maybe he won't look the way you imagine or maybe she will not be as real as you think or maybe he'll be rude and treat you like an annoying fan. On my drive to the conference, I was very afraid that I wasn't smart or holy or special enough to meet her.

The thing is, when you meet your hero, you find out she is real. A real human being like you with faults, wrinkles, and chocolate cravings. This realization of her humanity was quite unfortunate but also very healthy for my ego. This is because I am also a human being who has the ability to do what my hero does... except I'm not doing it.
She is not special, and I am not special. Ouch!

She lives in Afrika and sees miracles almost daily. Food multiplies, the sick are healed, and the dead rise. I live in Michigan, and I go to class, eat salad, and hang out with ma frendz (thank you Rebecca Black for making me think of your song every time I say "my friends"). Meeting my hero was disappointing. Not because who she is, what she said, or how she acted, but because it made me realize that I am just as capable to do the things she does... but I'm not.

If we believe what the Bible says is true, then Jesus did amazing things while he was here. He turned water in to wine, multiplied food to feed thousands, raised the dead, healed the sick, walked on water, and more. The scary/amazing/comforting/hopeful/intimidating thing is: according to John 14:12, we are supposed to be doing even greater things than these.

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