Walking Through Fire

Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? When I was little, I had my answer at the ready in case I was ever asked what superpowers I wanted to have bestowed upon me. Because someone was going to ask.

I wanted to fly and have the ability to become invisible.

Not because I wanted to save the world, but because I wanted to fly to school rather than wait for the bus. I wanted to go into rooms and conversations that I wasn't allowed to be in so I could get the inside scoop on whatever was going on. Looking back, it's a good sign that I didn't want to use them for evil and become a super-villain. I just wanted to be a super-regular-person, I guess.

I was reminded of my super-person longings when I heard these verses a couple weeks ago:

There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves ... the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.

Luke 21: 25-28

Most of the time when I hear that passage, I only see the fearful roaring of the sea and the shaking of heaven, but this time I heard what we're supposed to do when all of this chaos is happening.

Stand erect and raise your heads.

And just like that, I saw the superheroes. You know the ones - explosions everywhere, shrapnel falling like rain, people running from the mayhem, and in the middle of the chaos, they come striding through the fire ready to take it all on.

They don't run away in fear, they walk into the fray knowing that they have the power to overcome all of it.

That's us! Can you see it? I've seen it. I've seen it in the story of Father Walter Cizsek in He Leadeth Me. He survived WWII concentration camps followed by another imprisonment in Russian gulags with the grace and strength that could only come from faith. I've seen it in the lives of friends confronted with a serious illness or injury, walking through the fires and explosions that seem to erupt on every side with a peace that surpasses all understanding.

This is who we are called to be - Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. We have this superpower. We just have to remember it.

Photo: M May