Everyday Hero #3

 September 16, 2022

My third Everyday Hero is my brother. He’s three years older than I, so growing up, we weren’t particularly close. My parents would have said that is an understatement. I don’t remember this so-called incident, so all we have to go on is anecdotal evidence, which is as we all know, inadmissible in court. As the story goes, my grandfather worried that I would kill my brother some day because of my volatile temper, more than adequately demonstrated when I was caught chasing my brother through the house with a baseball bat. What our house was doing with a baseball bat, I cannot imagine, but that’s what I’ve been told.

I do remember one occasion when I was chasing him he ducked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I was close enough behind that the latch hadn’t had time to click when I barreled through the door, slamming the doorknob completely through the bathroom wall. I don’t remember much after that, so I’m guessing my mom or dad managed to intervene. The amazing part of it all is that he was always bigger than his skinny little brother. All of this I’ve said to paint a general picture of our relationship growing up. The fact that chasing him through the house seems to be a common theme indicates how much he must have bullied me till I snapped.

When I was about eleven or twelve and he therefore between fourteen and fifteen, our mother decided we were going to start attending church. I never bothered asking my brother what he originally thought of this new direction in our lives, but I wasn’t too impressed. But what happened shortly thereafter literally changed my life. My brother got saved! He turned his life over to Jesus Christ, and I saw such a change in him that I thought to myself, “If this can do that for HIM, maybe Jesus can help me.” I’ll tell the details of how it all came about, but long story short, I received Jesus as my Savior, and lo and behold, my temper all but disappeared. 

In the years since, geographical distance hasn’t allowed us to be together as much as either of us would like, but if every younger brother had an older brother like mine, this world would be a much better place. I’ve watched him go through some pretty tough times that would have broken lesser men, but he never flinched. He did what was right and kept going when I would have quit. 

He’s a pretty quiet man, but lives out his faith in such a way that his sons know Jesus. He isn’t a fan of contemporary Christian music, but hey—no one is perfect! So tonight is a shoutout to my brother. He is a leader in his own quiet way. By definition, leaders go first. Had he not done so, I wouldn’t be a Christian or have been a pastor; and knowing my own heart, my marriage probably would have failed and my children and grandchildren wouldn’t know Jesus. So thank you, big brother; you’ve made more of a difference in this world than you know! I’m glad I never caught up to you with that baseball bat.