Everyday Hero

 February 26, 2023

I’m not proud of it, but I know I can be judgmental. When someone doesn’t measure up to whatever standard I’ve set in my mind, I may not say anything, but inside my head and heart, I can be pretty critical. A couple days ago, God brought me up short about my attitude. To understand, you need to hear the backstory.

Dick was a wonderful man, a hard worker, generous, giving of himself in the church, in the community, and with his family. He was almost bigger than life, loved to laugh and tease. He was town supervisor, active in the volunteer fire department, and served on a long list of community committees and boards over the years.

The one thing he couldn’t do was read. I don’t mean that he was illiterate; just that reading was difficult for him. In spite of this, he regularly read the Scripture on Sunday mornings, and when he did, often I would cringe inwardly. It was almost painful to listen, and though I didn’t intend it, I found at times I would be inwardly judgmental over his difficulty.

As the family was making arrangements for his funeral last week, we were trying to decide what Scripture to use. We laughed over the often difficult Biblical names that Dick regularly butchered when he read, and suddenly I knew which Scripture I would use. It was my favorite Bible verse from Luke 3:1-2 where all the movers and shakers of the day were listed before Luke said, “but the word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness.” The main lesson is that God often bypasses the high and mighty to reveal his plans to ordinary people in out of the way places. Dick wasn’t one of the high and mighty, and I’m sure God overlooked others and used him instead.

God had another lesson for me in this text, and it had to do with Dick. Instead of judging his difficulty, I saw things from a new perspective. Where most people would have avoided the public reading of difficult texts, Dick stepped up and did it. He didn’t back away from a task just because it was difficult. Easy or not, Dick stepped up and tackled the task. God said to me, “Take a lesson from this man. You don’t quit just because it is hard.” 

So Dick Purol, among all your other life’s accomplishments, you taught this preacher to ease up on the judgments and to face difficult tasks, never giving up, even if it never gets easier. I am in your debt, and thank you for your faithfulness. You are one of my everyday heroes.