We are surrounded by heroes!

Yesterday I was able to go to Disneyland with our daughter Jenn, our son-in-law Josh and their children, our grandchildren, Ashton and Emmy. It was a wonderful day! There were many reasons that it was wonderful. The first reason was that I was with our children and grandchildren. Some of the other reasons were that it was a beautiful day, Disneyland was decorated magnificently for Christmas and there was Christmas music playing throughout the park. But the reason that I want to talk about in this post were the people that were at Disneyland with us. I found myself just observing the people around us. There were mothers and fathers, children and grandparents. I'm sure there were lots of other combinations of relationships also, but I noticed the families. People were kind and thoughtful throughout the day. "Please", "thank you", "excuse me", "May I help you", were heard sprinkled through the crowds of people.

A year ago, I might not have noticed how wonderful this day was. I might have taken it for granted then. But since the November Presidential election I have felt an increasingly heavy overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by bad things. Bad people, bad circumstances, bad legislation, basically, bad spiraling out of control. At least it felt like it was not in my control to change things. Yesterday changed how I saw the circumstances I was surrounded by. I was surrounded by thousands of good people, happy people trying to be kind, trying to bring joy to their families, just having fun. It lifted the heaviness from my heart somehow. It brought to mind 2 Kings 6:16, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them". The good people out number the bad people. I knew that, but I needed to be reminded. Yesterday was my reminder:)

Recently I have started taking golf lessons. You might be wondering what golf has to do with Disneyland. I think you will see in just a minute:) Tiger Woods' name comes up a lot in my golf class. I have gained a great appreciation for Mr. Woods amazing golf abilities. Until the recent news broke about his "transgressions," I guess I felt pretty secure looking up to him. I guess he was a hero, of sorts. I don't think that I realized that he was a hero until he fell from that place.

I have been thinking about heroes. What power and influence do heroes have on our youth. Maybe they don't even realize that they have had heroes either. Maybe just hearing about celebrities all the time, inserts these people into their hearts and they don't even know it is happening. I think that the people at Disneyland should be the heroes. Parents and grandparents should be the heroes of their children. Just because people are on the news all the time, 24/7, it doesn't mean they are good or worthy of emulation. The quietly good people should be honored and lauded. I would like to make a t-shirt that says "I am my child's HERO", or "I am my grandchild's HERO". We need to see that we are surrounded by good people, trying to be examples for their children and grandchildren. I want to see them. I want to know that they are out there doing the same things that I am doing, trying to be good and follow the rules. "They that be with us are more than they that be with
them."

If you would like a t-shirt that says, "I am my child's HERO", or would like to give one of them to someone, just leave a comment or call me at (661) 889-0862.