I'm a Hero.

Every day little miracles happen.  I believe that more often than not we don't even realize or recognize them.  Often it's how we help someone whether knowingly or not and I also believe that it's important to see these experiences as what they are.  When I was 19 years old my friend and I broadsided a truck that pulled out in front of us on the highway.  The driver had been drinking and was many times over the legal intoxication limit.  Being young and spry, we were mostly okay and after being checked into ER for routine precautionary stuff, we basically walked away with mere bruises, whiplash and a strain.  But whats truly amazing about this story is what I believe to be one of those miracles in life.  My friend, who was driving, was an avid car guy.  He enjoyed time trials and speeding around a bit, as did most guys our age, but this night was different.  He barely went above the posted speed limit of 55 for the entire 30 minute drive before the wreck.  I was even giving him crap about it because he had been passed by three different vehicles, the last of which was one of those big old Econoline style vans.  But he didn't budge.  Then the wreck occurred.  Later that night while laying down to sleep on our friends couches, we talked some more about what had happened.  It came up in conversation that one of the first cars on the scene had been traveling a ways behind us and was occupied by an elderly couple.  Now, when I put things together in my head I saw the events as no coincidence.  Had my friend been driving any faster on the way there, we would have missed the drunk driver, but he would have pulled out after us and had time to get up to speed on the road.  He was so many times over the legal limit that there's no way he could have kept his truck going in a straight line and I'm certain that he would have hit the elderly couple head-on.  They would have taken a greater impact of force and, being elderly, would not have been able to absorb that impact as well as two spry young men whose bodies were still youthful.  It could have been an awful, terrible scene.  Paramedics that helped my friend and I, told us that we were very lucky.  They've seen similar incidents to ours with much worse results and feared those results upon receiving the call.
     We stopped that drunk driver before he could get on the road and do worse harm to someone.  I told my friend that night, "You know, we're somebody's hero."  I slept good that night despite being very sore and on a couch in an unfamiliar house, because I was a hero.  Now that story may be more obvious but I recently realized that we are heroes much more often and in different ways than we may even realize.  On the Saturday before Halloween I decided that I would attend a party that I had been invited to by a couple girls I had met at church.  I was hesitant, due to not having much to work with in the way of a costume, but I managed to get something together and made it there late but in time to have fun.  It was a small but fun party.  It was held in a barn, which was great, but it had no heat so after having fun for a while the girls decided it was getting too cold and that it was time to clean up and head to a nearby service station for hot chocolate.  I received directions and headed out to the service station to wait for the girls who were doing a few last minute clean up things and should have been right behind me.  After waiting a while there with some other people from the party I suggested someone call them to make sure we had gone to the right service station.  Turns out, we were at the right place but the girls had run into a bit of a snare, quite literally.  They had run over a fence but said over the phone to the person that called that we shouldn't wait for them and maybe we should just head home.  I was thinking, run over a fence?  Like run off the road and through a fence?  But it seemed like they already had help.  I had to go past where the party was to get back to the road I had taken to get there so I just figured it would be a nice gesture to stop and see if they needed any help even though it sounded like they were okay.  It turns out that they had driven over some old fencing material that was more or less wadded up in a ball behind the barn where we parked.  In trying to turn around in the dark they thought it was a bush at first but soon realized that it was not.  Some of the fencing had gotten wound around the front passenger tire and seemed impossible to unravel.  When I arrived they had tried a few unsuccessful attempts at getting it cut free and untangled.  Upon examining everything thoroughly I determined that we could carefully unravel the wire from the tire by straightening the wheel and going in reverse just a few inches at a time while pulling and bending at the wire to help it along and make sure it didn't snag anywhere else on the vehicle.  It was an approach that they hadn't thought of.  It was cold, they weren't dressed warm and they were a little panicked about the prospect of having to leave the car there overnight.  But with my help, we used the plan I thought of and were able to free the car from the tangled fencing in just a few minutes.  We exchanged high fives and everyone was happy!  They told me I was a hero.  After checking the car for damages we headed on our way.  I followed them, at their request, to make sure they made it home safe.  But I didn't realize at the time just how exactly I had been a hero.
     It wasn't until at church the next day when it really hit me.  For those that aren't familiar with my church services, they have whats called fast and testimony meeting once a month as part of the regular sunday service and in place of designated speakers, member of the congregation have the opportunity to share their feelings.  One of the girls got up partway through the meeting and started into this story from the night before, I was thinking, oh hey that was me!  She didn't give my name but she explained that they were stuck, had tried to free their car unsuccessfully and that she had said a quick prayer for help.  She then said that shortly afterwards, they saw headlights come around the corner of the barn.  That was me.  And she explained how I had figured out a way to free the car even though they thought it would be better to go forward rather than backwards.  It worked and they were able to get home safe.  But while listening to her side of the story I suddenly realized what kind of hero I had been and how I didn't even realize that I was someone's answer to prayer.  I thought of my experience with the story of the car wreck and how I believed I was a hero because it seemed so obvious, but it really hit me that many times we may not even realize that we are answers to the prayers of others.  It may not happen often, but when it does, if you're able to recognize it, you'll find out that you too are someone's answer to a prayer and in a way that makes you a special kind of hero.  The kind of hero that has been guided unconsciously to answer a prayer simply by trying to be a good person and helping someone out.  An instrument for good in the hands of God.  When it happens do we really recognize it?  As a people, we attribute many things to chance or coincidence or we simply do not recognize the hand of God in our actions.  In both of the experiences I have shared, I have been able to recognize that I really am a hero.  It strengthens my belief.  Are you a hero too?