My heroes are not Hudson Taylor and William Carey

And I must not fail to note that although the Taylors, and Careys, and Judsons are a pleasure to study… they are not my heroes. They are men to learn from and of whom, because of God’s grace, we should gratefully marvel, but these men are not my heroes.

My hero is Joel. And the Joel’s of the Kingdom. The men in my class who enthusiastically plod through doctrine and syntax with a people in mind, a culture, a language, a hope of the nations worshiping Jesus Christ. The men and women whose name will probably never make it into a church history book, and who, for that matter, do not care.

I will teach my children of Taylor and Carey, but I will point them to Joel. And there I will encourage them to marvel at God’s grace. Not only will we read about the Carey’s, but more so I will tell them stories of living with a brother who played his guitar and sung songs with tears in his eyes for a people who need the gospel… who studies and prays and hikes and speaks for God’s glory in Jesus Christ to be  displayed in the hard places.

I want them to learn about Taylor and Carey, but I really want them to be like Joel.