Forgotten Heroes
FORGOTTEN HEROES
Friend you’ve seen me battered from my best Intentions
You’ve seen me worn out from the world Around
Friend you’ve been witness to my heartstrings getting strung Out
You’ve heard them getting plucked and broken from this lonely Sound
But I know you’ve cut your Hands
But I know you’ve burned your Eyes
Watching out for Strangers and Enemies and taking Stands
Holding back the Fire for those who aren’t your Tribe
CHORUS:
Thank-you, for your gentle Words
Thank-you, for your silent Prayers
Thank-you, for your wide open Eyes
Thank-you, for not turning round to Hide
Forgotten Heroes, though I don’t know your name you are a Friend of Mine
Whether you’re sleeping in the desert sand Tonight
Or walking that thin blue line on behalf of me and Mine
Whether you’re planning out the lessons for someone’s Child
Or checking all your equipment before the smoke and Fire
Whether you’re studying for the Sermon
Or talking to that hobo nobody wants to Smell
Whether you’re rushing to the gunfire or to the Car Wreck
Or your own unique way, of holding back the Fires of Hell
CHORUS:
Thank-you, for your gentle Words
Thank-you, for your silent Prayers
Thank-you, for your wide open Eyes
Thank-you, for not turning round to Hide
Forgotten Heroes, though I don’t know your name you are a Friend of Mine
My friend I’ve seen me battered from your best Intentions
I’ve seen me worn out from the world Around
My Friend I’ve been witness to your heartstrings getting strung Out
I’ve heard them getting plucked and broken from this lonely Sound
Forgotten Heroes, though I don’t know your name you are a Friend of Mine
Forgotten Heroes is about all of those people in our lives we forget to appreciate. With the world seemingly setting its face against all of those whose service requires them to take upon their shoulders the heavy burden and sacred duty of authority, this song may be a reminder that service requires sacrifice and so does leadership. Leadership comes with the responsibility to make decisions that will effect not just the person making it, but whole Churches and Schools and Families and Towns and sometimes even Nations or the course of History. Decisions that most of the world will not understand the circumstances behind and will usually never take the time to seek out or consider. Every leader walks a tight rope of heroism on the one side and villainy on the other, with a life of invisibly and being underappreciate the taught and safe thin line in the middle they hope to walk every day. Many will endure a sleepless night on behalf of themselves or their own family, as every parent knows, but few will spend their nights awake wondering how their decisions impacted other families or pacing the hallway wondering if they could have done more for a stranger or a family they had never met. Leaders carry the most glory but they also carry the most sorrow and the most regrets.
There are so many who have proved by their discipline, their courage, their character and their response to the problems and their dangers in our world that they can be trusted with the authority needed to keep us safe from the dangers. These dangers stem from the of evil hearts both foreign and domestic such as our military and police protect us against, from natural and man-made disasters that firemen and paramedics are often called to rescue us from, from the dangers of ignorance of the mind that our teachers are called to guard our children against and the diseases of the soul and spirit which our pastors and ministers are called to steer the sheep away from. There have been many abuses of this sacred trust and this authority throughout human history, but human history has also shown us why we still give authority despite our fears and our mistrust, because anarchy is the most terrible price we can pay. This may not be apparent in America, but the jungles of Rwanda and the deserts of Sudan bear this out. We must choose between having a Law of the Land and a Law of the Jungle. The Book of Judges records that “There was no King in Israel, so every man did what was right in his own eyes” and this Book of the Bible then goes on to record a long list of atrocities that those of us in a culture that has enjoyed centuries of the Rule of Law cannot even imagine, with that phrase preceding 4 different atrocities that are all attributed directly to the anarchy many now demand. So many wish to return to having no Rule of Law, no “King in Israel”, with no one behind the shield or the thin blue line or in the classroom or in the courtroom or they simply wish to not fund them. Of course none of these people are students of History or have ever lived in the 3rd World or have seen up close and personal the fruit of their desire of anarchy.
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’ Judges 17:6
With the recent shootings of police, the disrespect towards teachers, the lack of support for pastors, the failure to fund our fire departments, we are approaching a time when good men wishing to support their families by public service will find other and less noble and less socially useful means of making ends meet. The good men and women will be simply chased out of those positions which leaves vacuum that will be filled by those who are motivated by power and by the opportunity to misuse their authority or influence or these vacancies will simply remain unfilled. In the times that we face, we need all of the protection, the guidance, the instruction, the counsel and the prayer that we can get, instead of less of all of these. Good men and good women will move mountains when they are appreciated and when their children are proud of what their parents have done with their lives, but they will not carry this duty long when they are made to be ashamed of all that was once held honorable. We found this out the hard way after Vietnam when the “Youth Culture” shamed our veterans in America in which college students were spitting on returning veterans, just as the Chinese found out after their “Youth Revolution” when college students locked teachers in rooms and made them write dozens of pages a day confessing they had “misled” the youth. This same student revolution turned into a regime that saw literally millions of people starve to death. The student revolution in Iran had similar effects. In the end movements that worship the ignorance of youth and glory in anarchy and rebellion are movements that fill the cemeteries with the people that had been their shields.
“As for you also, because of the Blood of My Covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” Zechariah 9:11
On a more personal level Forgotten Heroes was written while I was serving in the military about all of the people that had seemingly been sent to watch my back over the years. During that time in my life I really had no belief that God intervened in the lives of the average individual but only in the lives of those He favored like Abraham or Isaac or Jacob and the other Patriarchs. I was very mistrustful of anyone who came in to cover this fatherless boy, so I chalked it up to them building a reputation for themselves, or their sense of Christian duty and hopes of earning brownie points at the Pearly Gates, or simple human compassion. Over the years though I have come to find an invisible hand was guiding them, because it has come to guide me in coming alongside certain individuals.
True, there are some who want to build a reputation or get brownie points into heaven (both of which only rarely fool man and never fool God) , but there are so many more who are led to intervene in people’s lives because God is the protector of the Fatherless, the Foreigner and the Widow. They won’t be led to help everyone, to shield or cover everyone, just as I am not, but there are certain people that God will send His servants to assist whether these servants be angels or men. If these servants hear His Voice, they will be called and sent to those God wants to protect, to shelter, to cover and to not walk alone, even if the ones being helped don’t understand why these people suddenly appear in their lives for no reason.
I remember my 8th Grade Teacher who bought me a Bible, a Baptist Preacher who gave me a Greek Lexicon, a Pentecostal Couple that bought my brother and I clothes from Walmart with money they certainly didn’t have, and a lady who already had numerous foster kids taking us to McDonald’s and baseball games the Summer after my mom died, in addition to my Sensei putting up with my snotty teenage attitude when he wasn’t making any money from teaching me. I remember a Gas Station owner who gave my brother and I ride home after the gas station we hung out to get away from our dad closed every night, my boss at the grocery store who bought me a pair of shoes when mine literally fell apart into pieces when I was in High School and the other boss there who called the judge to get rid of my speeding ticket so I could join the Air Force. I remember the eye doctor who gave me his expensive leather jacket during the ice storm Winter and my Uncle giving me his spare car and my Great Aunt showing up at Court to make sure I was treated fairly before the judge the first time around with my ex-wife who had a tendency to forget when she hit people and they had to defend themselves. I remember the Christian Air Force Captain who came to my Combat Comm. Unit to ask my Captain why she was screaming at the top of her lungs at her airmen for an hour a day (she got saved later at his Bible Study) and the Sergeant I met at his Bible study who stayed on the phone with me for 6 hours when I was suicidal the Winter after 9/11. That Winter was after my dad died and my fiancé broke up with me my younger brother tried to overdose on phills but the military wouldn’t let me adopt him and the United States entered a war, all within 18 months of me moving to overseas straight from a town without a traffic light.. I remember my Squadron Commander in Oklahoma who chose to sit down with me and have a talk about what was going on in my life instead of just hitting me with a Court Martial to get rid of a problem Airman like most would have done, and I remember my Sergeant who did the same and the numerous cops who have let me walk free.
I remember all the people inviting me to Church and showing up at my house to fix my car out of nowhere and pulling over on the side of the highway to give me and my brother a ride so we wouldn’t have to hitchhike from strangers and the restaurant owner who let us pick the trash up out of his parking lot so we could have money to eat with. In addition to the friends that would let me borrow their car even if I never returned it on time because I used it to go see one girl or another and made them late for Church, the money I borrowed from them because I didn’t know how to handle my own, the hearts of their sisters in Christ that I broke in my own brokenness, and all the things they somehow someway loved me through. , And all this was at a time I literally hated the God they loved and would tell the world or anyone that would listen all the reasons why I thought He wasn’t fair and just and not the Loving and Kind Father they found at the Christian Bookstore.
I also remember all of the stupid and ignorant and hateful things I have said that they overlooked and let me stick around and loved on me anyway, no matter how hateful I was in my black nail paint and my Anne Rice Novels and cynical view of anything an anyone except for Stained and the Smashing Pumpkins and “Lost Books of the Bible”. The biggest miracle being how those same people stayed around for so long seeing how prideful and unbearably religious I became just immediately after that. Truthfully, it’s a miracle I didn’t lose twice the friends that I did in those years, as I know I wouldn’t tolerate very well the person I was then.
A preacher named Perry Stone gave a sermon once that always stuck with me. He is from West Virginia, from the backwoods, much like I am. He said in his sermon that the reason many of us are still here is the prayers of our mothers and grandmothers that had a relationship with the Creator and that the Creator Honors their prayers for our protection because He knew them, just as He protected the descendents of Abraham and the other “Friends of God” in the Scripture. I have seen this happen in my own life, in other people’s lives, and I have also seen its absence in the lives of those who had no one to cover them in prayer when they were growing up. Sometimes our “Forgotten Heroes” are people who died before we could really know them, but they knew us and knew we would need the Covering and would need the “Forgotten Heroes” they would never meet.
Friend you’ve seen me battered from my best Intentions
You’ve seen me worn out from the world Around
Friend you’ve been witness to my heartstrings getting strung Out
You’ve heard them getting plucked and broken from this lonely Sound
But I know you’ve cut your Hands
But I know you’ve burned your Eyes
Watching out for Strangers and Enemies and taking Stands
Holding back the Fire for those who aren’t your Tribe
CHORUS:
Thank-you, for your gentle Words
Thank-you, for your silent Prayers
Thank-you, for your wide open Eyes
Thank-you, for not turning round to Hide
Forgotten Heroes, though I don’t know your name you are a Friend of Mine
Whether you’re sleeping in the desert sand Tonight
Or walking that thin blue line on behalf of me and Mine
Whether you’re planning out the lessons for someone’s Child
Or checking all your equipment before the smoke and Fire
Whether you’re studying for the Sermon
Or talking to that hobo nobody wants to Smell
Whether you’re rushing to the gunfire or to the Car Wreck
Or your own unique way, of holding back the Fires of Hell
CHORUS:
Thank-you, for your gentle Words
Thank-you, for your silent Prayers
Thank-you, for your wide open Eyes
Thank-you, for not turning round to Hide
Forgotten Heroes, though I don’t know your name you are a Friend of Mine
My friend I’ve seen me battered from your best Intentions
I’ve seen me worn out from the world Around
My Friend I’ve been witness to your heartstrings getting strung Out
I’ve heard them getting plucked and broken from this lonely Sound
Forgotten Heroes, though I don’t know your name you are a Friend of Mine
Forgotten Heroes is about all of those people in our lives we forget to appreciate. With the world seemingly setting its face against all of those whose service requires them to take upon their shoulders the heavy burden and sacred duty of authority, this song may be a reminder that service requires sacrifice and so does leadership. Leadership comes with the responsibility to make decisions that will effect not just the person making it, but whole Churches and Schools and Families and Towns and sometimes even Nations or the course of History. Decisions that most of the world will not understand the circumstances behind and will usually never take the time to seek out or consider. Every leader walks a tight rope of heroism on the one side and villainy on the other, with a life of invisibly and being underappreciate the taught and safe thin line in the middle they hope to walk every day. Many will endure a sleepless night on behalf of themselves or their own family, as every parent knows, but few will spend their nights awake wondering how their decisions impacted other families or pacing the hallway wondering if they could have done more for a stranger or a family they had never met. Leaders carry the most glory but they also carry the most sorrow and the most regrets.
There are so many who have proved by their discipline, their courage, their character and their response to the problems and their dangers in our world that they can be trusted with the authority needed to keep us safe from the dangers. These dangers stem from the of evil hearts both foreign and domestic such as our military and police protect us against, from natural and man-made disasters that firemen and paramedics are often called to rescue us from, from the dangers of ignorance of the mind that our teachers are called to guard our children against and the diseases of the soul and spirit which our pastors and ministers are called to steer the sheep away from. There have been many abuses of this sacred trust and this authority throughout human history, but human history has also shown us why we still give authority despite our fears and our mistrust, because anarchy is the most terrible price we can pay. This may not be apparent in America, but the jungles of Rwanda and the deserts of Sudan bear this out. We must choose between having a Law of the Land and a Law of the Jungle. The Book of Judges records that “There was no King in Israel, so every man did what was right in his own eyes” and this Book of the Bible then goes on to record a long list of atrocities that those of us in a culture that has enjoyed centuries of the Rule of Law cannot even imagine, with that phrase preceding 4 different atrocities that are all attributed directly to the anarchy many now demand. So many wish to return to having no Rule of Law, no “King in Israel”, with no one behind the shield or the thin blue line or in the classroom or in the courtroom or they simply wish to not fund them. Of course none of these people are students of History or have ever lived in the 3rd World or have seen up close and personal the fruit of their desire of anarchy.
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’ Judges 17:6
With the recent shootings of police, the disrespect towards teachers, the lack of support for pastors, the failure to fund our fire departments, we are approaching a time when good men wishing to support their families by public service will find other and less noble and less socially useful means of making ends meet. The good men and women will be simply chased out of those positions which leaves vacuum that will be filled by those who are motivated by power and by the opportunity to misuse their authority or influence or these vacancies will simply remain unfilled. In the times that we face, we need all of the protection, the guidance, the instruction, the counsel and the prayer that we can get, instead of less of all of these. Good men and good women will move mountains when they are appreciated and when their children are proud of what their parents have done with their lives, but they will not carry this duty long when they are made to be ashamed of all that was once held honorable. We found this out the hard way after Vietnam when the “Youth Culture” shamed our veterans in America in which college students were spitting on returning veterans, just as the Chinese found out after their “Youth Revolution” when college students locked teachers in rooms and made them write dozens of pages a day confessing they had “misled” the youth. This same student revolution turned into a regime that saw literally millions of people starve to death. The student revolution in Iran had similar effects. In the end movements that worship the ignorance of youth and glory in anarchy and rebellion are movements that fill the cemeteries with the people that had been their shields.
“As for you also, because of the Blood of My Covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” Zechariah 9:11
On a more personal level Forgotten Heroes was written while I was serving in the military about all of the people that had seemingly been sent to watch my back over the years. During that time in my life I really had no belief that God intervened in the lives of the average individual but only in the lives of those He favored like Abraham or Isaac or Jacob and the other Patriarchs. I was very mistrustful of anyone who came in to cover this fatherless boy, so I chalked it up to them building a reputation for themselves, or their sense of Christian duty and hopes of earning brownie points at the Pearly Gates, or simple human compassion. Over the years though I have come to find an invisible hand was guiding them, because it has come to guide me in coming alongside certain individuals.
True, there are some who want to build a reputation or get brownie points into heaven (both of which only rarely fool man and never fool God) , but there are so many more who are led to intervene in people’s lives because God is the protector of the Fatherless, the Foreigner and the Widow. They won’t be led to help everyone, to shield or cover everyone, just as I am not, but there are certain people that God will send His servants to assist whether these servants be angels or men. If these servants hear His Voice, they will be called and sent to those God wants to protect, to shelter, to cover and to not walk alone, even if the ones being helped don’t understand why these people suddenly appear in their lives for no reason.
I remember my 8th Grade Teacher who bought me a Bible, a Baptist Preacher who gave me a Greek Lexicon, a Pentecostal Couple that bought my brother and I clothes from Walmart with money they certainly didn’t have, and a lady who already had numerous foster kids taking us to McDonald’s and baseball games the Summer after my mom died, in addition to my Sensei putting up with my snotty teenage attitude when he wasn’t making any money from teaching me. I remember a Gas Station owner who gave my brother and I ride home after the gas station we hung out to get away from our dad closed every night, my boss at the grocery store who bought me a pair of shoes when mine literally fell apart into pieces when I was in High School and the other boss there who called the judge to get rid of my speeding ticket so I could join the Air Force. I remember the eye doctor who gave me his expensive leather jacket during the ice storm Winter and my Uncle giving me his spare car and my Great Aunt showing up at Court to make sure I was treated fairly before the judge the first time around with my ex-wife who had a tendency to forget when she hit people and they had to defend themselves. I remember the Christian Air Force Captain who came to my Combat Comm. Unit to ask my Captain why she was screaming at the top of her lungs at her airmen for an hour a day (she got saved later at his Bible Study) and the Sergeant I met at his Bible study who stayed on the phone with me for 6 hours when I was suicidal the Winter after 9/11. That Winter was after my dad died and my fiancé broke up with me my younger brother tried to overdose on phills but the military wouldn’t let me adopt him and the United States entered a war, all within 18 months of me moving to overseas straight from a town without a traffic light.. I remember my Squadron Commander in Oklahoma who chose to sit down with me and have a talk about what was going on in my life instead of just hitting me with a Court Martial to get rid of a problem Airman like most would have done, and I remember my Sergeant who did the same and the numerous cops who have let me walk free.
I remember all the people inviting me to Church and showing up at my house to fix my car out of nowhere and pulling over on the side of the highway to give me and my brother a ride so we wouldn’t have to hitchhike from strangers and the restaurant owner who let us pick the trash up out of his parking lot so we could have money to eat with. In addition to the friends that would let me borrow their car even if I never returned it on time because I used it to go see one girl or another and made them late for Church, the money I borrowed from them because I didn’t know how to handle my own, the hearts of their sisters in Christ that I broke in my own brokenness, and all the things they somehow someway loved me through. , And all this was at a time I literally hated the God they loved and would tell the world or anyone that would listen all the reasons why I thought He wasn’t fair and just and not the Loving and Kind Father they found at the Christian Bookstore.
I also remember all of the stupid and ignorant and hateful things I have said that they overlooked and let me stick around and loved on me anyway, no matter how hateful I was in my black nail paint and my Anne Rice Novels and cynical view of anything an anyone except for Stained and the Smashing Pumpkins and “Lost Books of the Bible”. The biggest miracle being how those same people stayed around for so long seeing how prideful and unbearably religious I became just immediately after that. Truthfully, it’s a miracle I didn’t lose twice the friends that I did in those years, as I know I wouldn’t tolerate very well the person I was then.
A preacher named Perry Stone gave a sermon once that always stuck with me. He is from West Virginia, from the backwoods, much like I am. He said in his sermon that the reason many of us are still here is the prayers of our mothers and grandmothers that had a relationship with the Creator and that the Creator Honors their prayers for our protection because He knew them, just as He protected the descendents of Abraham and the other “Friends of God” in the Scripture. I have seen this happen in my own life, in other people’s lives, and I have also seen its absence in the lives of those who had no one to cover them in prayer when they were growing up. Sometimes our “Forgotten Heroes” are people who died before we could really know them, but they knew us and knew we would need the Covering and would need the “Forgotten Heroes” they would never meet.
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