When was the last time you saw a headline like these?

Local Church supports 15 Ukraine pastors

Romanian orphans get first Christmas presents

Church builds school in urban slum

Pastor retires after preaching 67 years

These things do happen; but we rarely hear their stories or read about them in the paper or online.  Some TV stations occasionally run token features about “heroes”.  Many of their heroes are secular. Some newspapers carry an inspirational story now and again. Some newspapers even feature “Religion” sections one day a week.  But you’ll seldom, if ever, read about the pastor who preached for 67 years or the hundreds of churches whose mission focus brings hope and God’s love and grace to a broken and lost world. You’ll seldom read about local mission organizations reaching out to the homeless or helping poor families with emergency money for utilities and rent.

These people and organizations have amazing testimonies about the grace and mercy and miracles of God. Incredible testimonies about lives transformed by the love of Christ. Testimonies about sacrificial giving. Why don’t we hear about them?

Because Charlie Sheen is bigger news (and sells more advertising) than a self-sacrificing pastor who spends his whole life ministring to prostitutes and the homeless in an urban wasteland. Because Casey Anthony is more fascinating for killing her child than missionaries struggling to save children who are starving, and AIDS-infected  in Bangladesh. Because a 1972 movie about a mob boss and his twisted family, The Godfather, wins three academy awards and ranks as the second most popular movie ever made, yet the academy passes on The Passion Of The Christ.

What is evil and disgusting and sinful in the world grabs the headlines and sensational press. Those who live in that evil, disgusting, sinful life are just like most of us.  They are searching for significance in their lives. They want acceptance. They want to be noticed.  But, like the terrorists who flew planes into the Twin Towers in New York City, they achieve their distorted form of significance at the expense of others. For instance, it is more desirable, more popular and, sadly enough, more acceptable in our culture to seek revenge than it is to offer forgiveness, to sleep around rather than remain faithful in a marriage, to shortchange the customer rather than to be honest, to cheat the company than to work with integrity, to be self-serving than to serve others. TV, Cable, newspapers, magazines and the Internet all reflect acceptance of the seedy side of life rather than the sanctified way of living.

We never heard about the time Steve saved Scott’s life. Steve was with a crew in the Sea of Cortez, filming a documentary, when he heard an SOS on the radio. Steve abandoned his crew and the documentary and ran off to save a man he had never met.  Scott was sitting precariously on a rock outcrop dehydrated and scarred from being battered on the rocks. Steve, dressed in khaki shorts and shirt, dived in the water and swam across to save Scott. It wasn’t until later that Scott Jones learned that the Steve who rescued him was Steve Irwin, the Australian wildlife expert and conservationist who gained worldwide fame for his TV show the Crocodile Hunter.

Steve’s lifesaving story, like hundreds of other stories, will probably remain obscure and ignored. Because the world would rather watch or read about shootings and movie stars and football players and baby killers and embezzlers  than they would hear The Story that could save their lives–The Story of the One who delivered us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. The real heroes, the truly significant people who sacrifice their lives to help others, will probably not be significant here on earth. But those who love God and serve Him will find significance beyond human understanding when we all get to heaven.

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