Who are Your Children's Heroes?

"Do you want your kids to meet a real live Russian missionary couple?"

When my friend called with this offer I had no idea the impact this relationship would have in my child's life.

We went to the meeting in a friend's living room with twelve other children. The young missionary couple had just returned from their honeymoon. The wife was from a nearby town in East Texas and the husband from Russia. They were on their way back to St. Petersburg where they would serve with Campus Crusade for Christ.

The kids sat starry-eyed listening to the missionary couple's story. They all had their AWANA books signed. One of their requirements of the AWANA Bible memory club is to meet a missionary and have them sign a page in their book. I thought we were just getting a requirement fulfilled.

My daughter was only seven at the time. Over the years we kept in contact with the couple. My daughter always took the pictures sent in their letters and pinned them up in her room. On furlough, the Russian missionaries often visited our home and we hosted gatherings to introduce them to other families.

As my daughter entered high school, she wanted to become a missionary. She visited Brazil several times and chose to attend a Christian college where she is training to enter the mission field.

This picture was just sent to me and it says so much. My daughter is the one on the far left. The family in this photo is the missionary couple with their three children.

They are standing in Jerusalem, Israel. My daughter is now the missionary, interning during her senior year at Moody Bible College. The Russian missionary family is

vacationing in Israel--halfway around the world from that first encounter in the East Texas living room and fifteen years later.

Those seeds planted years ago have come to life. My daughter found heroes that inspired her to serve Christ in missions.

Who are your kids' heroes?