He Walks Among Us: Devotions by Rich and Reneé StearnsSýnishorn

After a tsunami struck Sri Lanka in late 2004, Clarence worked twenty hour shifts and did whatever he could to help others. Photo: © Jon Warren/World Vision

Heroes of the Faith

By Rich Stearns, president of World Vision U.S.

The tsunami hit without warning. In less than thirty minutes, tens of thousands of people died, and hundreds of miles of coastal villages were washed away. Just fifty yards from the sea in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, the roof had been torn off a three-story building, indicating a wave at least forty feet high.

World Vision’s Clarence Sutharsan was at home with his family that Sunday morning, far enough from the ocean to be safe. His phone rang, and he heard the frightened voice of the wife of one of his managers saying that they needed to be evacuated. With no thought for his own safety, Clarence jumped into his vehicle. He drove through three feet of standing water and moved them to safety. Then Clarence mobilized five other vehicles and hurried to the coastline to rescue the injured. Sadly, most were dead. He told me that what he witnessed that day will forever haunt him: bodies battered and twisted, strewn across the beach, trapped inside homes, and draped in trees. Clarence is one of my heroes. This humble man of God was thrust by circumstance into something horrible, and he responded by doing whatever he could to help.

Hebrews 11 has been called the “Faith Hall of Fame” because it recounts the heroism of people throughout Scripture who paid a great price for their faith. Clarence is just such a hero—not only because he rose to the challenge, but also because he had long ago committed his life to serving God, whatever the cost. The writer of Hebrews said of these heroes that “the world was not worthy of them” (11:38).

Thankfully, many such heroes serve Christ today, and not just in faraway places like Sri Lanka, but right where God has placed you. Today’s heroes of the faith can be found working with youth in the inner city, comforting the dying in hospice care, supporting a struggling single mother, spending their time with a disabled child, or visiting each day with an elderly shut-in. Each one of us can be a hero for Christ if we intentionally seek to imitate Christ’s compassion and love for people. But we have to be willing to pay the price. You see, heroism always comes with a cost.

Excerpted from He Walks Among Us, a devotional book by Rich and Reneé Stearns, with photos by Jon Warren. (October 2013, Thomas Nelson)