Tyler's story on the news really touched me. He showed me what makes someone a hero. In this case, an eight-year-old hero.
Since he had Martin Luther King Day out of school, Tyler went to stay at his grandpa's trailer for the night. He wasn't the only one. Nine people slept that night in that little trailer.
Tyler was awakened by the fire next to him. The blanket covering his four-year-old cousin was in flames.
He worked fast get his loved ones out of that trailer. He and six of his relatives made it outside. His grandfather and uncle didn't. And his disabled grandpa needed a wheelchair to get around.
With his sister trying unsuccessfully to grab his hand, Tyler ran back into a home now engulfed in flames. He was not going to let his loved ones die in those flames.
Tyler's body was found next to his grandfather's, his uncle in the next room. The boy's mom said through her tears, "It looked like he had his arms around his grandpa, trying to find a way to carry him."
The superintendent of the district where Tyler was a 4th-grader summed it up pretty well. "According to emergency personnel, Tyler was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake the eight other people in the residence at the time. In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others - and he is truly a hero."
As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, we're likely to hear that word "hero" bandied about a bit. But little Tyler truly shows us what the word really means.
Self-abandonment.
From Tyler's trailer fire to the collapsing Twin Towers of September 11 and virtually every rescue we've ever heard of, that's the difference that makes a person a life-saving hero.
Caring so much about not letting people die that you forget about yourself. It's not about me. It's all about the people in danger.
Not just people in a burning building. But people we know. Who are today one day closer to an unthinkable eternity. Because they're one heartbeat away from having to pay the eternal death penalty for their sin.
Which Jesus already paid! "The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us..." (Galatians 1:4). Hanging on a cross, He paid for our sin so we can trade the hell we deserve for the heaven we could never deserve.
But somebody has to tell them they're in need of rescue. That God's only Son loves them enough to die for them. That Jesus is reaching out His hand for them. That they only have to grab Him as their only hope.
So God summons us to "snatch others from the fire and save them" (Jude 23).
But sometimes we're with doomed people we know for years - and we never tell them about our Jesus. They stay lost because we don't tell them the Way Home. And they will be lost forever if we remain silent.
Because we're afraid. Afraid they won't like us anymore. Afraid of what they'll think. Afraid we'll mess it up. Afraid they might laugh at us or reject us.
Notice. All the fears that keep us from going in for the rescue have one thing in common. They're all about "me." What might happen to me if I try to rescue them.
And that's where the hero difference can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone we care about.
Self-abandonment.
Caring so much about not letting them die that you forget about yourself. Because you're more concerned about what will happen to them than what it might cost you.
I've stood by the casket of someone I never told. It's one of the most awful feelings in the world. I can't have that back. But there are people around me who still have a chance. They just need to know what Jesus did for them.
Our orders from God are clear. "Rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). The consequences of holding back are awful: "He will die for his sin." And - "I will hold you accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 3:18).
There's still time. If I will just forget about myself.
Like my Savior did.