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It's a normal day in our cafeteria—normal, that is, until a bizarre chemistry experiment transports a prehistoric pterodactyl into our school!

It swoops down and captures a girl in its talons. As others cower in fear, I leap onto the salad bar and dive toward the soaring dinosaur. When we pass in mid-air, I wrench the girl from its grasp. We land in a perfect roll.  All eyes look to me. Confidently, I say, "Everything will be all right. I'm here." All in a day's work for a hero.

If I would've told any of my high school friends what I daydreamed about at lunch, I would've been laughed right out of the lunchroom. Or told I watched too many action movies. Which is probably true. After all, I love watching heroes like Optimus Prime, Batman and Jason Bourne save the day. And in those old lunchtime daydreams, I wanted to be just like them. I longed to be a hero.

The truth is, I think my definition of hero was a bit narrow. Recently, I rented the movie Freedom Writers. It's about a true-life teacher, Erin Gruwell, who risked everything to help disadvantaged inner-city students. She was truly a hero.

The Erin Gruwell character showed me a hero doesn't have to run into a burning building or chase a bad guy until he's captured. In fact, she possessed many of the same traits as my bigger-than-life heroes—but more realistically. That got me thinking about five traits that define a hero and how they look in an everyday way.

Hairspray's Tracy Turnblad doesn't look like the typical star of her favorite dance show. She's not tall and pencil thin. Still, she pursues her dream of starring on the show. Tracy believes appearances don't make the person. It's a bold stance in a world that believes looks are everything.

Courage and bravery are all about boldly confronting fears, dangers and change without turning back. Sure, that could be facing dangers like pterodactyls or burning buildings. But we're faced with dangers and fears everyday. The danger of someone making fun of our weight or our acne. The fear of not being accepted.

Maybe bravery for you is ignoring the popularity game in school or refusing to believe what bullies say about you and, instead, liking who God created you to be. Maybe boldness is sitting next to the kid everyone seems to hate. Maybe courage is living proudly and publicly for Christ. After all, Philippians 1:27-28 offers this challenge: "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ … without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you" (NIV).

In the true story Amazing Grace, advocates fighting Britain's slave trade meet with a young member of Britain's Parliament, William Wilberforce. To make the injustices real to him, they show him chains used to imprison slaves. The horrors of the trade enrage William. He's haunted by the injustice to the point that he has nightmares about slavery. William then dedicates the rest of his life to abolishing Britain's slave trade and showing others the truth.

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