Name Dropper

Over the years I have had the privilege of meeting some pretty big names in sports. While I was attending college in preparation for the ministry, I worked for a now-defunct baseball card and sports memorabilia company.

While the pay wasn't the best, one of the side benefits was being able to meet professional athletes and conduct personal signings with them. An athlete's agent would often charge our company an exorbitant fee to sit with their player for 3 hours and assist them in autographing 1,000 sports cards, or 500 full-sized basketballs, or a couple of dozen boxes of mini football helmets. So to help keep the costs down, the company always preferred to send someone like me---a nice guy with a smile who only made $8.00 an hour!

Let me behave like a shameless name-dropper right now:

Jerry Stackhouse was great, although I didn't enjoy the speeding ticket I got on the way to his house. My brother was with me on that trip and we were running late. I ended up buying Domino's pizza and Jerry showed me the new shoe Fila was bringing out just for him.

I met Kevin Garnett twice, once at a show and then again at a signing. He talked big about beating me at the then-popular video game NBA Jam-- but we never did get to play. (He didn't stand a chance, anyway.)

Heather actually went with me up to Boston when we signed Antoine Walker. We had the right address and knew he lived outside the city, but we realized we were lost when we saw the signs for "Ted Williams Parkway".

My friend Craig and I drove nearly 11 hours to Michigan one weekend to get together with Isiah Thomas. He really was a class act. I was sad to learn that he didn't have season tickets with the Detroit Pistons, even though he was instrumental in leading them to two consecutive championships.

On two other trips I had the chance to meet Nancy Kerrigan and Muhammad Ali. I don't have any pictures from those two, so you'll just have to take my word on it. When I asked Nancy to sign a photo for me and make it out to Heather, she winked at me and asked--- "Who's Heather?" And I can honestly say that I was star-struck with Muhammad Ali. Hey, the guy is the greatest.

Then in 2001 at my very first NASCAR race, I was privileged to meet Jeff Gordon. This picture was taken just moments before he climbed into the car.

And finally--- through the providence of God a baseball hit foul by Derek Jeter came right to me during a 2005 Yankees-Orioles game. My dad was up getting a diet-Coke during the third inning and he nearly fell over when he returned to see that I caught a foul ball while he was gone. OK...maybe that last one doesn't count because I didn't actually get to meet Derek Jeter. But it's still a great story with a big-name----and besides, this is my blog and name-dropping is what this post is all about!

But in all seriousness, even though I have met some pretty 'big names' in my lifetime---all of them pale in comparison to the day I met Jesus Christ. Why? Because His name is the name "above every name" (Phil. 2:9). Only Jesus' name has any real value "for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12).

Sure, today's athletes and celebrities are on the receiving end of human recognition now, but one day at the name of Jesus "every knee will bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth...to the glory of God the Father"(Phil. 2:10).

So the bottom line is simple. Celebrity name-dropping might get you into a party, more attention at the lunch table, or even a foot in the door to a better job. It might even get you a string of comments on your blog. But once you depart this earthly life, none of those names can help you.

That's why Jesus' name is the only name that really matters.