Kyle Rote, former All-American football player from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, played eleven years for the N.Y. Giants in the NFL. He scored a touchdown on an average of once every six times he caught a pass. He scored fifty times in three hundred receptions.

The greatest tribute ever paid an athlete in modern times was paid by his college and pro teammates. Fourteen of them named their sons Kyle!

Some people have that kind of effect on those around them. Jesus certainly did. He inspired enough awe in Simon Peter that he tried walking on water. Crowds flocked from near and far to hear Him, touch Him, be near Him. There was something different about Jesus.

The mother of James and John knew that He was someone special. She knelt before Him to make a request.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Command," she said, "that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom."

Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking." Then turning to James and John, He asked, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?"

They replied, "We are able." Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

Notice that Jesus did not reject their aspirations to greatness. We need to see that. The Christian life has too often been a rationalization for doing nothing, for allowing fate to determine our destinies, for being passive and refusing to take responsibility for life. We forget that God created us in His own image. He gave us the ability to dream, to plan, to act, to grow, to contribute. He placed within us the desire to achieve, to lead the parade, to stand out from the crowd. The only time that is wrong is when it becomes the dominant influence in our lives; when it causes us to devalue and demean others; when it becomes destructive to the truly important values in our lives.

We are called to be great in all things, as we serve our heavenly father.