“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.” – Mark 9:38-41
I met Arnold Palmer back in the early 2000’s… the Senior US Open had come to town. I decided to follow him for a bit that day and on one of the holes, his tee shot hit the tree that I was standing under. His ball rattled around a few limbs and dropped 10 feet directly in front of me. When he finally made it to his ball, he realized that he was stymied. Another huge tree about 50 yards ahead stood between his ball and the green. Arnie went back and forth between clubs a few times trying to figure out how to best play the shot, and then stopped everything and looked directly at me. With a wry smile he asked, “Young fella, what would you do in this situation?” I replied, “Mr. Palmer, with all these people watching me and all these cameras, I would probably swing and miss the ball completely!” He let out a hearty laugh and said, “Well, that’s not the image I really had in mind, but at least you’re honest!”
At that moment I became a member of “Arnie’s Army;” one of literally tens of thousands of his loyal fans. On my way home that evening, all I could think about was how the great Arnold Palmer took a minute out of his life to make me a part of it. And I think I told everyone I knew about it for like the next week. But that brief encounter didn’t qualify me to be a name dropper. Truth be told, I’m not overly fond of people who enjoy namedropping. I find the practice rather cheesy, as though somehow it instantly elevates their social standing.
But there is one very important exception.
I’m really close friends with a guy and we’ve been through a lot together. He was there the day I got married, and also there with me to celebrate the birth of my children. But during my middle years when life got busy, I ignored his calls and did my own thing. And yet, he never once forgot about me. And even later in life when we reconnected, he was never happier to hear from me. “I thought about you every day,” he said.
I did my best to explain to him everything that had happened, how I lost my way for a period of years because of my drinking and how sorry I was for abandoning him altogether. I felt so much shame that day talking to him, but I’ll never forget what he said to me. “You don’t have to explain anything more. I know all about it. Here’s the most important thing I want you to know – I forgive you for all of that. As far as I’m concerned, it never happened. There’s absolutely nothing you’ve done, or could ever do, that would stand in the way of my love for you.”
I just love him. There’s not a single negative quality about him, and yet he considers me one of his closest friends.
So when I’m around other people, I drop his name because I know him and he knows me. He’s fairly popular in certain circles, and others know him too, or know of him at least. Sometimes people are curious and want to know more about how he and I connected, but often times they’re totally disinterested. Actually there are times when I disclose our friendship to others and it lowers my social standing in their eyes. But that’s okay. He told me that I should expect that quite often. In fact, he told me that if the world speaks well of me, I probably don’t know him as well as I think I know him.
You may know him too, or at least know of him. His name is the name above all names. His name is Jesus.
And his is the only name worth dropping.
Former Blackout Artist 