WHEN THE GREATS ARE GREAT!

Cavaliers win NBA championship as LeBron James has game of his life

 

In the last quarter, with the score very tight, Golden State Warriors Player raced down the court with almost free access to the basket, he jumped up for a lay up and then that’s when King James happened, leaping into the air, from what seemed out of nowhere, leaping over one player, right over the other and then seemed to effortlessly squash the ball against the back board, stopping it’s descent into the basket and then while still in motion (still in the air) rolled the ball against the back board, to the right, just to make sure the ball absolutely did not accidentally roll into the basket, all this in a single leap. Let’s rewind a couple of years or so, with Lebron’s promise to return to Cleveland to bring them a Championship. What kind of non-sense is this? How many players are on a team? How many teams are in the NBA? How many teams can even make it into the playoffs, never mind make it past the first round, never mind make it into the semi-finals and then play the best of the best to win an NBA Championship? The odds of one man promising this are improbable, at best, ludicrous at worse, but yet, Lebron James, otherwise known as “King James” accomplished it!!!  Down 3-1 in the series against a team with the best record in NBA history made it even more improbable. He quoted in the interview afterwards, “he had a confidence in what he could do”.  That’s putting it mildly.  It’s almost or maybe it actually is, “some kind of super human strength or ability on the court”, it is as if everything slows down for him on the court, while his speed to others seems to go into some kind of x-factor. The power of a human to say, “I will bring you this”, wait here, I’ll be back, is something all to familiar with us. Whether that is a General in a war, that with all confidence marches forward, while his men duck and hide behind rocks to avoid bullets and arrows he fearlessly marches forward with some kind of unexplainable confidence, that none of those bullets will touch him. He commands his army fearlessly and confidently until he conquers. Whether this be in war time or in the realm of sports/athletics, it is common, but uncommon to most men. We are the 4 cylinder car, they are the V-Tec Engine, 10 Cylinder monster truck. It’s hard to accept, but it is a fact. When Thomas Jefferson espoused the words, “all men are created equal” I’m not sure what he was talking about? Perhaps in God’s sight he looks at us equally with love, but surely our creator did not create us all with the same intelligence, brawn, ability or power. It is a very odd thing for a man to claim to be able to bring victory in and of himself alone, as a matter of fact, we call this arrogance, we call them fools and full of themselves. But the reality is, there are some men that really do have the ability in themselves to bring victory to many. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be one of those men or women, I can imagine it must be hard to deal with mentally & emotionally. How do we grasp, the power that we have, admitting it, facing up to it and yet still keep are feet on the ground? (and many don’t, they lose their minds or get involved in drugs and alcohol to cope). What gave Napoleon the power to be able to conquer and conquer until there was nothing left to conquer? What gave Einstein the ability to calculate The Theory of Relativity, while the rest of us were still trying to get through Algebra? I’m not comparing Lebron to Napoleon or Einstein (in the large scheme of life, winning an NBA Title for a City is really not that relevant) but what I am saying, is that within each sphere of influence, whether that be sports, physics, war , intelligence, inventors, etc..etc…there are men that function on a sphere and/or level that is almost super human and the rest of us can only tune in (if we can) and watch and be in awe. While they must contend to keep their feet on the ground and not lose their minds to the ability that has been gifted to them, so it is equally true that you and I, the average Joe and Susie must also contend to keep our minds, from becoming down about the ordinary beings we have been created to be. We will live and die and not leave our mark, our names will not be written into the history books as the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James. We will simply come and pass, we are the masses that fill the stadiums to watch the Gladiators, we are the thousands that pay to watch the super human, we are in awe of them because they are what we could only dream of being. We are the many, they are the few. We comprise most of the population on planet earth. Who are we? We are the ordinary, they are the greats. The truth is, even in the ordinary, there are “the greats”. They take ordinary and make it great. The ordinary father or mother, who not more than 100 people probably know, but within their sphere of ordinary, they are known as great. I believe that our God has called none to mediocrity. All should strive to be great within their realm. Greatness is available to all, just on different levels. When the Greats are Great, it is great to see! But I think, we must wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and see, that we ourselves can be great, but we must strive just as hard and be just as determined as King James to bring a Championship to our homes, to our family, to our children, to whatever place, vocation, sphere, God has placed us in, we can all be great.