According to Stand Firm, although Johnny Oates manages the Texas Rangers, he's no Lone Ranger--he has a wife and three kids. He also has a mind set on reaching the World Series. Those ambitions controlled him until he decided baseball would no longer be his god.

Oates's wife was hospitalized for emotional and physical exhaustion in April 1995. The timing? His first season with the Rangers was opening.

Yet he had the courage to ask for a leave of absence to spend time with his ailing wife. His assistants could handle the dugout. No one else could do the husbanding.

He stood by Gloria. The team stood by him. In 1996, Oates was his league's Manager of the Year; for Gloria, he's the husband of a lifetime.

Jesus Christ gave us the ultimate model of masculine love: He sacrificed himself for others. It doesn't take any special ability to live a self-centered life. But it takes character to sacrifice.