What's In a Name, Apparently Much

I've been incognito the last couple of days. Actually, we made a spur of the moment decision to spend the weekend with our youngest daughter, Kendra, and her husband, Craig. They live two to three hours away, depending on traffic. We decided to go Saturday, early afternoon and we were out of here in less than a half hour. We took Isaiah with us since his mom would be working all weekend. Our activities included going to the Volvo car museum and playing pee wee golf. I gues those were the highlights and we did enjoy both. It felt so good to abandon this place on Saturday but I can't express the joy in returning to what is ever so humble, no place like home.



While I was gone I contemplated the meaning of names. Kendra and Craig are expecting their first child and while we didn't discuss names this visit, we have done a considerable amount of that in the recent past. Like I've mentioned recently, I have been reading in Genesis and I realize again the importance God places on the naming of people. I read that Eve means "living". Out of her life would continue. Abram's name was changed by God to Abraham meaning the father of many nations. Sarai's name was changed to Sarah which means princess. On and on it goes in the Word. God made it very clear to both Mary and Joseph that their little baby would be named, "Jesus" meaning Savior. When I was having babies many years ago, I don't recall our putting much effort into naming our children with names of destiny. Our boys have Bible names; John meaning Jehovah is gracious; James, the New Testament form of Jacob which means "may God protect"; and Joshua, which also means Jehovah is gracious. I guess we did alright on those but they weren't chosen with their meanings in mind. John was named after his paternal grandfather and James after his maternal grandfather. We adopted Josh when he was eight and the other children helped us choose his name.



Our girl's names were chosen mainly for their "ring'. You know, the sound of the name was our basis for choice there. Sheryl Lyn, Laura Jann, Jennifer Lee, and Kendra Joy. We liked 'em, they got 'em. Scarlen was adopted at seven years of age and we kept her given name. Scarlen was given the choice of her own middle name. She choose Anne (with an e) like Anne of Green Gables. So on looking back, I can't say we were such good namers. I don't know too many people who choose names on the basis of meaning. I know our daughter who is choosing names now, throws out good sounding and good meaning names on the basis of some difficult student she has had in her classes. I think all of us can relate to knowing someone whose name will forever be a no no in our book because of what we know them to be (or not be).



Names also carry reputation. Perhaps last names do that more than first names. How often haven't you heard someone tell a story of a relative considered to have disgraced their family name? I know that our son Joshua takes very seriously the work that his employees do because their work reflects his "good" name. My husband's birth name was Glock. It really doesn't mean much to him since his adopted parents rescued him from a situation that wasn't terribly honorable. They gave him a last name of which he is proud. We have four adopted children and four biological children who also got that honorable name. It is important to us that our children uphold our "name".



The Word of God tells us that God knows us each by name. Our real last name is "Christian". I know from the Word that God feels seriously about our upholding His name. While I was in the car today, I was evaluating how well I am doing upholding that name. I don't always do so well. It's so easy to forget the name written all over our back. I can be assured that I'm being watched. The world is watching us. How well are we doing?