My 9 year old daughter
(Winnie Joy) is now a ´proud grandma´. Must her inner ´slovak studda bubbah´ coming through. Her little weener dog had 9 puppies. (seeing how ´dad´ is our german sheppard watch dog, it´s a small miracle) She has all 9 puppies named, and she actually expects me to remember their names.
Names are weird.
In the army, nicknames are used to harden the heart. It´s a lot easier to kill a ´skinny´ than to kill human being with a first and last name.
In the business world I used nicknames to remember people. I still have a very bad habit of nick naming people mentally by obvious outstanding traits they have. That´s how I remember them. Sometimes, those nicknames I make up are NOT very complimentary, so I have to be on my toes to remember their real names as well. But I ONLY can seem to remember someone´s name IF they are important to me. I remember the great teachers, generals, politicians, business men, leaders who have impacted my life the most. They were those who took the time to remember my name. Because they placed enough importance on me to remember MY NAME, I remember their names, and remember the lessons they had to share with me.
I always wonder why in the Bible there are pages FULL of names, so and so begot so and so. Something you just kind of skim over right? But then it struck me that these were real people that God felt significant enough to know and mention by name, or at least by deed.
One thing I absolutely hate about religion is the arguments. No one´s life has been changed for the better because he won or lost an argument. The biggest argument in seminary that I can remember was in what ´name´ do you baptize and or pray?. If you walked up to Jesus 2000 years ago and said ´hey Jesus!´ He would have just walked past you. His name wasn´t Jesus. That´s what american WASPS call Him. In Germany, Africa, China, India, latin america, Jesus has a different name. So WHAT is so important about THE NAME?
The name is who you are. It´s your character. People want you to remember their name because it tells them that they are significant in your eyes, that they are NOT invisible. We are about making At-Risk children have character, to have a good NAME and thereby becoming VISIBLE (in their own eyes). If any kids in any of the pictures on facebook or google plus strike your attention, please ask me and I will tell you their names and the story that goes with each and everyone of them. They are all precious in His sight.
God bless you.