The Name Game

My battered name book, which I keep
handy for choosing names in fiction.

Our son and his wife will soon welcome their first baby—our first grandchild. They had a girl’s name picked out early in her pregnancy, then learned it’s a boy. We haven’t heard their choice for a boy’s name.  Sounds like they’ve had some discussions, as my husband and I did when picking out names for our firstborn.  I remember when we told my husband’s parents the baby’s name right after his birth.  Their reaction was on the order of, “It’s what?”  “Zachary” (which means “God remembers”) wasn’t way out there, but it had no family precedents.

I had favored naming our firstborn “John” in memory of my godly father.  It’s a good, solid Bible name.  But my husband’s family line included a “John” whose reputation was rather tarnished.  So, “John” went down.  So did a pile of other names that reminded my teacher-husband of students he’d rather forget.

The other night, a newscast showed a man being arraigned for a terrible crime.  I cringed when the reporter said the accused man’s first name: “Christian.”  His behavior certainly didn’t match the standard set by our Lord.  I recalled  a story from a taped testimony by Dr. James Kennedy of “Evangelism Explosion” reputation. In it, he relayed a something associated with Alexander the Great, the famed world conqueror who lived three hundred years before Christ. Stern and ruthless, he often sentenced errant soldiers to death. One day, a 17-year-old was led before him, accused of fleeing from the enemy and hiding in the cave. When asked his name, the youth said, “Alexander.”  The king’s face flushed with anger. Exploding out of his throne, he grabbed the youth by his tunic and shouted, “Soldier, change your conduct or change your name!”

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” When, by faith in Jesus as Savior, we take the label “Christian,” we take on a good name—a Name above all names. With it comes the awesome responsibility of representing the Lord with the utmost integrity, grace, and compassion.  Our conduct reflects on our King of Kings, whose name we bear.

Do we fail Him, like that cowardly soldier? Yes.  Is He compassionate, willing to forgive? Yes, yes.  And here’s something better:  someday, the name our parents gave us won’t matter anymore.  Revelation 3:12 says God will give us a new name.  Although I like my name (it’s the feminine of “John” and means “God is gracious”), I’m confident God’s choice will be wonderful and just right!

Out of hard places

I couldn't believe it! Out of a thin crack in the sidewalk, poppies had pushed up to bloom. This sight a block from my home reminded me of men and women whose blossoming faith impacted the world despite the “thin cracks” of personal setbacks and disabilities. One example is Joni Eareckson Tada, left quadriplegic after a diving accident.  She could have retreated from life, but chose instead to trust God to work through her disability. She’s known as a gifted mouth artist, advocate for the disabled, and articulate speaker and author on issues of suffering. Here are a few more, many from history, a few more recent. How many can you identify? Answers are at the end.

 1. Born into poverty, his godly mother died when he was eight. A godly stepmother raised him. He was largely self-taught and homely. His fiancée died before their wedding. He repeatedly lost elections until finally winning one, only to face an unpopular war. His wife’s emotional problems worsened after two sons died. Yet he’s remembered as one of the greatest leaders of history.

2. His family was too poor to afford him an education, so he apprenticed to a pawnbroker. He quit after deciding that business was unfair to the poor.  He started an organization whose early members were pelted by rotten fruit. It since has helped millions in desperate situations.

3. This man was only four—the youngest of six—when his father died. With only a fifth grade education, he got a job a shoe salesman. He left that for a vastly different occupation that stretched his faith and endurance to their limits.

4. Another born in poverty, as a youth he showed unusual musical talent. A relative helped him get some music training. He became well known in his field before dying at age 38 in a train wreck.

5. This woman grew up in the slums with an abusive, alcoholic father. When only thirteen, she went to work in mills with despicable conditions in order to support her mother and siblings. Her later occupation depended on the faith and determination fostered she learned as a teen.

6. His father is unknown; he was separated from his mother in a heart-breaking transaction when only an infant. His faith and “never-say-no” attitude led to accolades in his occupation.

7. This man’s father died in a war. When his stepfather abandoned the family, the boy and his brother ended up in an orphanage. His athletic ability and heart for God led to two well-known careers.

8. This boy had attention deficit disorder, long before such problems had names. He ran away from home at 13, returned, and managed to finish eighth grade before getting a job in a foundry. His adult faith was tested by a broken neck, serious burns, bankruptcy and his firstborn’s death. He died known for extraordinary philanthropy.

9. The third of six in a farm family, he only completed elementary school and went to work for a tire factory. But he loved reading and learning, and ended up as a Christian leader and author.

10. Ever since childhood, this man suffered with a vision impairment and hearing loss, among other physical problems. Rather than give in to them, he focused on things he could do for Christ, becoming a best-selling author.

11. This man was born with brain injuries, and suffered constant physical pain along with merciless ridicule while growing up. He was orphaned at fourteen and soon dropped out of school. After becoming a Christian, he finished his education, including college, married, and became a nationally known speaker despite great verbal challenges.

12. This man was born in 1982 in Australia with no arms or legs. His faith and determination have led to a worldwide speaking ministry.

ANSWERS:

1. President Abraham Lincoln. His world-view shaped by the Bible, he came to genuine faith in Jesus shortly before his assassination.

2. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

3. D.L. Moody, evangelist on two continents, founder of Bible schools.

4. Philip Bliss, Moody crusade musician and the greatest hymnist of his generation (“Almost Persuaded,” “Hallelujah, What a Savior,” “Wonderful Words of Life” and many others).

5. Mary Slessor, missionary for four decades in Calabar (now Nigeria).

6. George Washington Carver, exchanged for a racehorse by slave traders, who as an agricultural research scientist found 300 marketable uses for the peanut.

7. Baseball-player-turned evangelist Billy Sunday.

8. R.G. Letourneau, owner of an earth-moving machine company, who gave 90 per cent of his income to the Lord’s work.

9. A.W. Tozer, leader of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and author best known for The Knowledge of the Holy.

10. Jerry Bridges, Navigator-affiliated author of the best-selling The Pursuit of Holiness and The Practice of Godliness.

11. David Ring, Christian motivational speaker known for this line: “I have cerebral palsy. What’s your problem?”

12. Nick Vujicic.

 

Center of attention

Thank you, family cat, for plopping inside a bike tire on the deck one day.  Nearby, an upside-down bike waited to have its flat repaired.  But the cat, who in its cat-way likes to be the center of attention (“brush me,” “feed me”) gave my heart a prod about times I’m tempted to play “Center of My Universe.”

 We understand when babies act like that. “Diaper me,” “feed me,” “play with me,” “accept my bad moods”—they’re too young and helpless to know life has different rules as you grow up. Maturity comes with stepping outside your preoccupation with your needs. Spiritual maturity comes with learning to think and act as Christ, our role model for servanthood. The One we call the King of Kings came not to be served, but to serve, including the ultimate serving: “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Dwelling within little circles of “self” leads to loneliness and self-pity, a problem that author J. Oswald Sanders calls “that dismal fungus.” He writes further in The Joy of Following Jesus (pp. 125-26): “If we persist in focusing our thoughts on ourselves, that will only serve to fuel the fires of loneliness.  If, instead, we turn our thoughts outward and begin caring for others, then our condition can be reversed, and we will be able to break out of the shell of our own desolation.”

            Among his other suggestions for those afflicted with loneliness:

            *God knows—believe it! (Isaiah 41:10, Heb. 13:4-5)

            * “If outward circumstances cannot be changed, inward attitudes can and should be adjusted.”

            * “Clear the ground spiritually.” Confess and forsake any contributing sin.

            * “Learn to live with some unsolved problems. Jesus told us to do this when He said, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand’ (John 13:7).”

What if you’re on the “outside” of someone’s sad circle? I think poet Edward Markham (1852-1940) had a memorable image in his poem, “Outwitted”:

He drew a circle that shut me out—

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win.

We drew a circle and took him in.

 I easily substitute “Jesus” for the word “love.”  He alone is the true center of the universe, and draws the bigger circle to bring people in.  His “drawing instrument” was the cross, and His love is big enough for those “heretics,” “rebels,” and any who think their lives have no hope.

Possible explosion!

The dynamite, found at this property, was probably acquired
decades ago to blast out tree stumps in clearing an adjacent orchard

On a recent boiling summer afternoon, our adrenalin kicked into high gear when two police officers appeared at our door. “We’re advising you to vacate your house as soon as possible,” they told me and my husband.  “We are trying to stabilize 260 sticks of dynamite in a nearby home, and homes on this street are at risk if it goes off.”

As we drove off with our wallets and a cell phone, I thought of others around the country in storm or fire zones who had mere minutes to leave their homes and all the material tokens these hold. Thankfully, two hours later, the problem was resolved and the dynamite safely destroyed.

But the incident made me think of other things at risk to blast and destroy, especially those in the human heart. Poppy Smith’s book I’m Too Young to be This Old Bethany, 1997) addresses the explosive power of buried pain. Its symptoms, she said, include hostility, an envious or critical spirit, depression (feeling drained), anger at God (“Why did He allow this?”), and feelings of guilt, shame or worthlessness.We must choose Paul’s example, she said: “Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead” (Phil. 3:12-14). 

 

I just read an advance copy of Jerry Jenkins' newest novel, I, Saul, which offers a fictional take on the final days of the apostle in a Rome dungeon. Though an imaginary reconstruction of the end of Paul’s life, it helped me visualize Paul’s degraded surroundings as a Roman prisoner. Yet Paul kept his God-ward perspective in negative circumstances. Even his letter cited above, penned during imprisonment, brims with praise to God.

Our tendency is to gripe, and gripe some more.  But Poppy Smith urged readers to do the opposite: rejecting blame, bitterness, anger and the victim mentality, which imprison us emotionally and spiritually. Life, she reminds us, is 10% what happens to us, and 90% of how we react to it. Some of the “hard stuff” involved in the healing of hurts, according to Smith:

*Forgiving the person who caused us pain (surrendering our right to “get even”).

*Discerning between real and false guilt.

*Getting to know God better. Smith cited Isaac Watts’ 1721 hymn, “Am I a Soldier of the Cross,” whose second verse begins: “Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?” The authentic Christian life isn’t a matter of “trusting Christ” for salvation and then withdrawing from life’s challenges. It’s walking through the tough stuff with the power of God’s Spirit and the fortressing truths of scripture.

This morning I walked by that house (now dynamite-free), a for-sale sign perched in the weeds. I’d been inside it a couple weeks earlier for an estate sale. I didn’t buy anything, but was struck by the deteriorated condition of the house and how much the previous owners had hoarded. Whoever buys that home has a huge cleanup and remodeling job ahead. I thought of people who come to the end of themselves and offers God a tattered heart. God does better than “fix.”  He makes new—and this also a quote from Paul, years earlier: “If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation” (1 Cor. 5:17).

Paul would know. He was transformed from a dynamo of destruction, who persecuted and killed Christians, to a dynamo of earnest love for His Savior. That’s the power of God!