When David and I started having children, honestly, we didn’t think too long and hard about their names. We picked what we liked, then looked through the baby names books to be sure they didn’t mean something weird. We also didn’t tell people what we chose, because we didn’t want the “Oh, that’s an interesting name” response. We feel good about what we chose: their names mean justice, gift of God and bright, shining sea (or German for morning).

I know that some people agonize over their children’s names, wanting the names to reflect what will be true about them in their life. If only we could determine our children’s futures by their names. I would have named my first-born Rich. Just kidding.

People in earlier times carried names from generation to generation: surnames, middle names, last names, maiden names, nick names. What a child is named is with them forever (unless they go to court and pay to have it changed).

Whereas the names we give our children may not always fit them, there is One whose name fits Him to perfection: Jesus.

There is power in the name of Jesus that can’t be denied. An old song I used to sing as a youth goes like this:

At the name of Jesus, at the name of Jesus, we have the victory!

At the name of Jesus, at the name of Jesus, Satan will have to flee.

Tell me who can stand before us when we call on His great name.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, we have the victory!

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

There’s is another song popular today, sung by Natalie Grant. Listen to it here, and have a blessed day.

Thankful today for

393. wonderful worship songs

394. new plants

395. coffee drinks

396. crispy apples

397. the opportunity both my boys have to participate in a local outreach with their youth group next week

398. the anticipation of a much quieter week next week 🙂