What is in a Name?

The readings from 1 Chronicles could not get any drier if they tried.  This person’s lineage and that person’s lineage interrupt the narrative completely to account for every person associated with Noah, to Abraham, to David, to the fall of Judah.  Why is this lineage account necessary?  Every name mentioned does not appear anywhere else in the Bible.  Who cares if so and so begat so and so.

As I stewed in my quest to find the reason for naming all the different ancestral trees, it hit me.  Yesterday, as I entered the room for my oral defense, the professor who served as my faculty reader announced my full name for the very first time.  Her words affirmed the hard work that went into achieving a life long dream.  She said, “I now welcome you back into the room Reverend Doctor Joe K. MacDonald.”  Carolyn’s words poured over me like rain.  She confirmed a long-awaited goal that required perseverance and determination.

My name is so much more than letters thrown together.  It is a statement of identity and a struggle against impossible situations.  A boy from the projects can overcome statistics and insurmountable odds to alter the course of his family and project much farther into the world then anyone might expect.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made.  With God’s help, we can accomplish anything.  My name is a statement to God’s direction and power.

“What is in a name?”  Hope, plans for a future, joy, anger, forgiveness; these are all a part of the names that we inherit.  Our goal is to serve to lift the glory of God; who we think we are and all.  Let our legacy reinforce the knowledge that we follow the resurrected Christ.  Let us live like believers and not like skeptics.  Praise be to God, who gives us the victory in Christ our Lord.