God Writing #25: What's in a Name?

7/29/06

When I hear the good news that friends are "expecting" (aka pregnant), my first question is usually, "Have you thought of any names yet?"
Parents are given the privellege of 'speaking over' their children something that will influence them for the rest of their lives. Some choose names based on predecessors (ie naming a son after his father or grandfather). Some choose a name because of it's sound, how well it rolls off the tongue, what sort of images/memories it invokes, etc. And some choose a name based on what it essentially means.
I'm pretty happy about my first name. Kristie--Kristina--essentially means "Christian". I'm happy to bear that title. Good job, Mom.
When I was staying in New Zealand, I remember being at a church service where a man from Wycliffe Bible Translators was speaking. Hew was giving a very insightful and intriguing message about geneaology in the old testament (no that's not a misprint). Going back from Noah, he explained what the name of each ancestor meant and how they all fit together to predict the flood and provide a warning to anybody paying attention back then. Too bad I can't remember more of what he said...
A few days ago I was having lunch with a future potential roommate. We were chatting about Christianity and such and toward the end of our meal, a bold, elderly woman piped up from the table next to us--"Are you girls believers too?"
Turns out she was a 68 year old Christian-Jew who knows the guy that began the Jews for Jesus movement many years ago.
We chatted for about 5 minutes, and during that time we had an interesting conversation about Jesus' name.

In Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph, "'She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'" My footnote points out, "Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the LORD saves."
Many of us would be quick to attatch the name "Christ" after Jesus. Rightly so! The term essentially means "Messiah", which was the figure long-awaited by the Jews to bring them reconciliation with their Creator. The book of Acts records the birth and growth of the "Christian church". Acts 5:42 notes, "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that JESUS IS THE CHRIST."
Matthew 1:22-23 adds one more name to Jesus that means a lot. "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel--which means, 'God with us.'"
What a thought--God come to earth and walking among us, a fallen people! The traditional advent hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is a favorite of mine...

O come, O come Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lowly exile here
until the Son of God appear...

O come Thou Root of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of hell thy people save
And bring us victory o'er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to Thee, O Israel

So...put that all together and we see that God saves, Jesus is the Annointed One (Messiah), and by Him God is with us.
Now here's the bing-bang-boom of what that leads to...

In John 3, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about being 'born again,' and that leads to the famous Gospel in a nutshell verse of John 3:16. Let's focus on the following 2 verses (17&18):
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
I've stated before that I think a large part of Faith is taking God at His word. When we doubt or discredit what God tells us pointblank by way of Jesus' name, it's like digging our own graves.

Acts 4:12: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Philippians 2:9-11: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confuess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father."
John 20:31: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

It's an unfortunately easy thing to get used to something. I ashamedly admit that all too often I get 'used' to Jesus' name and don't afford it the respect it deserves. I endeavor to remember, though. When I conclude a prayer "in Jesus' name" I aim to be aware that I'm acknowledging and believing that 1)God saves 2)Jesus is the Christ and 3)God is with us and that it is only through this aptly named God-and-Man that I have the authority to pray.

Week of Rock Finale

In this pic, the two chaps to the right are Ben Ottowell and Ian Ball from the band Gomez.
My week of ROCK concluded with seeing these two perform a gig at the lovely Hotel Cafe on Thursday night.
Wow, what a great show it was!
I should start off by mentioning that my pal Andrew came along for the ride this time. I got to the venue before he did, and once I got in the doors I paused to call him. Meanwhile I noticed Blackie--Gomez's bass player--walk right past me. Then I noticed a thin chap in a trendy white shirt with a stylish tie haphazardly hanging off his neck and thought, "Is that Ian?!"
Well friends, turns out I was waiting for Andrew for a long time... Consequently, I decided to hang out close to the door so he could find me. A different musician was playing during this time, and though the place wasn't crowded, there were a few people standing close to me and the door.
Then Ian, yes it was him, walks past me and starts running into all of these people he knows. Hugs and smiles were exchanged before he retreated out of the door again. Moments later a woman squeezes past me and totally gets into my little bubble of space (as I said, it wasn't THAT crowded yet), and who is following her but Ian. (Turns out the woman was his wife.) As they stand mere inches in front of me for a few minutes, chatting with some friends, I take a step backward and thing of the surrealness of the situation--I could reach out and lay my hand on Ian's back right then if I wanted to...of course I didn't, but I could have.
But that doesn't tell you how the show was, does it?
Andrew finally found me and the place got WAY crowded. But it was all worth it. The set was fantastic!
Up to this point, my experience has been that though Ian and Ben are phenomenal musicians, they haven't much been excited about playing in exotic locales like Minneapolis. I think I've heard Ian speak occaissionally while onstage, but Ben basically not at all. Tom is the entertainer of Gomez and quite talented at engaging the audience wherever he is. I also have a hunch that Ben and Ian are more prone to anxiety, and thus drink themselves into oblivion to help deal...I could be wrong, but that's my impression. PLUS, I think they get quite homesick.
This show the situation was different.
It felt relaxed, comfortable, their wives were in the audience, they knew lots of people, and there were good vibes all around.
They opened and closed with "How We Operate"...first time Ben sang it, and second time Ian did.
Ian played drums a few times, sang Ben's song "Rex Kramer" (Ben returned by having a go at Ian's "Detroit Swing 66"), and even took a song suggestion and played "Flavors"...a song that I appreciate much more now that I've heard it live. The audience laughed, cheered, smiled, and grooved as the hour flew by.
Definitely a delight.
Rock on guys.
And bring Tom with you next time!

Notes of Rock from night #2

I'm not sure if this pic will stay up and functional for long, but I thought I'd try it anyway.
I get tired of trying to run around copyrights. Bad me.
So...yesterday, I went to see an in-store performance at Amoeba Music on Sunset blvd. My good pal Carrie C. came along for it.
The band is called Dead Boy and the Elephantmen. I had heard a song of theirs on the radio that I really liked...it's called...brace yourself for the cliched absurdity..."Stop, I'm Already Dead". But it's a groovy little number, for sure.
The concert was for free and held promise...plus I had worked earlier in the day, so had the night off (woo-hoo!).
I'm so glad I went, too. It rocked! Ok well...maybe some of the songs didn't completely blow me away, but some of them did.
The lady behind the drums made me wish I was a rock'n'roll drummer. Not enough to seriously study drumming or even try to get into a band, but for a fleeting "wow, that is SO cool" type of moment. She sort of reminded me of Lori Petty in Tank Girl...but less colorful.
Live was the way to see these guys...for real. ROCK!
:) [Foxx, I'm not sure if you would've loved it too or simply scoffed and said, "Let me show you how it's done, Sister!"]
Carrie bought the cd, but I decided to save some money...yeah, I *can* restrain myself sometimes...
My week of Rock continues tomorrow night when my pal Andrew and I head to the Hotel Cafe.

Quick Hi/notes of Rock

Sorry for the blurry-ness.
Beggars can't be choosers, you know?
Anyway...
I went to this show at the Roxy last night with my pal Shalom from Kairos.
It was a fantastic gig.
Hooray for Australia, hooray for Bernard Fanning--singer/songwriter extrordinaire, hooray for bluesy/rock-acoustic music that sounds even better live!
You know I'm tempted to give you all a blow by blow...but I have laundry to take care of back in my apartment, and this going onto the internet thing at Starbucks with someone else's laptop doesn't give me the sort of mental state required to say more than "It rocked!"

The opening act--Anna Neko or something like that was sure amazing too...in the vein of Lucinda Williams. She could sure play a guitar and her lyrics were quite soulful. Sorry I can't rightly remember her name...

For anyone who is wondering how I'm doing after my "I'm sick" mention in the last post, I'm glad to report that I finally feel better. Stupid virus has been harrassing me for about a week...ugh...but now merely a stuffy nose remains.

Ok, I gotta fly.
Check out Bernard Fanning--do yourself a favor!
:)
Tonight I go to an instore performance at Amoeba Records, and Thursday I'm catching Ben and Ian from Gomez at the Hotel Cafe.
This is the week of Rock.

Quick Update

Hey Friends,
how goes it?
I am starting to go through internet withdrawl I think...I'm using my roommate's laptop at a Starbucks at the moment. Hooray for generosity! :)
So, just thought I'd send a shout out to say I'm alive and kicking.... A little under-the-weather at the moment, but not too bad. I've got this frog-in-my-throat thing going on so my voice sounds quieter and more growly than usual...at least from my ears.
Hopefully I'll be back up to par in a day or two.
The apartment is faring well. It's almost funny how stuff has gone wrong (elevator didn't work when I moved in, I lost my checkbook during the moving process, a door on a kitchen cabinet ripped off it's hinges when I opened it, and yesterday we had a pipe in the ceiling start dripping water all over the floor), but so far I haven't been derailed in thinking it's an a-ok place to live.
My roommates are pretty darn cool too.
We hung out a bit on Sunday. I discovered that Sandra and I have the same birthday (she's 2 years older though). Hunter--staying in the living room--is my coworker who is a delight to be around...though he just told me he thinks I'm obsessive-compulsive. Hmmm...
Here's a link to his Myspace page if you want to check it out:
http://www.myspace.com/hunterrobobinson

Ok, I'll be back when I can be.
I miss all of you that don't live within a 10 mile radius! For real!

God Writing #24: No Helping Required

7/22/06 (?)

When I was growing up, my mom and I had plenty of not-seeing-eye-to-eye differences that caused us our fair share of tension. One such trouble spot was my reaction time when she asked me to do something.
If I was reading and she would ask me, for instance, to go get water for our dogs, I would say OK...and then wait till I reached the end of my chapter. As I saw it, I had a plan and it was more efficient to do things in a timely manner, having taken all factors into consideration.
My mom, on the other hand, thought that if she asked her daughter to do something, no wait-time should be involved. She became exasperated with me countless times, and in disgust, she would go on to accomplish the task herself.
In return, I'd feel guilty for disappointing her, and irritated at her lack of patience.
In reflecting, I realize that being obedient would have meant putting her priorities over my own. But in a different context, I also see how many of us act like my mom when we come to God in prayer...

It's a hard thing to wait. It's even harder to receive a promise you doubt, or are unsure you heard correctly in the first place. Rather than allow ourselves to be let down by God's seeming inactivity, we might try to "help" Him. Or, simply do it ourselves.
The Bible holds many examples of this.

In Genesis 15, God promises the rather elderly and childless Abram that he would become a father and have heirs as countless as the stars in the sky.
In Genesis 16, his wife Sarai tries to help God fulfil his promise by sending her husband to go sleep with Hagar--Sarai's servant. Hagar gives birth to Ishmael, but the real promise is fulfilled when Sarai/Sarah becomes a mother to Isaac. However, the rivalry between Abram/Abraham's two boys still rages on to this day...how different our world might've been if Sarah had simply waited and trusted...

We see another exmple one generation later. Isaac's wife Rebekah becomes pregnant with twins who seem to be at odds even within her womb. She asks God what the deal is.
"The LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger!'" Genesis 25:23
Many years later as Isaac is about to give his official fatherly blessing to Esau (the older son), Rebekah feels that she has to help God keep his promise. She cooks up a scheme to help Jacob (the younger son) deceive his father and 'steal' Esau's blessing (Gen 27).
Interestingly enough, when Jacob prepares to bless his sons at the end of his life, his two grandsons are substituted for his son Joseph. Jacob crosses his arms to give Ephraim--the younger--a larger blessing than his big brother Mannaseh. When Joseph tries to correct his father, Jacob stands firm in his decision (Gen. 48).

Saul is also another interesting study. In 1 Samuel 13, we read about how Saul lost God's favor. He was preparing his Israelite troops for battle with the Philistines. Samuel, the famous prophet, told Saul to wait for seven days and he would arrive to prepare burnt offerings to the LORD--a role performed only by priests.
Saul waited...and waited. He saw his men start defecting out of fear. As Day 7 approached, he was at the end of his rope. No sign of Samuel. What was a King to do? He didn't want to go into battle without seeking God's help, but he just couldn't wait any longer either. So he decided to do it himself.
1 Samuel 13:7b-14: "Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, 'Bring me the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings.' And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.
'What have you done?' asked Samuel.
Saul replied, 'When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, "Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor." So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.'
'You acted foolishly,' Samuel said. 'You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command.'"

Reading about Saul really puts me on alert. There are many mistakes he made that I can see myself easily falling into as well. (I might write more about him another time...) When you find yourself in that place of desperation, it's easier to rationalize doing something slightly un-kosher rather than enduring one more excruciating moment of waiting and not-knowing.
Saul returns to this in the final days of his life. 1 Samuel 28 records Saul's preparation for another battle against the Philistines.
"Now Samuel was dead, and all Isreal had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa. When saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, 'Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.'" (vs 3-7)

When Saul couldn't get what he wanted from God, he took matters into his own hands, even going so far as to break a law he had put into place, and disguising himself when he went to the medium for help.
His act of desperation served only to fill him with more fear and perhaps a guilty conscience. Things done in desperation seldom bring positive results.

My friend Foxx likes to say that God has a tendency to deliver in the 13th hour--aka after the clock has run out. My mindset is that it's more of an 11:59 scenario, just that from our perspectives, it might seem like time has already run out when it really hasn't.
Again, the issue seems to be faith. Will we find the resolve to "Let go and let God", even when failure seems imminent? Or will we lose the game of chicken and veer off the road moments before we were scheduled to encounter a head-on collision with some major blessing?

I humbly hope I can learn from the mistakes of those who came before me, and left their tragic stories as a legacy.

R.I.P. Steve Irwin

I know I'm way behind on this as I haven't had a chance to get to the computer this week, but before too much time elapses, I just want to note the passing of Steve Irwin...aka The Crocodile Hunter.

So all I knew of Mr. Irwin was what I saw on tv, but even the most fabricated celebrity can't help but reveal little pieces of themselves, and to me, Steve Irwin seemed like the real deal...a lovely, funny, good-hearted man with a real passion for helping both animals and people. A large percentage of the humor that arises from watching him is derived from the innocence he seems to approach life with.
Here's a clip of him on Conan O'Brien that shows him in top form...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjmCTJ0CXqA

The world feels a little emptier without him.
But for the legacy he leaves, I offer a "Good on ya, Mate!"