Name game

There are some people that have cool names.

Max Power.

Shaq.

Kobe.

Tiger.

The Great One.

Rock.

Dick Trickle.

Throk Morton.

What are some names you like?

There are names that mean driftwood and names that have special meanings behind them.

For the longest time at home, my mom had the meaning of the name Joel put on my wall.

I couldn't tell you what it said, but it had meaning.

You hear names like Max Power, Kobe and Shaq and think dominance (Well….maybe over the hill now with Shaq).

If you're wondering about Throk Morton, that is myself proclaimed rock star name, if I ever hit it big as a Rock Star that's my name.

Now if only I had a voice for singing and ability to play an instrument I would have a chance.

Often you might hear people have this elaborate name and you ask what the meaning of a name is.

You might hear, well in Swahili it means star of glory or in Canadian it means dominant puckhandler.

Nicknames can be cool.

I never really had one and I never thought much about it.

Sometimes there is a special meaning behind a name.

Even Jesus gave some of this to his disciples.

Mark 3:16-17 he shares some special names….

These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); ¹⁷ James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder).

Now you think wow he went out and changed Simon name to Peter, big move right?

Well Peter means Rock.

James and John got some cool names by Jesus in sons of thunder.

Could you imagine hanging out with Jesus and he gives you a cool nickname?

That is awesome.

While he gave a couple of great nicknames, the rest had their names at this point (Levi also had his name changed to Matthew which means gift of God).

Some weren't given a cool name, but it doesn't mean any less.

When I came to Terre Haute there was a kid named Fred.

I met and was hanging out playing football with a group of students when I got introduced to him.

I went around saying everyone's name a couple of times in order that I would remember them.

At this time Fred said something like, "Man, my name sucks."

He went and said everyone's name and said, "Everyone has cool names and I am just Fred."

This was funny, I never heard someone be like this with their name, esp. a 6/7^th grader.

While nicknames can be cool, not all the disciple had great nicknames that they point out.

What they did have was the ability to serve, help and aide other people.

Their calling was just as strong as Rocks and Sons of Thunder was.

We aren't trapped by a name.

We have a purpose and the ability to help people no matter what our name.

Who can you help today?

Whose life can you try to make better?

Have a great day.