What's in a Name?

"You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus" (Luke 1:31).

For many who have heard me speak of my father, you know I hold him in very high esteem. If ever there were a hero in m life, my dad would stand alone in that place. My dad has certainly had his struggles and hurts. As a matter of fact, I think one of those hurts stems back to early in life and centers around his name.

My grandfather for a good portion of his life, if not the majority of it, was an alcoholic. From those scant accounts I have heard through the years, he appears as a man who lived most days to drink. One of his drinking buddies was a man by the name of Stan. When my dad was born, my grandfather was keen on naming my dad after his drinking buddy Stan. And so it was. In spite of the objection of my grandmother, my dad was named Stanley Lee Buchanan.

There have been a handful or more occasions in which I have heard my dad talk about being named after his dad's drinking buddy. Never positive...never endearing...never a conversation of celebration. Being named after a man who lived a life of debauchery was not what one would consider an honor. Yet I must stop and say very clearly that if anyone has redeemed that name, it has been my dad. For when I think of the name Stan or Stanley, I do not think of a drunken man who aided my grandfather in squandering the financial resources his family so desperately needed. I think of the rock in our family. I reflect upon the strong character and conviction of my father. He has redeemed that name. So much so that when Micah was born, we named him Micah Stanley because Sarah and I both view the name Stanley as an honor for our son to bear instead of some backhanded compliment.

I will never forget the day I had the awesome privilege to tell my dad our son's name. Micah was born on Valentine's Day and my dad had to work. Although I would have loved for my dad to have been present to share our precious new son's name, by phone I unveiled the news. I remember saying, "We gave him two great names. He's named Micah Stanley."

Those two names could not have better suited our son. Micah, meaning there is no one like our God, and Stanley, meaning (not literally) to me a godly man of conviction and character and strength, were well given to our son. God has certainly shown through his nine months that there is no one like Him. And considering all Micah has endured and faced, he has shown strength like his grandfather. Sometimes we, as parents, think of names for our children which are trendy. Others simply choose a name that sounds good and cannot be abbreviated. While in no way am I criticizing that, we intentionally wanted our children to have names of both biblical and familial significance.

But there's another child I think of this time of year whose name is more lofty, more precious and more powerful than any other. While it was a common name in the Old Testament and even around the time of the first century, this name bore incredible meaning. When God sent His messenger to Mary declaring that she had found favor in the eyes of the Lord and she would give birth to the Son of God, God also gave instructions as to what name He was to be given. "You are to give Him the name Jesus."

Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, Jeshua or Jehoshua. Each means "God (Yahweh) will save" or "God is salvation." Now that's some name. If that didn't convey to Mary the overarching purpose and fundamental reason for Jesus to be born, her husband-to-be had no doubts. As Joseph wrestled with what to do after finding out Mary was with child, a angel appeared to him in a dream quieting his fears and setting aside his concerns. Joseph was instructed to take Mary as his wife. Then, almost as if to insure both understood the importance of naming Him Jesus, the 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" (Matthew 1:21).

The entire purpose of His coming was that He might save His people from their sins. Separated from God, mankind needed a Savior. We needed someone able to remove our sin once and for all. Jesus Christ was on a mission to save all of humanity by offering Himself on the cross for our sin. The manger may seem sweet and innocent, but the cross was in clear view from that barn on that first Christmas night. He came to us and for us. He loved us so much He gave Himself. He is the most expensive gift and the perfect gift. He's the gift for all people. You might buy me a hang-glider for Christmas and that wouldn't quite fit me. For someone else it would be perfect. But Jesus is perfect for all because He died for all. And His name carries that message. He is called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.

His name is like no other name. The Bible teaches that "salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12; emphasis mine). His name proclaims salvation. But His name provides salvation. Furthermore, it is His name that is above every other name. For at the name of Jesus, one day all will bow and all will confess that Jesus Christ is not just Savior, but the Ruler, the Lord, to the praise and glory of God the Father. What is in a name? In the name of Jesus, there is everything we lack and all that we need.

Christmas is a celebration of Jesus. His name is wonderful. His name is great. His name is matchless. His name is above every human philosophy. His name is Jesus. "God will save" because God sent His Son Jesus to save us. He was born, lived a perfect life, died for our sin and rose again. And all who "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" will know the salvation and peace of God. Amen.

It has been busy as always. Thus the reason for a delay in updates. Micah has been doing consistently well. His liver levels have been moving down (in the right direction). Yesterday, however, the results showed they were elevated again. This could be as a result of a virus or because the steroid he is on (which Dr. Berman reduced the amount of the dose just yesterday). Micah's s anti-rejection medicine level was good at yesterday's appointment. The change must have helped. In case you are unaware, we did spend a few days in the hospital last week. On Friday morning (3:30 AM) of last week, Micah had an extremely high fever (104.7). Of course every fever is cause for concern and is reason to take him to be monitored, have tests, etc. He was admitted on Friday and stayed through Sunday afternoon. While this is not what we would hope, nothing showed up in the blood cultures, the urine collected and so forth. The doctors speculate it could be simply related to the cold he has been fighting. Nevertheless, he is home and doing well. Eating like he's about ready to grow 6 inches, sat up by himself yesterday and other great developmental steps.

In other news, though, we had another Tuesday night. But in contrast to what our family has already experienced, this was quite small. As I was giving Micah his medicines and a bath, Isaac and Ethan were in the bath playing. I only looked over in time to see Ethan, who was sitting on his knees, slipped and fall forward catching the edge of the bathtub with his chin. As a result, another emergency room trip to get 4 stitches in his chin. He did great in the whole process. He never cried or screamed. And today he's enjoying wearing the gauze taped to his chin to cover the stitches. He looks like a football player wearing a chin strap minus the helmet.

Other than this, we continue to do well and praise the Lord for His faithfulness and goodness to us. Thank you for continually praying for us. We pray as we enter this Christmas Season that you and your family have a great, Christ-centered Christmas. May you know the power of His name in your own life. We pray you know the forgiveness and salvation that only comes through Him. Hopefully there will be another update sooner than this one was in relationship to the last entry. Merry Christmas!