Names

One of the best parts of living in Tanzania is serving as part of Kids' Club and interacting with the kids that live in the quarry behind HOPAC. And one of the most powerful and touching parts of my week is in watching Shaun – the visionary for Kids' Club – walk around and greet each of the 130 kids by name. The kids just light up as “Shauni” welcomes them by name.

I believe that learning and using each person's name is incredibly important and valuable. It sends the message to the person: “I care enough to remember who you are.” Conversely, if I am introduced to the same person over and over again, it says to me: “I haven't invested the time to remember you.” One of the worst examples of this we witnessed was after Tim had worked at a place for a number of months. We saw his boss in a different setting and he introduced himself without a glimmer of recognition!

For that reason, I'm trying really hard to learn the names of the kids in Club but it is so difficult.  Here in Tanzania, most kids – both boys and girls- keep their hair really short, so that's not a clue I can use. Hair color, skin color, and eye color do differ to an extent from child to child, but it's certainly not as drastic as blue eyes or blonde hair.  Clothing is interchangeable between the sexes and it's not uncommon to see boys wearing pink or purple. Many names sound the same: Asha, Aisha, Alidi, Ayubu (and that's just the A's)!  Finally, all names are reported to me in Swahili by little kids. Even in English, it's sometimes difficult to understand the little ones that are just learning to talk....in Swahili, this is even more challenging!

Obviously, as with any skill or talent, some people are naturally better at this than others. However, the One who is the most amazing at this is God: He knows us all by name.  That's all 7 billion of us. Isaiah 29:1 says that “Before I was born, the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name” and he has actually engraved us on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:22). 

The Bible makes it clear on many occasions that names are important – not only ours, but God's. In fact God's name is so holy that we only know it as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) and the Israelites would actually eliminate the consonants when writing it down, to avoid accidental misuse of His name. Unfortunately in today's society there is much less fear of profaning God's identity.

John 10:3 gives a beautiful picture of us as sheep, following our shepherd, Jesus. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

When we get to heaven, we will receive a “white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17). Also found in the last book of the Bible, Revelation 21:27 reminds us that only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will enter the kingdom of heaven.

At that time, we'll finally see the Name above all Names!