Jan
13
What’s In A Name pt. 2
Filed Under Life, Owen Update, Pastoring, Theology |
Names carry weight, or at least they used to. In ancient cultures personal names carried the weight of a persons character and destiny. Names were descriptors. You don’t have to think much further than the Sunday School stories of Adam naming Eve, Abram to Abraham, his son Isaac (laughter), Jacob the deceiver, and so on through John the Baptist and Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).
A few days ago I tried to briefly explain my reasoning for naming this blog “Cultivate the Soul”. This name carries weight in my heart and helps me to clarify what it means to follow Christ, to be about the business of cultivating my soul with the truth of the Gospel. Like gardening, it’s work…but fruitful work.
Recently my wife and I have been talking about the potential names for our baby. If it is a boy, which we found out that it is, he would be Knox, after John Knox, or Owen, after John Owen. It is important to us that our children have names that carry weight and inspire a calling. They don’t have to be legendary theologians or culture changing church planters…though that would be o.k. Our hope is that the legacy these men left of a Great, Sovereign, Inescapable, Loving God would inspire our children in their lives to know and love the same God.
My wife has been set on Knox, until now. Ever since the ultrasound on Tuesday, that told us of the problems we are facing, my wife has been calling our son, Owen. I like Owen, in fact I chose Owen (I’m patting myself on the back right now). What makes this name so significant for us is not just the legacy that John Owen has left of passion for holiness and the Gospel’s power to fight indwelling sin. New weight has been added.
My wife needed to know what “Owen” means outside of John Owen, so she looked it up. To our surprise and utter encouragement, Owen means “well born” and “warrior“. If there was ever a name worthy of describing our hopes and dreams for our son it would be this one.
I was content with the weight of John Owen, that is why God gave me my amazing wife.
Now, as usual, I am patting her on the back.
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[…] Right now Erin is lying next to me getting some much deserved sleep. She was a warrior today, a woman truly worthy to give birth to a warrior. The entire surgery was performed through a harpoon like needle that went through her abdomen and uterus into Owen and his bladder. She made the unfortunate mistake of asking to see her adversary before the procedure. But she manned up, looked it in the eye and knocked it out…awake…without sedation…for her baby boy. […]
[…] Ok, so I got some books the other day from Westminster Bookstore online (best prices anywhere). I was shopping specifically for a new book out that is a compilation of 3 works on sin by the great Puritan, John Owen. My main reason for looking into the book was that John Owen is the namesake of my good friend’s son, Owen. Owen isn’t born yet and has a lot of challenges that we are all praying about, but I wanted to know a little bit more about this man for whom my friend would name his son… So, while I was there I stumbled across a series of booklets call The Basics of the Reformed Faith Series. The booklets were inexpensive and the topics were intriguing, so I went ahead and picked them up as well. […]