What’s In a Name?

Recently I received an email from our granddaughter who has enjoyed marriage for a year. She went on to say how much she enjoyed being Anna Michelle. The name Anna made her feel as if she belonged…a treasured belonging. She also continued to say that she has chosen names for twins that she expects to have in four or five years (plans ahead)…..Anna Gabriel and Xander (short for Alexander) Michael. She wants to continue the tradition of Anna that continues from Anna Loewen Suderman to Anna Daisy Suderman Siemens, my shortened name of Emily Ann Siemens Combs to Anna Kathleen Combs Payne to Anna Michelle Payne LaMar.

My Mother wrote devotions/sermons for a year as her daily time with the Lord. One devotion was called, “What’s in a Name?” In this devotion she chooses three points….a Name for Identity….Name for Entity…and Name for Eternity.

“God must have thought names were important, as He gave Adam the task of naming all God’s created animals in the Garden of Eden. God wants us to recognize his Name with honor. Psalm 91:14- “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Even the stars of heaven were named by their creator! Psalm 147:3-5 – He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
A Name For Identity
Names are important. Ask a teacher in a classroom how important names are. Names give dignity and using names gives importance to the child when praising him and useful in calling his attention to misbehavior. How do we remember names? Today it is difficult to know how to spell a name. I have seen Kate – Cate -Cait. There is a way to remember a name – and that is through who the person is in terms of his character and behavior.

When John was born to Zachariah and Elizabeth, the relatives and neighbors knew this child would be called after his father. Elizabeth said, “No, He is to be named John” The people would not believe her, so the mad signs to the father to write the baby’s name. though unbelief, he had been stricken dumb. To every one’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” It was a God-given name even before the child’s conception. John the Baptist carried his name with honor by doing God’s will in his short earthly life.”

God changed the names of men when their lives changed. When God called a childless Abram from the Ur of the Chaldees to become the father of many nations, He said, “You no longer will be called Abram, your name will be called Abraham“. Genesis 17:5

Jacob’s name was changed from Jacob to Israel when he struggled with an angel all ight and overcame him. Genesis 32:28.

In the New Testament, Saul the persecutor, became Paul the zealous missionary for Christ. Should we change our names when we earnestly become followers of Christ? If so, to what? A good Bible name? And what does the name mean? Many websites give browsing opportunities to find the perfect name for the new parents-to-be.

God deals with each of us individually and he calls us by name. When a country’s people lose their identities and individuals do not count, most likely God is not recognized either. For each person is important in God’s sight. I love the lyrics of the song that contain, “Who am I, You are mindful of me? That You hear me when I call, Is it true You are thinking of me, How You love me, it’s amazing. I am a friend of God….He calls me friend.”

I’ll never read my name in print As one who did great things, Though earthly honors pass me by My full heart speeds on wings For the good Lord knows my name!

A Name For Entity – a name with distinct and independent existence
Our lives and our character determine the taste of our names in a someone’s mouth. It is like a brand name or a label that ensures a good product to the consumer. It determines how people react when they hear our name – with a smile, a shudder or complete indifference.

A young teacher needed a car to drive to school. He told the banker, “My Dad will be glad to sign the note for a loan.” “And who is your father?” the banker asked. When he heard the name, he said, “Son, any son of J. B. does not need a co-signer at our bank.” The father had established a name of honesty and integrity in the community – a name of honor.

Solomon said, “A good name is rather to be chosen that great riches.” Proverbs 22:1

God recognizes a man with a good name and He uses them in designated tasks throughout the history of mankind.

* Exodus 33:12-13 – Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
* Isaiah 44:28 – who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.” ‘ God saw the character of principles of the man names Cyrus a hundred years before his time. When Cyrus read his own name in the Jewish scrolls he was pleased to obey God in sending the Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylon.

What does my name, your name, convey to friends, neighbors and church family? How can we be a witness for Him when our name conjures a sour taste in their mouths. Can He say to us, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:23

A Name for Eternity

We are so bound by the physical boundaries of time and distance that we often forget about the immensity and ramifications of the eternal. Our names are for an eternity. Our names are not discarded as our physical body is discarded at death to be heard never more.

No, Daniel 12:1b-2a tells us differently – But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life. This passage continues…..2b – 3…..others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

We will not be strangers in Heaven when we are registered in the Book of Life. Even the angels rejoice as we become “sons of God” here on earth. The Family of God is composed of all the brothers and sisters in Christ who have ever lived. Heaven is home and our Father in Heaven is looking for His children’s arrival.

When we journey to Hillsboro for a Loewen Reunion, we are drawn by family ties and love. We know that we belong to this family and we will be welcomed – no matter the many scars that we bear in arriving to this point. The journey, though a hardship – financial or physical, makes coming a special quest.

The same is true of our journey to our Heavenly Home. When I hear someone in the hospital plead to go home and know that there is no way that they will return to their earthly home, I weep. For they are not thinking of the glory and beauty of being ‘at home’ with Jesus. As time passes we long to be ‘at home’ with Jesus and with the great cloud of witnesses – our family – who await us.

Mother wrote An Epistle of Gratitude To Our Grandparents, Jacob and Justina Loewen in the beginning of Uncle Solomon Loewen’s book, History and Genealogy of the Jacob Loewen Family.

WE THANK YOU for your faith in God – a faith you lived each day of your lives; not did your deeds ever belie your words. You shared your faith with us in many ways.

WE THANK YOU for showing us how to “seek first” the things of God. From your comfortable homes in Russia, you braved a long and hazardous journey to an unknown land where you could worship God according to His Word.

WE THANK YOU for your example in all your labors of tilling the soil to earn bread with all honesty Without avarice or dishonest practices, your diligence fed our brood and others.

WE THANK YOU for your avocation of helping others throughout your life. You were God’s hands and feet in alleviating pain, always ready to set “another plate” before strangers without fear or malice. God blessed you richly for it.

WE THANK YOU for the love you gave us. You looked on us all as precious gifts from the Lord. That love still runs through us as brooklets of blessings. May it run to future generations.

WE THANK YOU for your hunger and thirst to learn newer and better ways of accomplishments. You grafted trees and raised God’s creatures – from sheep to honey bees, from ponies to peacocks – on your farm. You bought an early “Ford” and dared many things to delight the hearts of your grandchildren. You were pioneers to blaze a trail for us to follow, even in today’s space age.

WE THANK YOU Grandpa and Grandma! You taught us to love and live God’s Word. With David we, too, can say, “The Lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed my heritage is beautiful to me: (Psalm 16:6) May your presence in the “cloud of witnesses” shade us from the harshness of life as we seek to walk more perfectly in the Lord.

In love and deepest gratitude,
All your grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond….
Anna Daisy Siemens

Family Note: The surname of LOEWEN was a German nickname for a brave or regal person, and was originally derived from the German word ‘lowe’ meaning lion.

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