Track 16: Untitled until April 11 →
How do you name someone for life? The pressure is quite heavy-handed, and the wandering mind pictures scenario after scenario of said name in action. If you’re my parents (Lou’s), you name your daughters after the popular (at the time) Bionic Woman actress, Lindsay Wagner a.k.a. Jaime Sommers. Or if you’re mine (Paul’s), you give your son his father’s name.
With Etta, we had a handful of options and actually changed our mind once we saw her. (Her name isn’t “after anyone,” although we get asked from time to time if we named her after the famous jazz singer, Etta James.)
But where’s our little guy’s name going to take him, we asked ourselves.
President Tozer Valla? ;)
Yes, we named our son Tozer.
Unique for sure. When we were doing our “searching” of names, not only did it come back with zero results, but we were asked if we made a mistake.
It was no mistake. A.W. Tozer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, left an undeniable mark on our hearts and countless others. Beautifully expounding the attributes of God, the crucified life, the radical cross to stir hearts and minds into a frenzy of conviction and passion and a desire for none of ourself and all of Christ.
The worthy sovereign brilliant creator Jesus Christ has numbered the days of us all. He who speaks the end from the beginning has numbered the days of our son.
“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’”
Our Lord knows the future. We don’t.
“You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. ”
Our son may never like the name Tozer. He may go by his middle name*, he may change his name or he may love it. The only thing that matters is that our son’s identity be found only in Christ. Christ alone.
His life does not belong to us, or to himself, but to Christ. As with every life born before him and every life born after, the call is the same, that of repentance and surrender, for the Glory of God. To give the life that belongs to the wounded lamb, victorious, who bought him and every heart with his precious blood.
“He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
*Tozer’s middle name is Micah. This was one of the first boy names we agreed upon, and it was always a contender for his first name. (Thanks to my coworker Erica for calling it to our attention!) It’s a Biblical name, strong, plus this Micah’s testimony resonates with us both so very much. While we gave Etta her great-grandmother’s name for a middle name, and considered a family name for Tozer’s, we really wanted to give him a middle name he might like to go by if he absolutely doesn’t care for the name Tozer, since it is so different.