What's In a Name?
So Abraham was Abram and Paul was Saul until God grabbed ahold of their lives and set them on a new course.
Sometimes I think it would be so cool to have your name changed at some point when your life becomes something new.
Then again, I've moved 7 times in 15 years. My life has changed direction each time. I suppose I would get confused if I changed my name each time.
Eli was named Eli because 1: it is a Hebrew name and I thought a Hebrew name would be cool 2: it was the only name Matt and I agreed on.
He was supposed to be Jonah Matthew. From the time Matt and I started talking about kids, even years before we wanted them, we loved the name Jonah Matthew, but when I got pregnant we discarded the name and started our search for something else. We obviously settled on Eli Matthew.
Eli means "high" or "ascended". In the Bible, Eli was the High Priest, the last judge of Israel and the one charged with raising up Samuel. He was a very important man in his day. But, Eli had some trouble with his sons and he and his family ended up with a harsh judgement from the Lord. When I read the story of Eli, I was thrilled that the namesake was a judge and mentor to the great King Samuel, but also a little saddened he was named after a guy that ended up with a family curse.
Yesterday Eli came downstairs and sat next to me very quiet, attempting to hide that he wanted to talk to me. I asked him what was going on and he said he just finished reading two chapters in The Story (a story version of the Bible) and it made him cry.
I asked what he was reading and why it made him sad.
He said he was reading about Eli.
(Here we go. I have to explain that not ALL Elis will have dreadful sons and be cursed.)
Eli was struggling to explain how he felt. He finally said he wasn't sad, he just needed to cry.
Talking to a 10 year old boy can be so difficult.
I decided to drop the subject and revisit it later.
At bedtime I asked him to show me what he read. He did and then he pointed out what made him cry.
He located these words "The person who took care of God's house was named Eli".
I was a little confused, but decided to go with it.
If I say "huh?" he will get frustrated.
If I say "oh ok" but I really don't have a clue, then I am no closer to understanding what in the world he is so emotionally moved about.
I opt for Dr. Phil 101 "and how does that make you feel Eli?"
He explained that God named Eli and put him in charge of his people.
God named him Eli, because he chose to follow God.
On some level Eli saw an importance of his name.
Eli, of the Old Testiment, was charged with taking care of God's house. He taught Samuel and others.
My Eli seems to have felt some sense of responsibility of his name.
Something I cannot explain nor understand moved him as he read those words.
Perhaps it is not the actual name "Eli" that compels and calls him, but the name "follower, disciple, Christian, servant, son" that moved him so.
Sometimes I think it would be so cool to have your name changed at some point when your life becomes something new.
Then again, I've moved 7 times in 15 years. My life has changed direction each time. I suppose I would get confused if I changed my name each time.
Eli was named Eli because 1: it is a Hebrew name and I thought a Hebrew name would be cool 2: it was the only name Matt and I agreed on.
He was supposed to be Jonah Matthew. From the time Matt and I started talking about kids, even years before we wanted them, we loved the name Jonah Matthew, but when I got pregnant we discarded the name and started our search for something else. We obviously settled on Eli Matthew.
Eli means "high" or "ascended". In the Bible, Eli was the High Priest, the last judge of Israel and the one charged with raising up Samuel. He was a very important man in his day. But, Eli had some trouble with his sons and he and his family ended up with a harsh judgement from the Lord. When I read the story of Eli, I was thrilled that the namesake was a judge and mentor to the great King Samuel, but also a little saddened he was named after a guy that ended up with a family curse.
Yesterday Eli came downstairs and sat next to me very quiet, attempting to hide that he wanted to talk to me. I asked him what was going on and he said he just finished reading two chapters in The Story (a story version of the Bible) and it made him cry.
I asked what he was reading and why it made him sad.
He said he was reading about Eli.
(Here we go. I have to explain that not ALL Elis will have dreadful sons and be cursed.)
Eli was struggling to explain how he felt. He finally said he wasn't sad, he just needed to cry.
Talking to a 10 year old boy can be so difficult.
I decided to drop the subject and revisit it later.
At bedtime I asked him to show me what he read. He did and then he pointed out what made him cry.
He located these words "The person who took care of God's house was named Eli".
I was a little confused, but decided to go with it.
If I say "huh?" he will get frustrated.
If I say "oh ok" but I really don't have a clue, then I am no closer to understanding what in the world he is so emotionally moved about.
I opt for Dr. Phil 101 "and how does that make you feel Eli?"
He explained that God named Eli and put him in charge of his people.
God named him Eli, because he chose to follow God.
On some level Eli saw an importance of his name.
Eli, of the Old Testiment, was charged with taking care of God's house. He taught Samuel and others.
My Eli seems to have felt some sense of responsibility of his name.
Something I cannot explain nor understand moved him as he read those words.
Perhaps it is not the actual name "Eli" that compels and calls him, but the name "follower, disciple, Christian, servant, son" that moved him so.
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