So at church this Sunday we sang this song, He Knows My Name. I know I have sang this song many times before growing up in the church, but for some reason this Sunday it meant something more. Instead of singing line for line, just going through the motions like always before, I thought of what it meant.
I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/tommy_walker/he_knows_my_name.html ]
I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call
The part that stuck out the most was, "He knows my name."
And I thought of how personal a name is to someone.
A name Identifies who you are. You are given a name at birth and you travel through your entire life with that name until you die. Your name appears on your ID, you use it on applications, write it on your papers so teachers know who did the work, it appears on plane tickets, passports, insurance cards, birth certificates, etc. The list goes on and on.
I thought of how it felt for someone to know your name. Coming down to Texas no one new my name at first. And I am sure most of you know that great feeling of someone saying your name, after meeting that person just recently. What?! They know my name? They remember me, they know who I am?! It makes you feel as if you are someone, someone special, someone important, someone worth knowing.
It's always nice when you walk into a store, a restaurant, a bank, a school etc. and they know your name there. Something about it is so intimate and personal. You feel a sense of belonging, you feel at home. It's crazy how something that seems so simple, like our name, can give us this connection and feeling.
I thought about my students and how excited they get when you know their names. I remember my first week at the school I am teaching at, I called this boy by his name and he was like, "You know my name miss?!" He was shocked and excited that I knew his name, who he was. Well then everyone else started asking me what their names were, ha big mistake after just being their a week, because I didn't know all of their names yet. This then brings about the opposite feeling of someone not knowing your name.
When someone doesn't know your name, forgets it constantly, calls you by the wrong name, or even says it wrong it kind of leaves you with a feeling of unimportance. You aren't important enough to have a name worth remembering. Just like victims of the holocaust and other containment camps. Their names were taken away from them and they were identified as a number. A number out of millions of numbers, just another number... Their identity taken away from them, that personal connection and feeling of importance wiped away.
Think of how you feel when someone you admire, like or enjoy knows your name. Then think of a time when no one knew your name, but maybe knew someone else's.
Well, God knows your name. I thought about how powerful that statement was. He knows my name, he knows me. With the billions and trillions of people on this earth he knows my name.
I can't even remember every single one of my 250 students name all of the time, and out of the whole universe God makes it a point to know my name, he knows me just as well as he knows you.
Then comes the statement, "He knows my every thought" and I thought of how even more powerful that would be. Imagine if I knew my students every thoughts! I would know how to meet their every need and I would know everything about them. Just knowing a name is powerful, but knowing every thought too, now that is powerful.
It then reminded me of the bible verse Luke 12:6-7
"What is the price of five sparrows-two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very HAIRS on your head are ALL NUMBERED. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows."
What?! He knows me so well that he knows how many hairs are on my head. But it's not just my head hairs that he knows, he knows how many are on your head, your neighbors head, your neighbors sisters head and every single person on this earth. WOW! That is amazing! Think of how important you must be for someone to take the time to know the very hairs on your head?
Think about the importance of a name and next time someone remembers your name think of what kind of a feeling it gives you. Remembering some ones name may seem simple, but its the most simplest important thing you could probably do.
I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/tommy_walker/he_knows_my_name.html ]
I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call
The part that stuck out the most was, "He knows my name."
And I thought of how personal a name is to someone.
A name Identifies who you are. You are given a name at birth and you travel through your entire life with that name until you die. Your name appears on your ID, you use it on applications, write it on your papers so teachers know who did the work, it appears on plane tickets, passports, insurance cards, birth certificates, etc. The list goes on and on.
I thought of how it felt for someone to know your name. Coming down to Texas no one new my name at first. And I am sure most of you know that great feeling of someone saying your name, after meeting that person just recently. What?! They know my name? They remember me, they know who I am?! It makes you feel as if you are someone, someone special, someone important, someone worth knowing.
It's always nice when you walk into a store, a restaurant, a bank, a school etc. and they know your name there. Something about it is so intimate and personal. You feel a sense of belonging, you feel at home. It's crazy how something that seems so simple, like our name, can give us this connection and feeling.
I thought about my students and how excited they get when you know their names. I remember my first week at the school I am teaching at, I called this boy by his name and he was like, "You know my name miss?!" He was shocked and excited that I knew his name, who he was. Well then everyone else started asking me what their names were, ha big mistake after just being their a week, because I didn't know all of their names yet. This then brings about the opposite feeling of someone not knowing your name.
When someone doesn't know your name, forgets it constantly, calls you by the wrong name, or even says it wrong it kind of leaves you with a feeling of unimportance. You aren't important enough to have a name worth remembering. Just like victims of the holocaust and other containment camps. Their names were taken away from them and they were identified as a number. A number out of millions of numbers, just another number... Their identity taken away from them, that personal connection and feeling of importance wiped away.
Think of how you feel when someone you admire, like or enjoy knows your name. Then think of a time when no one knew your name, but maybe knew someone else's.
Well, God knows your name. I thought about how powerful that statement was. He knows my name, he knows me. With the billions and trillions of people on this earth he knows my name.
I can't even remember every single one of my 250 students name all of the time, and out of the whole universe God makes it a point to know my name, he knows me just as well as he knows you.
Then comes the statement, "He knows my every thought" and I thought of how even more powerful that would be. Imagine if I knew my students every thoughts! I would know how to meet their every need and I would know everything about them. Just knowing a name is powerful, but knowing every thought too, now that is powerful.
It then reminded me of the bible verse Luke 12:6-7
"What is the price of five sparrows-two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very HAIRS on your head are ALL NUMBERED. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows."
What?! He knows me so well that he knows how many hairs are on my head. But it's not just my head hairs that he knows, he knows how many are on your head, your neighbors head, your neighbors sisters head and every single person on this earth. WOW! That is amazing! Think of how important you must be for someone to take the time to know the very hairs on your head?
Think about the importance of a name and next time someone remembers your name think of what kind of a feeling it gives you. Remembering some ones name may seem simple, but its the most simplest important thing you could probably do.
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