Its All In A Name...

Naming our second son has been more challenging than the first.

Early in Barrett and my dating relationship, we frequently drove from Oklahoma City to Tulsa for Barrett to fill in to lead worship for the Life Church Tulsa Campus or to play and sing with Derrick Hensley, the Tulsa campus worship leader. One one of those trips, we had stopped to eat at a barbecue eating establishment (which was quite an experience all in itself, I will post more on that lunch and the details at another time). Sometime during our meal, a name came up that Barrett and I both thought, "Wow, that is a great name!" We threw out a few more, "You know what else would be a cool name?" type statements, one of which was followed by Whittaker...hence the name of our first born (aka Whitty). Although, there was no mention of these being names for our kids...we were no where near even being married...but I knew in the back of my mind that it was important to remember and wrote the few names we had agreed upon on my driver's license.

Since Whittaker was born, we have had numerous converasations as to what we might name our second child if we had one. Many were mentioned, but still none resonated like Whittaker did with us long before he was conceived. So upon the realization that we were expecting our second child, the name game became much more regular, tossing around names we had mentioned through the years and discovering new possibilities. Some we really liked until discovering the meaning of the name, and realizing how powerful that has been for ages and still can be in proclaiming who someone is each time you say their name. As we found out we are having a boy, the list was narrowed, but remained and was added to frequently.

Without a first name yet, I had begun searching for his middle name which I wanted to be something about being healed by God, since this is something I wholeheartedly believe. During my search, I came across the name Josiah, which I have loved for years, and saw that it meant "Yahweh supports" So I continued my search of Hebrew and Greek to find what the word healed was and if there was a name that meant "Yahweh has healed" or "healed by God" or any names assoicated with healing. I found an Old Testament Hebrew translation for healing the original word is "hapr" and since one of the names on our list that I had posed to Barrett was the name "Harper" I was feeling more confident and suggested the name "Harper Josiah".

Barrett considered it for about a week and then decided that would be his name.

As I was driving last Monday thinking about his name, I realized that in all my search for a name that meant our son was healed by God that there was a fundamental problem since the problem did not lie with our son, nor did it lie with me, but rather the conection between our two bodies. So, how fitting that the connection between Harper and Snare would be Josiah, meaning Yahweh supports and believing that the Lord will safely and successfully bring our son through pregnancy to birth being his support, in essence, the third valve.

So, if you will, when you think about our son and are pleading for the Lord to continue to support him and grow him, please pray for him by name, Harper Josiah.

I look forward to even more stories of praise of what the Lord has done. Our next appointment is Friday, the 8th.

Love you all so much and thank you for praying for Harper!