Nicknames

“…and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  [Isaiah 9:6b]

Throughout my life, I always had nicknames - some goofy, some endearing, and some weird.
When I first learned to write my name, I reversed the “R” and the “A” as I wrote.  My grandfather thought this was funny and called me what I had written: “Mrak.”

My mother called me “Markie” until I was old enough to talk her out of it.  Curiously, my wife calls me “Markie Mark” now and it doesn’t really bother me at all.

When I was a teacher, my students would try to call me “Mr. P.”  I always took the time to point out how odd that sounded and how I wouldn’t answer to it.  Then a beloved teaching partner called me “Mr. P” - and it didn’t bother me at all (although it really freaked out my students for those years).  Again…curiously, my daughter-in-law, Evelin, calls me “Mr. P” and I love it.

My favorite nickname of all time is what my grandson Logan calls me: “Dah.”  None of us can figure out where he obtained that label for me, and everyone else in the family has the usual names of “Aunt” or “Grandma” or “Tia” (Spanish for ‘aunt’).  But when he calls me “Dah” he knows I will answer every single time.

Our Lord has nicknames too!

In the quote from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6, various names for the Lord are listed, and we have all heard them before.  During his lifetime, Jesus was called “Rabbi” which translates as “Teacher.”  He was often called “Master” and even “Son of David” when he encountered those in his ministry.  Paul referred to Jesus as “the Christ” and of course “Lord.”  Jesus referred to himself as "Son of Man."

But no matter what we call our Lord, He knows our names.  And no matter what names each of us are comfortable in calling ourselves, He knows them all.

And the most important of the Lord’s possible nicknames for each of us is “MINE.”

For we all want the Lord to someday say to each of us, “You are MINE.”

Amen!