Naming

Naming.

It’s hard.

This little boy of mine carries so many of my hopes and fears. I long for him to know the Lord.  To grow into the kind of man his father is. I long for closeness and intimacy with him. I long for red curls and toothy smiles.  I long for a boy that will hold my hand, tell me jokes, and laugh loudly when we play.

How do we dare put a name to this being? What hopes do we weave into his name?

Instead of looking forward to who he will be, we turn back—to where he comes from. 

Both Brian and I have lost our fathers, and both losses are part of who we are.  They will be part of who he is.  Although they will not be present in his life, their presence has shaped his life.  He is their legacy because he is ours.

Stephen for my dad.

Michael for his dad.

Stephen Michael Hinds—goes by Michael.

Michael asks the question, who is like God? Who is like him? Not one.

“You who have done great things,
    O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
    will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.”

For both Brian and I, the loss of our fathers were dark nights.  Seasons of frustration, despair, and anger.  Yet in the midst of those losses, we called on the Lord, begging for him to answer and to comfort.  We called on him, and he was a refuge to us.  He revived us.  Brought us up from the depths. He restored to us the joy of his salvation.

Today, as we pray over this small boy and all that he will be, we do not ask that the Lord spare him from trial.  Because we’ve seen how the Lord uses hardship to bring about great joy. To bring many sons to glory.  We ask that the Lord would cause his heart to find refuge and salvation at the cross.  We ask that this boy will always turn to God in the midst of trouble.  We ask that, like the man in Psalm 71, our Michael would run to the Lord in every trial.

So, we have chosen his name from his roots.  And from his name, we have chosen a Psalm to pray over him.