Our newest grandson was born last week. As you might expect, it was a joyous occasion for all of us. It was a long (25 hour) labor, but in the end Mom and baby were both great. The only real issue around his birth was that his parents couldn’t decide on a name right away, so he was just “Baby” or “Him”.

In our lives we go around with names that are temporary. They are just arbitrary things that people call us because they don’t know our names. It might be “Addict”. It might be “Felon”. It might be “Drunk”. It might be “Loser”. There are so many things that I have been called because people give me a name that describes something they observed about me. If they did that with my grandson it might well turn out to be “Sleep” or “Poop”!

But it’s not the world that gets to name us, it’s our parents. My Father calls me Blessed, Highly Favored, and Redeemed. My Father knows my name, because He gave it to me. God not only knows me, but He knows my name! And he knows yours too. So don’t let people call you something other than what God calls you.

Oh, by the way, after several days they decided on Oliver. Now go out there and…

–Rise Up!!