Today is Indigenous People’s Day in America. At least it used to be, the guy with the temper may have changed it back to Columbus Day again. That’s what it was when I was a kid. Then we started to see some issues and changed the name. Some folks get worked up over various things. If you want to find out a person’s temperament, just call it one of those names and see if they react. My point is, Names change. The day is still October 13th, and it’s still a Federal holiday. The banks don’t care about the name, they just know that they are closed. In truth, to me it’s Sammy Hagar’s Birthday.

In recovery we have our names changed as well. As people start to realize things about us they might change what they call us as well. It doesn’t change who or what we are, it just changes how people perceive us. If someone calls you by your name or if they slap a label on you, it doesn’t really change who you are. That’s why we put our identity in Christ at Celebrate Recovery. Call us what you want, but the base of who we are is in being a whosoever, as in “whosoever believes in Him…”

So call me what you want. Be it Paul, Minister of Mocha, MoM, Ira, or maybe even Edgar, it doesn’t matter because I will always…

–Rise Up!!