What's In A Name????

On Sunday during Sunday school, we had a lesson called "What's In A Name?"
Before I go into details, think about what is in YOUR name....whether it be your first name, middle name, last name or all of your names. NPayne and I put a lot of thought into naming our children.....I even wrote a post called What's In A Name? Actually NPayne does have much to add when it has come to naming our children, but all in all.....he has always said, "Whatever name we end up choosing.....in the long run....they always end up becoming that name." You know what he means? He means that the name, that we have chosen, whether it was his first choice for names or not always ends up suiting that child perfectly. It's like their name definitely becomes a defining factor in who they are.
Now back to the lesson, on Sunday we were instructed to fold a white piece of paper in half (hotdog half not hamburger half....although I don't guess it matters which type of tasty sandwich half you use). On one side, we wrote our last name....then under that we were suppose to write characteristics, traits, descriptions, things you are known for, you get the drift that describe your family. I'll go ahead and tell you what I wrote on my half under PAYNE...

Large family who always come to church,

Kindness,

Accepting,

Servants!

Now I could have written some negative things as well....believe me I could have, but I chose to write things that I truly HOPE people think about when they think of THE PAYNE TRAIN!

On the other side of the hotdog, we were suppose to write the word CHRISTIAN at the top....you know where this is going, don't ya? Then as a group, we brainstormed some things that can define folks as Christians. This is the list we came up with. We had some positives and some negatives that people might think of when they think of Christian. Of course there are many other descriptions that can be added as well....

Kind

Generous

Serving

Acceptance

Loving

Forgivenss

Worshipful

Prayer

Intentional

Purpose Driven

Forgiven

Hypocritical

Judgemental

Narrow Minded

Then we were suppose to compare the list on our last name side of the hotdog to the list on the christian side of the hotdog....if you matched up perfectly with all the positives, then add some mustard and gobble it up....you're perfect....NOT ;)! Then we were asked to think about what of these "Christian" descriptions we were passing along to our children. It was really eye opening! As I said, although I did only list things that I hope people think of when they think of us....I know that we waiver and fall privy to some of the negatives on the Christian side as well. We strive not to, but we falter; and that's when we pray for guidance. We pray that we teach our children by example but also that we can sit down with them and teach them through scripture and discussions, and that's how we learn as well. As a matter of fact, I have learned so much through my children's examples and teachings too....who knew that I could actually learn something from them! So think about what your name means and what you think it means to be more like Jesus!