And He shall be called Wonderful

 Nombre

One of the first conversations most Spanish students learn is how to ask someone what their name is and respond. The literal translation is, "How are you called?" and "I call myself..." Christmas is a time when I ponder the many names of my Savior, especially last year.

Me llamo Danielle.

My name is based on an ancestral surname, Daniels-Brown. It was one of the top 3 choices and the second favorite of both my parents. (Michelle and Nicole were the other top choices if you're curious.) My name therefore reminds me of my family. I love my name for these reasons, but most of all for its Hebrew translation: God is my judge. It reminds me of the person I hope to become, someone with integrity who always cares most about what my God thinks of me

He or She?

Last Christmas as when we chose to discover the gender of our IVF baby who would join our family almost exactly two months later. By then we were already narrowing down our list of names. We wanted to take a list of our top names to the hospital and try them out after the birth, like we did with our now 8 year old daughter. We liked the idea of using a classic name, a scriptural name, a family name, a meaningful name.

The name we ended up choosing for our son is Jonathan Eugene. Jonathan is for my little brother and my uncle, as well as the biblical prince and loyal friend to David. All are examples of meekness, an attribute of Christ I hope my son will embody. The name Jonathan means "gift of God" and therefore especially celebrates in gratitude the 8 year wait for our IVF baby. Eugene is the middle name of my paternal grandfather who passed away two years ago. It is my understanding that the name means well born, which is saying something given Jonathan's birth story and even the miraculous birth of my grandfather two months early.

As I take this month to reflect on the many names of Jesus Christ, I love what each one teaches me. He life, death, and resurrection truly are "a great vicarious gift on behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth." As I look back on 2020 and as I look forward to the coming year, I sing:

He gives us hope when hope is gone. He gives a strength when we can't go on. he gives us shelter in the storms of life. When there's no peace on Earth, there is peace in Christ. #givehope