WHO WOULD DARE NAME THEIR CHILD SUCH A WIERD NAME?

How many of you have stuck with a name that just drives you crazy... or at least use to drive you crazy when you were growing toward to adulthood.  Yup... you know exactly what I am talking about.  Like old Johnny Cash being named "Sue" years ago in his multi-million selling album...a name that the song said caused him a WHOLE BUNCH of problems... You have a name or know of a name a friend has that simply ended up labeling them in a way they did not  prefer.  Then it  may have  caused pain from the first day they began k'garten or grade school until they were able to either change it or adapt it.

Let see..... what are a couple of examples?  Name a boy Francis, and it won't be long until he becomes Frank.  Alfred becomes Al. Although I am cool with the name Alfred now.  After all it means "Wise noble counselor."  Mom must have known the future better than I. Throughout my life, I have known things that have been life changing in others and myself that I could not have known.  But again I digress.

 I am sure there are hyper-painful names. But you ARE NOT gonna believe this name:  What if yo Momma called you "Pain?" I can only imagine what kinda pain being called "Pain" would be.   You may say, "Who would dare name their baby Pain?" Good question!  Why would she be motivated to label  her lovely little boy such a libelous, loathsome,  painful identifier.  Sure would not help him win friends and influence people... would it?  Again... another good question! Well Jabez (the name means pain, sorrow or grief) was named Jabez (Pain is the most common translation cause it sounds like the Hebrew word for pain.) because his dear Mother really hurt when she labored to deliver her little boy.  Well DUH ! ! !  So what else is new???  Any of you ladies out there not have pain when your children were born? I am told most do have pain. 

Vicki sure looked like she was not jumping for joy over the jubilant experience of birthing our children.  The joy came later. (So we were REAL careful in the naming of our children.)  We even had our 8 year old daughter name her little brother because it was better than we came up with. All three had heavenly names we thought they would like and or love.   They did not seem to mind their names.  And we called NONE OF THEM "PAIN!"  I cannot imagine what my dear sojourner in the Lord would have done if she had ask me "What name shall be given this child?"  And I would have come up with such a name as "Pain."  I would have needed to rethink that name REAL fast.  I can not even have imagined how our 2 young ladies and young one man would have felt these many years later:o)

Anyway ya'll know that  labor is called labor just because women labor so hard and it hurts!  Before I get you all confused any further and way off track, I think we are clear that the ONLY reason we have  this Momma naming her little boy such and unbelievable name is because it did not feel well.  IT HURT A WHOLE LOT!  Of course we guys cannot know such pain unless we pass a kidney stone.  And I "AIN'T" volunteering!  In fact I bet the population would be about 1/20 what it is now if guys had to labor to have children:o)   But lets get real.  Would you call your little one "Pain?"  Jabez sweet Mother did, and it is now recorded history for everyone to read in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.

So his life scenario could conceivably be played out something like this:   His life began with pain.  His Momma hurt so bad she called him a little ole pain.  She let the whole world know how bad he had hurt her! His Dad seemed to be no where around... an uncommon thing for his day.  By the time he was grown,  I can almost hear people laughing at him saying, "Here comes that big pain!  Everybody ought to watch out!  No telling what will happen when pain gets in your life!"  This guy had every conceivable opportunity to be a victim in a place where people persecuted folks who did not fit the rules of the day.  They even stoned people who broke the the rules.

What did Pain do about it?  First he was Not a victim.  By adulthood he was considered "more honorable than his brothers." (Check out the passage and you will see.)  We do not know what this phrase means.  Was he more honorable because he became some great Leader of his day ?  Maybe so... because we know that the tribe of the scribes all lived in a city called Jabez or Pain. (1 Chronicles 2:55)  This would be an unusual name for a city of that time and place. It is quite possible he overcame all odds to establish a great town or educators where all the ancient writings were written and shared.   Could be some of the ancient scriptures were preserved in that very place.  Scribes were of the most noble  people and the educators who really impacted on the culture of the time.   Nope... he clearly was NOT a victim.  The verbal abuse and name calling made him better not worse.  He made better choices in life. He was an honorable man... more honorable than his brothers.

But let's move to what  we know for sure.  He was a man who had faith.... He believed in God.  He prayed.  He prayed a specific prayer, short prayer, sincere prayer, simple prayer and secret prayer. (At least in the days when his life was a pain it was secret; but not today.)   And God answered his 5 S prayer.   He had been labeled a Pain.  He lived with pain.  Yet he prayed to the Almighty God, " O Lord that you would bless me indeed. That your hand would be with me. That you would enlarge my territory... (other translations say "boundaries or Coasts)...that you would keep me from evil... that I would not cause pain (other translations say feel pain.)  And the scriptures simply tell us that God answered his prayer.  Jesus, the Son of God prayed JUST like this: Specific, Short, Sincere, Simple and Secret.  He too was victorious over the pain in HIS life.  AND WE ALL BENEFITED!

What can we learn from an old Pain like Jabez? What can he teach us today? In these times that people say are painful or are heading that way, what can we learn?  First, pain is not our enemy.  It is our friend.  Put your hand against something scalding hot and you will see.  If you are normally endowed, pain will protect you from getting hurt worse. You will rapidly pull your hand away. The pain is telling you something is wrong and needs to be addressed.  So rather than avoiding pain, let us ask ourselves What  is the pain telling us?"  Let us get smart and allow the pain to guide us in our decision making before we become a victim or try to numb the pain.  

Finally,  let's talk to God about our pain. But don't over do it with a whole bunch of verbalizing as if God would be pleased with a ton of words. Let's check out praying the 5 S way.  Evaluate what the pain in our lives is telling us.  Believe that God  INDEED cares about us and is in control. Then pray a specific, short, sincere, simple and secret prayer, and go about living our lives one day at a time... acting if God will answer.  It will be clear (as time passes) that God will answer our prayers and order our steps... even through the painful times.

More to follow later.  

Be Blessed 2day... Especially 2day.

Al