When the 1960s ended, many
hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They got married and had children.
But they didn't name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains
around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing with little Time
Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise
all ended up in public school.
That's when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit
Stand. Every fall, parents applied name tags to their children, kissed them
good-bye and sent them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The
teachers thought the boy's name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?"
They offered.
And later, "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He
accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn't seem much odder than
Heather's or Sun Ray's.
At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out
to the buses.
"Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?" He
didn't answer. That wasn't strange. He hadn't answered them all day. Lots of
children are shy on the first day of school. It didn't matter. The teachers had
instructed the parents to write the names of their children's bus stop on the
reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There,
neatly printed, was the word "Anthony."
We often hear folks say, "There's nothing in a name!"
But there is very much something in a name. Our name identifies who we are and
where we came from (and sometimes where we're going). That's why Abram's name
was changed to Abraham ("father of a multitude"), and Simon's to Peter ("the
rock").
As Christians, we are proud to wear the name of the
one who is our Lord, our Savior and our head.
"If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed
are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is
blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a
murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet
if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God in this matter." (1 Peter 4:14-16)
It truly does make a difference what name we wear. If
you don't believe me, just ask Fruit Stand.
Alan Smith
alansmith.servant@gmail.com
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