Every Name Has a Story

Proverbs 22:1 

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches”

I visited with my dad this past Sunday morning at a familiar and often uncomfortable place…the cemetery.  It was “decoration day” at Center Springs Methodist Church where my mother is buried. We chatted as we waited for others to arrive, then decided to take a walk among the graves.  Every tombstone was engraved with a name that brought back so many memories. 

As we walked, we talked.  “Remember him?”  “Remember her?”  Daddy is 84 and is having trouble remembering what happened yesterday, but he hasn’t forgotten names from 40 and 50 years ago.  Every name engraved on the tombstones had a story.  Some of the stories were happy, some were sad.  Some died wealthy, some poor.  Some lived to be a hundred, some died as infants.  Some were remembered for all the good they had done.  Some were remembered for the bad they had done. Every name had a story.

That’s true, not only after we die, but while we’re still alive.  Everyone is known for something.  Everyone has a reputation of some kind.  What are you known for?  When people hear your name what do they think? 

Yes every name has a story.  While none of us have arrived, and every day is a challenge - God help each of us strive to have a good name.  I will be OK if you remember that I was a preacher…that I was married to Crystal… that I was the father of Alyssa and Garrett…that I was the son of Lewis and Ellawee and the brother of Diana…But I really want to be remembered as a Christian. 

Every name has a story.  What’s your story?