Jordan - Genesis 17

There is a spiritual that goes "I told Jesus it would be alright if he changed my name."  Names are powerful.  God gives Abram and Sarai new names to signify a change in their life.  They will now be known as Abraham and Sarah.  


I remember in high school going to a Phillies game with a bunch of friends and sitting in the upper deck.  This was when the Phillies were drawing only 10,000 or so fans to the colossal Veterans Stadium.  A group of guys, obviously older, decided it would be fun to mess with us and moved into the seats right behind us.  They started to make lewd comments to the girls in our group and it made all of us uncomfortable.  So, for some reason, I decided to do something (and yes, I was just as intimidating then as I am now).  I stood up and hopped into the seat next to the lead guy.  I heard the other guys in the group do the "oooh, what's this guy gonna do" kinda thing and to be honest, I didn't have a plan.  But for some reason...


I asked him what his name was.  


It was Jeremy, I remember that clear as bell, mostly because I wasn't expecting a bully to be named Jeremy.  What I don't remember was the exact exchange after that, but it really didn't matter because I already had the upper hand.  I had caught him off guard because now I knew more about him than he would ever know about me.  The rest of it went something along the lines of, "Jeremy, if you don't mind we are trying to enjoy the game and you aren't really allowing that to happen.  Please go back to your seats."  He kind of joked around a few times "Dude, we're just trying to talk to these ladies, why don't you sit back down before..."  I never responded to what he would say, I just kept using his name, Jeremy, and asking him to back off.  By the third or forth exchange, he realized I wasn't kidding, and I wasn't intimidated.  I had called his bluff and I had called him by name and he was starting to get embarrassed.  They got up, and they left and didn't bother us the rest of the game.


Shakespeare famously asks, "What's in a name?"  Like a rose, its not something that defines you by any means, but it does identify you.  Abraham and Sarah are still the Abram and Sarai we have been reading about on the inside, but they now have a not-so-subtle public witness that proceeds them.