The Name Craze (Part 2)

Kenda nudged her mother as they waited for the church service to start. "Look, Mom!" She pointed to the church bulletin. Mom smiled when she saw the title of the pastor's sermon: "The Name Craze."

Kenda listened closely when Pastor Davis began his message. "Our names are important to us," he said. "We all are alert to the sound of our own names. We even like to see them in print and have them written on things we own."

Just like me, Kenda thought. But Mom and I can't find anything with my name printed on it.

"Names are important to God too," Pastor Davis continued. "In Isaiah 43:1, God says, I have called you by your name; You are Mine.' And in John 10, Jesus is talking about Himself when He says the shepherd calls His own sheep by name. The fact that God knows each of us by name shows how much He loves and cares for us. In Isaiah 49:16, He even says our names are engraved on the palms of His hands. Have you ever written something on your hand so you would remember it?"

Kenda looked down at her hands and smiled. There was a faded reminder on one that said "math test" so she would remember to study.

"When God said our names were engraved on His hands, He meant it literally," said Pastor Davis. "When Jesus rose from the dead, He bore scars on His hands from where He was nailed to the cross for our sins. Those scars will be there for all eternity as a reminder of His great love for us."

After church, Mom told Kenda she had a surprise for her. Kenda gasped when Mom handed her a package with an assortment of pens and notebooks with the name Kenda on them. "Mom! Where did you find these?"

"I found a website where you can print any name you want on an item," Mom said. "I wanted you to have something with your name on it."

"Thanks, Mom!" Kenda picked up a pen with her name on it. "The first thing I'm going to do with this is write myself a reminder." On the palm of her hand, she wrote the words Jesus loves me. Raelene E. Phillips