My name for God

I have always enjoyed the variety of names given to God in the Bible. The major characterists of God are given names: LORD, God, Abba, Adonai, Jesus and King. With each name, we get a better understanding, or a new understanding, for who this being is. He is beyond all that we know or could imagine, but the names help us to relate to Him for who He is: King, God, Abba. Check out some of the following links about God's names:

• List and meanings


• God has a name


• Names in Old Testament


• Whole Bible


• Common names

My favorite name for God has always been I AM (or LORD; Exodus 3:14-15). That name means so much more than we can comprehend- God is. One name that I love to call God has been Daddy. I now have a new name that I enjoy to call God: Rey-papa.

It comes from George MacDonald's writings where the princesses call their father king-papa. I liked the mix of majesty and power that comes with the king, yet he is still their papa. I translated king into Spanish and got Rey.

I have found that using this name when talking to God makes me feel like a child; the eight year old Irene from "The Princess and the Goblin", by MacDonald. I can approach God as a child, as it should be. Rey-papa, this is all for You!

A desire of my life

"I don't want to mean something to everyone, just everything to someone."

I read that quote a few years ago and it never sat too well with me. Yes, one day I hope to mean everything to someone (well, not everything, but a lot), but I want to mean something to my other friends, in the meantime and while I'm with that special person.

Today I realized a better quote to fit my life: I want to know I mean something to those that mean something to me. I think that is why I enjoyed my friend's wedding this summer, which I was honored to be in. While I may not know how to show it, this friend has meant so much to me in the three years I have known her. From a spiritual leader and support, to a voice of reason when my head is in the clouds, she has been one amazing friend. Being a bridesmaid in her wedding let me know that I too mean something to her.

This is one of my desires in life: to know that I mean something to those that mean something to me. I know I may struggle with letting people know how much they mean to me: it is hard to express those feelings and if you can, it can be scary. But I hope that I will do my best to convey how much I care about those around me and how grateful I am from the things they have done for me, no matter how big or small.

Quotes from Pilgrim's Regress

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from C. S. Lewis' book- The Pilgrims' Regress, which I have been reading.

"But I can tell you only what you know. I can bring things out of the dark part of your mind into the light part of it." -Reason to John

"Because the Landlord is the thing you have been most afraid of all your life. I do not say that any theory should be accepted because it is disagreeable, but if any should, then belief in the Landlord should be accepted first." -Reason to John

"He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable name, murmuring Thou;
...
And all men in their praying, self-deceiving, address
One that is not (so saith that old rebuke) unless
Thou, of mere grace, appropriate, and to thee divert.
Men's arrows, all at hazard aimed, beyond desert.
Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense, but in thy great,
Unbroken speech our halting metaphor translate." -song of John

"If thou think for me what I cannot think, if thou
Desire for me what I
Cannot desire..."" -song of John

"...and that though the best thing is to have, the next best is to want, and the worst of all is not to want." -the Guide to John

"Even the wanting, though it is pain too, is more precious than anything else we experience. -John

How well do I know you?

**This was taken out of my journal from 6-6-06. There are a few edits.**

I'm pretty certain that this will not come out with the clarity and the passion that the idea originally caused driving to Indy June 2. Yet I love the analogy so much that I have to write it. I was talking to God about my internet relationship with a new friend and trying to understand how I couldn't say I like him and yet I sort-of do. My conclusions are as follows.

Getting to know someone online or by letters (not in person) is like getting to know a mold of that person. The more you know about a person on paper, the more holes and details you fill in for the mold. But you haven’t had the chance to see the living version of the mold- the creation that is formed when the mold is poured with flesh. When you, in your mind, create that person, you take the mold of information and pour flesh into it. The 3D creation will come out of the mold with pieces missing and undefined parts. This is because the mold is incomplete. As humans, we don’t like incomplete people, so we will fill in the holes as we wish them to be. This mold person in our mind will be different than the real person. The more you know about the person, the better your mold is and the more your feelings for the mold will continue when you know the actual person.

It is impossible to like this mold any more than you life inanimate objects. You can’t love the mold, but you can enjoy the mold, just as you enjoy flowers, and the mold can make you smile, like a beautiful day can. But you can like and love a person. So, how connected are these two: the mold and the person? It all depends on how you know about the person, which is represented in your mold.

As I was talking to God about all of this, He seemed to ask me "What about me? Does this work for me?" We have never seen God as the disciples did, but we can create a mold from their accounts, other accounts in the Bible and our own interactions with Him. The more we read and learn about Him, the better our idea of Him will match reality. But the greatest problem is out mold creation. We are used to pouring flesh into molds and filling in gaps with flesh. God is not flesh. Therefore, our mold creation will never be like Him if we pour flesh into our mold. But what do we pour in?-- a spiritual, Godly essence, which we know little about. Therefore, no matter how good out mold is, we still lack an understanding of the matter to pour in. We will always see dimly, as if in a mirror, while we live on this earth. But one day, we will see face to face! (1 Cor. 13:12)