After I had the first encounter with the boy who didn’t know his own name, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I woke up one morning with the child on my mind. I felt like I had to figure out a name for him. I started going through names from men in the bible and tried to find a name with a meaning that fit the boy. None seemed to feel right.
A few hours later I received an email from my grandma. She was feeling restless and said that she felt God was telling her to give the boy a name. “Let’s name him Tim,” she wrote. My eyes filled with tears as I read her words. It was perfect. My belated uncle’s name was Tim. My uncle is the person who left a place in my heart for people with special needs. It was an honor that my grandma would have so much love for this boy, whom she didn’t even know, that she would be able to give him the name of her son. I couldn’t wait until the next time I could see the boy and shower him with love, hugs, and a new name!
I looked up the meaning of Timothy.
Honoring God.
How fitting for this child! Just as my grandma had so freely given this name that meant so much, God in the same way had given the child a name that had powerful meaning to Him. A boy whose life could be viewed as broken and insignificant, God has given him a name that proclaims HIS name.
On Tuesday, we returned to the Bung Snay, the village where the boy is from. I was praying that God would allow me to see the boy again because I had some very good news for him! On the way to the village I explained to our translator who wasn’t with me the previous time, Rechna, about the boy who didn’t know his name and that I wanted to tell him about his new name
For the first hour or so my eyes searched for Tim. As we played with a mob of children, my eyes scanned the little faces. I began to doubt if I remembered what he looked like. After about twenty minutes of singing with the kids, I felt that I needed to go to one of the houses and do some evangelizing. I grabbed my teammate, Sarah, and Rechna as we walked to a house. Sarah had visited this house with a “store” in the front that she wanted to return to. The owner is one of the only Christians in the village and had been facing some hardships. We arrived and the woman welcomed us inside. Because there wasn’t enough room inside, I ended up sitting outside.
All part of God’s perfect plan.
As Sarah was encouraging the woman inside, low and behold Timothy runs up with ten cents to purchase a snack! I was so excited partly due to the fact that I would get to tell him about his new name and also because God is so good at guiding those who are willing to listen right where He wants them to be.
Because I had explained everything to Rechna on the way to the village, she knew exactly what I meant when I excitedly said, “this is the boy!” I was surprised when she said, “Oh! His name is Neon (pronounced noo-un)!” As it turns out, she knows the boys parents and has been going and sharing the gospel with them for months now! So the “boy without a name” is really the “boy who doesn’t know his name”.
Tim hopped up in my lap without any coaxing, and, just as the previous encounter, it seemed as if we had this set time that we were meeting and we were exactly where we were supposed to be. Rechna translated for me as I told him about his new name, Timothy. He seemed to not care as he kept reaching with his sticky fingers for the camera placed at my side. For a split second, my initial reaction was, “Well, I feel dumb. He already has a name.” That thought process went away as I realized this is his new name. The name that God has given him! How lucky I was to be the one who got to relay that message from God to him.
In the bible, God renamed countless people from Abraham to Simon. God did this so that these people would be living testimonies of His promises. This wasn’t to say their lives were perfect after the name changes. Simon was given the new name Peter, which meant rock. Jesus said that upon this rock that he would build his church. Peter also denied Jesus three times. God already knew that this would happen, but he still gave him the name because of the role that Peter would play in building his Church.
“I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.” -Revelation 2:17
Wow. God promises us EACH a new name; a name that will between each of us and God. It will be on a white stone. When the Bible was written, jurors would cast their votes with stones: a black stone meaning guilty and a white stone meaning innocent. In heaven, we will be starting with a clean slate as a new spirit.
As for our time here on this earth, “The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.” He called us by name before the world had a chance to label us and before we believed lies of being “unworthy” and “not good enough”. How sweet it is to know that the God of everything knows me so intimately!
Thank you, Father, for Your promise of a new name! I am so unworthy of your love, but you will not see me for who I am here on this earth, but only as a new image that is created through the death of your Son. Help me to live out all of my days as your child who you know by name.
After being entertained by me for long enough, Tim ran off playing just like any other day. I was satisfied in what God had just done, whether the boy knew it or not.
As my team and I were leaving and I was telling the rest of them that I was able to tell Tim about his new name, his tiny body sprung out from his house and rounded the group of white girls and ran straight into my arms. (Video at the bottom of this post)
I was now on the receiving end of our kind and generous God. The boy hugged me as I walked through Bung Snay for the last time. It was as if Jesus were holding me simultaneously with the boys arms wrapped tight around me.
"His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." -Matthew 25:23
