This past July, my parents hosted the 43rd Annual Hamlin-Urquhart Reunion. In March, when I was asked to return to the field with the World Race as a leader, the Lord downloaded these thoughts to my mind. I believed the Lord was giving me a beautiful opportunity to point to Christ, challenge and encourage my family, lead them in worship, and Glorify him. I am prayerful that the brief message that I pieced together below did just that, and may be meaningful for you!
This past year, I had the privilege and joy of experiencing more of this world. Last August, I departed the United States to embark on an 11 month mission trip through an organization where we travelled to a total of 15 different countries; Spain, Morocco, Lebanon, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, and China just to name a few. In each of these beautiful nations, my teams partnered with local ministries and contacts who are serving and loving people. Our heart and mission was to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, His power, His victory over sin and death, and His invitation of relationship, life abundant and everlasting. In these countries, we were invited to participate in the work He’s doing all over the world. I served refugees in a refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece, distributing resources for basic needs, managing housing, and providing security as a guard. I worked with Syrian refugee children in Beirut and the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, sharing the Gospel, providing humanitarian aid, and assisting with childrens programs. I partnered with a local church in Morocco, supporting missionaries and doing home visits with locals. I taught English to college students in Kyrgyzstan and had deep discussions over tea or seated on a park bench. The list and the experiences are endless. I was regularly welcomed into peoples’ homes and lives, intrigued that I was an American. I do not look like the Americans they encountered. I was a black American. New international friends would ask me if I was from Somalia, Ethiopia, other African nations, a Caribbean nation, or even Pakistan. No, I am a black American and my name is Joelle Urquhart. Changing perceptions and misconceptions. Joelle Urquhart. An Urquhart.
I sat in the homes of people from Afghanistan, China, Syria, Morocco, and more. We sat, shared of our lives, presented family pictures with pride, discussed names, and meaning, and heritage. The name “Urquhart” has literally travelled around the world, and [my family] as Urquhart’s and Hamlin’s are tied into this legacy, this story. I was an ambassador, not only for Americans, but for my family. I bear a name, and I carried the beauty of that name and the history of that name. We all continue to do this, bearing a name and carrying it into the spaces and places with the weight and value of a rich legacy. And for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, we bear His name too. The Bible repeatedly tells us that we are a people called by His name. In bearing His name, we have work and responsibility. 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 states “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
So not only are we ambassadors bearing a name, but also are tasked to give away the very things that have been given to us. As a believer in Jesus, that is the message of reconciliation. Be reconciled to God.
And as an Urquhart, a Hamlin, a Fields, a McQuillan, a Sparrow, a Preston, take pride in the name you bear. Carry it boldly and confidently into the places and spaces in which you are invited into. Work well in the things you are committed to, and care well for the things you have been entrusted with. And give away—in both speech and action the things that have been given to you through the generations: a deep and rich legacy.
