POW! (or, my big fat greek name)

i just came back from summer camp with Unique Learning Center (ULC) today and just had one of those “nothing is a coincidence” moments.

 

you see, for this year’s summer youth program, the elementary school-aged students went through a bible study curriculum whose theme dealt with power.  all our academic activities centered around science and this particularly bible study curriculum also wove interesting little science-esque experiments into the studies.  with the students, we explored the different kinds of power that Jesus gives us: to be thankful, to be helpful, to be brave, to live forever and to tell others about God.

 

camp with ULC at highland retreat camp in bergton, va (about 20 miles from wv) was like staying at the waldorf-astoria compared to ignition training camp.  and yet, i missed being around the g-squad and the whole aim staff/crew – lack of indoor plumbing, electricity and, on occasion, eating utensils.  i especially missed my team.  but today, as i pulled out of third street church of god’s parking lot for the last time, and hugged sherry, ULC’s director, i cried.  there’s the “grieving” we learned about. . . oh the series of goodbyes that lays ahead. . .

 

anyway, i get home, browse through my snail mail and brace myself as face my laptop.  i think the “g” in g-squad could stand for “google” ’cause i had 270 emails waiting for me, most of them the alerts that someone made a comment to our squad-blog.

 

i just finished reading through a bunch of my squadmates’ blogs, a good number of them reflections of their names.  i think all but two of them are not in English; of the “foreign” ones, one’s spanish, two are hebrew, and the remainder are greek.

 

my team falls under the last foreign category; we are team dunamis (δυναμις).  simply put, the word means, “power”.  for a better account of how God bestowed this name to us, read carly’s post here; go here for a detailed definition, and here for the super commentary that really got us revved up for this name.

 

so where was i going with all this. . . ah yes. . . all this to say that the theme of this year’s bible study for ulc’s summer program and our team name (oh, and i can’t forget how my church has been studying the book of acts for months now!) are not haphazardly related.  throughout the bible, especially in the old testament, it is evident that names are not just labels; names are a key part of identity and birthright. 

 

i absolutely loved learning the names of the g-squad teams, words so beautiful and rich in significance; the each name fit each team so perfectly and i am excited to see how each team will live out its name this year.  my team is excited to see this promise fulfilled in us:

and you shall be My witnesses