B E H I N D / T H E / B A R

I’m no stranger to name calling. People made fun of my last name as a kid. Do you even know how many words that rhyme with “Greer?”  Then there’s my first name.  If I’ve been asked once, I’ve been asked a million times “Isn’t ‘Shannon’ a girls name?”  I’ve learned to deal with name calling and the sting that comes when people make fun of your name.

Even as an adult, I’ve been called a few names.  A disgruntled homeless guy called me Pastor A$$wipe.  That was colorful.  Today a guy called me Lucifer and Satan.  Wait, isn’t that the same person?  Oh well, he was mad.  He’s always mad though.  

A couple of years ago, I started calling myself a “pastorista,” which s a combination of a pastor and a barista.  Its quirky, a little funny, it always seems to get a chuckle when someone reads the title on my business card.  I like that name.  

I love hearing my kids call me “Dad” or “Daddy.”  

My wife calls me . . . . well that’s for me to know.

My parents call me “son.”  That name means that I belong to someone.  Even now as an adult it still means a lot.  

But Scripture says that I am called a “son” of God. 

What?!?!  

Honestly, that’s a name with which I have struggled to identify in some seasons of my life.  I felt like His name for me was more like. . .

. . . .“Annoying,” 

. . . .“Irritating,” 

. . . .“Pain in the Divine Neck.” 

But thats what the enemy of my soul wanted me to think. 

At the ripe young age of 43, I am realizing more and more that I AM a son of God.  That sonship means I belong to God, that I have a spiritual, eternal inheritance.  I have the favor and affection of my Father.  He is for me, not mad at me, not annoyed with me, not against me.   That leaves me officially – Mind Blown.

If you are reading this, and you call yourself a follower of Christ, I would like to proclaim this same truth over you today.  You are a son, you are a daughter of God, and that’s not what the enemy of your soul wants you to believe.  Seriously.  He wants you to think that you’re less than, unworthy, even orphaned.  He’s a liar.

I don’t know what names you’ve been called in your life time.  Some of them you may have even created yourself.  Still there is one name that matters above all the others you’ve ever been called.

You are called “son.”

You are called “daughter.”

You belong to somebody and that somebody is God.

I leave you with this amazing declaration from 1 John 3:1:

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and SO WE ARE.