With my new granddaughter… literally… running around now, I have opportunity to catch up on all of the Disney for kids movies… and… showing her some of the classics.
So today I find myself circling back to my main question to myself for this whole journey… “Who are you?”
In those Disney movies the theme is usually about finding yourself, who you are, on the inside, especially my granddaughters favorite movie… so far… (she’s one) MOANA.
The old question, “Who are you?”
I originally found it in Acts 19:15, when a demon answered The Seven Sons of Sceva, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
They were trying to cast out evil spirits in people, but apparently, without any real authority from God.
So the demon handed them a beating!
Did anyone ever ask you that, in disgust? “Who the hell are you… to tell me… anything!?!”
When I started out I sure felt like I had no authority.
I didn’t even really consider myself a child of God… I saw myself as a foster kid… who never did come into the house.
I just sat on the porch, with one bag packed, ready to bail when the foster parents quit trying, and I would have to leave.
I didn’t know God real well… and with my experience working with at risk youth, I saw first hand how there were kids who made it impossible for the parents to take them in… and I also saw foster parents who quit too soon, or probably should not have been foster parents to begin with.
But it’s funny… most roads… are two way streets.
My new perspective? With God… we are not in a foster program… He PAID the FULL ADOPTION price… we are His. All legal like!
We just don’t know that yet.
And I thought I could out wait… anybody.
But like I said, at first, I didn’t really know Him.
Come to find out… He’s got no quit in Him!
When I typed “Who are you?” into Google, to pull up my verse from Acts, that didn’t pop up… this one did…
John Ch. 8:25
Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” 22This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?” 23But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25“Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” 27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up a the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
And now, knowing I’m in His family, and now having gone through the battle of being asked, “Who are you?” understanding who I am in Christ… and understanding he is my big brother… and seeing that he was asked the same thing… confirms, and raises my confidence that… I am… indeed His.
So that got me to thinking, about…
“What is in a name?”
“Does it matter?”
It does when your personal demon whispers in your ear, “Who do you think you are?”
That demon from the book of Acts said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about…” so he knew Jesus by name, and through the grape vine, had some buddies who clued him into, who The Apostle Paul was… and what kind of proper authority he was given. He knew them by name.
As my confidence grew, through learning who my heavenly family was, I started becoming comfortable handling the authority… and here was the real tough part… becoming comfortable with the responsibility that comes with that authority.
When those personal demons creep in I have a responsibility to inform them, “Hey! You’re trespassing. Get off my lawn! And you know… you gotta go!”
When you learn to trust Him, and you have the authority, you learn how awesome it is that they have to listen to you… it’s like having to pull over onto the shoulder of the road when a fire truck comes screaming by… with lights and sirens!
And if they ask, “Who are you?” I look em’ in the eye and tell them… “I’m Dave, spread the word.”
So I looked up what my name means… I think I’ve finally grown into it.
“Bosquez” – originated in the Central Pyrenees Mountains – “bosque” means ‘woods’ or ‘the forest, with water’. “ez” in Spanish names means “son of.”
I am… “a son of the forest” (Watch out grouse!)
“Lee” – old English “pasture or meadow” derived as a place name, the first “Lee’s” lived near open spaces. (Like cowboys??) The “lee” side, or “leeward” side of a hill; mountain; building; or any obstruction is the “protected” side.
I am… “open, and a protector” (and a cowboy at heart)
“David” – Name Meaning from Ancestry.com
“Jewish, Welsh, Scottish, English, French, Portuguese, German, Czech, Slovak (Dávid) and Slovenian: from the Hebrew personal name David ‘beloved’, which has been perennially popular among Jews, in honor of the Biblical king of this name, the greatest of the early kings of Israel. His prominence, and the vivid narrative of his life contained in the First Book of Samuel, led to adoption of the name in various parts of Europe, notably Britain, among Christians in the Middle Ages.”
But, if one of those demons; or a wicked thought; or even just a real bad day pops up… and they laugh at me… and my DLB… I pull out the big guns when they ask, “Who are you?”
I answer, “Me… I am… a son of God.”
And when they turn, and look at Him… He just smiles, and nods His head, “Yep, he sure is.”
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