Names - by Kim Metzer

This year I get the privilege of being Redeemer’s last blogger of 2015.  That’s a lot of pressure!  How do I wrap up a year?  Let’s wrap up the year by looking forward to the next!

Names, specifically baby names, have been on my mind a lot the last few weeks.  While Pastor Rod was talking to us about the names of Jesus on Christmas Eve, I had on my mind the name of our first grandchild, born just two days earlier.  A lot of consideration should be put into a baby’s name as they’ll likely have to live with it their entire lives.  Our son and his wife opted to continue the family tradition of giving their boy the first name of his father as his middle name.  Our hope is that Colin Joshua will become as wonderful a man as his father Joshua Stephen.

Jesus was also given the name of His father as detailed in Isaiah 9:6; “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  I think we can all agree that Jesus grew up into the man His father wanted Him to be!

Being named after our father, either mortal or heavenly, is not necessary in order to aspire to be the person our earthly father hopes that we will be and our heavenly Father calls us to be. 

Becoming the kind of person God calls us to be requires discipline, spiritual discipline.  Some common spiritual disciplines are: reading and studying the Bible, prayer, worship, and learning.  If you are feeling called to become more disciplined in your relationship with God, Redeemer has several opportunities available to help you.

>    To assist you in reading the Bible in a year, there will be a weekly reading plan in each Worship Folder and on the Redeemer website.

>    To assist you in becoming a consistent “pray-er”, the movie War Room will be shown on February 6, a class on prayer will be held February 7 and Pastor Rod will have a message series focused on prayer during Lent.

>    Redeemer offers three worship times every Sunday morning (8:15, 9:30, & 11:00) as well as special worship services on Ash Wednesday (February 10) and Good Friday (March 25).  Monday evening services will resume June 6 at 7pm and will continue through August 29.

>    Opportunities to learn more about having a relationship with God are available for every age group (3 years old through adult) on Sunday mornings and for youth (5^th-12^th grades) through adult during the week.  Check the website (www.dewittredeemer.org) for more details.

My hope and prayer for each of you is that 2016 is a year of deepening your relationship with your Heavenly Father!

Happy New Year!!