Whats in a Name?

I was walking into the office of one of my professors near the beginning of this semester to pick up a missed assignment. After I had stated my name and purpose, my professor said to me, "Andrea, do you know what your name means?" I'm sure that I have looked it up before, but I couldn't remember at the moment, so I replied, "No, sir." In his extra-thick southern accent my professor explained, "It means courageous or brave. Now young lady, are you a courageous young woman of God?" Taken slightly aback by the question, I stammered, "Um, well, I certainly hope to be." My professor handed me the missed assignment and ushered me out the door with the parting phrase, "And by God's grace you will be." The whole scene (as do all of my classes with this professor) left me trying to catch my breath and collect my thoughts. Because this professor speaks so quickly and with such intensity, his students often find themselves straining to hear and process every word. It was not until this past Wednesday that I was able to fully appreciate my professor's piece of knowledge about my name.

Christian author and public speaker, Francis Chan, addressed the MBI student body and literally thousands of others last Wednesday night in one of the events for the institute's Founder's Week. I fervently took notes throughout the numerous sermons I heard that week, but none of the sermons inspired me to change more than Chan's words about courage. Now, I can look back on certain events in my life and identify moments where I exhibited courage. When I was younger, adults told me it took courage to get up in front of an audience to speak or to sing. This past summer I realized that it took some degree of courage to fly internationally by myself. I have even envisioned my own future as one characterized by daily circumstances that will require acts of courage. However, after listening to what Francis Chan had to say about the subject, I felt more like a coward than anything else. Let me explain.

You may have heard it said that to be brave does not mean to never experience fear. Rather, to be brave means to act courageously in spite of fear. Chan drove home this point by expressing (emphatically, might I add) that it is normal to be nervous about sharing your faith with people. However, it is not normal for Christians to hide behind this fear and rarely, if ever, share their faith with others. I was suddenly reliving moments in my life where I did not share the hope of Christ with others simply because I was afraid of being shut out by them. I was paralyzed by a fear of being rejected, so I opted for keeping my hope to myself. Convicted as I was, I was beginning to realize that it really takes courage to share your faith with others. You don't know whether someone will shut you down or not take you seriously. It really is scary to risk being rejected by others!

Suddenly I was reminded of the meaning of my name. 'Andrea' means courageous! Now I don't think that my parents intentionally named me in the hopes that I would one day fulfill the meaning of my name. However, God did knit me together in my mother's womb, and He knew the days ordained for me before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13,16). So perhaps God had a hand in my naming. He clearly has put a desire in my heart to do bold and courageous things for the honor of His name.

After last week, I came away with a resolve to pray for greater courage in the everyday task of sharing the hope of Jesus with others. I am also resolved to let the Word of God be the deciding factor for every decision I make. I know that others have my best interests at heart when they try to dissuade me from doing anything too radical for the fame of my King, but I won't be talked out of doing anything that God has clearly commanded me to do in His Word. I am commanded to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19), and God-willing that is what I will do. I will do it here in the US, and if I leave this nation, I will do it wherever God leads. It may be politically incorrect. It may be dangerous. It may be the most frightening thing I will ever do. But equipped with courage from God, I will be obeying my Father's command. And as a faithful servant delights to serve a good King, I will delight to obey mine.