Blue Prince?

When my #1 Cherub was born,Karla and I had a very difficult time naming the boy. Truth be told, he didn’t have a name until day five of his life. On that day a somewhat perturbed nurse burst into Karla’s room at the Bay Medical Center (in beautiful Bay City Michigan) and informed us that we had to name the baby. I guess the nurses were getting tired hearing all of the other newbies in the nursery calling him “hey you” (or whatever it is that babies call one another when they are hanging out in their cribs.). Looking at us like we had committed some hideous crime, Nurse Meany of the Maternity Ward glared and sneered and said, “You have to name the child!”

It wasn’t my fault the boy had no name. I had plenty of names. Great names. But Karla did not like any of my suggestions. I don’t know why. My favorites were Foot, Finger or Blue.

In my thinking, if one day our child became a beach bum what better name could he have than “Foot” Prince? I know it would have been better if we spelled our last name “Prints” instead of “Prince” but if you say it quick enough “Prints” and “Prince” sound exactly the same.

Or maybe our off-spring would be a famous police detective one day, wouldn’t “Finger” (Prince) be an awesome name for a super crime fighter?

Or what about “Blue” (Prince) for an aspiring architect? I thought it was perfect. Still, Karla said, “No!”

When Karla failed to see the wisdom of those choices, I suggested that we could give our boy a “normal” first name-- on the condition that his middle name would be “Isa.” Of course, his official name would have been something like Harold “isa” Prince. Again she said no.

Karla had names she liked too—mostly dumb names. She said she like the name “Austin.” Austin? Why would anyone want to name their precious child after the home city of the University of Texas Longhorns? Are you kidding me? I vowed to call him some other Texan city—any other Texan city but Austin. “Come here, El Paso, it’s time for supper,” I threatened to say. My goodness, if we were going to name him after a college town wouldn’t it have been better to name him Ann Arbor.

Unfortunately, as all Johnny Cash fans know, naming him “Ann Arbor” would have been akin to naming a boy “Sue.” That’s probably not a good thing. Especially given the fact that Karla and my child’s gene pool would never be such that we would be buying him “Husky” Toughskin jeans from Sears and Roebuck, I worried that naming a boy “Ann” would not be beneficial to his health. If we only knew that one day we’d be living in Kansas we could have considered naming him “Lawrence.” That’s a college town and a boy’s name.

Finally on day five, with the prodding of Nurse Meany, we decided the young Prince should be “Alexander.” I think it’s been a good name… it doesn’t have the same pizzazz as if his name were “Finger,” but I don’t think Alex is heading toward a career in law enforcement anyway.

Why the walk down memory lane with you on this cold October morning?

Parents, we have a responsibility to our kids. To give them a decent name that won’t cause them bodily harm on the playground is only the beginning. We have a responsibility to show them the love of Christ. We have a responsibility to point them to the things of God and keep them from the things that will hinder their walk with God. I don’t know any perfect parents. We all make mistakes. Still we should strive to model before our kids someone who loves God, loves them, loves our spouse (if married), and really strives to provide a healthy loving Christ-centered environment.

The Bible says, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands… Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” (Deut 6:5-8).

Moms and dads, let’s not stop showing our kids and telling our kids and retelling them about the great the love of God. It’s a never ending, 24 hour job…. But you can do it!