Some of my friends and I were hanging out a while back at Nick Maurer’s house; and, being the close-knit group that we are, we were comfortable merely sitting and enjoying each others’ company. Sometimes when we just hang out like this for no particular reason, we end up going around and telling each other why we love each other, having communion (seriously), or eating tons of taffy and saying what we like about it. We're weird, but you have to admit, we're pretty cool, too.

This time we were sitting around when my girlfriend, Kate, and I starting perusing a baby name book that we found on the bookshelf. After we suffered such comments as, "little early to be pickin' baby names innit?" and "that's weird" (with sarcastic inflection), people became interested to see what their names meant.

Kevin's first and middle names mean beauty and strength, respectively.

Kate means purity (totally true).

Rachel means innocent lamb.

Nick means victorious or victorious people.

Josh means God saves.

My name means down to earth.

W.T.F.?

My middle name means from the crags.

Again, wtf?

I recently read the first couple Erogon books. They kind of suck, but they have some cool stuff too. Like dragons. But another cool thing is what the author calls "true names." Each person in the world of Erogon has a given name and a true name. The given name is exactly that - the name they were given at birth. Their true name, though, is the source of their real identity and power. If a person can get their real name out of an elf (because only the elves know peoples true names), then all of a sudden they are the person they were meant to be, and they have some kind of new power. That's the theory at least. I'm pretty sure the author forgot he said this, because nobody has been told their true name yet.

We see a similar thing in real life. God renamed Jacob, Israel, which means 'struggles with God.' If anything is true of Israel, it is that they struggled with God. Incredibly prophetic name. God renames Simon, Peter, which means rock. Again, incredibly prophetic. Saul is renamed Paul, which means small, or humble. If anyone went from high to low stature, it was Paul.

It's almost as if when God renames someone, it unleashes a power over them, sealing their destiny.