Nicknames...

This is kind of a fun post with some serious meaning to it. Since I have a rather long (and to some people unpronouncable) name, I have a series of nicknames that have been given to me over the years, most people will have nicknames given to them to explain something of their character, this is similar to me as well.So here are some of them:

Shaggy: This should be pretty easy to guess, it was given to me by my mate Richard because of the long locks of hair that I usually have and the shaggy look I have (especially when I have a beard particularly.

Ted: This nickname is another of Richards, this nickname has gone through numerous evolutions and change, it came from when me and tom and him were younger, I was a small shy boy, Richard was a chubbier boy than he is now and Tom was mischievous and was likely to get banned from youth group for his crimes or hung up upside down by one of the youth leader. My nickname started off as teddy bear as I was cute and cuddly (and as hard as I tried I was probably the one who got the worst out of the pillow fights at youth group)

Naughty... There is no comment on this nickname, the pain it could cause to individuals is too immense, lets just say it came from one of the Team America camps and was a joke that has lived on in the mythology of TYG and TnT much longer than originally planned (or much longer than I originally liked!)

Italian Stallion: I am an Italian stallion! (or in my dreams) another one of Richards nicknames for me - why have these all come from Richard?

Donkey: This comes from the Character donkey from Shrek, it was an affectionate name given to me by a close friend


These Nicknames are part of my history, part of my life experience, some of them I own, I hold to because they have strength and meaning, but others I don't hold onto strongly, but God has also given me lasting names, calls to follow him, names that express how he sees me. This is very similar to the bible. Jacob wrestles with God and gets renamed Israel, Saul from Tarsus has a meeting with God meets with God and he changes his name to Paul, Abram meets God and has his name changed to Abraham.

I hold onto the name my parents gave me - Nathanael - because of its significant, gift of God - It shows that I have ultimate worth, both in the eyes of my parents but also in the eyes of God, for me it is a call as well to be a gift to the world, a tool of redemption in the hands of God to show Christ to the world

There is another name that God has always put over me -David - a man after Gods own heart. My desire is to follow the heart of God, to share the message of salvation - of Gods love for this broken and desperate world and the hope that we find in the saving act of Jesus Christ on the cross, I want this to be my centre, a heart for this world showing the Goodness and righteousness and glory of God to all those who are lost - to all those who are desperate and in need of Gods saving love.