Your name is a swear word

While bouncing around a favorite blogger's site, I glimpsed that he sells 'fake band t-shirts'. The shirts are pretty cool--well designed, great colors, decent prices. The band names are interesting and could probably be real bands---I mean, who knows why Canine Doubletake is any less cool than The Beatles?

Late last century, I was in New York for a radio convention. My boss at the time and I decided to head out early one morning and walk from our hotel to Battery Park, somewhere between 4 and 5 miles. It was a blast---we marveled at the way the city morphed as neighborhoods melted into neighborhoods and the character and flavor of new areas popped up.

We were lugging jackets and water bottles and soon stopped at some hole-in-the-wall store to buy cheap backpacks. $10 later we were hauling our stuff in some Rokus brand haversacks. It became the joke--we had new Rokus backpacks. Could have bought a nice North Face or Mountain Hardwear--but we found Rokuses.

Later that day as we regaled our friends with our adventure, we showed them our cheapo backpacks, making sure to tell them---"And...they're Rokuses!" to which every single person nodded in appreciation and murmured, "Nice!" Now, Rokus was just the name slapped on these soon-to-fall-apart nylon wonders. But, because we made a big deal about the name, 100% of the people thought they were a big deal.

What's in a name? Quite a bit, I guess. In my old days, Jesus tended to be the building block of the pretty awful foul mouth language that spewed from me. Swearing was my street language, my tough-guy talk and my savior took a lot of the abuse. I'm so ashamed of how I used His name and really can't wait to apologize.

Now--when I hear His name misused, I bristle. Depending on the person or situation, I either say "easy on Jesus" or "that's my best friend". It usually stops people in their tracks. I truly try to do it with grace and humility, but that's my guy they're talking about. That's the One who stepped out of glory and into this forsaken world so He could take on things that we never, ever should have been forgiven.

Imagine your name as a swear word, an epithet. Someone breaks a dish and mutters YOUR name in disgust. Your neighbor is tired and frustrated and begins his tirade with YOUR name as the opener.

Then, imagine you hear it every single time. Every utterance, every creative combination of other vulgar words, every moment when your name is fueled by venom.

Would you feel like taking on their sins? I certainly wouldn't.

Jesus Christ.

Thank you.