Patience

It seems there are a lot of things that I'm not ready for.

I need patience and faith to believe that His timing is perfect and that He will sharpen me until the day that I'm ready to be launched out, "like an arrow in the hands of a mighty warrior".

"Patience is the companion of wisdom." - Saint Augustine

What's In a Name?

I don't know why but I just seem to have a fascination with names and their meanings.

Before I go on I would like to advertise for my family's new business venture (it has something to do with names too).

Please visit: http://www.overflowcentral.com/

Anyway, I think names are really powerful especially when we believe how our words carry weight. Where the word of a king is there is power and there is power when a priest appraises something by speaking and declaring it to be either good and bad. As king-priests there is double weight and power to words that are spoken.

By knowing the meaning of names it is like speaking that meaning to the person. A name with a positive meaning is a blessing to whoever owns the name. I think almost every name has meaning or is derived from a root word with a meaning. Take for example the name, "John", a lot of names are derivatives of John. It's taken from Hebrew and it means, "the Lord is gracious". What a blessing that is for people with the name. Every time people call that person by that name it is like declaring the graciousness of God in that person's life.

Even God knows the power of names. He changed Abram's name to Abraham; Abram's name was changed to Abraham which means, "father of nations" and that was before Abraham even had a single son. Every time someone called him by name it was like declaring that he was indeed a father of nations.

I used to think that Gabriel meant, "man of God" and I loved that meaning but I recently found out that Gabriel actually means, "hero of God" (all name meanings are taken from http://www.thinkbabynames.com/). What a name to live by!

After finding that out, I now prefer to be called by my full name, "John Gabriel" as much as possible. It is like declaring in my life that God is gracious in my life and I am his champion; his hero. Because of God is gracious, He will use me as a hero for His glory.

That's why I like to tell people what their name means so that they know that when they are called by name, it is not just being called but it is actually speaking over their lives.

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The boy is a warrior; the boy is his name.

National Treasure: The Book of Secrets

Yup, the movie was exciting.

Anyway, while looking for my old GP notes, I stumbled upon some of my old stuff.

One particular item that I think is very valuable is my old "Book of Thoughts and Scrapbook... Well Sort Of". It's an old Teenzeal Organizer that I converted into a diary journal and I also glued some of the past year Christmas cards I have received.

I felt like reading through it all. I looked over some entries and I just shake my head at how corny my thoughts were. They were pretty emo at the time and I just shudder when I think that I wrote them.

I should take some time one day to read through it and get to know myself better.

I also found a book where I wrote some academic stuff ranging from mathematical postulates to Spanish grammar. I distinctly remember thinking that the book would be my "learning" book and that I will refer to it whenever I need to. That way I will always be smarter than a fifth grader.