Early in this school year I was called to serve as a long term substitute at a local school. I was teaching a kindergarten class of approximately twenty five children. I had to learn everyone's name and began by using name tags.
For weeks I called Edward - Hector and Angie -Abigail. You could hear me calling a child four names before I finally got the child's name right. By the end of my tenure of six weeks, I had no problem. I could look at a child and call them by their proper name. That was weeks ago.
Today, I returned to the same school for another assignment. I returned to cover a fourth grade class and dealt with the same issue. As I walked to lunch thinking of a way to remember names [fourth graders are not receptive to name tags], I walked past the kinder class with all those kids. When they looked out the window they yelled "Mrrrrrrrsssssss. Barfield!" I lifted my hand to wave and said "Hi......uh.....mmm...." I couldn't remember their names.
It had only been four weeks I had already forgotten most of their names. Another teacher who had also subbed in that class talked about a child and said "You remember her don't you?" I had to say that I remembered the behavior but not the child's name.
That actually made me think about God. He knows all our names and there are billions of us! There is no time apart, no vacation, no "lost in action" that can keep God from knowing our name! Many people fear that God remembers our behavior but not our name when in reality, the reverse is true. Isn't that amazing? To any in this world thinking that God has forgotten their name. To them I say "Not so!"
In thinking about this new class of fourth graders, and how to remember twenty new names, I thought "What if I used cheat sheet?" I could write the children's names on my hand I look at my hand to recall their names. If you know anything about me, you know that I could make that system work.
What a sweeeeet idea! Then anytime I needed to call them by name, I could do so by looking at the names written on my hand. The only problem is that I would have to write the names on my hand each time I washed them and there is no time for that.
I am human and it seems that the older I get, the more forgetful I become. You can not depend on me to remember 50 [split classes] names. I remember the class helpers, the busybodies, and the instigators. Unfortunately, in some cases, those who sit quietly, do their work and don't bother anybody are the ones that hear the question "I'm sorry, what's your name?"
Does God have a system? Does He have a cheat sheet? I can't answer that but I can say He knows you by name. How do I know that, because He said so. You are the one He died for. You and me!
God doesn't and won't ask "What is your name?" like I do. When those nails were driven into the palms of his hands, your name was written on them. If no one else in the world remembers you by name, take confidence in knowing that God knows your name.
"Can a mother forget her baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you [your name] on the palms of my hands...." Isaiah 49:15
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