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Mitch did a cute post called “Put the X back in Xmas!” He points out how Christian men were once called “X-men.” So there you go, you really can be superheroes, one and all. Batman is my favorite, but X-men are nothing to sneeze at. I’m perfectly good with y’all having superpowers too.
I enjoy bits of trivia, how perceptions change and shift. “Christian” was once an insult, a form of mockery meaning “a little Christ.” Faith was actually called “The Way,” perhaps because Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” To follow Jesus was to follow The Way.
Culture ebbs and flows and words begin to take on new meaning, new definitions.
Mitch’s post reminded me of another superhero, a genuine X-man from long ago. My fifth grade librarian in Ketchikan, Alaska. God bless that man, long gone now I’m sure, but his words found fertile soil and grew into some powerful fruit.
I was making Christmas cards in the library one day, writing “X-mas” as I had learned to, when he suddenly bent down and whispered in my ear, “don’t ever be afraid to say His name.”
It was a real game changer, powerful words hard to explain all these years later, but it was like being seen and recognized, identified as a member of a secret club, as part of the family. Oh yeah, he knows I know Christ.
Don’t ever be afraid to say His name. That’s it, that’s all he said. I was for many years too, afraid to say His name, but I never forgot that encouragement, his whispered tone, the mystery of having just the right words spoken to you when you needed them most.
X-men are real. I lifted one up in prayer today, long gone but not forgotten.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
I like that—“don’t ever be afraid to say His name”….there is power in that and of course, in that name 🙂
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Amen to that. How very powerful.
Paul reminds us “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
w00t! May to glory of God shine on you today. God is in a very good mood.
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Ah yes, at THAT name………..the name which God hath given Him which is Above every name………..that name and person whom before EVERY knew shall bow…………. to us happily……….but to all others, disatrously……….that at the name of the Lord Jesus Christ………..
……………before whom also all creation sings………….God did bend so low through Him to call Him Emmanuel………and tapped you on the shoulder so long ago through a man in a library…….. so that when your fulness of time came, you would remember and tell others.
What was truth then is true now, and will always be true. Love those little crumbs eh msb, which add up to to a full blown feast.
(and a quick ps, no, God is not willing that any should perish, people should look in the mirror as God has no defects
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Yep. The Chi Ro
is the original symbol for Christianity.
My sons actually melted metal in their home made forge and made me one of these recently.
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“Don’t ever be afraid to say His name.” Powerful advice.
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Many years ago I was working in a Jewish Deli. As you can no doubt guess, most of our customers were Jewish. One of my favorite customers was a sweet tempered older gentleman who had hearing problems. Based on his age at the time, I’d say that if he wasn’t a Holocaust survivor, then his parents were. One day as I was setting his order down the gold cross that I wear slipped out from under my shirt. I liked him and did not wish to offend him so I quickly tucked my cross back under my shirt, muttering an apology. Remember I said he had hearing problem? He didn’t have any difficulties hearing that. He looked at me and told me not to apologize.
The exact words he said have faded, and his face is blurry in my memory, but I still remember him and his demeanor. He was more offended by my apologizing then by the symbol of my faith. Never apologize for your faith, never hide it. That was the message he left me with.
My cross is still under my shirt, not in hiding but close to me.
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Amen! I love how you still remember his words, his expression, the message he left you with.
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Love this. God bless that wonderful librarian. Never be ashamed to use His name.
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I love this. What a wise librarian!! May we all courageously speak our Savior’s name!!
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