What's In a Name?

So, I had promised awhile back that I would share the story of how Titus got his name. I have some quiet time today while he sleeps (and Grandma took the big kids to the beach) where I can share.

It started during pregnancy of coarse, as Rob and I were thinking about names. I've always thought girls' names were easier and I had a few picked out that I liked, however God was giving us a boy so I turned those thoughts toward masculine, heroic names throughout history. We wanted something that really had meaning and a story and did we ever get one!

 

I would pray and ask the Lord for a name quite frequently and one name kept coming back to me.

 

Titus.

 

I have to admit, I liked the name (Rob loved it and was set on it) but there were others that took seniority over it and I was fighting God. There were a few instances where I knew it was the Lord speaking. For instance, walking into mom's group one morning and our leader asked me to read from Titus 2. We never read out of Titus. "Yeah, Lord. I'm listening." A sermon or two out of

II Corinthians speaking of Titus also came into play one morning. "Still listening Lord."

 

It wasn't until a month or so before his birth where I packed a baby book of names into my hospital suitcase and was determined on another name where the Lord gave me a Daniel 5 moment. (You know the story, where God was writing on the wall and Nebuchadnezzar asks Daniel to interpret.) Yeah, we had our own "writing on the wall experience" and I finally gave in.

 

One morning, I was giving Lincoln words to spell out with some magnetic letters on a cookie sheet. He finished working with them, but a certain toddler got a hold of them and they wound up all over the floor. I asked Lincoln to help put them away (with help of the toddler) and so the letters made their way back into their bag and were placed on the shelf. Low and behold I didn't know that a few were missing. Later that day, we found the missing letters still on the floor and I asked Lincoln to just place them on the French doors for the time being. We'd put them away later. I had lunch to serve.

He placed the letters on the door and we ate lunch. It wasn't until later that day when I saw what he had put up. Keep in mind, we hadn't shared any of the name ideas with the kids yet. As I looked at the letters, they read "t i 2 c".

 

Titus 2, Calvin.

 

(We chose Calvin as his middle name after John Calvin, an amazing man of history and Christianity.) I literally sat down in a chair and gave in. I prayed and thanked the Lord for the sign and for making it clear what name HE wanted.

 

We have had some amazing individuals and families that have stepped in as we've been parenting our children through the years. Individuals who have helped us in discipline, consistency, time management, education endeavors and so much more. They have helped us and encouraged us along the way to raise godly men and women for Christ. They have helped model for us how to listen to the Lord, hear His voice and follow His will and not our own for our children. We are so thankful for these Titus 2 men and women and it is an honor to name our son after such an amazing missionary in the Bible. A young, Greek man who feared and loved the Lord by the name of Titus. He served alongside Paul and as Paul knew he wouldn't be around forever, new teachers had to be trained to carry on God's message to the people. And hence, he trained Titus. He eventually became the overseer of the churches on the island of Crete, leading many to Christ. If you've never read the book of Titus, you can here.

 

So ends the story of how our Titus became Titus Calvin Bates.

 

Hugs and blessing to you all!!!