I don't know who started it. Probably my dad. It was kind of like a dad joke, but only better because we all thought it was genuinely hilarious. (😆 ) At some point, we decided to write out and memorize our names backwards...does everyone do this??? I don't know, but we did. And when we realized that 'Francis' spelled backwards was 'Sicnarf', it was all over. I personally think mine was the best: 'Atsirk Nwaf Sicnarf'. With that name, I might as well have been a Persian Prince (No offense to any Persian Princes out there, but am I right or am I right?!?). We would laugh and laugh at our backwards names. As I referenced in my post last night, I don't know how much we ACTUALLY laughed. I mean it wasn't for days or years, but it's a happy, silly memory that's stuck with me and that is what makes it feel like a long and drawn out laugh in a good way. I'm thankful for those kind of memories.
So what did I do in that moment??? I chased the Gold Mercedes, of course! He zipped across the bridge, but was still no match for my 16 year old Subaru-HAHAHAA! At the next red light, I pulled up next to him and yelled, "HEY! IS YOUR LAST NAME FRANCIS??!!??" He smiled and yelled, "YES! And I said, "MINE IS TOO!" He yelled, "I'M DIRK FRANCIS FROM JAMAICA, MON!" I said, "I'M KRISTA FRANCIS" Then he said, "DID YOU KNOW BECAUSE..." And then pointed back behind him. I said, "YES!" We smiled and laughed and then the light turned green and Krid Sicnarf zoomed off into the golden sunset, never to be seen again (until I stalk my Jamaican Cousin on facebook, that is!!)
As soon as I saw that out of state license plate with that strange non-word that pretty much NO ONE else would understand (even people with the first or last name Francis who aren't quite as weird as us!), my heart actually leaped a little inside my chest! See, God has been doing some extra-out of the ordinary kind of signs lately. Maybe more than ever before. I don't completely understand the depths of it all right now, and some people might say I'm reading too much into it, but I know it's Him. His fingerprints are pretty unique and this time, downright funny. As they say, it's a small world, but I think there's even more to it than that.
Tonight, I was reminded in the most fun and creative way that this God-Creator knows my NAME, knows us...He knows YOU. He knows the forwards AND backwards, the inside and out, the silly and the sad and there's no where you can go where He can't find you! (Not even super crappy Nashville traffic!!!)
Psalm 139: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me...
Isaiah 43:1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isaiah 49:15-16
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
There's an invitation that's been sent out and we're being drawn into the dance with our Creator: God as Father (Parent) who loves fiercely and rightly and shows scandalous Mercy by giving us HIS name, with Jesus as lover, healer, savior, friend, companion and with Holy Spirit who is altogether dynamite indwelling power as well as counselor and comforter. This God is the itch we can't scratch, the question we can't answer. The dream we can't fully interpret but we know in our knower that it means something. This is LOVE that never fails and we're meant to live inside of it and for it to live inside of us, to possess us and give us our identity.
And that is so much of what this thing with a name is all about: Our Identity. Have you received Heaven on the inside (born again) and been given a new name, or are you wandering around like an orphan wondering what your last name is and even if you saw it, you might not recognize it forwards or backwards We do that in a thousand different ways. So hear me. He knows your name and he'll tell it to your heart if you'll ask. He'll show you surprises. Enter into the dance. Tonight I said "Yes" and entered into the mystery all over again...all because of 'SICNARF' the gold Mercedes.
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