What's in a Name?

I've been watching football. I wouldn't call myself a fan or claim to be all that knowledgeable about the game but I watch because my husband loves it. I watch with him because his love language is something akin to quality time but he calls it "proximity". He likes having me around--in the same room-- whenever he's doing whatever he's doing. This is sometimes difficult for me because I can think of a dozen productive things I could be doing. So when I'm trying to speak his language, I sit and watch football with him. I was more of a football fan when my oldest played in high school or this past fall when my daughter was on the sidelines cheering her high school team. I get into the game when I have a connection with the school or when I know the the players names and numbers.

There's this kid who plays for the Texas Longhorns. I love his name-- Colt McCoy. Now that's a football kind of name. I wanted to know more about him and for the sake of accuracy in blogging, I Googled him. Turns out, that as a redshirt freshman in 2006, Colt McCoy was the starting quarterback for the 2006 Longhorn team. That year he threw his 27th touchdown pass which was enough to break the UT school record for most touchdowns ever thrown by a quarterback in a single season. Colt McCoy was named College Football News Big 12 Player of the Year in 2006 and was named the quarterback to their "All Freshman Team". Wow, what a way to start your college career!

"Colt" is his nickname (or so I read) but I can't help but imagine that there weren't some early premonitions on his parents mind as they gave him a name like that. Did his dad bring a football to the hospital to place in the kid's crib? I bet he played Pee Wee football and his mom didn't say things like "be careful" and "don't get hurt". As a little boy, did he wear a longhorn t shirt and dream of playing for University of Texas? Oh wait, that could apply to many little boys in the longhorn state. So what set him apart? Talent? Determination? Destiny? Whatever it might have been, to be so successful he's had to keep his purpose and goal before him. No distractions, no ambivalence. He's living up to his name.

There was another baby boy, a name and a purpose determined before his birth:

"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."

Talk about living up to a name--Immanuel, God with us.