Ok, now for the purpose behind this post.
After almost 6 years, my precious son fulfilled his name this past Sunday in children's church.
I'm sure you're asking exactly how he fulfilled his name and if you'll keep your pants on for a second I'll tell ya.
About 2 months before Eli was born, my younger brother, Tim, and his sweet wife, Sarah, welcomed their beautiful daughter, Amelia Jameson, into the world. Now, my dad's name is James and Sarah's dad's name is also James, so I knew there was a possibility that Tim and Sarah would use the name James in some fashion for their baby. We were also thinking of using James for Eli's middle name, but nothing was set in stone. So, when Tim and Sarah named Amelia, we were on the hunt for a middle name for our sweet boy. I began asking God to show me what to name our son.
At the time, our SS class was reading/studying The Purpose Driven Life. Every morning I sat in Eli's room and read and pray. One morning the reading was talking about friendship and how we all need people in our lives who will uplift us and we need to be that type of friend also. It gave the example of Aaron and Hur holding up Moses' arms during the Israelites battle w/the Amalekites. I thought that was interesting so I looked up the passage in my Bible.
In the story, the Amalekites had attacked the Israelites so Moses told Joshua to choose some of his strongest men to go out and fight the Amalekites. While they were fighting, Moses stood on top of a hill with his arms raised. As long as Moses' arm were in the air, the Israelites were defeating the Amalekites, but if his arms fell the Amalekites overtook the Israelites. Aaron and Hur were w/Moses, so they got a rock for Moses to sit on and they each held up one of Moses' arms. The Israelites defeated the Amalekites!
I loved the idea of being the type of friend who lifts others when they can no long go on on their own. So, I began praying about the name Aaron as a middle name for my son. I prayed about it for several days before talking to Rich about it b/c naming a child is a big deal and I wanted Eli to have godly name that meant something.
A few days later I approached Rich w/the name in my heart and the book in my hand. I began by telling him the story of the Israelites defeating the Amalekites, then I went to The Purpose Driven Life book to show him. Well, I could not find the little blurb I'd read just days earlier. I ended up reading the entire book again and still couldn't find it. I took that as a sign from God that He wanted Eli's middle name to be Aaron.
Fast forward almost 6 years to last Sunday. To illustrate the story of the Israelites defeating the Amalekites, Pastor Joy brought kids up to play the parts of the key characters in the story. My bff, Jean, just happened to be in children's church Sunday and was able to snap a few pictures w/her phone. Her son, Brock, was the rock Moses sat on and her sweet Luke was Joshua. And...you guessed it...Eli was Aaron!
I excited to see what great things God has in store for my boy's future. I pray he has many more chances to lift others up in the name of Jesus.
