Oh, the places you’ll go!

Day 136

I’ve been thinking about names recently, names of towns in particular. Where I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania, there was a distinct Biblical bent – Nazareth, Bethlehem, Zionsville, Emmaus, and of course, Philadelphia. And then there was Bath. Bath was a weird one – some people may think that those other towns are named oddly, but Bath always seemed extra strange to me. 

“Where do you live?”

“Oh, I live in Bath. Yeah, and I have the wrinkly toes to prove it.”

See what I mean?

In 1992, we moved to Kenya where the names Kijabe, Naivasha, Nakuru, Mombasa, Machakos, Limuru, and Nairobi became as familiar to me as New York and Los Angeles are to Americans.

But that was all small potatoes compared to where I live now – Wisconsin has some of the oddest names in the book (as far as English speakers are concerned) . . . Mukwonago? Oconomowoc? Wauwatosa? Ashwaubenon? Weyauwega?    Whew – I’m giving my spell-checker fits! For correct pronunciation of these and other Wisconsin tongue twisters: www.misspronouncer.com.

OK, I guess I should feel comfortable with names like these. After all, my first hometown in PA was . . . Catasauqua.

Onward.

Today Julie and I sang at church. It wasn’t perfect, but the Lord undertook in the situation (especially since we were singing a capella), and I just prayed that he would be honored and people would be encouraged by these words:

“How deep the Father’s love for us/How vast beyond all measure/That he should give his only Son/To make a wretch his treasure/How great the pain of searing loss/The Father turns his face away/As wounds which mar the Chosen One/Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon the cross/My sin upon his shoulders/Ashamed I hear my mocking voice/Call out among the scoffers/It was my sin that held him there/Until it was accomplished/His dying breath has brought me life/I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything/No gifts, no power, no wisdom/But I will boast in Jesus Christ/His death and resurrection/Why should I gain from his reward?/I cannot give an answer/But this I know with all my heart/His wounds have paid my ransom.”

Rich words. The richest truth.