A couple of years back we were receiving catalogs regularly from a company known as 20th Century Plastics. This company marketed plastic page protectors in various designs for photograph albums, baseball card collections, etc. They had some creative new ideas, but they had an old-fashioned name. Consumers today are looking for new-fangled gizmos and gadgets, and I just don’t think the company name earns a lot of confidence with customers.
I think the same applies for the names 20th Century Fox in Hollywood or 20th Century Data in Dallas. The company name dates them out of the market today. Consultant Frank Delano says, “You can’t do business in the 21st Century with a 20th-century name. You need a name that is really universal with no limitations.”
Speaking of blowing the lid off limitations, Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 1:8). Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. Jesus is the A and He’s the Z, and everything in between.
Tags: 21st century, name, time
If you ever visit the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D. C., you can find the name of David F. Kies listed on that memorial. A small diamond is etched beside it to indicate that he died in battle.
But, it is a mistake, for Kies is very much alive. He’s living in Wisconsin with his wife and five children.
David F. Kies did fight in Vietnam and was seriously injured in combat near Saigon. He and his partner were on night patrol when they stepped on a mine. His buddy died immediately; Kies lost both of his legs but survived. He was reported as dead because of an error in some paperwork.
Mistakes like that can happen on military records, but in the most important record, the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 21:27) there are no errors. Either your name is in there or it is not. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Make sure your name is in that book!
Tags: mistake, name, Vietnam War
In the mid-1800s, Texas rancher Samuel Augustus Maverick refused to brand his cattle. When neighboring cowboys came upon a calf without a brand, they called it a “maverick.” The word entered the English language and came to refer to a person who takes an independent stand and refuses to conform.
Other names have become words that describe a person’s character and behavior: Judas and Benedict Arnold both mean ‘traitor’. An Einstein is a genius, while a Solomon is a wise man.
Few of us will have our names become a part of the language, but they do signify who we are and how we have lived. Solomon said, “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot…He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known” (Proverbs 10:7-9).
If your name became a word in English, what would you want it to mean?
Tags: character, name
Once there was a boy whose parents name him Odd. Other children used to tease him about his name, but he stuck out his chest and refused to be bothered. As he grew up, people continued to make fun of his moniker – even after he became a successful attorney.
Finally, as an old man, he wrote out his last wishes. “I’ve been the butt of jokes all my life,” he said, “I’ll not have people making fun of me after I’m gone.” He instructed that his tombstone not bear his name.
After his death, people noticed the large blank stone in the cemetery and said, “That’s odd.”
We can do whatever we choose to get people to do what they should, but they are only going to do what is natural. The only way to change someone’s nature is for them to be born again. And that changes everything.
Tags: Change, humor, name, tombstone