What's In a Name?

By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  Genesis 32:22-31

I wonder how you got your name.
Sometimes parents name children after family members or a close friend.  Britt was named after his dad’s closest Navy buddy. 
Having not had children, Britt and I have carefully chose the names of our dogs through the years.  I scooped up our current dog, Hope, from the middle of the road on a cold, rainy November day nearly 11 years ago.  She was dodging cars in the road outside our vet’s office.  I drove around the block and carried her into the office.  The receptionist was on the phone.  “You say it’s in the street outside our office,” she said.  I waved and pointed, “Not anymore,” I said.  Britt was out of town and she was dirty and riddled with fleas.  “Can I pay to kennel her and have her checked out while I try to find a home for her?”  “We need a name,” the receptionist said.  We’d had a habit of giving our dogs Greek or Hebrew names, the languages of the Bible.  But I figured I’d better keep it simpler this time around.  “Let’s call her Hope,” I said.  “We’ll hope and pray that she winds up with a good home.”  And, the rest is history.
Names are important to us.  If you think about it, when we come into this world, the only thing we own is our name.  This morning, we encounter a story about how names can define and redefine us.  It is the story of the Old Testament patriarch, Jacob.