SADness

To start off this blog I am going to post a few things that I wrote for the X-Factor newsletter. Look for more stuff to come soon.

How many of you have a name? I'm gonna make a wild guess here and say...all of you! We all have a name, at least one name, and many of us have many names. We have a first name, a middle name, a last name, a screen name, and we all have at least one nickname. Some of our names have a lot of meaning and some are no more significant than the story of the lady who named her newborn children Lemonjello and Orangello after looking at the desserts on the hospital menu...seriously.

So let me tell you about my name. We'll start with Scott. It's a good name. I like it. I was named after a cute song that my parents happened to like, "Watching Scotty Grow," which actually gives me one of my nicknames as well. My middle name, Alexander, came from my dad, who likes history and named me after Alexander the Great, so I guess that means my first name is good, but my middle name is great. Then we have Downing, which I just sorta got by default. Individually, these are all fine names, but when you put them together they are just sad...literally...my initials are S.A.D. My parents named me SAD! LOL But I actually really like being SAD! Everything that makes me SAD, not sad, makes me unique and wonderful, and the same, I'm sure, is true of each of you.

You identify youself with your name, and who you are is unique and wonderful! Every one of you is "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God, and He tells us, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." He made us perfectly, and He knows our names. So although you may feel like the name God gave you, how you see and define yourself or how others see and define you, is SAD, MAD, BAD, ODD, SEX, FAT, DUM, etc... remember that God knew what He was doing, and He made you unique and wonderful with a unique and wonderful purpose. Allow Him to shine through you and turn your SADness into dancing! (Psalm 30:11)