The Wondering Sheep: Episode 11 – Living the Christian Life
"I Wander as I Wonder… "
February 26, 2026
What is in a name? I think I’ve read that someplace before. In some cultures, your name has meaning. “Johnson” means “son of John,” for instance. The first thing people always ask me is, “Are you Italian?” The answer is “yes, and no.” This is the melting pot of America. after all. My dad’s parents came from Italy. My mother’s family came from Germany, a couple generations before. My oldest son married a girl whose family was originally German. So, our grandkids are half German, a quarter Norwegian, and a quarter Italian. Are they Italian? It does make starting conversations with curious people a bit easier I suppose…
In many families, children are named after a parent or another ancestor. Remember John the Baptist? There was a fuss at his birth party because his parents wanted him named John, since the angel told them to. My middle name is my grandfather’s first name. My sister-in-law worked as a nurse in labor and delivery and once shared a story about a woman who gave birth. She didn’t know she was pregnant! Of course, that meant no name planned. When asked the name for her new daughter, she looked to the side, saw a name on a piece of equipment, and that name became the name of her new baby! Not much forethought there.
How about your name? Where did it come from? Does it mean something? Does it describe anything about you? In many cases, we are expected to live up to our namesake. Did or do you? Our oldest son Luke was named for the evangelist. We joked at the time that it could have been Luke Skywalker of Star Wars fame or Luke from General Hospital (Luke and Laura were the most popular at the time he was born.)
Some people give their kids names that are different from others, ones spelled oddly so as to be different from other names. I once had a student named “Earth.” Her parents had been hippies, and their three kids all had that type of name. The girl was not amused as a high school student.
The name of this blog originally was, “The Wandering Sheep”. It was named to describe a typical sheep that wanders away from the rest of the flock and gets into trouble. In other words, we are talking about what it’s like to be a member of Jesus flock. At times, I may also default to the title, “The Wondering Sheep”. That will be when I get seriously buried in a question and work my way in and out of trouble coming up with an answer. This sheep, like you, is trying to live his life as a Christian. That means I will often get into trouble throughout my life. I wander in and out of places the Shepherd may or may not want me to be in. God wants his sheep to be salt and light in the world, all while have a hard time being a sheep in the first place. Maybe a helmet with a light on it will help with the wandering?
As I wander through this life, I plan to share things, life, problems, laughs, and hopefully some wisdom and scripture along the way. If you have ideas for me to comment on, please pass them on to me.
Well, time for me to wander away and see what trouble I can get into (hopefully not too much!). Actually, I have an appointment to lose a couple teeth (part of getting old). Ask me how it went the next time you see me. Enjoy your being part of the flock until next time!