Seed Sown on Rocky Place (Mark 4:16)

6/12/10 I was thinking about new beginnings and how hard and scary it is. I was thinking about my name and how it has changed over the years. My first name is Joseph. When I was growing up my friends and family called me Joey and then when I was about 30 I wanted people to call me Joe. Once I turned 40 years old I told the new people I met that my name is Joseph. Now whenever someone calls my name I can tell how long someone has known me by what name they call me. If they call me Joey they knew me before I was 30. If they call me Joe they met me when I was between 30 and 40 years old and if they call me Joseph they are new friends 40 years and up LOL! I never thought of this until now it’s kind of funny. I took my birth name Joseph because I felt like I wanted to start new in my life. I have made a lot of mistakes in life and I wanted to start a new life the way Jesus wanted me to do it and I thought this would be a good way to commemorate my new life with a new commitment to God and the way he wants me to live. The name Joey means baby kangaroo. It is a nick name given to a child. “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things(1Corinthians 13:11).I call this part of my life my prepubescents period. Then my name changed to Joe which is a name mainly attributed to an adult male. I may have looked and talked like a man, but I had a lot of growing up to do spiritually. I went from not knowing anything about God and the bible to over flowing head knowledge which had no application in my life. I would attribute this part of my life as the adolescence phase. So when times got hard and life happened I wasn’t mature enough to keep myself from drowning. I had a lot of head knowledge, but no heart knowledge. This part of my life I picture myself in the parable of the sower when it talks about the different seeds and how people receive the word of God. I was like the “seed sown on rocky place”(Mark 4:16). I heard the word and at once I received it with joy, but since I had no roots, I lasted only a short time. When troubles or persecutions came, I quickly fell away. Then finally I changed my name to Joseph which means “The Lord will increase This is why I am named Joseph now. I want the Lord to increase my faith and increase my devotion and willingness to serve him and live a good and pure life..” I call this phase of my life adult hood. It wasn’t easy in this stage of my life. It was agonizingly painful! “Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed”(Genesis 32:24-28) I think I’m going to keep this name until Jesus gives me my new name. “…To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it(Revelation 2:17).