Part II - Christina is a Powerful Name
On all the occasions I have met people, I have sensed that there is "power" in a name. Perhaps that is the purpose of the act of naming. In the Book of Genesis, God "empowers" Adam to name all the creatures. There is something in a name that gives it more than identity but whether by accident, coincidence, or even Divine providence, I have come to the conclusion that a name that befalls upon a person was "meant" for that person.
So Christina, who is not Dorothy looking for Kansas, is actually someone else. She is someone more invisible and who blends in better than the horse of a different color, or even any munchkin in munchkin land. In this emerald city, Christina is blessed to have a name that denotes a heart connection with one who is "anointed". And just what does this mean? If you read part I of this blog, you will know that if anything, Christina has been indeed anointed with suffering, disaster, crisis, sorrow, tragedy, instability, rejection, and it doesn't stop there. Christina is indeed anointed as was the man of 2000 years ago who was anointed with the same unction of suffering. And the power of the name, you ask, "what is it?" And you answer, "someone should have given her a better name." It's like the jest in Fiddler On the Roof where Tevia asks why God should for once make a different choice for his "chosen people."
Christina lives in a different house now than she did since I first met her and her family that came across the border with Mexico because of the sound of a gun and the violence that took her husband away from her and her two children. The house she lives in is special only in the sense that it too blends in as it should lest those who seek her out would do the same to her as they had already done to her husband out of retribution, balancing the books, or whatever the cartels use to justify the taking of life. Nevertheless, there is another way in which life is taken on this side of the border. It is the alienation of those who are here out of the crucible of suffering in a place they would otherwise call home. In Christina's case, it is real tragedy. In the case of many who have come, and many who are without papers, there are the economic realities that pierce the heart oh so slowly in ways that allow the deep hole of anxiety and worry to drain the life blood out of a person just as certainly as any bullet or knife.
But it all comes back to the power of the name. I am bold but I say Christina though anointed with the oil of suffering is a testament to the virtue of endurance. She moves not out of the crucible but rather, she moves from crucible to crucible almost as a prophetess shouting out to us that she is no harbinger of giving up, or running away from life itself. Yes, she ran from the violence for the sake of her children, but that is not running away. That is smart. And to run in the direction of the iron curtain of the west? Well, that is just plain brave.
How will it end? How will this story end? Something tells me that in twenty years, the woman with a powerful name will be crystallizing the essence of her humility and her bravery to her great grand children, safely, after a good meal. Her children will have graduated college and have become doctors and lawyers and they too will have their own crucible to tell. Their names will be the inscription that denotes a future that endures all things because in their hearts they know that: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) Such is the power in the name "Christina."
On all the occasions I have met people, I have sensed that there is "power" in a name. Perhaps that is the purpose of the act of naming. In the Book of Genesis, God "empowers" Adam to name all the creatures. There is something in a name that gives it more than identity but whether by accident, coincidence, or even Divine providence, I have come to the conclusion that a name that befalls upon a person was "meant" for that person.
So Christina, who is not Dorothy looking for Kansas, is actually someone else. She is someone more invisible and who blends in better than the horse of a different color, or even any munchkin in munchkin land. In this emerald city, Christina is blessed to have a name that denotes a heart connection with one who is "anointed". And just what does this mean? If you read part I of this blog, you will know that if anything, Christina has been indeed anointed with suffering, disaster, crisis, sorrow, tragedy, instability, rejection, and it doesn't stop there. Christina is indeed anointed as was the man of 2000 years ago who was anointed with the same unction of suffering. And the power of the name, you ask, "what is it?" And you answer, "someone should have given her a better name." It's like the jest in Fiddler On the Roof where Tevia asks why God should for once make a different choice for his "chosen people."
Christina lives in a different house now than she did since I first met her and her family that came across the border with Mexico because of the sound of a gun and the violence that took her husband away from her and her two children. The house she lives in is special only in the sense that it too blends in as it should lest those who seek her out would do the same to her as they had already done to her husband out of retribution, balancing the books, or whatever the cartels use to justify the taking of life. Nevertheless, there is another way in which life is taken on this side of the border. It is the alienation of those who are here out of the crucible of suffering in a place they would otherwise call home. In Christina's case, it is real tragedy. In the case of many who have come, and many who are without papers, there are the economic realities that pierce the heart oh so slowly in ways that allow the deep hole of anxiety and worry to drain the life blood out of a person just as certainly as any bullet or knife.
But it all comes back to the power of the name. I am bold but I say Christina though anointed with the oil of suffering is a testament to the virtue of endurance. She moves not out of the crucible but rather, she moves from crucible to crucible almost as a prophetess shouting out to us that she is no harbinger of giving up, or running away from life itself. Yes, she ran from the violence for the sake of her children, but that is not running away. That is smart. And to run in the direction of the iron curtain of the west? Well, that is just plain brave.
How will it end? How will this story end? Something tells me that in twenty years, the woman with a powerful name will be crystallizing the essence of her humility and her bravery to her great grand children, safely, after a good meal. Her children will have graduated college and have become doctors and lawyers and they too will have their own crucible to tell. Their names will be the inscription that denotes a future that endures all things because in their hearts they know that: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) Such is the power in the name "Christina."
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