Salvation and Nickname Evolution

I just returned from a week in the Raleigh/Durham area. I spoke and lead worship for the youth of Corinth Baptist Church in Oxford, NC Monday through Thursday night. Tasha stayed back with the kids as we were all still jet-lagging and, since it is my desire to stay married, I insightfully made the decision that Tasha should stay home this week in order to rest and recoup for the next traveling excursion that comes our way. Against my liking and preference, I nevertheless flew solo and made the trek to Oxford on my own. I had the pleasure of staying with my brother, Bakes*, and his nearly-expecting wife, Keesha, at their home in Wake Forest.

I had a great week with this youth group. My friend, Murray Sinclair from South Africa, is doing a phenomenal job there as the youth pastor. He invited me to come and bring the Word to his kids all week for their VBS, and it was a pleasure to do just that. The biggest highlight for me was seeing one 12-year-old young man named Dalton, pray to receive Christ on Tuesday night after a strong talk about the gruesome death and glorious resurrection of Christ. It was a sweet time as this young man opened up his heart to receive the Lord.

Thank You, Lord, for making this week all worth it for that one young man to come to faith in You, and to be able to plant the seeds of the Gospel in the hearts of many others.

*"Bakes" is a nickname. His real name is Jacob, and he falls fourth in line of 5 kids. All 5 of us Via kids had nicknames growing up, and now, years later, we all 5 still have the same nicknames and use them quite frequently. In fact, my brother Smooth, second in line, goes by that name solely. In reality, there are very few people left in the world who know his real name. He almost got away with having "Smooth" put on his diploma when he graduated from seminary a few years ago. Unfortunately the registrar caught it at the last minute. Anyway, back to Bakes. His nickname evolved like so many of ours did. And it's really hard to be sure about its exact origin, but it began as something of a taunt and heckle by my middle brother, Heelz, when they were but young boys. Heelz would frequently pester Bakes with a sinister rhyme having something to do with baking dough, a remark that I can only assume implied that he thought Bakes to be a momma's boy. Again, no one can really be sure why the act of baking was deemed as a put-down, though, if you knew my brother Heelz, you might be more inclined to follow the logic. Nonetheless, the evolution of the baking brother eventually found itself as simply, Bakes, and the world has never been the same. At least, that's my recollection of it anyway.

Stay tuned for more flashback fridays where I will pull back the curtain on more Via nicknames and their historical evolution to become what they are today.