Praying Publicly In the Name of Jesus By Dr. Mark Creech for BarbWire
J.C. Knowles writes a short column titled, North Carolina Minute, which provides some of the most interesting tidbits about North Carolina history and other interesting topics which pertain to the state.
Not long ago, Knowles wrote about what it’s like for employees in the North Carolina Vital Statistics Bureau. You might think their job would be a boring one, but it’s anything but boring, says Knowles. Their main work is recording all births and deaths in the Tar Heel state.
“Many of the birth certificates which have to be recorded bring chuckles or down-right belly laughs,” he writes. “Some of the things that they must by law record, they wonder what in the world was going through the minds of those sending in the certificates.”
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Here are a few the examples he gives:
“There was a child born and given the name…Jessie James Outlaw. Some of the other names that had to be recorded were; No More Cross, Tiny New Year, and Make Eugene Punch. Believe me, these were real names, no joke. There were twins listed with the Bureau and their names were; Kate and Duplicate, Victor and Victoria, Alpha and Omega. And finally, this takes the cake; Wunzie One and Wunzie Two.”
Several years ago I was asked to officiate the funeral of a man I didn’t know. I was horrified to learn his name was Vermin, which is a word commonly understood to refer to objectionable little animals, or lice and fleas. My administrative assistant said he once heard of children named, Ima and Ura Hogg.
In Bible times, names were generally considered very important and meant something. A name often spoke of an individual’s character or role in life. For instance, the name Abraham meant, “father of many nations,” the name Jacob meant “supplanter,” the name Solomon meant “peaceful,” and the name Peter meant “rock.” But there is no name ancient or modern, which has more meaning than the name Jesus.
