Hi, my real name is Joseph, surprise!

Joseph Aron Crews.

Yup, that's the full thing.

The trouble began back in elementary school with those uninitiated substitute teachers. 

Kelly? Present.
Tyler? Here.
Hyden? Hi!
Joseph? ... Joseph?? ... is Joseph Crews here?

My classmates would curiously and confusingly look around the classroom. Sheepishly I would raise my voice, "Here." All eyes would shoot at me. "Joseph is my first name, but I go by Aron, my middle name." My secret would be out, my true identity revealed!

But was it my true identity? 

My parents explained to me early on why they chose to name me Joseph but call me Aron. I was named after my grandfather, Joseph Archie Crews, keeping the same first name and initials (JAC). But they felt I was just more of an Aron than a Joseph (I think so too), so they decided to call me by my middle name.

Aron is another story in and of itself.

The quick version: they liked the name Aaron, but wanted to save my hand the energy of having to write the extra letter. So they dropped the extra A to preserve me the extra calorie it would take to write it out. Also, they took into consideration the economical and environmental advantages of using less ink/lead in my signature. What amazingly deep thinkers my parents were! So considerate of their new son's writing future and my economical usage of writing instruments!

Cool story, right? Almost as cool as the real one.

The quick true version: my mother's name is Sharon, drop the Sh- and voila, there I am...Aron! I like to tell people I came out of my mother in more than one way.

Now back to this Joseph business.

My grandfather passed away when I was only two years old. Although I heard great things about him, I just didn't know him, and his name (Joseph) didn't carry any special meaning to me. It always just seemed like more of a hassle carrying around this first name which I never went by. I even seriously considered changing my name while in high school. I toyed with: Aron Blake Crews. Blake was the high school I graduated from, of which I greatly regarded. And besides, my initials would be ABC, how cool is that! I still think about it sometimes...

But now that I'm through with school, hold a job and have all this adult stuff with my name on it, it seems the work it would take to change it now just seems like more of a hassle than keeping it! Besides, I've gotten used to it, and I kind of like explaining the story (hence the blog post). The only people who think I'm Joseph is the government, those ignorant substitute teachers, and, in short, anyone who reads my name on a list but who doesn't actually know me personally.

Which leads me to my point: a name is important, it holds our identities in only a breath. There are lots of people who think my name is Joseph, when in reality, if they really knew me, would call me Aron. So too there are lots of people who may even know to call me Aron, but may miss who I really am by a mile. Maybe they identify me by my friends, the church I represent, the clothes I wear, the car I drive, the food I eat, etc. Maybe they only know me by a mistake I've made, or a success I've attained.

What does it really take to know me? Do you need to be my parent? my sibling? my counselor? my bestest-ever-BFF? my wife? Who really knows me? Do I even know me?

God knows me...and that's what matters.

I am "known by God" (Galatians 4:9). Before I was even born, He declares, "I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). He knows me so well that one day soon He will hand me "a white stone, and on the stone a new name written" which no one will know except me (Revelation 2:17). And that name, whatever it is, will be the name I love, the name I cherish, the identity I embrace. Who cares about those substitute teachers, the economical spelling of Aron, or those who might misjudge me! What matters is my constant striving to know Him just as He knows me (1 Corinthians 13:12).

It's all about knowing God, knowing that He knows us, and believing what He has done for us through Christ :)

"We are not to be anxious about what Christ and God think of us, but about what God thinks of Christ, our Substitute." (2SM 33)