Thursday, September 4, 2008

The name

Dateline: 14th century Scotland.

They called him Bruce.
Sounds Scottish and it was.

Pretty primitive times.
Kilts, and swords, and castles and grogs.

And
Justice too was very primitive - and often very unfair.
Might made right. Status gave privilege.

And a guy named Bruce saw the plight of the poor in the "courts" of his day and was moved into action. First with one needy person and then with another - and finally he developed a reputation for defending the rights of the poor in "court."
Eventually it came time for names to become more complex and people took sirnames to better identify themselves.
And because of his skill and compassion, Bruce took a name that spoke of his calling.
He chose Argue.

Bruce Argue.

And thus an unusual last name began with noble cause.
And survives to this day.

From what I understand, everyone who bears that last name is related. An interesting benefit indeed.

As I reflect, I wonder if Bruce found himself on this cycle:
1. One day he simply saw a need that caught his attention.
2. At some point he offered to help meet that need.
3. He discovered that he had some gifting relative to presenting arguments in court.
4. He found that when he did this, it was satisfying and even stirred his joy and passion.
5. He did it more and more frequently - until (perhaps?) it became the main agenda of his life.

And so the positive impact of his life goes on 6 centuries later.

And when someone, after hearing my name, asks: "don't argue do you?"

I can smile & say, "Can I tell you about where this name came from?"

What's in your name?

Selah,
Dave ARGUE

PS - what is also neat is that our names can be attached to His name. Christ-ians.

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