Names are important. They mean something. Often in America a name is given simply because it is popular or liked by the parents. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course; but it’s neat when names are given for their meanings. I have a niece that is four weeks old today. Her name is Gloria Evangline. I must admit that it took a few days for the middle name to grow on me, but my brother and sister have given much thought to the names of their children: Jonathan Paton: after John Paton, a sharer of the Good News in the New Hebrides; Abigail Frances: Abigail meaning “my Father’s joy” and Frances after Frances Havergal; Isobel Faith: after Isobel Kuhn, a sharer of the Good News in China; and now Gloria Evangeline. Why Evangeline? For all of you Greek connoisseurs, you know that the Greek word for "good news" transliterates into "evangeline." Thus, there is meaning to the names.

I wanted my Chinese name to have some meaning. A friend of mine who works at the Key Café said that he would help me, and so on Thursday, he named me. What do the characters mean? The first character is tian: 田. This would be my family name. The meaning is “farmland.” It’s easy to remember because the character looks like a field that has been sectioned off. The second character is zhao: 召. This means “called.” More later on the meaning of this. And the last character is nong: 农, meaning “farmer.” Thus, the whole name conveys the idea of “the farmland calls to the farmer.” This made me think of the old adage, "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy." When he explained his reasoning behind the name, it took on a whole new meaning. He knew that I liked my last name, and so he wanted to keep that idea in my new name. So, he chose my family name, tian, to convey that idea. As for zhao (calls): he chose this because he said that I had been “called by Him to be in China.” This character is the same character used in Romans 8:30 – "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

I am thankful for my name. I hope that I will be a faithful farmer in this field that is ripe for harvest.