As Matt has traveled to Israel over the past 5 years, he has learned one very important facet of the Hebrew culture that has influenced us a great deal as we have chosen names for our children: names are not just a means of identification, they are also a destiny. In other words, we have chosen names that don't just differentiate our children from other children, but names that characterize who we hope they become and what legacy we want them to leave behind. We also find names to be the best way to pray for our children in general. So, why did we name our son, Joseph Barrett Lantz?
Joseph: Truth be told, we had this name picked out for Heidi before we found out she was going to be a girl. Joseph has always been our first choice for a boy name for several reasons. First, Joseph is the name of all of my patriarchs going back 4 generations (the only exception being myself and my father, Larry). It is also one of the most popular names in our Lantz family ancestry.
Second, Joseph is a Hebrew name that carries the traditional meanings of "God increases" or "God continually adds". Rachel gave Joseph this name after God opened up her barren womb. Genesis 30:24 says, "She named him Joseph, saying, 'May the LORD give me another son.'" Given the meaning of the root word for 'give', yawsef, of which 'Joseph' is simply the future tense, it's not just that Rachel was asking for another baby (which she did eventually receive in Benjamin), she was also asking for the LORD to continually give her sons. She was asking for a legacy not just another baby. So, Darcie and I are hoping it's not just the name of our son, but the continued legacy of Lantz's who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and follow Him in faith.
Third, we are praying that Joseph becomes the kind of man that the Scriptures describe Joseph the son of Jacob to be. Genesis 41:38 says, "And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?'" In just one short sentence Pharaoh, a poly-theistic pagan, outlines the three qualities about Joseph that we pray for him to become: 1). that he would be a man 2). that the Spirit of God would reside in him and 3). those two facts would be evident to anyone who meets him - especially those who do not know the Lord. We would love for you to pray those things along with us.
Barrett: Because we chose Joseph as our little guy's first name, we thought it fitting to stick with a family name for his middle name as well. There were lots of good boy names on both sides of our family, and many men and women of integrity to choose from. We chose Barrett as his middle name after my (Darcie's) Grandma Dodge; it was her maiden name (Gwynne Irvin Barrett). Not only is it it a unique boy name, but it means "bear-like" or "bear-strength," and strength is something that we desire for our little boy to have in many areas of his life - strength of character, physical strength and spiritual strength. His great grandmother was a women of great strength, and was married to a man of the same quality. They were an example of strength in their devotion to one another during WWII and throughout their 50+ years of marriage and parenthood.
Do you know what your name means? Do you know why your parents selected that name for you?
Joseph: Truth be told, we had this name picked out for Heidi before we found out she was going to be a girl. Joseph has always been our first choice for a boy name for several reasons. First, Joseph is the name of all of my patriarchs going back 4 generations (the only exception being myself and my father, Larry). It is also one of the most popular names in our Lantz family ancestry.
Second, Joseph is a Hebrew name that carries the traditional meanings of "God increases" or "God continually adds". Rachel gave Joseph this name after God opened up her barren womb. Genesis 30:24 says, "She named him Joseph, saying, 'May the LORD give me another son.'" Given the meaning of the root word for 'give', yawsef, of which 'Joseph' is simply the future tense, it's not just that Rachel was asking for another baby (which she did eventually receive in Benjamin), she was also asking for the LORD to continually give her sons. She was asking for a legacy not just another baby. So, Darcie and I are hoping it's not just the name of our son, but the continued legacy of Lantz's who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and follow Him in faith.
Third, we are praying that Joseph becomes the kind of man that the Scriptures describe Joseph the son of Jacob to be. Genesis 41:38 says, "And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?'" In just one short sentence Pharaoh, a poly-theistic pagan, outlines the three qualities about Joseph that we pray for him to become: 1). that he would be a man 2). that the Spirit of God would reside in him and 3). those two facts would be evident to anyone who meets him - especially those who do not know the Lord. We would love for you to pray those things along with us.
Barrett: Because we chose Joseph as our little guy's first name, we thought it fitting to stick with a family name for his middle name as well. There were lots of good boy names on both sides of our family, and many men and women of integrity to choose from. We chose Barrett as his middle name after my (Darcie's) Grandma Dodge; it was her maiden name (Gwynne Irvin Barrett). Not only is it it a unique boy name, but it means "bear-like" or "bear-strength," and strength is something that we desire for our little boy to have in many areas of his life - strength of character, physical strength and spiritual strength. His great grandmother was a women of great strength, and was married to a man of the same quality. They were an example of strength in their devotion to one another during WWII and throughout their 50+ years of marriage and parenthood.
Do you know what your name means? Do you know why your parents selected that name for you?
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