A New Wife?!

Well, I have a new wife...sort of! Not really, but some of you are going to notice that I´m now married to "Lia." No, not another person...but another name. When we arrived in Venezuela some three ago, and again when we arrived here in Mexico, we discovered that the Latina tongue doesn´t wrap itself easily around "Jeanne"...to top it off, it looks like "Ye-an-nay" to the Spanish-speaker! So, my wonderful wife decided to take a "Spanish-ized" form of her middle name to use. So, my "Jeanne Lee" is now LIA. Sounds good, no??

Of course, some would say, "How in the world can you change your name?!?!" After all, it´s a rather personal thing, no? But, if you go back to the Scriptures, you find than a new name is not such a strange thing after all: Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel, Simon becomes Peter, and Saul becomes Paul. These were "God changes"--they came about after an encounter with the Living God. Could it be that since we´ve be been brought to a new culture that God would have us take new names at times, names that would remove stumbling-blocks of any kind...even pronunciation??

I think it´s kind of cool myself! I love my Lia...and I love her willingness to change something so precious as her own name so that she can communicate and form relationships with people here. Today, I thank God for my incredible wife. Oh, she can still be Jeanne for all the folks north of the border...but here, in this place...she´s my lovely Lia. ...That´s all...Juan, signing out for now!