The clearest God voice I have ever experienced is the gift and naming of my adopted son, Zachary. The voice was not an audible voice but the divine voice of unfolding circumstances. Karen and I were first blessed with Kristin, our adopted newborn baby girl. We named her Kristin with a “K” because K’s ran in Karen’s birth family.
The presence
of Kristin seemed to cement us together as a family but we also shared a hope
for a son. Boys are not a priority but
they are just a little bit special, sorry ladies, call such an attitude generational
sin on my part. Anyway, we got on the
list at an adoption agency in Kansas City, Kansas. Though we were on the list we were told it
would be a long wait, newborn baby boys were in high demand.
Not being
swayed by the bad news, we began planning for the soon to arrive male child, ask
and you shall receive. The planning
included a conversation about a name.
For a year we batted around names as a family, “Glen Jr.” was a no go, I
was not a “Glen” fan. For some deep psychological
reason, the name Glen was and is a bit effeminate. Every month we would assume to speak of the
boy among us with a different name, just to test how it would sound.
After many
months and many names, the name Zachary was the runaway winner. Our lives now revolved around the arrival of
our son Zachary. Two years into the
wait, the adoption agency called. Karen
took the call and her reaction was not the expected excitement so I relaxed. Putting the agency on hold, Karen shared with
me that the agency was placing a boy but he was not a newborn, being about a
year old. The agency was almost apologetic for putting this placement before us.
We politely told the agency that we preferred to wait for a newborn.
Despite this
decision the agency kept the conversation going. All of the sudden Karen got
her excitable self. What’s going
on? Karen looked at me and said Zachary
has come home! The birth mother had
named her boy Zachary, a name the agency said we could change.
No way, we considered Zachary a God placement, for indeed, Zachary had come home! Go figure, I am still trying to know why us? Why should we be so blessed? Some would say, all things considered, after 4o years of history, God must have made a mistake? Is not God about undeserved gifts?
I prefer to believe that God has a yet unfolding ulterior motive.
G.Goslaw
Landers, CA
