Blog Name Change

You can't be a "newbie" anything forever. I couldn't keep calling myself a true aquarist either. Although I do mess with a fifty-five gallon cichlid tank at work (in Dad's office), Christian's (my newbie tank) has long since stopped functioning. It's not all my fault: after the filter mechanism failed a second time, I was facing an expense that was almost a quarter of the tank's entry price. With no living fish and only plants left, I decided that it was not worth fixing. So, I'm no longer a newbie nor an aquarist.

Why "Musings of a Josiah Wannabe" then?

"Musings of ..." was easy. I felt like this blog had always been more about my thoughts, my family happenings, my pictures, etc. than just a fish tank that "Musings of ..." fit. I like the second definition found at "The Free Dictionary": a product of contemplation; thought. Although not every post here begins with contemplation, by the time I've typed out my thoughts, read the typing, edited, corrected, and then posted, I think I've met and passed the threshold of contemplation.

The "..." was the hardest. I spent a few days trying to think of anything to put there. Of course, I hadn't a clue. After my daughter was born - and I pointed more people to this blog - I also kept having to explain newbie aquarist. I started asking for help for a new name. I asked my pastor if he could think of something appropriate. What kept running through my mind is "how do I define myself in one word, two words, three words?" As I told my pastor, my inclinations toward "Musings of ..." with "Godly Father", "Christian", "Jesus Follower" sounded good to me but also disingenuous and a bit prideful. I hope to be all of those, but I also know that I fail miserably and often. [Darn this flesh!]

I've been making my way through the Bible marking progress with my Bible reading spreadsheet.

[Side Bar]
Yes, I know, I'm way behind! I've made progress slowly at times, not at all at other times [I did mention how I fail miserably and often?] No, I'm not saying that Bible reading daily is a requirement for Christian living. I am saying that for me it almost is. (I could probably chart my ups and downs in my Christian walk with that spreadsheet.)
[End Side Bar]

My Bible reading: I was and am still in the Old Testament. Short story long, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are tough - long lists of laws, people's name, their family trees, reiteration of the law. Then you are confronted with Joshua and Judges. Joshua's good - encouraging. But Judges? It's best summed up by it's last verse - Judges 21:25 - "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." OUCH! There was a pattern: sin, condemnation, crying out (repentance), deliverance (by a judge). I found it a bit depressing. Ruth is just a breath of fresh air - it's needed and how wonderful is the order of the Bible in that Ruth shows that there were some faithful ones in the time of the judges? Then First and Second Samuel - the beginning of kings for the Israelite nation. Good stuff (but again failures too)! First and Second Kings. Some good kings, mostly bad ones - following the same pattern found in Judges, with the exception that as the king went, so did the country. Good king following God meant that Israelites followed God as well and prospered; Bad king doing evil meant that the Israelites did the same and came under condemnation.

Shortly after Mary Alice's birth, I got to 2 Kings 22 which introduces king Josiah - young king Josiah at the age of eight! Josiah's immediate ancestors: great grandfather was "Good King Hezekiah"; grandfather was the king Manasseh, traditionally the one who killed the prophet Isaiah: 2 Kings 21:16 - "Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord." Josiah's father Amon, evil king who only reigned for two years. Amon's servants killed him in his own house. [They had rather had an eight year old as their boss than the eight year old's father!]

Josiah stood out and not just because of his age, not because of his doing "right in the sight of the Lord". So many good things about Josiah: his repairs of the temple, his response to the finding of the law (which is another great story in of itself!), his covenant renewal, his reformation of the nation, his Passover celebration - the like of which had not been seen (in conformity to the law) since the time of the judges! All of which were great things. But his epitaph (or what I read as his epitaph) in 2 Kings 23:25: "And before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him."

Wow! It hit me hard. What a statement. What a testimony. What a life! I wanted that, I want that - for my family, friends, neighbors, and others who know me, to be able to say that *I* followed the Lord with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength.

But the blog name didn't strike me then. I went to my parent's house a day or so after reading and being blown away with Josiah's epitaph and found my niece working on her Bible homework. What was she studying? King Josiah. I was "johnny on the spot!" It was nice reinforcement of my focus on Josiah. I was able to answer her questions with her. Hmmmm. I thought, "Josiah?"

There's an excellent song by Steven Curtis Chapman that comes to mind now. "Waiting for Lightning" tells how easy it is for us to look for the bright, unmissable sign of lightning when God is whispering in our ear. Just when I had been wanting a new blog name, with a short definition for me to define myself. "To be like Josiah?" Yeah, I want to be like Josiah. I wannabe like Josiah.