This will be redundant to some of you but I own a great many ties. I am confident the number is in the neighborhood of two hundred sixty. You might ask why I just don't count. Something about it seems wrong, like David taking a census of the Israelites. People, overwhelmingly students, just keep giving them to me. I have also bought some myself in Vietnam the past several years: $3.00 US, silk with matching cufflinks and a matching box. The lady in the shop in Can Tho even remembered me from previous years- I must be her best customer!
Last week, my basketball team gave me the most unique tie I have ever owned! (Actually, it was two but I'm not there yet.) For my birthday, they found a place that printed all their names on a tie. It was supposed to be navy in color but the company messed up and it came out purple. They redid the order- purple again- so I have identical ties with the roster of the Lady Wildcats 2014-2015 emblazoned in all their finery! The reaction when I wore it to school was enthusiastic and some of my other students wondered where it was purchased. As with girls, there were side lights. Some counted how many times their names showed up: Sydney located thirteen Sydneys!
I really like the tie even if there was an important omitted name- mine! But even though I'm part of the team, I was not on the roster so I get it. Names are really important, aren't they? I try to call each one of my students by name each day. Sometimes, I will ask a girl (let's say Minna) what the most important word is in English. She won't understand so I answer my own question. "It's Minna!" I then go on to Jordan and Tyra and Josh and Caitlyn in the same way and they begin to get the point. Two of the first two memory assignments we do each year are lists of twelve names, Jacob's Sons and The Apostles. The importance of both groups is seen, by me at least, in that they are each listed numerous times in the Scriptures. The Gospels don't refer to Jesus' inner circle simply as a 'bunch of Galileans.' The sons of Jacob were so symbolic to the worship in the temple that Aaron was commanded by the Lord to wear their names engraved on two stones when he served in the Holy Place. And when some disciples of Jesus returned from a mission, rejoicing they had been able to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, the Savior told them instead to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. That's a pretty sweet place to find your name- even better than a tie! I always stress to my kids what it means if someone knows your name; they know who you are. In several of His parables, Jesus ends with, "I don't know you." I want Jesus to know who I am. I'm blessed that some middle school girls already do.
Applicable quote of the day:
"Despite the spreading popularity of casual business dress in Britain, sales of neckties are rising, reports The London Observer.] Because more men are going to work without a tie, it becomes even more powerful, ... Ties are more than ever a signifier of power and success. They inspire confidence. The less common and popular it becomes to wear a tie, the more I shall. It's about being classically distinctive."
Dylan Jones
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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