Leave a Trail

The name of a child is, to me, a significant thing. I’ve long dreamed of the day that I get to explain the name of my son or daughter to him or her. I now have that daughter and the time to prep the story has come. What I didn’t consider in the naming process was the one thing that far outweighs my hope to honor a hero or to link my kid to a legend: my wife’s preferences. Our daughter, Emerson, has a name from nowhere, except her mom’s mind. She loved it (so did I) and that’s the story. We did give her a middle name that matters. Claire is her Aunt who we would both love to see Emerson grow to be like.

Honoring Claire with that name created a great moment and has forged a deep link. Emerson likes Claire more than anyone else, truly (see picture above). When I tell Em the story of her name I’ll tell her that her mom just loved it and that we just love her. She seems like an Emerson. I’ll tell that her Aunt Claire has an uncommonly tender heart for people and we hope she does too. I’ll also tell her some amazing things that a study on the name has revealed.

First, disregard the obvious meaning of Emerson, “Sons of Emery.” She ain’t no son(s). We’ll claim “child of Emery,” though it’s a bit gender-neutral. Emerson, child of Emery. Emery, brave, powerful, worker, ruler. Emerson, your name comes from the idea of being a working ruler, from one who leads, but serves. Emerson, my daughter, your name speaks of the greatness of Christ. Though he had all power and authority, he sacrificed willingly. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Though a king, a servant. Though a ruler, amongst the people. Em, be like Him.

Along with the beautiful reference to Christ in her name, Emerson points also toward Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American Essayist I know little of. The few thoughts of his that I have read make me want to read more.

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”

“Beware when the great God releases a thinker on this planet.”

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments the better.”

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Emerson, heed your namesake’s words. Trust your Creator, think, live vigorously and without fear, and, finally, go confidently towards what you know is true. May you value your name and all that is behind it, but may it never confine you.

True religion is diffusive and extensive in its operations. I see people drawing lines continually and saying, “So far is religious, and so far is secular.” What do you mean? The notion is one which suits with the exploded notions of sacred places, priests, shrines and relics! I do not believe in it. Everything is holy to a holy man! To the pure, all things are pure. To a man who seeks, first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, his house is a temple, his meals are sacraments, his garments are vestments, every day is a holy day and he, himself, is a priest and a king unto God! The sphere of Christian- ity is co-extensive with daily life. I am not to say, “I serve God when I stand in the pulpit,” for that might imply that I wished to serve the devil when my sermon was over! We are not only to be devout at Church and pious at Prayer Meet- ings, but to be devout and godly everywhere! Religion must not be like a fine piece of medieval armor, to be hung upon the wall, or only worn on state occasions. No, it is a garment for the house, the shop, the bank! Your ledgers and iron safes are to be made, by Grace, “holiness unto the Lord.” Godliness is for the parlor and the drawing room, the counting house and the exchange. It can neither be put off nor on. It is of the man and in the man if it is real! Righteousness is a quality of the heart and abides in the nature of the saved man as a component part of his new self. He is not righteous who is not always righteous!

                                                                                  -Spurgeon

“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it”…but all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.”


10 out of 12 saw it from a human perspective. It is really easy to see things with our eyes only. A human view is much simpler than a Godly one. Human eyes, though, in this instance, lead to death for some, nearly lead to God wiping everyone out and starting over (again), and finally lead to long-term walking in circles for the people that God desired to bless. Contrary to current and ancient living techniques, walking in circles leads nowhere.

The lesson God keeps teaching me through Numbers is to stop looking at things through the limited scope of the eye. The human eye is one of Creation’s most brilliant aspects. That we can see and see clearly, in color, and in dimension is an amazing aspect of God’s design. Even in His great blessing of vision, God wants us to see more He wants to show us His view. He wants us to look with the fallen eye and see with the mind and soul redeemed by Christ. He wants to look at what is before us and filter it through His promises. Caleb and Joshua get that and are blessed greatly. None of the other spies see with faith and their denial of God’s promise removes their chance to witness His keeping it.

Whenever I am taken to thoughts on how we see I’m reminded of a poem I first heard from Ravi Zacharias. It was written by William Blake.

“This life’s dim windows of the soul
Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.”

When you see WITH the eye only, the only processes you engage are those of the flesh. You are left blind to the potential of what God could do. When you see THROUGH the eye and allow what is before you to reach soul level, the potential that God could make the impossible possible is now reality.

Caleb and Joshua had an undistorted view, influenced by God’s promise, and saw that the land was theirs. The others only saw what their eyes could see; a situation that the flesh deemed impossible.

Every step we take allows us to see through the eye and with a view of all that God is and has told us is true and possible. When we see the way He wants we experience all those traits exemplified in the saints of old and perfected in Christ (courage, peace, love, etc.). Our view is not distorted by the blinding wall of doubt. It is enhanced by the magnifying grace of God. As Caleb and Joshua walked boldly, confidently, and fearlessly towards the land granted them through God’s promise, so we walk daily, seeing people and situations in a fallen world through the eye of faith. The eye of faith makes all things possible through Him who enhances our vision. We can see without the constraints of fear because God’s promises overpower even the dimmest view.

“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?”
-Job 38:12&13