Revelation: Ironic Blasphemy

Most people who associate with my husband and myself at his point in our lives know that we are believers and followers of Christ, and that we are working toward planting a church in our community.  People who knew us years ago and have fallen out of touch will most certainly stare slack-jawed in disbelief.  Though we were both raised in faith, we both turned away as teenagers ~ Josh doing a complete about-face/forward-sprint.

I first met Josh at the Ohio State Fair (insert hillbilly remark here) as part of the Youth Choir.  Anyone who has ever been in a high school choir can attest that religious songs are inescapable.  Being the jaded, spiteful teenager he was, Josh played a fun little game with these songs.  Whenever the name of God appeared in the lyrics, he would insert his own name.  "Shout to God"  became "Shout to Josh", "How Great Thou Art" was parodied to "How Great I Am".  I may have turned my back on church, but I still believed in God, and though I did giggle when I first heard this, I then asked if he realized he was going to hell.  In his young life, he could have cared less.

Very recently, Josh was given the opportunity to preach at a friend's church.  To illustrate a point, he recounted this little story.  More than 15 years have passed since were members of the Youth Choir, and we have told this story hundreds of times.  I'd even heard it in the car on our hour drive as Josh reviewed the sermon.  But for whatever reason, as I was halfheartedly listening to my husband preach (remember, I had already heard this an hour earlier) I was struck by the irony of this story.

My husband's name is Joshua.  The Hebrew translation of this name is Yeshua.  The Greek translation of Yeshua is Jesus.  "Shout to God" ~ "Shout to Josh(ua)" ~ "Shout to Jesus".  Without even realizing it, what was intended as blatant unbridled blasphemy suddenly became an ironic acknowledgement of the greatest truth.  The names of God the father and God the son were being used interchangeably, making the profession no act of blasphemy at all.

In hindsight, I'm bummed that I was not mature enough in my spiritual walk to see this at that age.  I would have enjoyed pointing this little tidbit out to him.  I'm also bummed that it has taken more than 15 years to become mature enough in my spiritual walk to see this.  Though Josh appreciated the irony when we talked after the sermon, it would have been much more satisfying to point this out to the atheist.