My father and I both wrote some reflections on my son’s name… In a name are stories, there are prayers, there are hopes… and hopefully instead of marking boundaries to his identity, they will mark a starting place for Brendan to discover who God created him to be!
From Grandpa: (Yeh Yeh)
Expecting you, my first grandson, in a few days; some thoughts on the name chosen for you: Brendan Ji-Kwon Lui (雷智權). Daniel and Diane chose the name Brendan for you. A Ireland saint, year 484-577. A prayer or poem from Celtic Daily Prayer, Part XVI:
Lord, I will trust You,
Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown
Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You
Christ of the mysteries, can I trust You to be stronger than each storm in me?
Do I still yearn for Your glory to lighten on me?
I will show others the care You’ve given me.
I determine amidst all uncertainty, always to trust.
I choose to live beyond regret, and let You recreate my life.
I believe You will make a way for me and provide for me, if only I trust You and obey.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times are still in your hands.
I will believe You for my future, chapter by chapter, until all the story is written.
Focus my mind and my heart upon You, my attention always on You without alteration.
Strengthen me with Your blessing and appoint to me the task.
Teach me to live with eternity in view.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven.
Feed me, and, somehow, make me obedient count for You.
雷 (Lui) is your last name. Lui is a Hong Kong phonics translation for 雷. 雷 is the Chinese word for thunder. It is made up with two words:雨 (rain) and 田 (field). When it rains on the field, thunder follows. Rain is an atmospheric (heavenly) event. Field (more accurately fields for farming or planting) is a human endeavor. Water (or climate) from heaven and human’s management on earth will be a focus in your generation. Like your last name, you inherit the world that you are in. Pray that you will have impacts to bring what’s happening in the heavenly and direct earthly endeavors together to bring many positive benefits to your generation.
The Chinese name that I picked for you, 智權, are wisdom and power which is two of the 7 things that the angels crying out to ascribe to the Lamb (in Revelations 5:122 as well as 7:111): Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power 權能(or authority) and wealth and wisdom 智慧 and strength and honor and glory and praise!
智 means wise. Together with 慧 (which is part of your grandmother’s name), 智慧 is wisdom. 智 is made up with three Chinese words: 矢(arrow) 口(mouth) 曰 (day); and 知 is to know or knowing. 矢 is arrow. It represents intentionality, purposeful, and straight without departing from the path. May your life be purposeful and always be straight with the Spirit without departing from His path. 口 is mouth or speaking or telling. Together with 矢 is 知 or knowing. To know is to tell or to teach. Your mother is a teacher, your father is a minister of the Word. To truly know the Word (Jesus Himself) is to tell of His purpose and to teach all to observe His teaching. May you learn well from your parents to tell and to teach. 曰 (day) is sun, the day time, or daily. May you be more than knowing, but walk with what you know daily. May your wisdom be above what is known in your days. Wisdom is making wise choices or decisions or counseling. In my worldly training, wisdom is built from knowledge; knowledge is built from information; and information is built from data. In your generation, all these will be key factors for your everyday life… But let your wisdom excel and beyond these worldly approaches and let your wisdom start with the fear of the Lord. (A related word for 智 is 痴. That is a malfunction of the mind. Don’t be obsessed with just knowing. But be single minded to God.)
權, or power / authority come with one’s identity. Matthew 28:18 already declared that all authority has been given to Me (Jesus) in heaven and on earth. I bless you to know the Lord who has all authority early in your life. Accept His call and take on the identity of a son of God, one of Jesus’ disciples, and one who is full of His Spirit. Then you will take on the power and authority that come with that unshakable identity!
權 was a wood that make the Chinese scale with markings to indicate the proper weight. It implies to judge what is the right measurement. The word evolved to mean the power to make the right judgment; as well as the ability to make the right balance or plan of action. The word is made up with 4 parts: 木 (wood), 2 十(anything to do with grasses or plants), 2 口, and 佳 (good). Eugene’s interpretations of the word 權: the scepter before all plants (2 十), all that has a mouth (all living things), and all that is good. May you have mastery over all of God’s creations in order to bring good to what He has created!
Brendan is a call to live a life of a voyage for God and never settle with what’s already there. Stay curious and explore beyond! 雷 is what you inherited. 智 is what you must work on to acquired. 權 is given with your identity, title, or position. Your English phonics of your Chinese name is Korean. You will be uniquely placed by God in your generation, your place, and your people for a special purpose in His Kingdom. As you are about to come into this world, may His will be done on you on earth as in heaven!
From Dad (Ba Ba):
Son, your grandfather has so elaborately and beautifully written about the meaning of your name. I wanted to add a couple thoughts on the meaning of your name.
Brendan: This name tells the story of our family. This is the name of an Irish Catholic saint who felt the mysterious calling of God to go in search of the “promised land of the saints”.
Before baba met your mother, he was feeling tired and bitter after almost 10 years of ministry and went on a sabbatical. During his sabbatical, he went to a retreat in Northumbria, where a spiritual director had him read about St. Brendan- as someone who followed after God’s calling even when it didn’t make sense. After those days in Northumbria, baba went on a 40 day journey on the Camino de Santiago where he and God prayed, argued and fought… But by the end of the trip, baba heard God remind him how much he loved him, and that loving someone isn’t always taking someone to easy places, but that at the core of it all, real love is about being WITH God, and that His presence is what brings real rest. God was inviting baba to go to people that God loved because God loved baba and wanted to be with baba. Knowing that helped baba say yes to following God into the unknown like St. Brendan.
Baba wants you to know that the loving presence of God is where we find true rest, and it is only in God’s loving presence that we can have courage.
When baba and umma met, we had to consider not only life together, but to follow God in mission to Salinas to join God in loving the college students in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. We had to make sure we did not pressure each other, but that we each chose on our own to respond to God’s love so that we could respond together. Through the generations, our family has been like Brendan- with your grandparents on both sides taking off to the foreign shores of America from both Korea and Hong Kong, and then with your parents deciding to follow Jesus to Salinas and Monterey. But in each of these journeys, they have all led back to Jesus, no matter the geographic location. In the geography of the heart, in every generation, we are all pilgrims on a journey to our real home- His loving presence.
We don’t know if you will journey to distant lands or stay in one place during your life, but we pray that you will find that the true promise land is in the presence of our loving God- and oh how He loves you so much! We will probably always be learning how to love you, but His love will always be there for you through all these journeys of life before you!
This was St. Brendan’s famous prayer that both Umma and Baba found ourselves praying:
“Help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You
to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count for You.”
AMEN.
Ji Kwon: Your YehYeh chose this name, and your Hal-abeojim and Halmoeni translated it to Korean. Your Yeh Yeh wrote beautifully about this part of your name. For your mom and dad- while some of this name tells your story- it is also our prayer for you.
This name has been translated so many times! It is the English alliteration of the Korean, and the Korean is the translation from your name in Chinese (Ji Kun) for “Wisdom Authority”. That name comes from the verse in Revelations 7:12, which was originally written in Greek!
Your name represents the distances and cultures your family has come from… from Korea and Hong Kong, and then to America. You are a multicultural child- not part Korean, not part Chinese, not part American, but FULL Korean, FULL Chinese, FULL American. These are all fully your heritage to take hold of and to worshipfully be in awe of how God has created each of them and mended them together within you.
The verse where your name comes from is a worship song to the Lamb of God. The context of this verse is a vision that John has of the heavenly courts. Before this chapter, in Chapter 5, everyone in the heavenly courts is waiting for the one worthy to break the seals of a royal scroll. But John begins to weep because nobody is found worthy to open the scroll. But an elder turns to him in the vision and says, “Do not weep! See the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” When the reader sees this, they are expecting a mighty lion to appear… but in a jarring turn, the “Lion” appears as a mortally wounded lamb. This is the paradox of the Kingdom of God- that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. That God will use the weak to shame the proud.
It is this slain lamb that the heavenly court worships in the verse where your name comes from (Revelation 7:12):
“Amen!
Praise and glory
And wisdom and thanks and honor
And power and strength
Be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
What I find so moving about this verse is that the one they are worshiping and praising as “wise” and “powerful” is not the one who appears as a powerful cosmic lion, but is a weak and wounded lamb that looks like foolishness to the world.
You come into the world during a time in history where “wisdom” and “authority” mean such different things than what the Kingdom of God describes. We pray that your life will be marked with discernment of real wisdom and real authority- and that you would find it in Jesus, the slain Lamb of God. We pray that like your baba and your umma try to do, that you would live your life as an act of worship to the true God, the Lamb that was slain.
A prayer:
I am praying that in your life, you would experience the enduring love of Jesus.
That you would know the story of God’s love that your family is caught up in, and that you would be able to experience that love in new ways.
That you would find your true home and family in Jesus.
That you will see the symphony of the cultures within you in all their collective fullnesses.
That you would be able to recognize the Lion of Judah as the Lamb that was slain.
That you would join in the chorus of worship with your life.
The Digital Self-Representation of Daniel Lui 