What’s in a Name

This afternoon we took a bus to see the standing stones of the Orkneys. They are much older than Stonehenge but that’s a story for Chuck to tell you. My story begins in the absolutely charming town of Stromness. Chuck and I spent about an hour in this precious and unpretentious little town by the North Sea. I was quickly falling in love with Stromness and then I saw the parish church and its sign out front. I yelled for Chuck to come over and see the sign. “ Look, even the pastor is humble and unpretentious. He doesn’t have a title like ‘The Reverend’ or ‘The Reverend Dr.’ He just has his name Reg Charity. Not even Reginald. And how cool is it that his last name is Charity? And he gives his phone number on the sign. How wonderful is that?” Chuck listened to me rapturize about how wonderful the pastor must be and how much I loved this town. After about 5 minutes when I finally was quiet for a minute, Chuck said “Sweetie, I think that is not the pastor’s name but a notice that this church is a government Registered Charity, and the number is not a phone number but a tax ID.“

I just stared at him and then said, “Well, dang! Let’s head back to the bus.”Read more