Lately the topic of "name" has come up in my life a lot. Some of you have heard my rants about my name before, but for those of you who haven't, this is what it sounds like:
1) I love my name. It is unique, and as far as I know there is only one other Trevor Raichura in the world. Apparently he disgraced his rugby team in Ireland with some poor defensive play once upon a time. Anyways, the name is unique and certainly brings about interesting conversations: Where are you from? What's the origin of your name? What does it mean?
2) The Japanese people have a hard time pronouncing my name. There is no R in Japanese, nor is there a V. So my name (as you might have guessed from my blog name) is Toreba (with the 'r' sounding like something between an l and an r - hard for anyone to imagine such a sound exists, but it does!) I don't particularly care for the sound of "Toreba" but for people who can't speak English, I'm cool with it... gives me a kind of "second identity"...
3) For some reason, even when I write my name in Japanese, the locals tend to read it "Toreba Rachel"... the letter differences are チュラ (Chura) vs. チェル (Cheru) which to me look different enough that I would be able to distinguish the two! I don't like being called Rachel though! But my former boss, who is quite fluent in English, called me Mr. Rachel (with a good accent, too) and yesterday at church, I was introduced as Toreba Rachel "the missionary" despite the fact that I wrote my name out on the guest card correctly! And today, I got my receipt for my rent, and the landlord also wrote me down as Toreba Rachel! Maybe I oughta look into legally changing my name???
And here's something new: I am not the only Trevor in Sapporo, I discovered. I am not the only Canadian Trevor in Sapporo. I am not the only Christian Canadian Trevor in Sapporo. I am not even the only Missionary Christian Canadian Trevor in Sapporo! I guess I'm not so special anymore, am I?
Well, what does God have to say about names? One of my favorite promises in the Bible comes from Revelation 2:17 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.
God will give me a new name when I enter into His presence! And only I will be able to know what that name is! I imagine it'll be like, everyone calls me Trevor (Raichura, and not Rachel, I hope) but the God who created the Universe will whisper my secret name in my ear, directly, and every time I hear it, my lips will curl up in a smile and I'll know that I am deeply loved and unique and special. So, what will my new name be, Lord? Anything but Rachel will do just fine!
こんにちは。トレバーです。最近、「名前」について色々考えてます。僕の名前に関してちゃんとした意見を持っているけど上記の英語をまとめていうと、自分の名前が好きです。独特で響きがいいと思ってます！けど、日本人に言いにくい名前だろうと思います。日本語にRもVもないから、Trevorがトレバーになっちゃうんだね。どっちかというと英語の発音が好きだけど英語ができない日本人のためにトレバーをも認めます（笑） 一つ文句言っていい？僕の名字は「レイチェル」じゃなくて『レイチュラ』です！昨日は新しい教会に出席させていただいたが、ゲストカードに名前を（自分なりに）きれいな日本語でレイチュラを書いたけどみんなの前でトレバーレイチェル宣教師として紹介されました。（ちなみに、レイチェルは英語で女の子の名前です。）それに、今日は大家が家賃を収めるために来たんだけど領収証にレイチェルトレバーと書いちゃったんだ！日本人の皆さん、カタカナを読む時に十分に気をつけて読んでください。人の名前は大切なものだから！
ところが、その教会に行ったら、あることに気づかされた。私は札幌の唯一のトレバーではない。しかも唯一のカナダ人のトレバーでもない。また、唯一のクリスチャンのカナダ人のトレバーでもなく、唯一のカナダ人のクリスチャン宣教師のトレバーでもないらしい！その教会にもう一人のカナダ人のトレバーという宣教師がいるそうなんだけど残念ながら昨日は会えなかった。でもね、自分がそれほど特別な存在じゃないことに気づいた。名前だけで言うとね。
しかし、神様の御言葉の中で（黙示録２章１７節）、こう書いてあります：「わたしは勝利を得る者に隠れたマナを与える。また、彼に白い石を与える。その石には、それを受ける者のほかはだれも知らない、新しい名が書かれている。」
それはどういう意味かというと、私は神様に従って行けば、天に入る時に新しい名前が与えられるということです。しかし、神様と私だけがその名前を知っている。ほかの人たちに「トレバー」(or Trevor... but NOT Rachel! 天国にレイチェルって呼ばれない、ハレルヤ！) と呼ばれるかもしれないけど神様が僕の耳にそのスペシャルな名前をささやいてくださり、それで私はあまりにも神の愛に満ちあふれて微笑まずにはいられない状態になる！楽しみです！
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