The Prophet

"If you hope to raise baby spiritually or faithfully, the name Daniel may be..." 
"That probably didn't work..." interjected Daniel with a mischevous smile as he got out of the car.

The interrupted phrase was part of a spiel for the name "Daniel:" Daniel is a baby boy name of Hebrew origin. Meaning "God is my judge," baby may be inspired by this phrase every day... 

I had asked Daniel about the meaning of his friend's name. "It's just a name, like mine." "Well, your name has a meaning related to God," I explained. He looked at me surprised and with suspicion. "Hey, Google what does the name Daniel mean?" Google's friendly female voice answered as stated above. But neither Daniel nor I expected to hear that choosing that name was a great idea if a mother wanted to raise her baby "spiritually."

"That probably didn't work..."

"Oh, I still have hope that the child who told me 'He's the one who holds your hand up...'" 

Daniel interrupted me this time. "No, you are hallucinating that."

"No, I am not. I wrote it down..." 

He closed the door and stepped away to school. For the first time in a long time, though, I felt joyful and hopeful not only about Daniel's walk with God, but mine. This happened Thursday, October 5th, 2023.

"Knowing that I can actively participate in the Kingdom of God encourages me; it makes me feel that I have a purpose... but I don't have joy. I feel like I don't really know God..." I said with a hint of desperation and longing in my voice.

"Yes, you do! You do know him. And you, and you, and you, and you, and you," interrupted Daniel pointing at each one of us who were still sitting at the table after a late dinner at my parents' home in Mexico. His young voice —that of a five year-old— had a scolding tone. And he said it all in Spanish.

"I do, honey?

"He's the one who holds your hand up."

What kind of words were these? How could a five year-old speak that way? My thoughts rigth away went to the story of Joshua fighting the Amalekites, and God intervening in an astonishing way:

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.” So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Exodus 17:8-13

Was God intervening in an astonishing way in my life through my son? What kind of believer would question the evidence? Even I, who takes after Doubting Thomas, had to acknowledge that Daniel's actions and words were out of the ordinary. Could this also mean that today, many years later, those words could be a sign of God setting his loving gaze on Daniel? Could they mean that even though right now Daniel could care less about God, God hasn't stopped caring and that He will pursue him? I hope so! I trust that Daniel will eventually connect the dots between his name, his very own prophetic words for me, and God's love. After Thursday's conversation, I am more hopeful than ever. Amen.

P.S. We named Daniel after Paul's uncle who married us, and after my little cousin Alejandro who died at age 12.