William Gibson Felker was born August 9th at 5:27 p.m. Like Hudson before him, that was a Sunday which always makes for an exciting day with church and the arrival of a new child! He was early, like his brother Athan as his due date was not until August 27th. In many ways he followed a similar line to his older brothers, but in many ways he carved his own path. He is our first Texas baby, which comes with all of that state pride woven into the D.N.A. He is our first C-section (He was breach so Jen didn't have a choice!).
As with the other two, Jen and I were committed to naming this one after heroes of the faith. As the boys have grown older those conversations about their namesakes, Hudson Taylor and Athanasius have been a sweet way to reinforce the dependence upon the Lord and faithfulness to His plan that we pray and long the boys would emulate. With this one Jen and I would both admittedly struggle to decide. We love the boys' names and wanted something that we loved as much this time around. Jen has always loved the name William and wanted to use it. A few months ago she asked if I would read a biography by someone named William so we could use the name! Certainly there are some great heroes that would do such as William Carey, the first modern missionary or William Wilberforce, who championed the end of the slave trade in the British Empire, but I settled on a biography about William Tyndale.
Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into English from the Hebrew and Greek. He did so at a time in which this was a capital offense in England. As a result he fled to Europe to find a printer who would print his translations for him. He moved around from town to town to stay hidden, but was eventually caught and martyred. As he was being burned at the stake, he prayerfully said, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes." As I read the biography about this humble servant whose work is so often forgotten, I couldn't help but consider what joy and direction I find in my English Bible and how thankful I am for men like William Tyndale whose love for the Word of God compelled him to lay his life down in faithfulness to the Lord in order to provide other English speakers with the ability to read the Word of God in their own tongue. Tyndale's story is one I am looking forward to sharing with William in the years ahead!
In deciding on a middle name, Jen and I again reflected back on another servant of the Lord, named John G. Paton, the "king of the Cannibals". Paton was a missionary to cannibals in the S. Pacific islands. His devotion to them and seeing them hear and respond to the gospel meant the loss of his wife and small child and danger for many years, but his commitment to the Lord's call was unwavering. Paton's biography was perhaps the first missionary biography I ever read and got me hooked! It seemed a wonderful way to remember his life and story by using his middle name, Gibson, as William's middle name as well.
The world is truly not worthy of men like William Tyndale and John Gibson Paton, whose devotion to His Word and His work globally makes them to shine as the stars in the sky. Our prayer this night and each night is that William would love the Lord, would pursue to know Him by looking and reading and studying His Word, and would follow the Lord's call wherever that takes Him.
"The LORD has done great things for us; and we are filled with joy."
