So I heard last week that P Diddy's son got a scholarship to go some West Coast school to go play sports. People were all up in arms because P Diddy is worth about a half a billion dollars, and they don't think his kid should be accepting a scholarship. Everyone had an opinion, most were all hot and bothered about the subject. But to me that wasn't the real issue.
The real issue -- to me -- is P Diddy. At least, that's what they were calling him. I remember when he first began to rap, everyone called him Puff Daddy. Anyone else remember that? He had a couple of big songs in the 90s with a guy named Mase, aka Murder Ma$e, aka Mason Betha and with the late Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace. Confused yet by all the aka's? Get ready.
They called him P Diddy on ESPN radio as they reported the story. But that's not his current name. I believe currently he goes by or is in a group called Diddy-Dirty Money. Before that I believe P Diddy had the aka's of just Diddy, just Puff, and Puff Daddy. Naturally. His fashion line is called Sean John. Turns out his real name is Sean John Combs...or so they say. Now to be honest, I wavered between irritation and amusement as I thought about all the name changes this man has undergone. He's changed his name more than Michael Jackson changed his look or Pink has changed her sound. Silly...
...but then I thought about the Bible. How God changed Abram's name to Abraham and Sarai's name to Sarah as they moved into a new phase of life, a phase where they went from oblivion to deep, personal faith. Jacob's name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with God and lived to tell about it; surely wrestling God leaves a person different -- now Israel had a new name and a limp to prove it. Jesus later changed Simon's name to Peter, the Rock, as he told him Peter would be the one on whom he would build the church.
So name changes don't seem to bother God at all. In fact, seems like God is in the name-changing business just as he's in the life-changing business. Seems like a new name and a new chapter in life often go hand in hand. Leave the old behind. Move forward into a new journey a faith, a new experience, a new relationship with God and other people. One of my mentors once told me it wasn't uncommon for people to change their names several times in a lifetime as they moved into a new stage of the journey.
So here's to you P Diddy...or is it Puff Daddy...or Diddy...or Sean John. To the man whose birth certificate said Sean Combs, here's to you. May your constant name-changing be a reflection of a constant reinvention of yourself, a declaration that who you were yesterday is not who you are today. And may the same be said of us. Thank you for reminding me that I'm not who I was...and who I am today doesn't have to enslave me tomorrow. I can change and be changed. God is writing a story, and tomorrow could be the first page of a new chapter. Heck, today could usher (Usher, aka Terry Raymond IV) in great change. Tomorrow's shift in my life could be so large that a name change is the symbolic (the symbol, aka Prince, aka Prince Rogers Nelson) response. We are each a work in progress.
Signing off, JD...aka John David...aka John -- to some. At least that's what they call me today.
