More Than a Name

Over the past year, I’ve learned that Hu is a very fun last name to have.  The joke possibilities are endless.  Of course, this could be annoying if I let it bother me, but instead I’ve chosen to embrace it.  My personal favorite is the knock knock joke discovered by some of my third grade students:

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Mrs.” 

“Mrs. Who?” 

“Get it?  That’s my teacher!  Mrs. Hu!!”

This joke is just the tip of the iceberg, though, as my dad and brother discovered not long into our dating relationship.  Hu jokes can go in many different directions.  “Hu are you talking to?” “Hu’s here?”  “Hu?”  And so on and so forth.

So when naming our blog, Chris and I decided to use some kind of play on Hu.  We toyed with a few ideas, but Hu So Ever was clearly the best fit.  Since college, Mark 8:34 and many similar verses have really taken root in both my heart and Chris’.

“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take

    up his cross, and follow me.” Mark 8:34

Jesus never promised that following Him was going to be the fun, glorious, exciting adventure that I used to think it was supposed to be.  He has many exciting promises about our future inheritance, but so many of His words about this life are full of pain and suffering.  He tells us that we’ll be hated, persecuted, and even forsaken by friends and family if we follow Him.  I often wonder what it says about my relationship with God if I’m NOT experiencing these types of suffering.

All this is not to say that I walk around trying to be miserable and suffer as much as possible.  On the contrary, I embrace and enjoy all the sweet blessings that Jesus allows me to experience.  But at the same time, I treasure these seasons of circumstantial bliss knowing that choosing to follow Jesus may have more painful consequences in the future.   

This summer, Chris and I are taking an important first step as a couple.  As we finish up packing, it feels more like preparing for a fun adventure than taking up our crosses.  But despite our excitement, we go into the trip with sobriety knowing that this could be the first step on a much longer journey.  This trip could shift our lives onto a path away from the comfortable American careers that we currently enjoy.  We don’t exactly know how God will use this month in Nepal to shape our testimonies, grow our hearts, and reveal more of our callings, but we believe that He will do all of these things. 

So as we prepare to fly out, we pray for willing hearts.  We want to be among the whosoevers that choose to follow Jesus no matter the cost.  The whosoevers that confess the name of Jesus before men.  The whosoevers that give a cup of water to the little children.  And the whosoevers who are not offended in Jesus.  We want to be those whosoevers…  But you can call us the Hus for short.