Not as unique as I thought…

I like to think of myself as pretty unique. That God broke the mould when He made me. That I'm special. The only Johnny Bell around… But these egotistical hopes evaporated as I clicked on the following web page http://howmanyofme.com/search/

According to their stats there are 302,354 people in the USA with Johnny as their first name, making it the 211th most popular. Thankfully 98.48% of these people are male, but who are the 4,535 female freaks with this as a first name?

Bell is even more common with 357,328 USA residents sharing this surname - although a small Scottish city probably has a similar number - with famous Bells including Alexander Graham (inventor of telephone) and Jamie Bell (aka Billy Elliot).

There are even 354 people specifically called "Johnny Bell" – although unlike Dave Gorman (http://www.davegorman.com/projects_are_you_dave_gorman.html) I have no desire to track them all down. Incidentally there are 43 people called Homer Simpson, 6 called Jesus Christ and 4 poor creatures called Ben Dover.

So if my name is as common as man flu in October or a new manager at Newcastle, what is it that makes me unique?

Well if God is to be believed, we are all individually, crafted masterpieces. The perfect workmanship of a loving Creator. Someone who knows exactly how we tick, what makes us smile & what causes us to flip out. If you don’t believe me check out Psalm 139.

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God – you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvellously made.
I worship in adoration – what a creation.

You know me inside and out. You know every bone in my body.
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.”

If we could only meditate on and integrate the words of this Psalm into the depths of our heart; our lives would never be the same again.