From Gary... Who am I?

Who am I? This is one very good question. When you meet someone, how they respond to introduction says a great deal about them.  Most people respond by their given name, or perhaps a nickname such as "Scotty" or "Mitch" but you won't here them say "Stinky" or "Fatso"- at least most people won't.  But, who are you? In thinking about this, the following came to mind...

Exodus 3:13-15 NASB
(13)  Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"
(14)  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
(15)  God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.

NASB
Joh_6:51  "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."

Joh_8:12  Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

Joh_10:9  "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Joh_10:11  "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Joh_10:36  do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

Joh_11:25  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

Joh_14:6  Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Joh_15:5  "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

NASB

Rev_1:8  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Now, if you and your spouse (for this just say its my wife who is talking) meet someone, she may introduce you as "my husband" or my "Gary". And if one of our grandchildren is with us, she may introduce them as "my grand-daughter Lizzie" or "my grand-son Alex".  Men are prone to think of themselves as their work, i.e. plumber, architect or store clerk. Someone might also say: "I am just a housewife".  What's the point of all this? Well, if you look at the picture at the top, you can see it as BOTH a profile and a frontal view. So, there are many ways to think of yourself; identity (Exo. 3), work (John passages) or relationship in time to someone or sometime (Rev. 1:8 above). But, foolish me- I have left out the best part; for in fact the greatest designation of oneself can be found from the book of Acts...

Acts 11:26 NASB
(26)  and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Why?

Acts 4:10-12 NASB
(10)  let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health.
(11)  "He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.
(12)  "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

With all this in mind, the next time when someone asks you who you are, just say- my name is ____, but I like to think of myself as a Christian first and everything else just describes that...