The Name on the Jersey

In 2019, a foster care organization in Phoenix called Foster Arizona hosted an event they named "Draft Day." Modeled after the NFL draft, families who had completed their adoption paperwork walked onto a stage while an announcer read the child's new full legal name for the first time. The kids wore custom jerseys printed not with a player's name, but with their new family name.

One eleven-year-old boy named Marcus had been in seven placements over four years. Caseworkers described his file as "hard to place." But when the Rodriguez family stepped forward, Marcus pulled on that jersey, turned around so the crowd could read RODRIGUEZ across his shoulders, and broke into the widest grin the social workers had ever seen from him.

He was no longer "hard to place." He was chosen. He was home.

This is the heartbeat of Isaiah 62. The prophet declares that Jerusalem — abandoned, war-scarred, written off — will no longer be called Deserted. The Almighty Himself is giving her a new name: Hephzibah, "My Delight Is in Her." Like a bridegroom who cannot contain his joy over his bride, God looks at His weary, broken people and doesn't see a hard case. He sees someone worth claiming.

Whatever name the world has pinned on you — unwanted, forgotten, too far gone — the God who will not keep silent is stitching a new name across your back. And He is rejoicing as He does it.