my name is pepapadoodle frodo paine. let it be said that only by the grace of God i anxiously await my new name (rev. 2.17 - to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.)
i know very little about the etymology of the surname. way back in english history it may have derived from 'pagan'. i read this once but never have searched surname etymology further. originally pagan was used of a villager, rustic, civilian, non-militant as opposed to mIlEs (soldier, on of the army) in christian latin. supposedly the ancient idolatry lingered on in the rural villages and hamlets after christianity had been generally accepted in the towns and cities of the roman empire. the christians called themselves mIlitEs ie. enrolled soldiers of Christ, members of His militant church, and applied to non-christians, pagan, the term applied by soldiers to all who were 'not enrolled in the army'. it's interesting that the first believers in Christ never called themselves christian. their enemies did. today we mistakenly CALL OURSELVES, and worse yet, THINK OF OURSELVES as christians thereby opening Christ, due to our often very unchristlike lives, up to greater reproach than if we called ourselves 'sinner' (like the publican in the temple) or 'wretched' (as paul did when writing the romans) or some such more accurately descriptive name. so pagan-cum-paine is fitting for this world. ah but Lord God i await pagan-cum-paine-cum-?.
my surname encompasses my fleshly origin. i am totally bent away from God and His purpose, righteousness and glory and will be til the last earthly breath. middle name marks the new life God has given me in the spirit. this has nothing to do with me and all to do with Him. this is not me, but Him in, and ,hopefully, increasingly flowing out of, me. frodo is the very average hobbit..less than human to sight, who is given a task. this task, if he completes it, will greatly affect his world far beyond the boundaries of his little shire and humble dwelling in the ground at bag end. his task is to get rid of the ring that enables him to escape difficulty when it is put on his finger. all of life in my flesh
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