There's something about that name.

“Let’s see what Kate has playing here,” he reaches to turn on the CD player in my car.

I laugh. “Wait no.” I turn it off. “I forget what I have in there.”

But it’s coming back to me. On the drive to work this morning, I slipped a CD in the drive, a dramatic recording of Ephesians. An audio book of the Bible.

How the heck would I explain to a car full of boys, of co-workers, that I listen to super cheesy recordings of the Bible in my spare time?

“C’mon Kate,” he says from the back seat. “We won’t judge, even if it’s Taylor Swift.”

“No!” I say it more sharply. “I’m embarrassed.”

“Okay, okay, just focus on driving,” he lets it go.

But it’s all I can think about for the next week.

Ashamed of the One I love most.

It’s like that time the businessman leaned across the table and asked him what I do for a living.

“Oh, Kate? She’s just a writer.” Like he was ashamed of me.

But shame is not the shelter a Christian builds. Neither shame of sin, nor shame of Saviour.

It’s on my mind when I slip in the back row of the church.

And the pastor speaks about that time the authorities told Peter and John to keep their lips sealed when it came to Jesus of Nazareth.

They refused. Instead, they went and prayed with the church. “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness (Acts 4:29).”

And the Holy Spirit filled them.

The man in the seat beside me leans over. “Can I pray for you?”

I nod.

“Oh, Senor,” he prays in a mixture of Spanish and English. “Help her boldly speak the name of Jesus.”

The name of Jesus.

A name that I’ve neglected lately, even alone.

But this where it starts, Ernesto whispering the name passionately. Me agreeing.

It starts with agreement from my soul.

Like I agree with what the apostles said to the authorities.

Unapologetically.

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).”

The result? Peter’s body hanging naked on a tree, like the One whose name he wouldn’t hide.

And Peter waking in Glory to the voice of His Saviour saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”