“I know who you are Daddy. You are George Lincoln” says my little girl this morning. The day before I had been playing with my two girls who love to play make-believe. I already recited what I remembered from the Gettysburg Address, discussed John Wilkes Booth, the Ford Theater, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Do another one, Daddy.” I moved to wooden teeth and mythical cherry trees and our first president. It was a lot of fun and then we moved on to another game. I had completely forgotten our little playtime when Julia started our breakfast conversation this morning with my new name: George Lincoln.

I began to think about what would happen if we started making composites of famous people.

Kobe Jordan would be unstoppable on the basketball court. Babe Sosa would have the home-run king. Billy Olsteen would have the biggest crusades and Cam Tebow would single-handedly win a Super bowl. Imagine Brittany Simpson’s pop singles or The Beasty Cent’s rap albums. Imagine the brains of an Albert Edison, the celebrity of Brad Kardashian, or the villainy of an Adolf Hussein Laden. It’s a neat idea and not that far from the truth.

In truth, we are all composites of our forebears. In some ways I am like my mother and in other ways I reflect my father. My son looks like my wife’s family, but he acts just like me (I’m sorry, Honey!) . But it doesn’t stop there, does it? I take a little bit of my personality from my mentors and heroes. I even try to emulate my favorite book characters and the positive attributes of folks I admire.

Like the stickers on the side of a camper, we are made up of all the dirt, dents, scratches, and and experiences of journey on life’s highway. I wish I really were a little Jack Eugene Groschel Herbert Livingston Drew Kale, but the truth is I am just Jack Kale. That means I am composed of the good and some of the bad from a wide group of people.

Your name has been written into other people’s lives and your life is a chain of names as well.

Where does your name show up in the life of a neighbor? Does your name show up with in positive conversations or when it is gossip? Whose name are your carrying on in your life? Does it reflect them well? What is your name ... your whole name? There may not be another George Lincoln, but there is one YOU!

Love one. Love another.