Zacharie Christian Bixby

Zacharie Christian Bixby was born on December 16 at 1:09am. He arrived, by God’s grace, safely and in good health, less than 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. He was born in a regular hospital bed before they had time to wheel Ruth down to the birthing room, before the doctor arrived, and yes, before the midwife had time to put on her gloves.

Christian is a name we have like for quite some time. It is very French and also very, what can I say, Christian. The French name book says it once was a genuine statement of a family's faith faith. We want it to be such for ours. It also reminds us of the character in Pilgrim’s Progress, who we hope our son will follow in the same journey.

Zacharie is the French form of the Prophet Zechariah and the priest Zacharias. Being the father of John the Baptist, he plays an important role in the nativity story which we celebrate at this time of year. More importantly, his name means “God remembers,” and he stands as a testimony (even through his imperfection) of God fulfilling His promises in response to His peoples’ prayers. There is a good sermon by Layton Talbert that he preached at CPBC (“Providence and Prayer” available on sermonaudio.com) that made this meaningful to us.