About My Name Change
I get 4 questions on a fairly regular basis:
1) Were you born named "Ahyh?" No. My birth name was Mark Huppert.
2) Is "Ahyh" your real name? Yes. I legally changed my name at the San Diego courthouse. All my documentation, driver's license, electric bill, etc are in the name "Ahyh." Just one name, like "Prince" or "Madonna". The legal document is here.
3) Why did you change your name? The answer is really quite simple: St. Paul refers to the old man born of the flesh and the new man born of the spirit. Jesus says you should be born again. So, as often happened in Bible times (Saul became Paul, Simon became Peter, etc), I gave a name to my new man: "Ahyh". The whole letter I wrote to my friends and family is here.
4) Why did you pick that name; isn't that blasphemous? This, of course, is the most interesting question.
First, "Ahyh", 
, is just a
Hebrew word. It means (as we say so often in the Site) "I Will
Be." But, that's not "just" a word, since this word is the
Name God chose for Himself.
So, exactly, why did I choose that name? There are two reasons:
 | "I Will Be", as I explain elsewhere, is a miraculous key to our identity & personal growth. "I + Will = Being." This is a constant reminder to live according to the indwelling Spirit, the innermost "I", instead of being controlled by the constant silliness of "fashion." |
| As I explain in the Christmas message, the true spiritual path consists of having God reborn within us, until we grow to the full stature of Christ. Thus, "Ahyh", being God's Name, is a direct call to the indwelling presence of the Spirit. If, by grace & diligence, I can attain to Paul's "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me", then I will be fully and perfectly an instrument of Ahyh. |
As a tool for spiritual life, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EVERYONE GIVE THEIR "NEW MAN" (OR WOMAN) A NAME. This used to happen regularly as a part of Christening.
For me, it has been a much better experience than I ever imagined. Since I am not (yet) a perfected saint, I have a tangible "hook" by which to call my different behaviors. Sometimes, usually angry over some business craziness, I definitely catch myself acting like "Mark Huppert." I can then politely remind "him" (aka that way of thinking) to return to the grave, that Ahyh might live again.
Oh well..........Works for me.
For those of you interested, here's an article written about me by David Ross in the local Roadrunner Newspaper in Valley Center, California, about 45 north-east of downtown San Diego.
