More times than I can count I have had people say to me, "You look so familiar. Where have I seen you before?" I don't know what it is. I guess I just have one of those universal faces or something. :) Occasionally the questioning people and I are able to connect the dots, but most of the time it remains a mystery.
There was a sit-com in the 1980's called Cheers. The theme song, written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart-Angelo, had a refrain with these words:
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You want to be where everybody knows your name
I thought about these two things recently when I was coming back into the United States after being in Ecuador. Steve and I used both our passports and our Global Entry cards for identification. At the Global Entry counter, you are asked to stand in front of a camera. In seconds, you are admitted thanks to facial recognition technology. In other words, because of the steps we took to get our Global Entry cards, the whole world now has access to the unique imprints of our faces. Every face on earth is different, and ours are deemed safe—an intriguing thought. The lines, curves, wrinkles, blemishes, and imperfections of my face are in a database that can be used in any country at any time. Whenever I look into the entry cameras, someone somewhere recognizes me instantly. Not only do they "know my name," they also know my face, my address, my age, my gender, etc.
As a tool for travel, I recommend getting a Global Entry card. My grands would say it's "the bomb dot com." :)
You can probably already guess the spiritual application this leads me to make.
Our Heavenly Father knows each of His sheep by name, and His sheep know His voice.
Look at these verses in John chapter 10:
John 10:2-5 "The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
John 10:14-15 -- “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me -- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep."
John 10:27 -- "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
God doesn't just know our names and our faces, He knows our thoughts.
Psalms 94:11 -- "The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mere breath."
Luke 6:8 -- "But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward."
God knows our thoughts before they are ever formed in our minds. He knows our words before they come out of our mouths. He knows where we are at all times. He knew every cell of our bodies from the time we were still in our mother's wombs. His knowledge of each one of us goes far beyond a mere facial recognition device. Read all of Psalm 139 for a full description of the far-reaching aspect of God's knowledge and be comforted and encouraged by it.