Ridiculous New Year Resolution

     I've decided to start spelling my name in new ways.
     It looks like Tiom is very possible.
     Time is also very probable.
     I'm very tempted to just go with lower case t.  It says it all.
     I have a signature that automatically attaches itself to the end of every email, but for whatever reason I always have the inclination to type out my first name.  As if to say, "Hey you, this is me, Tim".  The problem is that by the time I do that I'm essentially done communicating.  I'm not paying close attention and I'm not a great typist anyway.  So I end up sending things out under Tiom, Time, and occasionally just t.  I like the lower case t.  It's a cross.  It's modest (no big capital).  It's a nickname I get called by my wife, Sue's family on occasion.
    Mostly, I'm relatively busy.  When you get my email it says it comes from Tim and then describes the congregation I serve with the rest of the address.  And then you start reading it and it becomes clear who I am.  How important is it to get my own name 'right'?
     I like to think that I'm a genuinely self-effacing person.  Pastor yes, Reverend no.  One of the Pastors at St. Andrew yes, Senior or Lead Pastor most of the time no.  At the same time it matters that  am a pastor or that I might be your pastor or that the church of Jesus has seen fit to ordain me or that the bishop has seen fit to appoint me to this congregation or that we have another pastor on staff who is a wonder to behold but for a variety of reasons follows my lead or at least it is clear that if there is a buck and it stops on his desk he is perfectly free to walk next door and put it on my desk.  Those things matter and pretending they don't is a bit silly.
    But I still think I'm going to change the spelling of my email sign off anyway.  Mostly because I think it's kind of fun and maybe in a perverse way, funny.  We'll pretend that it isn't necessarily a sign of sloppiness or carelessness on my part.  I like to think of it as spicing the mundane up just a bit.  Who knows who will be writing back when you email Tim?  Could be Tom, Tin, or Time, or Tiom or even Tione.  Or it could just be good old 't.'  Let's just say it's an email wink--a chance for randomness and poor typing to conspire in order to chuckle a little "we both know who we're talking about, right?"
     Just think of it this way, when you click 'reply' it will come back to me either way.  Now some folks would feel compelled to add here about whether or not I will actually read what's in that reply.  I choose not to be so cynical.  Though I would suggest that if you really want to get my attention put 'Pastor Appreciation Gift' or 'iPad Air 2' in the subject line.  That gets me every time.