This morning, Russell Moore penned an article to his newborn son Taylor explaining the meaning behind his name. The entire letter is beautiful and most certainly worth the read. I wanted to highlight a few paragraphs here.

Dr. Moore begins the article by saying his son is named after former United States Congressman Gene Taylor of Mississippi. He then states:

But, more importantly, your name is about something we thought was true about you.

Early on in your unborn life, a doctor told us he thought you would have Down Syndrome. He turned out to be wrong, but we didn’t know that until you were born. Sadly, you probably won’t meet a lot of kids with Down Syndrome because so few of them ever make it to birth these days, so you might not even understand what that is.

When the doctor told us this, your mother and I looked at each other and knew right away that you would be a gift: Down Syndrome or not. Your worth and your value wouldn’t be in whether or not this age saw you as having “power” or “success,” but instead based on your bearing the image of the God who made you and who loves you.

Now, this is all bound up in what your mother and I believe about the gospel. We believe that the kingdom long promised came to us in a Son who took on human nature, was executed in weakness, and was raised by the power of God. He has put together a reign made up of people who don’t meet this world’s expectations of what it means to “count.”

But that basic Christian conviction crystallized for me, in a unique way, while working with Gene Taylor. He consistently and holistically believed that human dignity matters, matters for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the unborn.

The letter is a great honor to a great man who cared about the dignity of all life. Read the whole thing here.