You may remember from a recent post of mine that for the first time in my life I a having issues with my identity being legally recognized. This all has to do with a new passport and a space between the letters of my middle name – “La Rue.” I’m 73 years old and have never had the conundrum that I am dealing with now.
To be sure, I said that I would keep you posted and that is what this entry is all about. I wish that I could have called this “Final” or “Conclusion” but clearly, this saga isn’t over yet.
Since the arrival of my new passport, with a space in the middle of my last name, this document does not match the TSA/Global Entry guidelines. I have called Dayton, OH, Indianapolis (where we live) and even tried to get in touch with South Bend to figure out how to align everything so that I am not stopped at border security for having different documents that don’t match. Some of them that have a space in my name and some don’t.
I have been told that now that all these docs are linked by computer, which did not used to be the case and everything must now match EXACTLY in order to avoid confrontations or even detainment at airport security checkpoints, crossing borders by land in Canada and Mexico; and several other potential problem areas.
I know that we are told that computers make our lives easier, but when one little thing, something as small as a space in an name, enters the picture, the entire system shuts down and makes it virtually impossible to get to the root of the problem. Anyway, here we are, but I am pleased to report that I have made progress.
For most of the changes that need to be made, an appointment isn’t necessary but each location has its own rules and Indy requires an appointment for virtually everything. So… I made the decision to drive to Dayton, several hours away, to get my docs corrected. Then, out of the blue, miraculously I might add, my new passport information loaded into the main data base and all the updates were accepted.
In fact, the new information overwrote my name in the security system and now, much to my amazement, my driver’s license, passport and airport security docs all match. Hallelujah! We are almost home, but not yet… It turns out that my physical card now is different from the online data in my account. I called a local center and was told that I now needed a new card to match my DL and passport. And, to top it all off, I shouldn’t go to Canada or Mexico in a car since my docs wouldn’t pass inspection.
Now I didn’t plan on going to either of those places anyway, but the truth of the matter is that I am kind of orderly and want everything to work seamlessly. You wouldn’t think that would be a tall order, but it is.
So… I have now initiated what I hope is the last step in the process… I had to order a new physical card with the updated biographic information. That could take four to six weeks to receive, assuming they accept the request and verify that I am who I say that I am. Normally, that may not bother me, but I have been traumatized by the whole process I have already been through so I am just holding my breath and hoping that all goes well.
I was also advised that each time, for the rest of my life, that I renew a passport or a security card, I will have be extremely careful to make sure all the data, including spaces, matches up. After all, each person at these agencies keys in data differently so there is no guarantee. I may have to go through this again when anything comes up for renewal. I was reminded that passports drive everything else – it’s the key document.
I admit, I never paid that much attention to my name having in a space or not. But I started down the rabbit hole several days ago and our childrens’ birth certificates do show my name in the “Father” location with a space, so that is odd as well! Who knew! The redeeming part of all this is that I would still choose my middle name again – even with all the issues I am having. It carries history and is part of who I have become throughout my life.
Our verse for tonight is clearly another verse on our identity with our Heavenly Father. Moses, the author of Exodus wrote on this topic and gives us the words of the Lord, in Exodus 33:17, “And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Isn’t that a wonderful sentiment? I would hope that every Christian aspires to receive that sort of accolade from God. My encouragement is that God loves us and wants to know us more intimately. My prayer is that we will take solace in the fact that God created us, knows us and has walked with us each step of our lives – and he knows each of our names, as well as each hair on our heads! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…