Somewhere in the world, some assume, there’s a total stranger who’s our spitting image. The scientific term is a doppelgänger, and researchers believe every person has at least six! Wow! Talk about multiple personalities!
To capitalize on the phenomenon, there’s even a website, Twin Strangers, where a person can upload pictures to find their double(s). Who’s my doppelgänger, you ask? Many compare me to Dominican-born singer, Anthony “Romeo” Santos, former leader of the bachata group, Aventura, and now a solo performer. Yes, there’s an uncanny resemblance we share. There are photos of Santos where I think to myself at first glance, “When did I take that picture?”
While we crave individuality, there are others like Atlanta native, Michael Malone, who has been lifelong best friends with his twin and fellow city resident, Charlie Chasen. Malone said in a study interview, “It’s made me realize that we are all connected. We’re all connected because humankind probably starts with one little thing.”
The need for connection is what propels us to honor and represent well the people we come from. They are those indivdiduals who invested in us their love and time and only with whom we could reach our full potential.
In addition to my resemblance to Santos, not only physically but also musically – he’s a far more successful singer, there’s someone with whom I share common ground spiritually.
I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was fourteen years old. Through my study of scripture, I discovered my biblical counterpart, Timothy. He was born in the city of Lystra – now in present-day Turkey – to a Greek father and Jewish mother, Eunice. He joined his mother to become a disciple of Christ in his early teens. Timothy grew in his faith under the tutelage of the Apostle Paul. However, undergirding this strong spiritual foundation was his grandmother, Lois.
The Apostle Paul makes special note of the weight of Lois’s example in 2 Timothy 1:5, “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.”
I share a similar background as Timothy. My Eunice is my mother, Sharon. My Apostle Paul is my spiritual father, Pastor J. Nelson Brown, and my Lois is my maternal grandmother, the late Ethel Mae Stewart. “Ms. Ethel Mae” was her title in the neighborhood of McClendonville where I grew up in New Orleans. She surrendered her life to Jesus in her late years, and the impact she made on the community is felt even to this day.
A fountain of wisdom is insufficient to describe what she meant to me and the throngs of people who would deliberately seek her out – finding her sitting in her favorite porch chair and reading from her Ryrie Study Bible – and receive pertinent guidance.
God used her wise choice to make Him her Guide as a seed to plant in my heart and others in my family to form a relationship with Him also. My grandmother has been in the Lord’s presence since 1998, and not a day goes by without thinking of her.
Ethel Mae Stewart left a legacy I want to reflect on and pass down to my family. That intense desire to honor what she left behind drives the life decisions I make. I want to be an exact representation, a spitting image of her boldness, compassion, conviction, love, and strength which she received from Christ.
Thank you, Grandma. Every day, I hope I can “look like” you.
Sources:
Video: “Watch: Finding Your Doppelganger”
Website: Twin Strangers
Website: Romeo Santos (Instagram)
Article: “Aventura – The Kings of Bachata – KOB”
Article: “You have a doppelganger and probably share DNA with them, new study suggests” by Jen Christensen, published August 25, 2022
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:5 (New Living Translation)*
Book: Ryrie Study Bible
*Scripture reference is from bible.com, courtesy of YouVersion, makers of the Bible App available for iOS and Android devices
