Chris Gnanakan: What's the 114?

When it was time for Chris Gnanakan and his wife, Dorothy, to name their two daughters, they turned to John 1:14, which says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

They named their older daughter, Alethea, after the Greek word for “truth.” Her sister, Charis, gets her name from the Greek “grace.”

“Truth can get harsh, and grace can be too flimsy — turning to disgrace,” Chris says. “The balance of the two is what Word of Life taught me. The strong and soft parts work together in missions and in ministry.”

Alethea is studying pre-medicine at Liberty University, and Charis is a sophomore at Bangor Christian School. Dorothy is a software programmer and technical instructor at the University of Maine.