August 1, 2020
Author: Sylvia Gutierrez
On August 12th, Jaguar would have been turning 29 years old. In memoriam, I will be sharing a vignette about him every day beginning today, August 1st, until his birthday. These are just a few of the stories I’ve written since his passing that have helped me remember who he was to us. You are greatly loved and missed son. – S
‘Jaguar’
Long before Jag was born, Javier had decided that his name would be Jaguar. It was Javier’s nickname at church, and, as a musician, he silently hoped his son would become a guitar player and use it as his stage name. I surely didn’t take him serious about it, and I had just expected him to drop the silly suggestion before he was born. Desert Shield/Storm was happening at the time and, as you might expect, war has a way of making you promise things you never would have otherwise. Javier was deployed to Kuwait when I reluctantly agreed to his name. Deep inside though, I counted on him not being here for the birth and that I would “improvise”. I desperately wanted his name to be Joseph – as in the son of Jacob from the Bible who persevered in faith, patience, and forgiveness despite the cruel injustices done against him, and who the Lord greatly blessed and exalted to save his people. I hoped having the name ‘Joseph’ would lead him to embody the same characteristics as he learned more about his namesake. The name Jaguar, in my opinion, would propose quite the opposite.
But as God would have it, Javier returned home just in time for the birth of his son and gave him the name Javier Jaguar Gutierrez. He was known as Jaguar from that day forward by all our family and friends, and many others who got to know him personally. This video is of Jaguar giving a speech about his name. It was an online assignment for college that he made years ago. His name may not have been Joseph as from the Bible, but he was no less a meek persevering servant of the Lord named Jaguar.
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