A Day Picked by God

Today Is Brian's Birthday

Brian was Jon's cousin who he grew up with and we have been missing him since March of 2004. I realize these posts have not been the most upbeat lately, but sometimes that's the way our lives go. Living through the joys and the harder times. Pressing on, trusting and loving our God, even when we're not understanding His ways.

I post this today to honor Brian, to remember him, and to just say we will never forget him. Today is the day God ordained from the beginning of time that Brian would be born. God had a purpose and a plan for Brian's life. And He knew all along the number of his days. Brian touched so many lives for the Glory of God. I can't even begin to describe him as the wonderful man that he was, as I know many others could do that much better than I.
I do however want to share an excerpt from a book by J.I. Packer, that is so relevant for today (and yesterday):

God's power, blended with his knowledge, has sobering implications. "In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them" (v. 16). I, Carolyn, remember well the day when I sat down and calculated the days that my own firstborn child had lived: a mere 8,175 days until a car crash on the way to work ended Sheri's life as well as that of her own unborn child. At age seven, Sheri had completed nearly a third of her lifetime—and God knew. He had counted the days. When Sheri danced at her senior prom, she had completed more than three quarters of it—and God knew. He had counted the days. At college graduation, she had completed all but seventy-one days. God had already counted them. I am grateful that those counted days were in God's knowledge, not mine. It is comforting to know that the length of Sheri's life did not somehow escape the knowledge and the power of God, that her life (far too short by human measure), continues to this day in his presence. God the Creator shapes, conceives, constructs, connects, controls all that he brings into any mode of being, and this shaping is His omnipotence in action.

Happy cousins! Duane, Brian, Carey, Jon, and Darrin. Wish I had more recent pictures, but this is all I had on hand! But these are pretty adorable!

The world and it's desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. ~1 John 2:17

Brian was indeed a man who did the will of God. Praise God for His promise!