"How do you want your son to be remembered?"

A question I was asked that rendered me speechless.

A question so simple, yet not. A question I've thought about extensively. A question with obvious answers.

Oh my, do you really want to know? There are so many things. As my mind raced and I couldn't find the words, these things came to me: His smile warms my heart (present tense since I'm still able to see it in pictures), his laugh gave delight, his arm around me gave me comfort, his words of love and appreciation gave deep satisfaction, his teasing made me lighten up, his words of wisdom about sharing with others filled me with the purest kind of joy. I want to remember these things. I want to treasure them in my heart for always. I'm just aggravated that my memory is not complete.

What BJ stood for was made clear: All because of Christ.

What more can be said?
To live or die, Christ is why, to Him be the glory, not BJ, not us, nothing else added.

Father, what an amazing weekend You gave us. Thank you for Your continued grace to our family. Your graces have come every single day. We've looked for them, we've needed them and they've come.

Thank you for being with us in our speechless moments as well as in the moments when we can talk a blue streak. I pray we continue to encourage people to look beyond themselves, beyond this life even. I pray we continue to be faithful in pointing people to You, O Mighty God, my Savior and Redeemer. Thank you for the comfort we have in knowing BJ is with You in all Your glory. We can't possibly think he's missing anything here. Help our memory of him spurn us on, keep our perspective in check and give us hope for our future.

Your Words, Your love letter to us, let us take every one of them to heart. You didn't waste any, You didn't mince words, You gave it to us straight. You repeated words for emphasis 'cause You know we're kind of hard headed at times. You assured us of Your love and You assured us of certain damnation if we reject Christ. It's the truth! It's the ONLY TRUTH. My prayer is that anyone reading this take their Bible out right now and start reading and continue reading. It was written in the past for all ages, it is current as ever and appropriate anytime. You will be blessed if you read - it's a promise! Rev. 1:3

Mom