Oh Brandon

An odd thing happened to me this week: I lost my pocketknife. The same one that I’ve been carrying for eight years. It was a beat up red handled Case Tiny Toothpick. Now I have a dozen or so knives. But this one was special. After a week of searching I finally gave up and slipped a Case Mini Copperlock into my pocket. A gift from a man that makes me feel like I am talking to my Dad. For a long time I have kept it in the plate where I put my keys, but it was too pretty to carry. When it got into my pocket I was reminded of two identical knives that I purchased for two dear young men when I left Virginia. Seth Burns and Brandon Sandy. I smiled as I began to think about them and what fine men they have become. I was in both of their weddings. Now they have little kids. I should have called them both right then, but I went on to church.

Brandon Sandy seemed like a little kid to me when I arrived as an eighteen year old Bible School dropout who was chosen for the task of reviving a dormant youth ministry in Winchester, VA. He was only a few years younger than me. I don’t know why the age gap between middle school and college feels like 25 years. He didn’t know that I didn’t know what I was doing. It was either naivete or childlike faith, but Brandon believed in what we were trying to establish. He was always so open to the things of God. As the years rolled on I felt strongly that I needed to prepare the next youth leader. I wasn’t sure who that would be so I tried to train everyone. It was Brandon who caught the vision. And when I stepped away from Youth Ministry, Brandon stepped up.

Over the past five years we have kept in touch over the phone. Sometimes he was simply checking in and would just giggle the whole time while I told him something funny. And sometimes he had questions. Brandon, for whatever reason, was convinced that I was an adult.

Brandon Sandy died in automobile accident on Christmas Eve. A cruel, senseless tragedy. It is my turn to have questions. Hard questions. Why did it have to be on Christmas Eve? Why did it have to be?

My heart is broken for his young family. For his parents. For his church family. For his friends. He was such a good friend.

Through the pain I feel today I am reminded of the scripture about a man who had this testimony: that he pleased God.

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:24

So has God, in his infinite wisdom, taken my dear friend Brandon. Oh that he would give us peace and comfort!