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Barbara Brabec’s
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Personal Musings about Life

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September 2025

The Importance of Numbering Our Days

~ 2nd in a series of Bible Study Lessons
from Barbara’s Journals.
The following is adapted from my 2021 Journal.

To get a head start on the New Year, I started this year’s Bible study the day after Christmas. I was using a new NIV Life Application Study Bible and a chronological Bible reading plan to read the Bible through for the fourth time. Along with Bible reading each day, I was also reading chapters of Chuck Swindoll’s devotional, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, and had David Jeremiah’s January Turning Point devotional at hand. For January 1, the verse was “Number your days,” something I was certainly doing at the time.

“Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom”
(Psalm 90:12).

I wrote, “I can’t believe I’m headed to 84 in March! This year, I’m reading a chronological Bible, so the book after Genesis is Job. Two verses I journaled are also on the importance of numbering our days.”

“A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed” (Job 14:5).

“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God …” (Job 19:25-26).

“If we approach the end of our life with limited years left,” I journaled, “we should be careful about how we live. For the Christian, that means asking, ‘How am I doing with God?’ I trust the Lord will let me know if I’m not walking in His will for my life this year.”

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On another day when I was reading Chuck Swindoll’s devotional, I journaled, “It was an interesting coincidence that where I picked up from yesterday, today’s message was about growing old (lifelines) and how “Birthdays are milestones—significant points in the passing of time … mute reminders that more sand has passed through the hourglass.”

Swindoll reminded his readers that we are given 1,440 minutes a day, over 10,000 a week, or about 525,000 a year. If my manual calculation is correct, when I turn 84, I will have been given over 44 million minutes plus, which boggles my mind.

Swindoll added, “Obviously, if God has given you another year to live for Him, He has some things in mind … some very special plans to pull off through your life.” He reminded his readers to look for “marks of wisdom,” character traits that weren’t there when we were younger, which proves that wisdom comes from God when we make righteous decisions, react in a Godly manner, and apply biblical principles to our daily life.

As I age, I need to remember that my lifeline is God’s deadline. “In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).

Pondering the Air India Crash in June 2025

As I was drafting this post in late July, two tragedies had happened that I related to the numbering of our days. On June 12, when India’s flagship carrier, Air India, fell from the sky less than a minute after takeoff, its 242 passengers and 12 crew members had only seconds to realize that God had just punched their ticket to a new destination.

The first media reports said no one could have survived the crash, but the next day, they reported that a 40-year-old British national had survived. He reportedly said, “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.” How long. I wondered, would it take him to get over this emotional shock and the loss of his brother, also aboard that flight, and find an answer to “Why did I survive, God?”

It was doubly tragic that the plane crashed into a hostel for students at a medical college and hospital, causing injuries to many and death to some. Alerted by the noise, they had no idea what was coming in seconds. For days afterward, I thought about everyone impacted by this disaster and wondered how this experience would change their relationship with God.

This kind of news serves as a sharp reminder that we must never take our lives—or the lives of those we love—for granted. Regardless of our age, we need to give thought to our eternal destination. When we put our trust in Christ, we don’t have to fear dying or worry about whatever might befall us or cause our death, because we know that immediately upon dying, we’ll be with Jesus.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

The Unprecedented Flash Flood in Texas

On July 4, 2025, when the world began to hear about a Texas weather event unprecedented in our country’s history, I was never more aware of why we can never take life for granted. Never before had a flash flood of this magnitude—rising 26 feet in 45 minutes—come so quickly, without warning, to eventually claim the lives of all the Christian children asleep in Camp Mystic, plus an unknown number of men and women. For several days afterward, scores of people worked to rescue those who had survived, and by July 8, the rescue mission became a recovery mission in search of bodies that could be given to their families. From that day forward, the daily news gave us the number of the dead and missing.

When stunning disasters like this happen, don’t we all wonder, “Why, God? How could you let this happen?” The Internet quickly exploded with people asking such things as “Where is God in Tragedy?” and “How could a loving God allow all those young girls to die?” This happens every time we have another tragedy, and many have discussed such questions for years.

An interesting discussion on Reddit’s Christianity page included a comment that made perfect sense to me. It was from “HalflingMelody,” who wrote, “This whole thing was caused by a series of human decisions … by people who made bad choices.” She listed several of what she saw as bad choices, closing with, “Humans have free will to be morons. God doesn’t intervene in free will.”

That may seem cold, but let’s remember that God didn’t do this—humans with God’s gift of free will caused this loss of life. What God did afterward was give comfort to those whose faith helped them bear the initial heart-wrenching shock and begin their long grieving process.

This was one more reminder never to take life for granted. God had a reason for telling us that our days are numbered. If we live each day for Christ and walk in His will for our lives, we need not worry about our eternal destination. It is comforting to know that all those who put their life in Christ’s hands before the Texas flood were in His presence the moment they died.

If you’re not yet ready to meet your maker, I hope you will watch this three-minute video of Billy Graham as he humorously shares the story of how he heard God speaking to him through a preacher he didn’t want to listen to. So he joined the church’s choir to escape seeing the preacher pointing his finger at him. Billy Graham is estimated to have preached the gospel to over 215 million people in person and perhaps as many as 2 billion through broadcasts and other media. Will this be your “hour of decision?”

“Time is the dressing room of eternity. In the few fleeting days of life on this planet, we are given the opportunity to prepare for eternity.” – Billy Graham, The Hour of Decision, Jan 2, 1955

P.S. Visit the HOME page for Timely Quotes and links to Featured Articles of the month. Thanks for linking others to Barbara Brabec’s World.

Archived Brabec Bulletins
Publication of the Brabec Bulletin ceased in
June 2025, after 25 years of publication.
Year 2021-2022 <=>  Year 2023  <=>  Year 2024 <=> Year 2025

Brabec Bulletin Tidbits on Life are archived here.

Musings About Life Posts
Published in 2025
Earlier Posts are archived here.

August 2025: Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah’s Flood. First in a Series of Bible Study Lessons from Barbara’s Journals. This month’s Musings shares keen biblical insight from two of my favorite pastors. You’ll learn more about them and the three Godly men named in the title.

July 2025: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry! What the Bible Has to Say About Food and Drink. Two short Bible study lessons and stories from my 2015 computer journal.

June 2025: Bible Lessons Learned from Three Powerful Evangelistic Sermons: Of Scribes and Chronicles, The Procedure of Faith, and On Whom Do You Lean for Support. Three examples of how I get more from Bible Study by journaling what I’m learning and then incorporating notes taken as I read related books and listen to or watch sermons by favorite pastors.

May 2025: Dealing with Grief and Sorrow When You Lose a Loved One. In 1978, when two of my friends died within days of one another, I suddenly had to face the reality that no life lasts forever. These two deaths taught me much about grief and sorrow, and this is what I learned from this life-changing experience.

April 2025: What Are Your Spiritual Gifts and God’s Will for Your Life? How I came to know God’s will for my life and the spiritual gifts I’d been given.

March 2025: The Bullet That Changed the World. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump before his election changed not only his feelings about God and religion, but also how he would govern and begin to change the world as President.

February 2025: Drawing New Meaning from Life Experiences. Perspective on looking back at your life to see how it’s playing out, ways to grow old gracefully, Bible prophecies coming true, and 5 rules for joyful living.

January 2025: How to Chronicle Your Life or Specific Time In It. Ever think about what you want to do with the rest of your life? If you decide to start a new life endeavor or move into a new area of learning and growth, putting your plans in writing will help you achieve your goal.

Copyright © 2025 by Barbara Brabec. All Rights Reserved.