A name written on a cardboard box

We moved into our new house about a month ago and we still have boxes stacked to the ceiling in our living room.  That's not surprising because between moving in and today my wife gave birth to our daughter, Ellie!  Needless to say the past couple weeks we have been adjusting to new life as a four-person family.

Still, in some down time I decided to take a couple hours and see how many boxes I could empty, so I grabbed my retractable box cutter knife and went to work.  As I flipped one box over I saw something written on the side.  It said "For Ellie's Room".  My wife had written that on the side of the box several months prior and had packed it full of things we'd need for the new baby.  We had been planning and anticipating Ellie's arrival for quite some time.  In preparation we had collected things we'd need, packed them up, and labeled them, all in expectation of the new member of our family.

It reminded me how God did the same thing for those of us in his family.  This is what He has said:

But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  Isaiah 43:1

Yes, long before you or I existed, God summoned us by name and claimed us as his.  "You are mine" are quite possibly the most reassuring and comforting words in all the Bible.  God wrote our name down.  Not in black magic marker, and not on the side of a cardboard box.  He wrote it in a book.  It's a book He's going to open on the Last Day--the Lamb's book of life.