James E. Faust (1920-2007) -- A Christian Man Of God

The LDS Church announced that Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, James E. Faust, passed away today:

President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at his home early this morning surrounded by his family.
President Faust, 87, had served in the First Presidency since 1995 and as a General Authority of the Church for 35 years. A Church statement today said that President Faust had died of “causes incident to age.”
President Faust was appointed second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 12 March 1995. The First Presidency is the highest presiding body in the government of the Church...
...He served as a member of the Utah Legislature from 1949 to 1951, as an advisor to the American Bar Journal, and president of the Utah Bar Association in 1962-1963. He received the Distinguished Lawyer Emeritus Award from the Utah Bar Association in 1995. In August of 1997, he received an Honorary Doctors Degree of Christian Service from Brigham Young University. He was honored as a Distinguished Alumni at the University of Utah in 1999, and was awarded the Honorary Order of the Coif at Brigham Young University in 2000. In 2003, he was given the Marion G. Romney Distinguished Service Award by Brigham Young University Law School, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctors of Law degree by the University of Utah. President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in 1962.
In 1998 President Faust received a Brazilian national citizenship award — an honor given to only a select few world leaders — and was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Sao Paulo.
Married to the former Ruth Wright of Salt Lake City, they are the parents of five children: James H. Faust, Janna R. Coombs, Marcus G. Faust, Lisa A. Smith, and Robert P. Faust. They have 25 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

He lived a full life, and will be sorely missed by those who love him -- even those of us who never had a chance to meet him, but only heard and read his words. While this is a day of sadness for followers of the LDS Church, it's also a day for joy in our knowledge that President Faust is continuing on in accordance with Heavenly Father's eternal plan.

Whenever someone passes away, I'm always comforted by the last lines of the great LDS funeral hymn "If You Could Hie To Kolob":

There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
There is no end to being; There is no death above.