Eulogy Gary Jones

Gary Jones

by Rick Gillespie- Mobley

Gary Jones, first a son, a twin brother, a husband, a business man, a friend and a follower of Jesus Christ. He has completed the circle of leaving his mother’s womb, impacting this world, and finally entering into the presence of God. The good news is that when he entered the presence of God, there was a place already prepared for him, because he knew Jesus Christ. He had the assurance from Jesus, “in my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.”

For those who remain on this side of that thin dividing line that separates those who are here from those who are there, the Bible tells us, there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. There is even at time to get ready to go to someone you love funeral.

The one experience that is common to us all is death. It is as common and as natural as all the other things done under the sun.

The Scriptures tell us that there is a way that seems right to a person, but at the end of it is death. It does not matter if when did it your way, or if you do it God’s way, death is still going to be the final destination. If we are all living in order that we might some day die, it should be of utmost important that we live in such way that in the end our lives would not have been lived in vain.

How many of you here tonight, recognize that you are a step closer to death now, than you were this time yesterday? Suppose came up to you, and said, “prove to me that you are not living your life in vain, what would you say?” Would you begin to announce your accomplishments, your victories in life, your status or bank account.

What grade would God give to us on whether or not we’re living in vain. Whether or not we have lived in vain will not be determined by how much we accumulated in terms of material goods, for naked we came into this world, and naked we go out. Jesus went so far as to say, “it’s not worth it to gain all the riches and fame this world has to offer and then lose your soul.”

The mere fact that we have seen some of King Tut’s greatest treasures, is proof the Pharoahs were wrong. “You can not take it with you, no matter how much you love it or how deep you try to bury and hide it.”

The only thing that we can take out of this world is what we have given away. For that is how Jesus said to lay up treasures in heaven. If we have not loved, if we have not invested in others, and we have not walked with the Lord Jesus Christ then our lives will have been lived in vain.

We are celebrating a homegoing tonight, not because we want to simply have a good time, but because, we have a reason to celebrate. That reason is that Gary Jones did not live his life in vain, and Jesus made a promise, that in His Father’s house are many mansions and He was going away to prepare a place for those who followed him. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Gary’s got a new home, a new promise, and a new way of seeing what life truly is. When I think of a verse to sort of give you an indication of what Gary’s life was about, I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in John 15:13 when he said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he should lay down his life for his friend.”

We asked Gary’s family to give me some brief word descriptions to describe the kind of life that Gary lived. We were given the word dedicated, faithful, helpful, loyal, hardworker, funny, humble, quiet, shy, gentle, sweet, kind and easy to talk with.

For those of you who did not know Gary was funny, you never sat with him during a Cleveland Brown’s football game. He had quite a few comments about the Brown’s performance on the field that could make you laugh. When I think of Gary, my one word description is patience. I have never seen Gary rush to do anything. I think his fast run, would still look like slow motion.

Gary & Joyce’s son Michael would often want to get home quickly. He would try to give Gary a hint to sort of speed the car up a little as they were driving up Carnegie, but if Gary saw the slightest inkling of snow anywhere near Cleveland, he would maintain his speed with the famous words, “you know we have to consider safety first.”