Eulogy -John Mosely

John Sylvester Mosely 01/13/2007

Whether we know it or not, each one of us is a gift from God to all the rest of humanity. We either improve or hurt it, but we never leave it just the same. I can truly say that humanity was enriched because God sent John Sylvester Mosely into the world. God made this incredible gift and left it up to us to get to know him and to appreciate him for who he was and what he had to offer.

The Scriptures tell us Psalm 139:13-16 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 6your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

In other words, none of us just happened. We came into this world, having been put together by God to make a difference in the lives of others and to make a difference for God. It’s amazing the different ingredients God uses to put us together in our mother’s womb. Now it would have been interesting to see what God started out in the making of John Sylvester Mosely. He had to make him tough of enough to be a big lineman on the football field, yet gentle enough to make his grandkids see him as a huge teddy bear. He made him meticulous enough to make sure every thing was done properly and yet determined enough to make sure doing it properly ,specifically meant doing it John’s way.

Perhaps the reason he was a Presbyterian all these years, was because of the Presbyterian Motto of being in decency and in order. John was a little bit of them both. God made him smart enough to be able to talk about any subject and wise enough to know how to laugh at himself when needed. He made him tough as a bulldog when it came to standing up for what he believed in, and yet humble enough to recognize that He needed God in his life. In the 18 years I’ve known him, John has been a man who knew that He needed the Lord not only for heaven, but for everyday life. He missed fewer Sundays than most in the life of the church. He did try to sneak out if services went over time and the game was on.

John was a man who never could forget where he came from. If you knew him for any length of time, you heard about the wisdom down from Scovill. You’d think the bible had been written on Scovill the way John relied on book of Scovill for his life’s philosophy. John was truly a man of character, and did not believe that anyone should bring shame on the family name. What made him such a man was that he respected what he learned from his elders who had struggled in life due to poverty, racism and other injustices.

John determined that not only would he rise above these oppressions, he would look back with a helping hand to make a difference for anyone who was like minded. No one has worked harder at trying to get college scholarships into the hands of our youth than did John Mosely. He did not mind giving of himself to make a difference in the lives of others. We need more men with his kind of a vision to lift up others.

One of the very special times in his life was at Christmas. He truly enjoyed wrapping each gift properly and just right and seeing the joy and excitement on the faces of his family members as they unopened those gifts. This was the one time of the year when John would go all out to make others happy. But interestingly enough, John’s heart was not only on his own family, but on a family he could not see. Each Christmas he’d provide us with some money and tell us to use it on a family in the church that we knew had a need. He knew what Jesus meant when he said in your giving to the needy, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. John knew what it was to be willing to make sacrifices on behalf of others.

One of the great love stories that could be told was that of John and of Valerie. Never has a daughter loved her dad more or a dad his daughter than these two did. She honestly believed that the two of them could face anything the world had to offer. They both had the same stubborn, I mean determined streak inside in which they were going to hang in there until the job got done.