Eulogy Jonnie Childs Hayes Funeral Eulogy Homegoing

Eulogy Jonnie Hayes

Matthew 7:13-21 John 3:16-18 7/15/2021

Our God is an incredible God. God looks out for us even before we are born, and God has elaborate plans for people to become a part of our lives that we never could have imagined.

We may not believe it, but God is working all of a creation together for God’s own ends and purposes. God has invited us to join him in this great discovery so that in the end, not only will we discover what God was doing, but we will realize God actually has a blessed plan for our lives if we are willing to receive it.

We often use the phrase God is Good. We see that goodness in the gifts that God has placed in our lives in the form of people. One of the great gifts that God has given to us was the gift of Johnnie Hayes. We have heard the wonderful testimonies of how she has blessed others with her many wonderful attributes. She has been an incredible woman in so many facets of life.

I never knew that there was a woman from Fordyce Arkansas named Jonnie Hayes until a little over 33 years ago. Yet God had appointed her to be an incredible gift to me, to my wife, and to my family. Pastor Toby and I were pastoring a church in Roxbury Ma. It was a wonderful congregation, yet we felt the call of God to move to another ministry.

We sent our resume to Glenville Presbyterian Church here in Cleveland. We were delighted to receive a call to come and visit the church and to meet with the pastoral search committee. Unknown to us, the committee had been allotted a very small amount of money to find a pastor. Even though they had invited us to come, they didn’t have enough money to put us up in a hotel for two nights.

The committee probably regretted not having enough money to put us in the Comfort Inn, the Holiday Inn or the Sheraton. But it was actually all part of God’s plan to get us in the best place in town which was the J and J Exclusive Suites. God blessed us with the gift of meeting John and Jonnie Hayes and spending those two nights in their home on Ashbury Avenue .

Their southern hospitality, combine with their Christian witness touched us deeply. They immediately accepted us as one of their own. It was as though God was telling us, this is where I am calling you to be. If we had to point and say, what’s the main reason you ended up in Cleveland, it would probably be, because God used Johnnie and John Hayes to touch our hearts on a weekend visit.

We had no idea that that brief encounter would change our lives forever. God often uses us in situations, that we do not realize are life changing events for us or for others. Our willingness to say yes in the area of our giftedness from God, will get God’s will done.

Johnnie’s gift of hospitality was the door to our ministry in Cleveland for the past 33 years. So anything we have done to be a blessing to you, can be traced to Johnnie’s willingness to be a blessing to us. As I said before God has an amazing unfolding plan. Don’t ever think you are insignificant and do not have anything to offer. God want to use you, right where you are.

One of the other gifts that Johnnie gave to the world came in the commitment she made to a man named John Hayes. There was a high school dance taking place and Jonnie did not have a date. That was sort of unusual since she was one of the stars on the girl’s basketball team. But Jonnie has had a strong sense of confidence and independence about her throughout her life, so she went to the dance by herself. She obviously came in looking pretty good.

This tall skinny good looking guy by the name of John Hayes also came to the dance. Unfortunately, John had asked Rosa Lee to go to the dance with him, and she had accepted his offer. Nobody knows for sure now what happened at that dance, but we do know that John Hayes got a glimpse of the beauty of Jonnie Childs.

We don’t know who looked first or who said what, but before the end of the night, John had lost his mind, forgot he had come with Rosa Lee and instead took Jonnie home. Nobody knows how Rosa Lee made it home. From that moment on John was Jonnie’s biggest fan cheering her on in her basketball games.

John knew he wanted this to be a lifetime of cheering. So he finally got up the nerve to ask her if she would marry him. Jonnie expected him to ask her, but she was surprised at his timing. She still went ahead and said yes.