Funeral Eulogy

Jr.Willile Glover,a son, brother, an uncle, a cousin, a friend, and co worker. He was was born, he lived, he died, he went home to a place prepared for him. We all go through that cyle of birth, life, and death because its automatic. Yet it takes a willful decision on our parts to go home to place prepared for us.

For those who remain on this side of death, the Bible tells us, there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. A time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to hope and a time to give up, a time for joy and a time for pain, a time to be born and a time to die. 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. 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 endour lives would not have been lived 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.

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 and have not given then our living has been in vain. I did not know James or Jimmy as he was called, but I did get a glimpse of him and his life through his big sister, Marcia.

God sends everybody into the world with a gift to offer to the rest of humanity. Sometimes we do not appreciate the gifts and the struggles of others. James came into this world with a gift, but his life began with a struggle. He was born with pneumonia and spent a lot of time in an iron lung and many thought he would not survive. But he did because God had placed within him a gift which was to be a blessing to others. As a child he was literally beaten into a comma because of racism. Again he was not expected to survive but he did, because God had placed a gift within him to be a blessing to some of you.

Jimmy as a young child was blessed with the gift of intelligence. He was the quiet scientific type, a tinkler with ideas and with things. You may have called him a book worm. He was quiet, living under the shadow of the out goingness of his big sister. One of Marcia’s dream for her little brother was to get him on that show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" She had the utmost confidence that he would win, and if she had to call on anybody for help with an answer, she’d call her Jimmy. You know you got it together when your big sister thinks highly of you.

He had a gift of being there for people. He was with his mother until she died. He took care of his father until he died. Family meant a lot to him. There’s a picture with him and Marcia with the words "Brother and sister forever." Although he did not have kids of his own, there was a tremendous love in his heart for his niece and nephew, Anitra and Steve. I’m told that Anitra was as special in his life as any daughter could be, and she had the power to bring joy out of sorrow in his life in a way that nobody else could.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts that God gave to James Samuel Barnes Jr. was the gift of giving back to people without seeking something in return. His volunteering at the clinic was simply an extension of his desire to bring joy into the lives of others. He didn’t give in order for others to say, "Wow look at Jimmy." He did it because it was a part of his gift. He had a reputation for being a kind of a gentle giant.

A huge man on the outside, with a heart of tenderness and compassion molded by the desire to be respectful and kind to others. Throughout his life, he was an intelligent but simple man, who accepted things for what they were. He would want it to be known that he cared about people. The last two years of his life, he reached out even further than he had in the previous 47. Just as he began to truly enjoy the capacity to love life, death came unexpectedly to tap him on the shoulder.