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.
Valerie knew what it was to have her father’s unconditional love. She knew how to say the word Daddy in several different languages to indicate what was coming next. John finally learned which Daddy tone was going to ask for money, so when she said it in that language, he’d response “no I don’t have any money” even before the question came. That did not stop her from asking the question. She knew that she could always count on her father to come to her aid no matter what the situation, what the hour, or what the amount of money involved. There were many a stops made by Valerie at the Shaker Heights Municipal Court, but none of those stops were made without her father at her side. You see her dad always knew somebody, and if he didn’t the right somebody, he knew somebody who knew somebody, who could get some help in the situation.
But the call to be there for help went both ways. John knew that when he called Valerie, and said , “Valerie I needed a favor,” her response was going to be “whatever it is daddy I’ll do it.” Not only did she do it, but she did it the way that he wanted it done. I tell you it was awesome watching the two of them together the night before he died. Their love for each other in that hospital room was as intense as any I’ve ever seen. I hope my daughters can feel the same way about me in my last hours of life, as Valerie felt for her dad. She was, is and always will be his little girl. He’s always going to be Daddy.
When John retired, he didn’t just grab some golf clubs and start living for himself. No he chose to reinvest his life into the lives of his grandchildren. He built his day around their needs, getting them to and from day care, to and from school, and to and from activities they had in their lives. Men, there are a lot of things we can learn about life and about being a man, by looking closely at the life of John Mosely. Family meant a lot to him. His last charge to his son Todd, was to do whatever was necessary to take care of the family.
There were two other Black Beauties in John’s life that you had better not touch. One was called Mary and the other was Jasper. John loved Jasper with a passion and it pained him to see anybody get to close to her. Jasper was his black Cadillac. One day Todd had to pick John up from an appointment, and had to drive Jasper to get him. All the way back, John let Todd know, he was either driving her too fast, or turning the corner at the wrong angle. Mary even got John a little nervous when she had the audacity to back Jasper up a few feet so that the plumber could get the toilet inside the door to repair the bathroom.
One of the ministries we had here that John faithfully attended was Men Who Excel. It was a group of us guys coming together to talk about relationships, our marriages, what it to be a man, a father and a friend. We can share our weaknesses and out failures and know that it was okay to do so. John was the kind of guy who told you how he felt, and sometimes he remembered to think about your feelings afterwards. So he gave himself the nickname of Mr. Sensitivity, to often tell us now not to do something based on his past mistakes. If he had already learned something the hard way, he saw no use for you following in his footsteps. He didn’t mind laughing at himself in those meetings.
Well I asked Mary how the two of them got together. She said well they saw each other in the church quite often. One day she was sponsoring an oratorical contest and realized that she needed one more judge. Well she went to the future Mr. Sensistivity and very kindly asked him if he would be willing to serve as a judge for the contest. And in John’s own way, he said, “Not Me, Not Me.” Mary said after that, “she decided to never ask him anything else again and she didn’t.” She was shocked some time later to discover, that this same man had sent a message via Charity McAfee to inquire if she would be willing to go out on a date with him.
Well this couple headed to the Round Derby Steakhouse. Now one thing John can do well is talk. He’s read enough newspapers, magazines, and books to be intelligent on any subject. Mary was greatly impressed with his conversation ability and thought this just might be the man. It was. When I asked her what was one thing that John did that made her feel very special, She said that when he took me, he embraced my family as well. My daughter Rosalyn truly won his heart.
John would open his wallet quicker for Rosalyn than he would for her at times. He understood that marriage is about embracing the other person’s family as well.
John had a lot more sensitivity inside of his heart than he knew about. Mary described her husband as a good provider. He was always trying to plan something ahead. He even planned how to spend money in advance, which got on Mary’s nerves because he never did buy anything spontaneously.
It wasn’t until later in their marriage that Mary noticed a strange pattern that had developed. It appeared anytime she got John very upset, he would reach in his pocket give her some money and tell her to go shopping. One of her regrets, is not putting this combination of his anger and his sending her shopping together a lot earlier in their marriage. She sure would have done a lot more shopping.
It’ amazing that there are some things you find out about your spouse, only after they are gone. As we were talking, Valerie said, one thing about my father is that sometimes he was very superstitious. His aunt had told him years ago, that if you did not have enough salt in the house, then you were going to have money troubles. One day he called Valerie to ask her to take some salt over to the house quickly so that Mary would not have any financial problems. When Mary heard that she said, “I kept wondering where all that salt was coming from in the house. I knew that I had not been the one buying it.
Mary I want you to know, that in many of our meetings, John would bragg on you and how blessed he was too have you in his life. He knew that you loved him. I would tell him, well I sure hope you’re telling her half of what you tell us about her especially after some of these other things you said that you should not have said. He loved you. We appreciated just how honest John could be in telling us he had blown it. We congratulate you on 17 years of hanging in there together with each other. John will be the first to say, I know it wasn’t easy for her.
It was always easy to tell when John Mosely was in church. It wasn’t him saying amen or shouting Hallelujah. I don’t think he ever did either. You could tell if he was in church simply by looking at the last row of pews. Nobody in this church with the possible exceptions of the Rushes were more tied to one seat than anybody I know. When the back row was blocked off due to the renovations, it must have pained John tremendously. He was a person that did not like to much change.
Pastor Toby and I both were invited to join him in his office to discuss things coming up in the church. His office would be the an available empty pew. You know the saying” inquiring minds want to know.” Well John had one of those inquiring minds, and he’d just come out and ask you, now what about so and so or what’s going on with this or that. He’d also try to help us keep track of someone being ill or needing some encouragement. Whenever he ushered, he went all out in the dress, even with the gloves. When he volunteered to do something in the church he gave it his best shot.
Men I want you to know, he was the first this year to write the check for his men’s dues for the year. Last Sunday, he let me know he was paying his per capita so that I would not have his name on the list. When we were at the hospital last Sunday, John was telling us about a second mass that had been growing behind the first. He said, “I’ve chosen to go to Hospice, it’s gotten to be where it’s a bit too much.” But he didn’t say it with a sound of defeat, but with a declaration of being ready tTo walk with the Lord through whatever it was that was coming. John knew it was a miracle that his life had already been extended another year.
There is something awesome about the way a person trusting in God faces death. We had a Men’s Day a few years ago with the theme “It’s 4th Quarter.” My last embrace with this great former football star, I told him, “I’m proud of the way you’re facing the fourth quarter.” His last words directed to me were “ I know, I just want to score a touchdown.
Now anyone who knows John knows that John can talk. This brother could use a 1000 words to give you a 20 word direct piece of advice. But with all the words he spoke, the last intelligible words to come out of his mouth were in response to the question, do you know who I am. Without opening his eyes, he responded yes, Jesus the great I am. At that moment, John was caught between the realm of the dying and the realm of the resurrected. John’s last earthly memory involved Jesus doing exactly what he said when Jesus stated, in John 14:13,
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Jesus had come back to take him to the place which had been prepared for him. My brother had indeed scored his touchdown and won in the game of life. His faith carried him through the very end and scored. My friends are you aware that most of us won’t score a touchdown when our lives come to a close. You see without Jesus, when the clock ticks its final seconds, some of us will have the ball left on the one yard line, and we will go into eternity regretting that we almost made the final decision. We almost scored.
Are you in an almost right relationship with God today. Almost means you’re not there yet. Where are today in your relationship to God. Jesus said in , Mat 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the only way to enter that narrow gate. All you have to do is to admit, "God, I have done a lot of things I should not have done. I realize I cannot pay for all that I have done. I ask you for forgiveness. I accept that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He being holy and righteous, paid the penalty for my sin. I invite him to come into my life and take control of it." John Mosely made that decision years ago and has not regretted it since.
You will make numerous decisions in your life between your birth and your death. But the only decision that will still be personally affecting you a 1000 years from today, is what did you do with Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches there will certainly be a resurrection of everybody from the dead, and then comes the judgment of God.
John Sylvester Mosely is prepared for that Judgment. Like the Apostle Paul he can say, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
We may say of John , that he was my friend, he was my uncle, he was my brother, he was my father, or he was my husband, but the greatest truth of them all is that John Mosely is and forever will be a a child of God who has now completely returned to God. For those of us who die without knowing Jesus Christ. John Mosely will only be a memory, a very good and loving memory.
If you recall, whenever you left John, he never told you goodbye. He’d usually say “hang in there.” Goodbye seemed to final for John because he wanted to see you one more time. The good news is that for those of us who do know Jesus Christ, John Mosely is hanging in there simply waiting to meet us on the other side.
For the Bible clearly teaches,
1 Th 4:13 Brothers and sisters , we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men and women, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
