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.”
Now there were times when Gary’s driving record was greatly appreciated. When his nephew and niece Chris and Latoya was going to go somewhere with their aunt and uncle, they prayed that it would be their slow and careful uncle driving as opposed to their wild and free aunt behind the wheel.
In a day when many people ask the question, is it truly possible for a man to love a woman, I tell them, go and find Percy Sledge because we found that man that he was singing about. He could look at Gary and say’ “ When a man loves a woman ,Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else. He’d trade the world For a good thing he’s found . If she is bad, he can’t see it She can do no wrong Turn his back on his best friend if he puts her down. When a man loves a woman Spend his very last dime .Trying to hold on to what he needs . He’d give up all his comforts .And sleep out in the rain If she said that’s the way ought to be. Now Gary, you go find that woman. Gary would have said, “ I got that but watch me, and I’ll show you a couple of things to add to that.”
Could you journey back with me about 22 years ago on a Memorial Day weekend on a Saturday night. There was a party going on at Vel’s and Joyce was there ready to go home, because it was approaching the 12:00 hour. Her girlfriend wanted to stay a little longer, so she suggested to Joyce, why don’t you get up and dance.
Joyce replied, “What am I supposed to do. Just go find somebody to ask if he wants to dance with me.” And just like that, Joyce felt a tap on her shoulder, and here was this sharp looking guy, decked out in his clothes asking her, if she would like to dance. She was a little suspicious at first but she got on the floor. Good thing for Gary, that he had been watching her across the floor, instead of dancing the night away, because Joyce did not like to be dancing with a smelly, sweating man.
Well since he had this in his favor, she decided to ask him some questions to make sure, she was not wasting her time. First item, “well how many kids have you got.” Gary said none. Joyce said “what, you don’t have any kids.” He said, “No, I never met anybody I wanted to marry to have kids with.” Joyce suspected this just might be worth a little more investigation. A man who believes you ought to be married to have kids.
She then expected, well maybe he’s just a momma’s boy, so she shot out question number 2. “Are you living with anybody, expecting to hear him say his mother or daddy or some family member.” He said “no, I live by myself in my own place, in the Harvard area.” Not only did the brother have his own place, but he lived in a respectable part of town.
Now all this was good in his favor, but she was not about to start taking care of a man, or lending out the little money she had, so she asked, what do you do for a living. He said, “I want to have my own business, but right now I work at Stouffer’s. “ What he got a pretty good job too.”
At this point Joyce forgot all about leaving that party. Not only was she going to give him her right phone number, she was going to make sure she got his. They talked and talked. Before she knew it, it was about 5am. At this point, Gary told her, “I have to leave now because I’ve got to go to church this morning.”
At this point Joyce nearly fainted, a church going man, with a job, his own place, and no kids. Is there anything closer to heaven than this? She could not wait to tell her mother what a good thing she had found.
Well they dated and one thing led to another. On Valentine Day, Gary asked her, “Where would you like this relationship to go?” Well Joyce repeated the question back to him. Gary then said, “Would you marry me.” After a very long thought process of about .2 seconds, Joyce said, Of course I will. Gary dampened her enthusiasm by saying, “well I think in two years, we can have everything ready.”
Joyce thought to herself, this man must be crazy if the thinks I’m going to wait two years to get married.” She said, do you have a calendar. He pulled out a calendar. She said, Ahm, when is your vacation. He said it starts on the August the 11th. She said, “well I can see right here, we can get married on August 9th and they did.
Before they got married, Joyce said her credit was so bad, she could not get anything anywhere, and she needed a car for work. Remember what I said about laying down one’s life. Gary went and started working overtime, and when he had the money, he took care of paying off her credit card debt. He then told her she could go and get the car now.
Joyce had a dream of one day becoming a nurse. It was Gary who inspired her to stop dreaming and go back to school. Gary became the wings beneath her feet to make the dream a reality. He not only told her to cut her hours and go to school, he took a second job, and took over the housework until she got that degree. Joyce didn’t mind cutting her working hours, but she also excelled in her classes.
You see when a man loves a woman, he does not mind going that second mile to get her through. Joyce said every day, he would call her on the phone, sometimes several times a day getting on her nerves when all he wanted was to just see how she was doing. You see when a man loves a woman, he can’t keep his mind on nothing else.
That line, he’s sleep out in the cold, if she says that’s the way it ought to be. Joyce admits, that ahm, she was not always the easiest person to get along with. She could be a little forceful or demanding at times. Michael, said one of the things he heard, Gary say again and again to Joyce was “why do I have to do that” or “why do you have me going there”. He did it and he went, because he wanted to make Joyce happy.
He made her happy with the little things, such as cooking some of the best chicken wings in Cleveland, and he made her happy with the big things such as taking a true sincere interest in her son that she brought to the marriage.
Michael said, that Gary was there for him. He took him under his wing. He helped him with his homework. When he got in trouble at school, Gary was there to try to bail him out. Wouldn’t it be great even more dads showed up at school when their kids got into trouble. There were some times when they did not see eye to eye, but Gary hung in there with him, and he feels overall he was a good guy. He was thrilled with their marriage, because he saw how happy and encouraged his mom was in her joy over Gary. The same spirit of laying down his life for Michael, was continued with Michael’s daughter Amber when she came to live with Joyce and Gary. He simply had a large heart and wanted to bless others.
John and Jim both described John as true family man, faithful to his wife, doing what he could to please her. Whether it was going on a cruise, or going on walk, Gary lived to please his wife. He did not listen to any voice saying, “forget your wife, let’s go have a good time with the fellows.” The greatest agony for him being sick, was not his own pain, “but he felt as though he could not show his wife his love in the way he wanted to.
Gary and Joyce were a true source of encouragement to each other. They both had their struggles in life, and they both tried to help each other to make it through. Tonight would have been their 21st wedding anniversary. We say thank you for keeping your vows to each other, when it was easy and when it was not.
No doubt your faith in God saw you through many a difficult situations. You knew what it was like to be in sickness and in health together and you made it through. Your husband would brag on you in our Men Who Excel classes. He loved you, and knew that you loved him.
Gary always was a good dresser, he was sharp with his hair, and kept himself trim. Joyce called him a neat freak with everything having to be in it’s place. Even in death though he still had it together. When Joyce say his body laid out in the coffin at the funeral home she told him, “You need to get up out of that casket and take me on a date.”
What makes us celebrate tonight is not that Gary was a perfect man, but rather Gary was a man who was putting his faith in Jesus Christ. Gary battled with alcohol for a good portion of his life, and yet he was struggling to be a man of God and a man of faith.
He gave of himself in the life of the church, as a member of the men’s choir and praise choir. He was an usher. He was a person with a willing spirit if you asked him to serve. He and his wife had a generous spirit in their giving to support the work of the ministry. But even with all their love, their faith and their support, death still showed up.
Death is significant only because it marks the end of our opportunity to have an affect upon others for the sake of Jesus Christ But death is not something to be feared, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die but have everlasting life.
“Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. For I go to prepare a place for you. Not only has Christ gone to prepare a place for us, He has revealed to us the road in which we should follow.
Jesus tells us that there are but too roads in this life. One way has a wide gate, is a broad road and that the bulk of people travel upon it, but it leads to death and destruction. He tells us the other road has a narrow gate, is very narrow, and that few people travel upon it, but that it leads to life.
Jesus himself is that narrow gate. For he issued a call, "If anyone wants life, let the person deny himself or herself, pick up his or her cross and follow me.” Gary Jones picked up his cross to follow Jesus.”
To those who do not know Jesus Christ, Gary Jones. will only be a memory. For those who do know Christ, Gary Jones is waiting to meet us. For the word of God clearly states, " 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 words, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left at the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down form 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 with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. Our God is faithful.
