"Whoever obeys [God’s] word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, ’I abide in him,’ ought to walk just as he walked."
At first I didn’t believe it. Six miles a day?! How could anybody, especially one up in her years, possibly walk six miles a day? But Eva Myers insisted that she did do so, in fair weather or in foul, and that it was very important to maintain that walking discipline.
Discipline is one thing, but six miles of discipline? That seemed very unlikely, but several people confirmed it. The course, they said, was a measured course, out there at Leisure World. It was six miles long. And yes, Mrs. Myers did walk that course. If the weather was too bad, she would walk the corridors in her building, back and forth; but most of the time, it was out on the trail, six miles of discipline.
She told me why, of course. Most of you heard it too. "My doctor said that if I expected to live, I would have to walk." The word of the doctor became for her not just advice, but a command; not just good counsel, but a way of life; not just discipline, but obedience. "If I expected to live, I would have to walk." Six miles of obedience.
And so her walk, her daily walk, becomes for us a parable of the significance of Eva Myers’ life. "Whoever says, ’I abide in [Christ], ought to walk just as he walked." If we would learn from Mrs. Myers, we must learn six miles of obedience.
Step them off with me, will you? I found the trail marked out in the 26th Psalm. Step off these miles with Eva Myers and learn six miles of obedience.
The first mile is integrity. Integrity. "Vindicate me, 0 Lord, for I have walked in my integrity." Our sister Eva knew the meaning of living with integrity, and she expected others to hold to what is right. A few years ago she served on the church’s Administrative Committee, which is really our personnel committee. While she was on that committee, we had to deal with some integrity issues concerning one of our staff members. I remember Mrs. Myers shaking her head and reporting that in her day in the workplace, no one got away with being late, no one did personal business on company time, and no one expected pay for work that was not done. Others on the committee wanted to be lenient; but I give you one guess who voted for strict integrity.
"Vindicate me, 0 God, for I have walked in my integrity." But I must hurry on to say that she also knew that integrity meant appreciation and care; it is a great tribute that one of our former staff members, Mr. Frank Jackson, volunteered to serve as a pallbearer today; he felt her integrity and her care for him.
The first mile of obedience is integrity.
The second mile of obedience is trust. Trust in the love and mercy of God. "I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted the Lord without wavering." You might read that, "I have trusted the Lord without wandering off the path."
With Eva Myers there was an implicit and thorough-going trust in the will and the love of God. Some of you know that during one twelve-month period, she was hospitalized fourteen times. When I knew about it, I would go to visit her.
One theme stands out in my mind, from those conversations: the Lord is keeping me here for a reason. If I just keep on walking ... and I was never quite sure just how she meant the word walking … if I just keep on walking, it’ll be all right.
Plenty of room to be anxious when you are in and out of the hospital that much. But, for her, "I have trusted the Lord without wavering." Trust is the second mile of obedience.
The third mile of obedience is faithfulness. Determined, dedicated, clear-eyed faithfulness. Listen to the Psalmist again and see if this does not have Eva’s name written all over it: "For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you." Faithfulness means keeping promises; it means honoring commitments. Mrs. Myers honored commitments that others would have dismissed as trivial, but they were not trivial to her. On more than one occasion she came and stood in my office door to try to pay me for altar flowers she had ordered; never mind that the pastor is not supposed to be handling money, according to our policy. Never mind that I would tell her she could pay later or send it in at her convenience. If she had ordered flowers, she had ordered flowers, and the bill must be paid. Now. The pastor handled the money! On her last Sunday before moving to Georgia, she was making sure that her offering envelope got in the right place at the right time. Faithfulness.
Friends, I am not talking about money; I am talking about faithfulness. How we can learn from her example that faithfulness is the third mile of obedience! "I walk in faithfulness to you."
The fourth mile of obedience is love for the Lord’s people; it is commitment to those whom our God has drawn together. The psalmist puts it this way: "0 Lord, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides."
Eva Myers did love this place, and more than the place, she loved the people whom God drew together here. She cared about every one that her heart could embrace, and wanted them to experience fully the fellowship that she felt. One elderly member, who was in a nursing home some distance away, got bulletins and other material every week, thanks to Eva Myers’ diligence. I remember taking her with me to visit several shut-in members; every one of them received a royal treatment from her. She cared about this fellowship of faith.
And, Eva, I have not forgotten about the records of the Pearce Class. When she became the president of that Sunday School class, she inherited an old record book, minutes of class proceedings. When I had been here for a while ... enough time to make sure the new pastor was going to stay around a while, I suspect ... she made an appointment, she drove in, and presented me with the record book, admonishing me to keep it safe, to keep it in my personal possession, because something might happen to it. And it was the record of the church’s very first Sunday School class. Again, some might dismiss this as trivial. But not for Eva Myers. Why not? Because it had to do with this fellowship and its people.
Oh, I hope someday they will be able to say about me half as much as I can say about Mrs. Myers, "0 Lord, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides." The fourth mile of obedience is love for the Lord’s place and people.
But it is on the fifth mile of obedience, just when most of us would be getting winded and weary, that Eva Myers really shines. It is on the fifth mile that her toughness truly is seen. The fifth mile of obedience is balance. Steadiness in the middle of unsettling circumstances. Surefootedness even when the storms prevail. Hear the psalmist: "I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground." Isn’t that a picture? "My foot stands on level ground."
A lot of things could have thrown Mrs. Myers off course. As a young mother, she had to work very, very hard to make ends meet and to raise her children. I am confident there were times when she would have preferred to lie down and sleep rather than to keep on going. But keep going she did.
The sorrow of widowhood was hers to bear, more than once. It is not easy to lose someone you love, especially when you have lost before. The wounds don’t always heal; sometimes they just deepen. And then to lose her daughter, some years ago. A very, very difficult time, of course. But her feet stood on level ground, and she kept her balance.
I think that balance is best seen in her love of young people, her love of little children. I know there are grandchildren and great-grandchildren, right here, who know that. How she rejoiced in the babies born in this congregation! She would make over every child as if it were her own flesh and blood. How appropriate that her last moments were spent being with one of her great-grandchildren! That’s exactly right for Eva! She was balanced; she fought back her sorrow at the death of some with her joy over the life of others.
The fifth mile of obedience was a sprint for her, though for others it might be a slowing down. The fifth mile of obedience is balance. "I walk in my integrity ... my foot stands on level ground."
And so now it is time to go home. It is time to finish the course. The race is over, the prize won. Now it is time to press forward for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The sixth and last mile of obedience; hear the word of God, "In the great congregation I will bless the Lord."
The sixth mile of obedience is a witness, a testimony; the sixth mile of obedience is a shout of victory. I can see her a few months ago, in the hospital, sharing her faith with her nurses. I can see her, slipping the restraints on her hospital bed so that she could get out and go somewhere, walking those corridors. But far, far better than that, I can see her walking all over God’s heaven. I can see her walking about Jerusalem, finding those she has loved so well, and speaking the glory of God. "In the great congregation I will bless the Lord." Victory! The race is finished! Six miles of obedience.
Oh, precious Lord, take Eva’s hand. Lead her on, let her stand. She is tired, she is weak, she is worn. Guide her feet, hold her hand; take her hand, precious Lord, lead her home.
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
"By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, ’I abide in him’ ought to walk just as he walked."
Six miles of obedience.
