Eulogy Gary Allen Chappell by Rick Gillespie- Mobley
John 14:1-14:7
Gary Allen Chappell came into this world in 1962 when John F Kennedy was president, and Dr. king was growing in influence in the midst of a Civil Rights movement. Gary was the youngest of Clarence’s and Phyllis’s five children. But being the youngest didn’t stop him from growing up to be a fighter and protector of his older sisters.
He was , a son, brother, an uncle, a cousin, a friend, and co worker. He was born, he lived, he died, he went home to a place prepared for him. We all go through that cycle 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 end our 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.
What truly matters is what is the condition of our relationship to God when we take our final breath. You and I will take that relationship into eternity.
Although I got to meet Gary on a couple of occasions I did not get to know him, but I did get a closer glimpse of him through the eyes of his sisters, his mother, his daughter, and other family members. They described Gary as a no no-nonsense but comical kind of a guy. He was free hearted, even-keeled in his personality and willing to help out
God sends everybody into the world with a gift to offer to the rest of humanity. God blessed Gary with a heart for the underdog. He was a person of compassion. There was a love in his heart for animals. As much as he loved his daughter Derria, she said it almost broke his heart when she told him she had run over a squirrel. He did not understand how his daughter could do such a cruel thing.
He had a compassion for children. His family felt that he should have been a teacher because he was always trying to invest himself in kids both in the community as well as in his extended family. Gary took joy in doing little things for kids like buying them all ice creams or popsicles and passing them out. His desire to serve as a life guard may have been rooted in wanting to be there to help to save others.
He had compassion for his sisters. They knew even though they could beat up on him, he was not going to let anyone get away with doing something to harm them.
Normally when you are the youngest and the last in the family, you get to be spoiled. Well Gary was no exception, and most of the time he did not use it to his advantage. However, there was one situation in which he could not resist. I’m not quite sure how it happened but Gary grew up at a time when Motown was still high on the charts, but this young black boy fell in love with Elvis Presley. When Elvis came on tv, the rest of his sisters and brothers had to allow Gary to watch Elvis on the color tv.
It may be that Elvis reminded Gary of Evel Keneval. They both were those white jump suits back in the day. Evel Keneval had a motorcycle and he would ride up a ramp to jump over cars and trucks and come down the ramp on the other side.
One of Gary’s favorite things to do was to line boxes and see how many of them he could jump over with his bicycle. When he wasn’t doing it himself, he was doing it with his hot wheel collection of little cars racing down that orange track and doing a loop before launching into the air. The one Christmas gift he loved above all others was the electric football game. Who remembers that green and white field? You lined up your players, flipped the switch, and hoped they would go in the direction you wanted them to go.
Gary loved himself some pork chops, mashed potatoes and cabbage. He was in heaven when there was turkey breast. But he had been spoiled so if you did not have gravy for his rice or potatoes, he would not eat. But his mother didn’t getting the gravy together. She described her son as being very sweet and respectful to her. She said, even when he got angry at her, he remained respectful.
His sisters said of Gary, even though he was the youngest, that did not keep him from starting stuff. So there was times when they would beat up on him.
But one day Gary grew to their size and the beatings stopped because Gary didn’t take no stuff. He knew had to box. The sisters starting using Gary’s skills for their own protection. The good thing about Gary’s protection is that it went far beyond stopping somebody from hitting you. It was positive in that he was going to be there for you to help you out. Need help with kids. Got it. Need your lawn cut. Got it. Need some money to get you through. Got it. Need some work on your car. Got it.
Gary wasn’t a boastful or bragging type of a guy, but he was proud of his walk. Guys you know how we all tried our walk to attract the girls attention. Gary was known for his walk. Unfortunately Gary had to have surgery and the most disappointing thing about the surgery according to Gary was, “They done messed up my cool walk.”
There were many things in his life of which Gary could have been proud of, but his true joy was his daughter Derria. He loved her tremendously and she loved her dad. She holds the memories in her heart of her Dad walking her to the store and buying her far more candy than she should have been allowed to eat.
She remembers him being there at her basketball games and cheering her on. She remembers him being there for all her special events. She’s thankful for having the presence of her Dad in her life. He’s thankful for having a daughter who has made him so proud. His goal at one time was to be a legend in his own time. Derria, your many accomplishments already in life, probably made your father feel as though he had in deed become a legend.
But what’s going to make Gary a lasting legend is that his childhood friend many years later told him about Jesus Christ. He let him know that with all Gary had accomplished and done in life, it still was not enough to pay for his sins or to put him in a right relationship with God. He needed to believe that Jesus died for his sins and three days later Jesus rose from the dead. By putting his faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Gary could be saved. Gary saw his need for Christ in his life, and not too long ago he was baptized at Harvest Time Evangelistic Ministries.
The sooner we give our lives to God, the better off we are going to be. But the worst you thing you can do is postpone making the decision until its too late. Because once we die whatever decision we have made stands with us for all eternity. Nobody gets credit for what they were one day planning to do.
Death is closer to all of us than we think it is. When Gary was baptized, he had no idea that death was as close to him as it was. If you had to meet it today and your life would be over this afternoon, would you be happy with the life you have lived. Would you be ready to go with no regrets? Have you said “your were sorry” to those you hurt and granted forgiveness to those who hurt you?
Would you be as certain as being in heaven tomorrow as you are of sitting in this room today. The good news is that it is still possible for you to be certain.
How many of us live as though death is a million years away from us? How many of us pay more attention to what our hair looks like than we do the condition of our souls which is what ultimately counts.
Death is significant only because it marks the end of our opportunity to have an effect upon others for the sake of Jesus Christ. For as I said before, the Scriptures tell us that there is a time for everything under the the sun. A time to be born and a time to die. The mere fact of being born is a guarantee that we shall one day die. A lifetime in eternity hangs upon the balance of the choices we make during the brief interval that we call life.
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 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.
Have you ever wondered how good do you have to be to go to heaven and meet God. The truth is, none of us could ever be good enough to go to heaven. It’s worthless to even try it. But going to heaven isn’t about how good or how bad we have been. It’s a matter of do we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus has gone forth to prepare a place for each of us. But like Gary, we must make a choice. None of us know the day nor the hour when we shall leave this world. Christ has died on our behalf that we might have life. It’s as simple as confessing our sins, our yielding our lives to him. For in the end, the only decision that will matter is what did we do with Christ. For only what’s done for Christ will last is going to matter a thousand years from today.
The joy of dying in Christ is that goodbye is never goodbye. 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.
