Funeral Mama’s - Things I’m Grateful For
I have to admit, this funeral is a little more difficult than many I have done. And I’m not talking about it being difficult because of the emotions that are involved, rather I’m talking about it being difficult because I couldn’t decide what to say.
When you’ve been a pastor for a while, there are scripture passages that come to mind when you think about loss, when you think about funerals, but on this occasion none of them seemed to fit. I know this is a church and I am a pastor, but I just couldn’t get my mind wrapped around a particular scripture this time, so what I’d like to do instead is share some things I’m thankful for.
1. I’m thankful for ya’ll being here.
First, I’m thankful for ya’ll being here. A number of years ago I was doing a ride along with a deputy in what was then district 4, in Seminole County. I was shooting the bull with one of the sergeants there, and he said that he had already told his wife that when he died he wanted his funeral to be small with just immediate family there. I told him that sure was selfish. He said, “What do you mean?”
I said, “The funeral is not for you. It is for the people you are leaving behind. Guests are telling them, ‘Yes, your loved one impacted my life as well. Yes, I’m going to miss him too.’”
I know some of you have put off returning home. Some of you have driven a long way just to come say, “We loved your mom too, or to say, I really didn’t know your Mom, but we love you, and want you to know that we are here for you.”
So I, and our family would like to say thank you to all of you who are here today, to all of you who have called or written, just to let us know that you love us or that you loved our mother. I’m thankful for friends.
The Bible says “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. That is great because I don’t want my brothers sticking too close, so I’m thankful for ya’ll.
2. I’m thankful for being reared in a Christian home.
Both of our parents knew the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Again we are told, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That stuff is real! Jesus didn’t come and die for no reason. He came and died because we need a Savior. We needed someone to pay a price that we could never pay so that we could spend eternity with our heavenly Father.
Again, both of our parents knew the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ, and they instilled in each of us a love for the Lord as well.
From the earliest times I can remember, our parents always had us in church. My word, we were there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. The only time we got to see the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday night was if we were on vacation, or home sick.
If the church we were attending at the time didn’t have a youth group, or a children’s ministry, my parents would jump in there and start one.
Some of my earliest memories are of my mom in Palatka, loading us and a bunch of teenagers up in their Volkswagon Station Wagon, and us delivering Krispy Kreme donuts the youth were selling as a fund raiser, or of us going with a bunch of youth to the skating rink.
One of the first outings we had on the property where we grew up, was our folks bringing youth from the church we were attending at the time, out to our property for a camp out.
I remember one time we had taken a truck from the Lumber Yard, and had picked up several loads of chicken manure from the farm down the road, and had dumped it on our place to help get grass to grow in that sand. Then we cleaned out the truck, filled it with hay, and had a hayride for the youth from Orange City.
When we got to our house, the youth started unloading and one yankee city boy got out of the truck and said, “Smell that country air.” I said, “Country air? That isn’t country air, that’s chicken manure.
Daddy always said the Lord gave us that property for ministry and one of the churches I pastor continues to minister on that property today.
For our parents, Christianity wasn’t something you did on Sunday, it was something that impacted and changed your life. It was something you invested your life in because the future of so many people hang in the balance.
I am grateful that my mother became a believer at a young age, and that she lived it in front of us so that we too became believers when we were young.
At funerals, people often like to have the 23rd Psalm read and gain comfort from the part where it says, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Well let me tell you my friend, those verses only apply if you know the Shepherd. Those verses only apply if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
In John chapter 10, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice.”
My brothers and I are sheep in His flock. Our children are sheep in His flock. Mama helped teach us that. I’m thankful that we were reared in a Christian home.
3. I’m thankful for being taught how to work
> Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, . .
My parents knew how to work, and worked all their lives.
So many people these days complain about the things they don’t have. So many want handouts, they don’t want to work.
My mother worked a lot. I can remember when we would sit in the living room at night watching TV, she’d still be folding clothes or something.
I remember one time we were at church and the pastor at the time complained that he had worked 50 hours that week. My mom said, “We worked that much at our business this week and then came here and taught Sunday School, and Children’s Church, and my dad met with the deacons.
I did some work a while back, on a condo in Ormond Beach. Most of the people there are retired, just sitting on the beach or by the pool, waiting to die.
Really? That’s what you’re going to spend your life doing? That’s what you’re going to invest your life in?
When God placed Adam and Eve in that perfect place, the Garden of Eden, He told them to tend the garden. There is always something we can do to build, to help, to further the kingdom of God.
I had a dear friend, Miss Jenny, a retired New Tribes Missionary. In her old days she was blind, living in a retirement home, and still collected prayer requests from the missionaries she would pray for and she prayed for me until she died.
I know an old man who lives in a mobile home park in Debary. He’s now a widower, broke down and can barely get around. He sends get well cards and sympathy cards to all of the residents in the park.
My grandmother, Grinny, well after she was a grandmother, still taught youth at her church. My mom, the day before she went into the hospital taught disaster relief in South Florida.
I am grateful for being taught how to work and for being taught the importance of the mission we have been given.
4. I’m grateful for being taught how to play.
> Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine Things were a bit tight in our younger days, but mama taught us how to have fun with nothing. She came by that naturally. I doubt there is ditch in Duval County that my mother and her siblings haven’t swam in at one time or another. My, she even had us all swim in water in Virginia that was so cold it turned our lips blue.
I don’t know how many times we’ve been berry picking with my mom’s siblings, or with Bumble and Aunt Janice. I’ve gotten chiggers in more places.Then we’d go back to the house and make preserves. Gladys and I continued that tradition after we were married.
Mama always saw to it that we got to the family get togethers. Some of my fondest memories are of when all of Mama’s family would come down to our place for Thanksgiving, or we’d gather with all of my Dad’s family in Deland at Christmas.
For a couple of years in our late teens, we had a boat. And after work on Fridays, we’d meet my folks at Lake Monroe and go skiing. We kept a volleyball net strung up behind our old barn, and often in the evenings after work, we’d be out there playing volleyball with the family and with whatever friends came by.
No matter how many friends dropped by or showed up, Mama could always stretch the meal so our friends would be included.
Talking about playing, I remember the trip we took out west when a friend and I were checking out colleges. It was our family, my roommate, and my grandmother Grinny.
Back then you couldn’t buy fireworks in Florida, so getting to a state where you could fireworks was a big deal for us. We stopped at this campground and my brothers, our friend John and our dad decided we were going to have a fireworks war. So, it was after dark, and we were shooting fireworks at one another; but every once in a while we would hear a squeal under a tree at the bottom of the hill we were playing on.
After a while we went to check it out, and there was my mom and her mom. They had bought their own fireworks so they could join in, but every time they’d light one, they’d get scared and drop it at their feet. Then they’d squeal.
I’m grateful for many things, and one thing I’m grateful for is that our mother taught us to play.
5. I’m grateful Mama is no longer suffering
This past month has been a a bit rough. Those of you who had the opportunity to visit my mom since she went into the hospital know that these haven’t been the most pleasant times.
My mom was often hurting. Most of you know that she died from a tumor that was invading her throat, so there were times when she couldn’t breath and she would get really scared. It hasn’t been a pleasant time.
But Jesus has prepared a place for us much better than this.
- Read John 14:1-3
I go to prepare a place for you.
Can you imagine the place Jesus has prepared for us?
I have the opportunity to see some beautiful things in my life . . . - Talk about beautiful things you have seen in your life.
> 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
In other words, the place that God has prepared for us is better than the greatest lace we can imagine.
Someone has called heaven a place of no more, for in that place there will be no more suffering, no more pain, no more sickness, no more disease, no more death, no more good byes, and no more tears.
Oh, and in that place Mama will be well and whole again.
Years ago, Don Moen wrote a song called IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW, describing heaven.
Our prayers have been answered
I finally arrived
The healing that had been delayed
Is now realized
No one's in a hurry
There's no schedule to keep
We're all enjoying Jesus
Just sitting at His feet
If you could see me now
I'm walking streets of gold
If you could see me now
I'm standing tall and whole
If you could see me now
You'd know I've seen His face
If you could see me now
You'd know the pain's erased
You wouldn't want me
To ever leave this place
If only you could see me now
My light and temporary trials
Have worked out for my good
To know it brought Him glory
When I misunderstood
Though we've had our sorrows
They can never compare
To what Jesus has in store for us
No language can share
You wouldn't want me
To ever leave this place
If only you could see me now
I’m grateful Mama in no longer suffering. And last, I’m grateful we’ll get to see her again.
6. I’m grateful we’ll get to see her again.
Revelation 19 tells us that one day there will be a wedding feast, there will be a reunion of all of the saints of God.
What a great day that will be when we get to see all of our loved ones who have gone before.
A man was once talking to his pastor about heaven. He said, “You know, when I was young I didn’t think much about heaven. When I did, I thought about great white walls. I thought about pearly gates. I thought about streets of gold, and towers and spires, and choirs of angels.
Later my son died. Then when I thought about heaven I still thought about great white walls and pearly gates and streets of gold and towers and spires and great crowds of angels. But, there in the midst of that crowd there was one face I recognized.
Later, I lost another son. Then when I thought of heaven I would think about the great white walls and the pearly gates. I would think about the streets of gold and the towers and spires. I would think about the crowds of angels, but there in the midst of those crowds there were now 2 faces I recognized.
Over the years I have lost more friends, and more family members. Now that I’m older, I think about heaven a lot more these days. When I do I still think about the great white walls and the pearly gates, and the streets of gold, and the great towers and spires, and the crowds of angels. Bu mainly, when I think of heaven, I think a lot more about the people I will see again when I get there.
Can you imagine my friends, what that great reunion will be like one day when we get there? When we get to see all of those who have gone before. I am grateful Jesus has prepared a place for us. I am grateful Mama is no longer suffering. I am grateful Mama is now reunited with my dad, her best friend. I’m sure she found him at the Handiway and that he had a Diet Coke waiting for her.
And I am grateful that one day we will get to see her again. I pray that you know the Shepherd and that you will be there too.
