Lisa Walker
In the year of 1969 , America had focused its eyes on sending a man to the moon. Meanwhile in heaven, God was concentrating on sending a gift down to earth. Every now and then God decides to add a little something extra special to the family of humanity and wraps it up in a little package that we know as a little girl. This little girl was called Lisa Walker and on July 24th, 1969 she landed from heaven at a place we know as Cleveland, Ohio.
Lisa Walker entered this world and became , a daughter, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a cousin, a friend, an athlete a good Samaritan, a co worker, and a child of God. She has made the journey from the heavens to the earth and back to the heavens once again.
It’s never easy saying goodbye to someone we love and care about. God shares in our suffering and grief in that the Lord knows the loss that we feel. Jesus Himself cried with Mary and Martha in the loss of their brother. But at the same time God gives a special hope in moments like these for God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Jesus also said, “let not your heart be troubled, for you believe in God, then believe also in me.”
Some ask “if God is loving, why is there death.” I see it as, because God is loving there is death. Can you imagine what a burden it would be to have to live life forever in the way we know it here on earth?
What it would be like to forever have pain in our bodies, unforgiveness in our hearts, and bitterness in our soul, or to be stuck at the bottom of poverty forever. God has seen all the evil, and the madness, and the pain that goes on in the world, and God has determined that at some point this must stop. That point is death.
We want to think that all of us are entitled to a certain number of days, weeks, months and years. We all expect to die of old age. This makes Lisa’s death even more difficult to bear. But there is no such entitlement to a specific number of days found in the Bible. The Bible encourages us in Psalm 90:12 (NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. The message of the Bible is that death is always close at hand, walking by us like a constant companion.
Some of us are alive today, simply because of God’s grace and God’s mercy. We know we were in some situations, some accidents, some places, and we were doing some things that should have taken us out of this world, but God had other plans for our lives. God is the only reason we are still alive to tell about what almost happened.
Did you know that the Bible teaches that while you were in your mother’s womb, God had something special in mind for you? Did you know that most of us, never get around to discovering just how precious we are in the eyes of God? We’re not precious because we’re so good. We’re precious because of what God knows that He can make of us. For all of us were made in the image of God. But not all of us discover the benefits that come from being made in God’s image.
When God sent Lisa into the world, He sent the world a gift. I haven’t known Lisa that well, so I asked her children, her brother, her aunts and a few others to help me understand who this gift was. When I gave them the task of trying to summarize Lisa’s life and character with one word images they gave me these words: provider, strong, caring, giving, athletic, determined, courage, love, honest, respectful, kind, free hearted.
Lisa’s brother’s Edward went on to say that she was a super woman. I heard that Lisa just wanted you to be real in who you were in dealing with her. She wasn’t interested in you being phony around her or playing games. She could accept you for who you were just as long as you were being real.
She was the kind of woman who did what she said she was going to do. Once she made up her mind on something, you could be pretty sure that it was going to get done.
As a child, Lisa had the love and protection that comes with being the baby in the family, surrounded by the love of Johnetta, Edward and Sharon. Lisa was quiet and peace loving except for her frequent fights with Sharon, her next in age sister. Once they were told, that if they were caught fighting again, they would be in big trouble.
Instead of giving up the chance to go at each other in the ring again, they chose to learn how to fight quietly as they wrestled with one another on the floor. Helen was shocked to open the door to a very quiet room only to discover the two of them locked silently into combat on the floor.
Growing up, Lisa was a person who enjoyed sports. The girl was quite an athlete. There was some tomboy inside of her and she hated to wear a dress. She loved music, but she never quite got the hang of learning how to dance.
She was an achiever and knew what it was to not only get some A’s in school but also how to overcome obstacles that came into her life. She overcome her teenage pregnancy and went on to get her high school diploma. She overcame her drug addiction, to become the mother she wanted to be once again to her children. She had a fighting spirit to overcome adversities and setbacks.
Two gifts that Lisa possessed were the gift of giving and the gift of compassion. When difficult times enter into our lives, we always have the opportunity to choose to become bitter or better. Lisa strove to become better. She knew what it was liked to be incarcerated in one of the low points of her life. But she chose to allow her experience it to make her more compassionate by remembering those in prison after she left. Lisa not only would send inmates boxes, she would also post money to their prison accounts.
Lisa was the kind of person who would give you gifts not because it was some special day, but when you asked her what’s this for, she would say, “just because.” I’m sure that just behind that just because, was a “I love you.”
The pride and joy of Lisa’s life could be summed up in just five words LaDawn, Janice, Jasmine, Donnie and Sylvester also known as Bookie. If ever there was a mother who was a hero in the eyes of her children, it was Lisa. Their testimony is that their Mom was willing to sacrifice anything she had in order to provide for them.
They watched her take on two and even three jobs to try to get them not only the things they needed, but also what they wanted. Lisa wanted her children to know, they were as gifted and as beautiful as any other children in the world. She surprised LaDawn with a car. She thrilled Donnie with his play station, and she made Bookie happy just by taking him to McDonald’s again, and again, and again.
So often the gifts that mean a lot to a child, do not cost money. They just cost us ourselves. LaDawn appreciated the gift of her mother’s presence at her Senior Parent’s night at school. Donnie was thankful that his Mom always gave him a hug and said that she loved him each time they were together. Janice felt she got the best deal of them all, because she boasted “I got my Mom’s looks and her smile.”
Now Lisa loved all the kids, but they agreed that Bookie was spoiled rotten, Janice was the troublemaker, and LaDawn was little Mom #2. Whereas most parents have threatened on a couple of occasions to break their kids necks, for some reason Lisa took pride in yelling “I’m going to break your back.” To our knowledge no backs were ever broken, but they did know what it was like to be grounded and lose privileges.
One of the places for happy moments for the family centered around the kitchen. Lisa not only loved to cook, they all agreed that she could really cook. They were as proud of their mother’s fried chicken as Cornel Sanders was of his at KFC. They appreciated that she took the time to teach them how to cook. They noticed one of her favorite ingredients to just about everything was Accent. Lisa loved using Accent.
In a day in which parents and kids seem to be speaking different languages, the kids said, one of the things they will miss most from their mom is just talking with her. Whether at home or riding in the car, they enjoyed talking with their mom. That’s the sign of a parent who knew how to listen to her children’s hearts.
They knew what it was to laugh together. Lisa showed her kids the meaning of sacrifice to demonstrate what love is all about. She instilled within them the message, “don’t ever give up” and “try to do your best in whatever you do.” So kids, with every diploma you get, and every degree you earn, and every success you achieve, remember that your mother helped you to make it possible. Carry her determination in a corner of your heart.
Pastor Toby and I were talking to the kids on Monday, and in the midst of the tears, I asked what was the last thing your mother did that made you laughed. They said that was easy, “yesterday, she gave us a big hug and said I love you.” For some reason they all laughed in joy after she said it. What better gift could she have given them on her final day of life , than the assurance of her love and how special they were to her.
Lisa Walker was an incredible gift to this world. She never let her mistakes keep her from striving to be a blessing to others. But in the midst of this life, death came by and touched her.
God has allowed death in this world, not so much to frighten us, but to remind us of who we are, what are our limitations, and what is really important in life. God wants to walk closer to us than death ever could. God has always wanted to be in close relationship to human beings, because that’s why He created us.
We will soon be celebrating Christmas because of God’s love for us. For The bible tells us John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God loved us too much to leave us alone. God knew there was nothing we could do to pay the penalty for the wrong we have done. That is why Jesus Christ entered into the world. Jesus offered himself as a payment for the wrong that we have done. It is through Jesus Christ, that we find the forgiveness and mercy of God.
To receive it, we simply acknowledge, yes God I know that I have done wrong and deserve death for it. I ask your forgiveness of my wrong and I accept the work that Jesus Christ has done on my behalf. I give my life to serve Him in appreciation of the work He has done for me.
Going to heaven is not a matter of having done more good things than bad ones. None of us will ever live lives so good that God takes notice of us and say, that one deserves to go to heaven. Going to heaven is dependent on whether you died having accepted the work of Jesus Christ or not.
The people who go to heaven, are the ones who realize they never could deserve it. None of us deserves what Jesus Christ did for us, but his grace and mercy is available to us all. We may think we have many days ahead of us to decide what to do with Jesus, but there’s not a soul hear tonight, who believed a week ago, that we would be in this place at this hour, for this reason.
Today is the day for us to be prepared to go and stand before God. Lisa has gone before God to give an account for the life she lived and for what she chose to do with the offer of life from Jesus Christ.
If you died tonight, what would your life say about the one called Jesus. If Jesus is not first in your life, then it does not matter all the wonderful things we can say about you at your funeral next week. You will wake up and discover that not only is there a heaven, there is also a hell. We have to make a decision to go to heaven. No such decision is necessary for hell, because all of us are on that road until we voluntarily choose to leave it.
Jesus put it this way, “the road is wide that leads to destruction, and most people are traveling on it.” But the road is very narrow, that leads to eternal life, and few people choose to take it.
If your life is not being traveled on the narrow road, then have you considered the possibility that you may be living your life in vain. The only decision that you make, that will still be affecting you personally 200 years from today, is the decision you make as to whether or not you have chosen to follow Jesus Christ. For only what’s done for Christ is going to last.
Death is never the end for those who die in the Lord. It is a sad time, but it is not without hope. For we who die in Christ, know that a day is coming when we shall all be united once again. That coming day of getting together for one more time is going to last forever for the Scriptures tells us 1 Th 4:13-18 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. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
