Helen Walker 4/8/06
God creates some people who are to become very important in the world, and God creates some people who to be very special in the world. Now some would say it is better to be important than to be special, but I think when we come to the end of our days, we’re not looking back to see how important we were, but rather were we special in the lives of others.
When death is staring at us in the face, we do not usually take great pride in our degree from Harvard or Yale or in our position as executive vice president, nearly as much as we do from a child saying I love so much because of all that you did for me and I’m going to miss you. Helen Walker was not created to be somebody important whose name would cover the country and the globe at large, but I cannot think of anyone else who has been more special in the way that she has touched the lives of others.
We read of the Proverbs 31 woman in the Scripture reading. I have never chosen that passage of Scripture for a funeral, but as I read it the other day, I thought here is a description of Helen’s life right here in the bible. A committed, hardworking, industrious, strategic thinking woman who put the needs of her family and others ahead of her own.
One of the things that made Helen incredibly special was the enormous amount of support and encouragement that she gave to those around her. She stood as a magnificent oak tree in full bloom with its spreading branches, and many who were in distress from the storms of life found support under the shelter of her mighty outspread branches. There was a sense of safety and stability as you clung close to the trunk of this magnificent tree. She was an incredible special woman.
But nothing that happened to Helen surprised God because God was active in Helen, long before Helen became active in God. For the Scripture tells us in Psalm 139:13-16
[13] For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. [14] I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. [15] My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, [16] your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God knew that Helen was going to be special from the moment she entered the world on September 12, 1943 because He intended for her to be special. But God also knew that he had ordained a specific number of days for her to live, and that he fully expected her to return to Him.
We on the otherhand, simply take it for granted way to often that we will always have each other around, and we fail to appreciate the incredible special people that God places in our lives. We even make the mistake of thinking that we ourselves have an indefinite number of days ahead of us that we can control and determine, but I can tell you with certainty, unless Jesus comes first, we shall all surely die and in times and methods not of our own choosing.
Helen was blessed, because she recognized that death is a certain reality for all of us and it can hit us at any moment. That’s why she tried to reach so many of you with the gospel of Jesus Christ. She wanted to see her family get saved. 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, then we should do a reality check to find out if we’re going to be prepared when we get to our final destination.
If we’re living simply for status, money, degrees or fame, keep in mind none of these things go out with us when we leave this world. They may make you important, but they won’t make special. Our money will be left in the bank, our degrees will hang on a wall, our fame will be forgotten, and our status will not impress Jesus who is the ultimate Judge of everything.
Let’s take a moment and look back over the life of Helen Walker to see how to avoid living in vain. I want you to see the smile that she so often greeted you with and the twinkle she carried in her eye and go back with me in time and see a happy little black girl who liked to have fun.
If she had of been born 30 years later, she might have replaced Dominique Dawes as the first African American female to win a gold medal as a gymnast in the Olympics. Helen came into the world doing flips and cartwheels. Whereas many girls skipped and ran to the store, Helen’s mode of transportation was cartwheeling.
She was eager to cartwheel to the store for her mother. But her mother hated it, because Helen would cartwheel back home and leave the groceries at the store. One day she was hit by a car while cartwheeling across the street, but that did not deter her spirit. She kept on cartwheeling. One day when she sas about 40, while driving down the street, her family started reminding her of the good old days when she use to cart wheel everywhere.
Helen stopped the car. Got out and did a cartwheel across the street just to prove she still had it in her. She then proudly got back into the car and drove on off. She loved to have fun and wanted to see others happy.
Helen had six sisters and two brothers. She was closest in age to her sister Fredia and the two of them grew up together as though they were twins. They got the chicken pops together. They got the mumps together. If one of them fell down, the other fell down in order to do it together. If one got a headache, the other noticed she also had a headache. They took this thing to the extreme.
The first time Fredia got pregnant she couldn’t wait to tell Helen. When she told Helen, “I’m pregnant, Helen said” I’m pregnant too and she was.” When Freida got pregnant the second time, she went and told Helen, and Helen said, “I’m pregnant too and she was.” When Freida got pregnant the third time, she went and told Helen, and Helen said, “ well you just going to have to do it this time by yourself, cause I’m through with this.”
Like all sisters, Helen and Freida would have their falling outs with each other and just stop talking. But their love was always stronger than whatever situation brought about the falling out. Freida would call and say, “I’m tired of being mad.” Helen would say, “me too” and that would be the end of that argument. Helen had a very forgiving heart.
Now when I asked some family members to describe some of Helen’s qualities it appears that Helen felt very confident of the leadership qualities she possessed. There were many ways to do something, but the only right way to do it was Helen’s way of doing it. You could either be right by doing it her way or you could be wrong and do it your way. But Helen’s determination led her to accomplish things that others would have given up on. When she set her mind on doing something, you could expect it to become a reality whether it was small like a promise she made to you, or something big like having your own restaurant. Helen knew how to conquer problems.
Sometimes though Helen could be nervous. She applied for a job to be in a typing pool. She was so nervous about making a good impression that she completely blew the typing exam. But the person giving her the test had compassion on her and told her to come and take the test again the next day. She did, and passed it with flying colors. In a matter of time she became the supervisor over all the women in the typing pool. She was a hardworking, dedicated and conscientious person, always wanting to give of her best.
Helen believed in sharing. If you went with her on one of her favorite joys of shopping, you’d discover just how much she believed in sharing. Helen would allow you to buy food and not buy any. Once you started eating, she didn’t mind eating what you bought. If you asked her, why didn’t you buy some if you wanted some. She’d say, “why do I need to get some when you have some.”
Helen had a positive outlook on life. When you went through a list of problems or something of what might happen, Helen could say, “So what, why you worried about that.” When troubles hit her after she gave her life to Christ , she would break out in her favorite chorus, “Halleluljah, Anyhow, never never let your troubles get you down.
Helen was a special mom. Some of the greatest moments of her life centered around the accomplishments and successes of her children. For she poured her life into them to make them all that they could be. When they succeeded she shared greatly in their success with them. She was willing to do what it took to be there for them.
But Helen was one of those special people who chose to be a mom beyond what’s expected. When her sister Jean died, she opened her heart and her home to become a second mother to her nieces and nephews. One of her nephews Edward, described his aunt as having a heart of love. When her niece Lisa died, she opened her heart again to become a second mom to some of her children. She had so much love to give and she never wasted it by keeping it locked inside of herself. You see love is not loved until you’ve made a sacrifice to help somebody else. This special lady has helped a lot of people.
One of the keys to Helen being able to have so many kids around was the two for one deal she offered in order to maintain discipline. She only gave ½ as many whippings as many parents. Her two for one special went like this, she would begin your whipping letting you know this is for what you did, and the second part of the whipping she’d let you know, this is for what you’re going to do. So you caught credit for doing two things wrong but it only took one beating to handle them both.
Helen’s discipline was balanced by an ability to listen to you and your problems. You could look for her for advice. She didn’t tell you necessarily what you wanted to hear, but you knew she was trying to steer you in the right direction.
You never know who God might use to change the course of your eternal destiny. For Helen, it came on her job with a simple invitation from her co-worker, Althea Bates. Althea invited her to attend church at Glenville New Life Community Church. Little did Helen know that invitation would change the course of her life for all eternity. At first, Helen came once in a while to church and she smiled a lot, but was very quiet. The more she heard about Jesus Christ and his love for her, the more she realized she needed Christ in her life
For she began to understand what Jesus meant when he said ,, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [25] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. [26] What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Even with all the good she had done, Helen realized she needed a Savior. She made the decision to start living her life for Christ. She served as an usher at first in our church. She not only tithed, she gave the church many gifts above and beyond the tithe. She was later ordained as a deacon in the church because of her compassion for others. She was a servant in the true sense of the word. She wrestled with reconciling her faith with the situations around her because she wanted to be real for God.
One of the life changing moments came for her in her trip to Ghana in West Africa. It was an educational and spiritual experience for her. She came back with a greater compassion for the poor of this world, because she realized that we have such an abundance compared to so many who have nothing. She became of our larger givers to our African Orphanage ministry. She kept telling me, Pastor Rick we need to do more to help those people over there.
It was a joy and a delight to watch Helen grow in her faith in her God. It almost seems like out of the blue that she gets hit with this terrible news from the doctors, “there’s not much more we can do. You can either go through some painful chemotherapy which we have little prospect of working, or you can choose to go home and live out the days you have left.” What would be your response to that kind of news?
Helen responded by saying, “God is in control and I put my trust in Him.” I choose life in Him and in faith I will go home and do what I can to make a difference. Helen had a vision to use her time left to minister to others on the phone by calling to encourage our sick and shut in.
Unfortunately her health declined far more quickly than we had all thought. This very special lady, whom God had created, was now back in the arms of God. None of us would have believed this day would have been possible six months ago and yet it is here. Helen was more prepared for it, than any of us are. It always hurts to lose a special gift, but its never wrong to lose that gift back into the hands of God.
For we as believers have the promise from Jesus himself when He said John 14:1-3 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
I do not understand the ways of God, in determining the length of our years or the number of our days. We like to think the good will live a long life and the rest will have short lives. But God never said that’s the way it’s going to be.
God said something far more encouraging and filled with hope. It says in Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. God knows something about death and its purposes that we do not. Helen was one of the special saints of God. God said her death was precious in His sight. God knows that Helen’s death was not in vain. We may want an answer from God, and that’s okay. Maybe it will lead us to acknowledge who God is and what God is expecting of us. Helen knew God created her, God walked with her, and God called her to a place prepared for her .
In the bible it says "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Do you realize God loves us all, but death will be the final separator between those who are living for Christ and those who are not. It’s not matter of who was good and who was bad. We all were bad, and God wants to give us all the same chance he gave to Helen . If we do not know Christ, we are condemned to eternal death.
Sometimes we don’t understand when we lose the special people in our lives. But somehow like the apostle Paul, Deacon Helen Walker could declare the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
If Helen could say one parting word to us. I believe she would say, if not sing, " As I look back over my life, and I think things over, I can truly say, that I’ve been blessed. I’ve got a testimony.
Jesus has gone forth to prepare a place for each of us. But like Helen , 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. Her decision made her not only special, but also important. For her fame of eternity in heaven will be remembered for generations after the important people of this world have long since been wiped from the pages of history.
To those who do not know Jesus Christ, Helen Walker will only be a memory. It will be a great memory, but still just a memory. For those who do know Christ, Helen 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.
