Grandpa Funeral Message

Psalm 56:8 NLT

8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

God knows about our sorrow. He sees when our hearts are broken over the loss of those we love. The Bible tells us that He sees our tears. He cares for us in our time of grief and sorrow. We can trust in Him for strength as we grieve the loss of David Kemper, my grandfather.

My grandpa was a collector of everything. If you knew him well, you’d know that he didn’t like to throw things out. Now, some of the things that grandpa thought were valuable enough to keep might not be what you and I think are valuable.

He could fill a room, a garage, a basement, and pretty much anything that he had access too. As his family, many times, we’d question why he had this urge to keep things.

As I reflect on his life I’d say that, yes, his collection of junk was out of control, but he was also a collector of a few things that really mattered. It’s true that he could see the value in a rusty ol’ bit of junk he found with a metal detector, but he could also see the value in what matters most in this life.

I want to focus a few minutes on his parts of his collection that mattered the most.

He collected a family

Times of loss like this really makes us look at our lives and ask ourselves are we living the life we want to live. If God called us home today would we have any regrets? This is an important question because life is short and we should be living life to the fullest. We want to live a life without regrets.

Grandma told me something that Grandpa told her one time and it really impacted my heart. I want to share it with you today.

He told her that the biggest regret of his life before meeting her was not having any children of his own, but when he married her that changed because she gave him a family.

He told her that was the greatest gift anyone had ever given him.

Some families are put together by blood, but others are put together by love.

And love is what my grandfather collected. He was loved by his family. Mother, father, brothers, sister, wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

We all loved him and he loved us.

I’d say the love of his family and the love for his family is a defining attribute of his life.

1 Corinthians 13:3–8 (CEV)

3 .... I would gain nothing, unless I loved others.

4 Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or

5 rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do.

6 Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil.

7 Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.

8 Love never fails!

These verses describe my grandpa.

Was he perfect? No, none of us are, but when I read these words, I can’t help but to put check marks next to each word because they describe him.

Patient, Forgiving, Supportive, Loyal, Hopeful, Trusting, Faithful. That’s just who he was. His life was an example of this kind of love.

He loved people. Just like his junk, he would never dream of throwing someone out of his life. He was always adding more people to his life never giving up on people.

Reading through facebook comments, I was really struck by one written by a person who said he met grandpa while fishing next to him. He said over time grandpa he became like a brother and was his rock that held him together through difficult times.

Grandpa was a brother to a stranger. Grandpa collected family. He demonstrated the love of Christ in his relationships.

We must remember that and try to carry on his example of Christ like love.

Sometimes grandpa would send me videos he found on the internet of people who claim to see God in the clouds or in a light or any number of strange things that people put out on the internet.

When I’d see him in person he’d ask me what I thought of the video he had sent to me. If those things were really God showing himself to the world.

Well, I’m skeptical of those kinds of videos, but I am convinced that we can know God through love even if we never physically see Him in this life.

1 John 4:12 (CEV)

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts.

I saw God in my grandpa because he truly did love other people. God’s love was in his heart.

David Kemper loved his family and is loved by his family.

Out of every thing he ever collected, I'd say his prized possession was his family.

In his life he also...

He collected memories

I read a wonderful quote, “Life is counted in memories not years”. This is true in the life of my grandpa.

We may not have him here physically anymore, but we have the memories of who he was and how he lived.

Grandpa collected memories everyday.

He loved to surprise grandma with gifts. She had to be very careful about what she said she wanted. If she said it, he heard it, and sure enough it would show up. He was good at giving gifts. He loved collecting those types of memories.

He sure did love collecting memories at the Frontier restaurant every week. He didn’t like to miss a week. He loved his frontier family. He loved the music and the catfish. He wished everyone could be there every week which is why we could count on his facebook live videos of the entire show!

He made memories working at the carwash. His boss Ken his friend. Ken became a very important part of his life. He loved the chili cook off dinners they would have, the trips in Ken’s airplane, and the carwash was a place for him to find treasurers that people had left behind…or even thrown away.

Working for the railroad grandpa collected memories of friends, coworkers, and satisfaction of a job well done. He would always be willing to work overtime and put in the extra effort. He taught us loyalty and how to work hard.

Grandpa loved to collect memories around the holidays. Spending time with friends and family was really important to him. He sure loved the forth ofJuly. We could always count on grandpa to bring a whole trunk full of fun things to blow up.

I think he loved that holiday because he collected memories while serving our country in the navy. He didn’t talk too much about his time in the service, but he was proud to serve our nation and he was proud to be an American.

Grandma told me that his favorite trip they took with their bowling team was to Mt. Rushmore to see the presidents carved in the rock. He loved this country.

During his battle with cancer Grandpa was collecting memories. One day after a chemo treatment he called me to tell me that God had sent him a miracle on the elevator as he was leaving the doctors office. He said a woman prayed for him and really encouraged him to keep on fighting. He told me that he knew the Lord sent that lady to encourage him.

And he did fight. Ashlee told him that she would make him t-shirts and he could have whatever words he wanted printed on the front. These are some of the shirts he requested.

“I’m stronger than cancer…I’ll always fight…I’ll Never give up…Hope”

It’s impossible for me to list an entire life’s collection of memories, but today as we reminisce on his collection, I encourage you to live like he did. Focus on what matters the most in life. Collect memories because we aren’t promised tomorrow.

Remember James 4:14

James 4:14 CEV

14 What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears.

We aren’t guaranteed one more day in this world. Like grandpa, we need to collect memories.

Grandpa collected a family, he collected memories, and...

He collected a life in glory

Matthew 6:20 (CEV)

20 ...store up your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them.

I think of all the things grandpa did in his life, probably the most important thing he did was trust in the Lord.

Now, he wasn’t much for going to church. As a kid, who was always in church, I can remember Grandpa would always come on the important days. We could count on him for Christmas Plays, Easter, or even if we had a solo to sing.

I had the privilege and honor to have him attend many services in my church in Eudora. What a blessing it was to preach knowing that my grandfather was there listening.

Now, just because he was more of a Christmas, Easter, and Special Events church attender, don’t get the idea that he didn’t know the Lord or have knowledge of the Word of God.

One thing that really did amaze me was his knowledge of the Bible. We’d have conversations and I’d be trying to think of a scripture and before I could get it out he was quoting it to me! I always thought that was very cool.

Going to church every single Sunday doesn’t make you a follower of Christ.

How do we know if a person is saved and going to heaven?

Romans 10:9–10 NLT

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

None of us are perfect. We’ve not lived a perfect life. Our human nature is sinful. God is Holy and will not tolerate sin.

He sent His Son Jesus to live the perfect life. Jesus was crucified and bore our sin on His own back. Through Jesus we can a restored relationship with God.

Trusting in Jesus as the only way to be saved. We must trust in Him and surrender to Him as Lord.

Ephesians 2:8 NLT

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

Salvation is not secured in our works - we can’t earn it, we must accept it as a free gift.

Living a surrendered life FOR GOD is PROOF that a person has accepted this free gift.

I can say without a doubt that Grandpa believed in Jesus and made Him Lord of his life. His life was a reflection or proof that he was a servant of Christ. He was saved.

Because He was saved by grace through Christ we can know that he is in heaven.

John 14:1–2 CEV

1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you.

Grandpa collected a life for eternity with God in heaven.

We can do the same thing too if we call on the name of the Lord. I encourage you to evaluate your life. Ask yourself if you are committed to Christ. He is calling you today.

I am so thankful that grandpa trusted in the Lord. I am so thankful that one day we will be reunited with those who have passed. We have that promise.

One day, just like grandpa has, we can collect on that promise.

Today as we remember David Kemper. Let’s celebrate his life by living our lives as he did.

Collecting Family, Collecting Memories, and Collecting a home in Heaven with the Lord.

I’m thankful that my grandfather was a collector.

Song - Scars in Heaven

Closing Prayer - Shannon

God, our Father, we want to thank you for the life of David. We thank you that because of your great mercy, we are not saying “goodbye,” but instead we are saying “see ya later.” We know that he has passed from this life but is not gone forever.

We commend his spirit to you: sustain his soul and enfold him in your love until we meet again at Jesus’ feet.

Until then, may your arms encircle our family and friends. Hide us under your wings in this season of sadness and loss. Be our guide through the days ahead. Father we give you all the honor and glory. Amen.