Bobby Lee Kent Funeral
Notes
Transcript
Bobby Lee Kent
Passed: August 6, 2023
Funeral: August 10, 2023
Cremation
Survivors:
Son: Thomas (Haley) Kent
Daughter: Anna Sandifer
Sisters: Kathy (Al) Colter; Sabrina Kent Milner
Brother: Eric (Jennifer) Kent
Many Nieces and Nephews
Order of Service
Order of Service
Family and Guests seated
“My Way” - Song - Elvis Presley
Welcome and Scripture - Randy Darnell
“That’s My Job - Song - Conway Twitty
Eulogy - Randy Darnell
“When I Get Where I’m Going” - Song - Brad Paisley (feat. Dolly Parton)
Prayer and Dismissal - Randy Darnell
Service
Service
Seat Family and Guests
Song - “My Way” - Elvis Presley
I’d like to welcome you to the memorial service for Bobby Lee Kent.
I think we’d all agree that Bobby was sick too long and that he left way too soon.
But I’m sure Bobby left behind some good memories to cherish.
And some life lessons to remember.
We’re going to talk about those things this afternoon.
I prayed over the notes the family gave me.
I thought about the man you all remembered
And I believe the Lord gave us some scripture that’s relevant to Bobby’s memory.
The first is from the very first book in the Bible.
Genesis 1:1-3 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:6 “And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.””
Genesis 1:9 “And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.”
Genesis 1:11 “And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.”
Genesis 1:14 “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,”
Genesis 1:20 “And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.””
Genesis 1:24 “And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.”
Genesis 1:26-28 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””
Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
And from one of the last books of the Bible:
1 John 3:11 “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
Let us pray:
Dear Father,
In just a little while, we’ll join Bobby.
When we were young, we took little thought that one day we would die.
But as the years pass, we begin to see the end of the runway
And if we get sick like Bobby got sick, the end of the runway looms large.
But Father,
Because of your great love for us, we don’t need to be afraid.
If we follow Jesus, well, we’ll simply be coming home.
Our hope and our trust is in you, Jesus.
And you are forever faithful.
Dear Holy Spirit,
Please comfort this family.
Wrap your loving arms around them, today and every day going forward.
Let them know of your presence.
Let them see your hand.
Cause them to pause, and know, and thank you for loving for them.
We need you Lord - and it is so easy to worry that you won’t be there.
But we know you will - for your love never fails.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Song - “That’s My Job” - Conway Twitty
Bobby Lee Kent was born on Friday, August 3, 1970
Three years before the mobile phone was invented.
Ten years before the first mobile phone was commercially released.
That means something to me.
It means that Bobby grew up somewhat like I did.
In a time when we weren’t so connected
When we could spend the day in the woods and our moms didn’t worry.
Where riding a horse or a bicycle was a thrill.
He was raised in Wayside, Georgia.
Wayside wasn’t much back in the day.
Wayside isn’t much today.
But it would be a great place for a boy to grow up.
If you look at the satellite view of Wayside on Google Maps today, you’ll still see a place of mostly woods
And creeks and a pond or two.
The Presbyterian church is still there where they played baseball in the spring and football in the fall.
There’s a few open patches here and there.
I suspect one of those open patches was the Kent family garden back in 1970.
A garden that Kathy, Sabrina, Eric and Bobby would have worked.
A garden where Bobby was educated.
Bobby’s dad was a carpenter as well as a gardener.
He passed both of those skills down to his son.
I’m sure his dad taught him to hunt and fish
But you know, if he’s like me - and I think most of us.
We don’t have to be taught to love the land.
It’s born in us - it’s a part of who we are.
I hear the talking heads talk about over population and I shake my head.
They’ve never been to Wayside.
They’ve never been out of the city.
They’ve never heard a hoot owl or the cry of a hawk.
They’ve not seen a deer cross in front of your car with a rack so big it brings tears to your eyes.
They’ve never felt the pull of a big fish.
Or the smell of gunpowder
Or the taste of bacon and scrambled eggs cooked over an open fire.
In my humble opinion, they don’t know much about life.
Bobby did all of those things and he enjoyed all of those things.
He went to school in Jones County
Graduating from the Jones County High School as the last class to graduate from the building that is now the W.E. Knox Center.
Handy Andy was the hang out then.
The Tastee-Freeze is where Bobby bought his milk shakes.
He joined the Army.
He learned communications and how to rappel out of a perfectly good helicopter.
And the Army rewarded him with an all expense paid trip to Iraq
16 1/2 hours and 8 times zones away from Wayside.
He was proud of his service to his country.
He should have been.
I’m sure there are hundreds of memories you have of times with Bobby.
I talked about of few of them with some of his family the other day.
I’m certain you can tell the stories better than I can and I’d encourage you to tell Bobby stories.
Forget the bad ones - we all have those in our lives.
Instead, tell the ones that make you smile and laugh and make tears run out of your eyes.
If he had the sense of humor you tell me he had, he’d enjoy you doing that.
What I want us to do for just a little while is to talk about what we can learn from Bobby’s life.
Beyond the things he might have taught you like
How to build, fish, tell a fish story, run from the game warden.
But bigger things - meaningful things - life lessons.
Like his love for the outdoors.
That’s why I read all of the scripture from Genesis chapter 1.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” right.
Ya’ll told me Bobby like to sit around a bonfire.
I’ve sat around a few in my life time.
In fact, there is no self respecting country boy who doesn’t love a good fire.
But late at night - if it’s summertime, after the insects finally quiet down for the evening
Or if it’s wintertime when the fire has burned down and the tip of your nose starts getting cold.
When the conversation has died and everyone is wrapped up in their own thoughts.
That’s when you hear it - that’s when the voice inside you speaks.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
From the majesty of an owl in flight to the beauty of a billion stars
God’s work is plainly seen.
People might not put it in those words
Some people might not even realize that’s what it is - but it is
It is the awe of God seeping into our souls.
Learn that from Bobby - go outside when it is clear and its good and dark
And stare off into space for a good long while and tell me
Don’t you know - can’t you tell there is something very important around you?
You know someone created all of that.
And He was really good at what He did.
And since He created me, I probably mean something special to Him.
If you love the outdoors, you’re going to see that.
Be generous
Bobby planted a 100 x 100 foot garden every year.
Something he learned to do from his daddy.
No one one man could eat that much produce every year
Although I do understand he was a good cook and knew how to can food.
But if he canned all of that, he would have had to build barns to keep it all.
He wasn’t greedy - he gave it away.
It was a joy to him to give it away - I suspect it made him feel good.
And it should.
Deuteronomy 15:10 “You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.”
The him here is the needy.
Generosity is a God thing.
Again, you might not see it that way, but it is.
God gave His only Son as a gift to us.
Maybe that’s a practice we should emulate.
I know this much for a fact - at church there are a few friends who give my family produce every year.
There is nothing like fresh squash and zucchini
Fresh green beans and corn that someone with some know how turns into creamed corn.
Mix up some cornbread - there’s not much better
Except maybe a fresh tomato sandwich made from a tomato that was on the vine 20 minutes ago.
Is your mouth watering?
Bobby gave his stuff away for people to enjoy
Stuff that he spent hours and hours planting, and hoeing and watering and picking.
And he gave it away
So somebody would enjoy it - just like we said.
Learn to be generous.
And learn to work hard.
Thomas said he’d have to make his dad take a break sometimes.
Once he got moving, he didn’t want to stop.
And he created beautiful things.
He made the arbor for Thomas and Haley’s wedding.
He made wooden Christmas trees and ornaments.
Halloween bird houses - I’d never seen those before.
Beautiful corn hole games
Even stooping so low as to make some for Alabama Football fans.
He was, in his own right, an artist and he worked hard to make his stuff right.
And he should - we should all work hard.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 “In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”
In other words, work from sun up to sun down because you just don’t know which shovel full is going to be the one what will make you successful.
Work hard.
Learn to work hard.
Learn to be friends.
That’s why I read the scripture from 1 John
Love one another right?
I understand that Bobby enjoyed nothing better than an evening spent with his friends.
And all kinds of friends.
I’m straying into unknown territory for me here - but I understand he had an affinity for Swamp People.
He spent a significant amount of time in Bond Swamp.
Camping before the government moved in to do whatever governments do in swamps.
He hunted there - fished
And obviously hung out.
Swamp people puts a certain image in my mind - may or may not be right.
But this much I know.
The Lord taught Cornelius in the book of Acts in the Bible that no one was an outcast because of where they were born or where they lived.
In the book of James we’re told to not make more of a rich person than a poor person
And when it comes to God, the apostle Paul wrote that there was Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
I can tell you this for a fact - I talk to all kinds of people.
Everyone has a story to tell.
Everyone really wants the same things - life, liberty and to do there best to be happy.
Learn to be friends.
If someone smells like perfume or a cattle barn, don’t let that matter that much.
See them.
Hear their stories.
Have close enough friends to laugh with they laugh and cry when they cry.
Learn to be friends.
And learn determination.
Now, where did this come from?
Ya’ll all told me that Bobby was hard headed.
Don’t be hard headed.
I’ll be frank with you - you can disagree or you can get mad - but if you’ll think about it you might agree.
Bobby’s hardheadedness probably cost him at least a few years on his life.
There are some things to do “My way” but there are some things to do some other way.
Learn to know the difference.
Don’t learn to be hardheaded.
But do learn to be determined.
Bobby knew who he was.
He knew what he stood for and he knew what he wanted.
He was determined to do his woodworking to the best of his ability.
He was determined to grow the best garden he possibly could.
There was determination there.
Determination is important - it’s what gets you across the goal line.
Towards the end of the Bible, you read Revelation 3:5 “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”
The one who conquers
The one who is determined to persevere no matter what the world throws at them
The one who keeps the goal firmly set in their eyes - they are the ones who win.
One of the most famous verses of the Bible says, Philippians 3:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
So let me leave you with that.
I am certain that you have a few bad memories of Bobby
If you don’t, you’ll be the first family in history to have had no problems at all - every one does.
Put those behind you.
If you need to forgive something, forgive it - let it go
It does no good to hang onto it.
Instead, strain forward to what is ahead.
The younger you are, God willing, the more runway you’ve got in front of you.
Hard times might be coming, but God created you for such a time as this.
Strain forward - work day and evening to achieve your goal.
And like Paul, let me implore you to have as your primary goal, following Jesus.
The Bible calls God our Father over and over - remember the prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven?”
And a Father has rights over His children.
A good Father sets boundaries for His kids because He knows
These things will be good for my child
And these things will hurt them.
But like every child that’s ever been, when God let us go out and play
I’ll be dog gone if we didn’t make a beeline towards the very things that will hurt us most.
The very things God says will not make us happy, those are the toys we want the most.
And we all do it - every last one of us.
And when you disobey your dad - how does that work out for you?
Punishment is deserved and is guaranteed - if He’s a good dad.
Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
While you and me were out playing with snakes, God sent Jesus to take our punishment.
Our Father said if we would give up our hardheaded desire to play with snakes and follow Jesus, that Jesus would lead us out of the swamp we got ourselves lost in.
Jesus would clean us up
And Jesus would take us home.
I think people kind of think about Jesus like some people think about Swamp People.
Clean cut people think they’ll get cut if they talk to someone from the swamp.
All people, at least at first, think they would have to give up anything fun to be near Jesus.
Truth is - you don’t have to give anything up except
Your hardheadedness.
I promise if you follow Jesus, your life will change.
But you don’t change your life to follow Jesus.
You follow Him and He’ll take care of the rest.
In so many words, Jesus says if you follow Him and learn how he does things. he’ll add life, liberty and contentment to your life.
Life, liberty and contentment like you’ve never known.
Or can know apart from Jesus.
Be determined - make up your mind - to follow Jesus.
You won’t regret it.
I’m certain Bobby would tell you right now, you won’t regret it.
Song - “When I Get Where I’m Going” by Brad Paisley (feat: Dolly Parton)
Would you pray with me:
Father,
We commend into thy hands of mercy the soul of this our departed brother, Bobby.
And his ashes we commit to the earth, beseeching your infinite goodness, to give us grace to live in your fear and love, and to die in your favor
So that when the judgement shall come which you have committed to your well-beloved son,
Both this our brother, and we, may be found acceptable in your sight
and that we receive that blessing, which your well-beloved son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear you, saying
Come you blessed children of my Father: Receive the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world.
Grant this merciful Father for the honor of Jesus Christ, our only Savior, Mediator, our Advocate and Friend.
Now may Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
You are dismissed.