Stanley Alan Brooks

George Sheffield - “The Old Rugged Cross”

Wednesday, December 12, 1962 was an exciting day in the Brooks household.

It was only 13 days until Christmas.

The tree would have been up.

Christmas carols would be playing.

The Church choir would be busy getting the cantata ready for the big day.

But for Hazel and Henry Alan, no present could have been better than the one they received 13 days before Christmas.

Baby Stanley Alan was born - a handsome baby boy.

I know Hazel would have glowed with joy

And Henry Alan, I can see him with his head held high and chest poked out - beaming.

A son - to teach about Jesus when he was older

And to play ball with.

Christmas came and things just weren’t right with Baby Stanley.

New Years brought great concern.

Then on January 7, just 27 days from the happiest day of their lives

Hazel and Henry Alan experienced probably the worst day of their lives.

Arrangements were made in a blur.

A small plot of land was secured in Baby Land at Macon Memorial Park.

A vault and casket were chosen.

Way too small to believe - no casket should be that small.

Baby Stanley was laid to rest among other babies.

Hazel and Henry Alan went home to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Separated by an eternity I bet it felt like from their baby.

But a baby dying doesn’t stop life.

When King David’s baby died, he washed up, put on his kings clothes, went to church to worship the Lord and then sat down to eat.

His servants essentially asked him, why aren’t you grieving now like you did while the baby was sick

And David answered them, 2 Samuel 12:22–23 “And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

It was time to move on.

Henry Alan probably delivered a million gallons of milk

And a million chainsaw blades in his life.

Hazel kept Powell’s going

Helping people get the medicines they needed and perfume to make them smell good and cough drops for their cough.

And she trained almost a complete generation of Brooks and Jones’ in how to work in a drug store.

We saw decades of holidays

And graduations

And marriages

And more children being born.

One day everyone woke up older.

Henry Alan had heart issues

He went to the hospital during Covid

Such a ridiculous time

Yet, he wasn’t alone - His Bible stayed with him.

The Old Rugged Cross sustained him.

Until Jesus called him home.

And Henry Alan went to his son.

Hazel got Parkinson’s

One thing led to another until she was in the bed at Lynn Haven.

And she was never alone either.

Renee’ joked with her one day, “Randy’s here and he has a sermon.

“Do you want a short one or a long one?”

Hazel said, “I want the long one.”

Her life said, “Tell me about the Old Rugged Cross one more time.”

Then Jesus called her home.

And Hazel went to her son.

So the three of them were no longer separated by eternity

But now they are living in eternity.

So why do this?

Why move the earthly remains of Baby Stanley here, to this place?

Let me suggest two reasons.

First, a mom and a dad should not be separated from their child.

Sure if the child gets married, that’s another issue - of course they may end up being buried somewhere else.

But if marriage doesn’t happen.

Family should be together - it’s God’s design.

God created a man and a woman.

He told them to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth.

He instituted the family

Created it, made the bonds between husband and wife and dad and son and son and mom so unbreakable

So tenacious, so durable, so lasting that they transcend time and space.

Our children might be scattered to the wind, yet they are as close as our next heartbeat.

Thoughts of them drift through our minds like fireflies on a warm summer night.

Bringing a peace and warm of soul that is deeper than we can ever explain.

It’s a reflection of Jesus and His Father you know.

Not even death could break that bond.

And not even death can break a family’s bond.

Hazel, Henry Alan and Stanley’s bodies should be resting side by side

Together, as a family.

It’s only right.

But there is another reason.

Let this thought sneak up on you: 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

1 Corinthians 15:51–58 KJV 1900

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

I don’t know how any of this works - the Bible says it is a mystery.

But I wonder

On the day of the resurrection when our souls are reunited with our bodies

And our decayed flesh is replaced with something incorruptible - something unimaginable

And our ears hear the the shout of the archangel so loud it sounds like a trumpet

And these three graves burst open

I wonder if all of us will look around and see

Hazel and Henry Alan each holding a hand of Baby Stanley as they rise in the air to meet Jesus.

I don’t know - but I’d like to think we will.

I think the Old Rugged Cross that guarantees it.

George Sheffield - Jesus Loves Me

Pray with me:

1. Holy Father, We commend into thy hands of mercy the soul of this our brother departed, Stanley.

And his body 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 our Friend.

[Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB] 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.