Mary Lou Chavers Service

Proverbs 17:22

Good Morning! My name is Rusty Burnham, pastor at Friendship Church. The family would like to express great gratitude to all of you that have come to support them today as we celebrate the life of Mary Lou. I thought of the verse in Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: But a broken spirit drieth the bones.” ........That fits her personality well.......Mary was merry or joyful! Will called me and asked me to come and pray with Mary Lou on the Monday before she passed. I believe she requested me. I was never here pastor, I did not know her very well until she started working driving the van carrying railroad folks to and fro. Every van ride with her was a hoot! It became a thing with the guys I was with, that whenever we was waiting on a ride in the van, we would say to each other, that we wished our driver would be Mary Lou...........When I walked into her hospital room, she said: “I bet you don’t remember me.” I said to her: “How can I forget you!”, I also told her that what happened in the van stayed in the van!.....That is true! If you were around Mary Lou, you would not ever forget her!

Obit........Ms. Mary Lou Chavers, age 67, passed away Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at a Gulf Breeze hospital.

Ms. Chavers was born in Brewton, Alabama and been a lifelong resident of Brewton.  Ms. Chavers loved making others laugh and brightening up their day. She loved to cook, and her specialty was her cornbread and dressing.  Ms. Mary Lou loved her son more than life itself.  She is preceded in death by her parents - J C and Katherine Chavers.

Ms. Mary Lou Chavers is survived by her son - William R Robbins of Brewton; a brother Will (JoAnn) Chavers of Brewton; three grandchildren - William R Robbins Jr, Miranda Robbins and Emma Kathleen Grace Robbins; one great grandchild.

Prayer.........

Song........

Message........Another passage of Scripture that I find fitting in this time is Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” ..........Whatever is virtuous and whatever is praiseworthy!......I have used this many times in funeral messages........What is virtuous and praiseworthy? Jesus Christ!

In my life lived by faith in Jesus Christ I come to understand, I have learned the God gives good gifts along the way. Mary Lou was such a gift......the only people that wouldn’t want her to be their driver was folks that wanted to be miserable. Mary Lou was a good gift, that brought cheer/joy to those around her! Not everything we talked about was virtuous but in all that I was always uplifted!

Will recounted when Mary Lou was working in Wetumpka. She had a boss named Margaret. One time, Mary Lou put her arm around Margaret’s husband and said this is my boyfriend.....later on Margaret’s husband passed away and Margaret moved Mary Lou in with her at her house and whatever shift she was on Mary Lou got moved to. Will asked Margaret one time, “How do you put up with Mary Lou?”.......She told him that she didn’t want to be without her. She said that Mary Lou lifted her up! Now, you got to be pouring your life into somebody for that all to happen!

What a wonderful testimony of a life......as I said earlier, if you were around Mary Lou and she got to know you, you would not forget her.

There is enough sadness, sorrow, depression, anxiety, anger, hate, and bitterness in the world......let us spread a little cheer! Let us lift one another up!

In these celebrations of life that we do, I think we should take something from the life that we are celebrating and share it with one another.

Let’s lift each other up! I believe sometimes we don’t want to spend the energy it takes, because everyday isn’t a jolly day. However, I do not remember Mary Lou having one of those or she just didn’t show it! It takes a lot to be cheerful when it is not convenient, it makes what she was to us so special! If we can only pass that along to neighbors!

On that Monday in her hospital room, Will and I by her bedside, we talked some, she did mostly, at first. She was glad to get that machine off her face, but she began to tell me what she was asking God for.........To pass on easily-answered.......For Will and Joann to get home safely-answered.......It seems her prayers was for others in the time she was in the most need........

I told her before I let that I wanted her to do something for me........I wanted her to rest in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. I asked her if she knew of that hope in Christ and she said yes she did!

Brothers and sisters that is all we have in this life, a hope that Paul says makes not ashamed........Colossians 1:27 “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

Christ the Hope of Glory.........

Peter tells us that this hope is lively.....1 Peter 1:3–4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,”

Will told me that a fellow told him one time, that what Mary Lou was going through is “real life”.......We will all have to go through it.......

I do not know at all how I would navigate when that time comes for me........all I can tell you is what I seen and heard and that was a woman that was not in despair, but one that seemed ready, the only way that is produced is through hope!

We will all have that in Christ Jesus!

Mary Lou had been down in her health for a little while now, I know Sis Gloria would get her up some food and take to her if we had an eating at the church..........I thought of this verse in Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” .........Sufferings in this are often measured as heavy and hard to bear, but in light of the glory that will be revealed in those who have Christ as their hope of glory, suffering does not come anywhere close to outweighing the glory revealed whose are Christ’s!

John Bunyan, the great writer of Pilgrim’s Progress wrote: “Death is but a portal out of a prison into a Palace.”

Matthew Henry said of death that it was a “kind messenger that carries us to the Father.”

There is an interaction in Scripture with Jesus and the family of a loved one that passed away......There is a lot more to this event in history, however we can take something from this...........John 11:20-26........

Martha was disheartened and she knew that Jesus could of healed Lazarus before he died, she knew of the resurrection of the dead, and she knew Jesus could call him from the grave but she was lost in her feelings about losing her brother.....

Jesus told her that her brother would rise again and Jesus would call him out of the grave, she was thinking about the resurrection and told Jesus so.

Jesus told her that He was the resurrection and the life......He used the phrase “I AM” which is a declaration that He was the Promised Deliverer!

Jesus then dismisses physical death as nothing to the believer...

Even you die you will live, He strengthens this statement by making a statement that we miss....… “Anyone that is living and believes in Jesus Christ will never die!”........What a statement! He asks Martha if she believes that?

Jesus is our source of life.......Our only hope of eternal life, even when we close our eyes and breath our last, with our faith in Christ Jesus, it doesn’t mean anything, I would argue that our true lives begin!

This all just came into mind from what I saw from Mary Lou when I left her that evening.......To us humans we dread that day and we have so many conditions we would like to meet before that day comes and even when that day comes, but when it comes and you know it is around the corner, there is only one Hope and that is Jesus Christ, rest in that hope and I believe Mary Lou did and she never died, she just beat us all to Heaven!

Years and years ago my mom and her brothers, the Carden Singers recorded their 2nd or 3rd album and they sang a song on it entitled “The Song That Never Ends”...............

In the song it begins describing going to church and singing about Amazing Grace I am free from sin, but the church service ends and it is so sad, because the service is over......

Then he begins to think about the gathering in Heaven: “But I keep thinking of a gathering where the song The glorious song will never end. Oh, yes there's going to be a gathering Where the saints will meet again It's by the river gently flowing Sweetest voices there will blend Lord you talk about a singing Oh, None like this has ever been Yes, there is going to be a gathering Where the song, the glorious song will never end.”

The joy and cheer that Mary Lou shared with us here, the lifting up that she has given us here, she is experiencing now and truly that joy and cheer will never end!

Those are the good things, think or dwell on those things! Maybe even take that with you in this world and lift one another up with cheer and with the powerful truth of Jesus Christ!

Pray......