Moms Funeral

Thanks

On behalf of our family, I want to say thank you to all of you for your presence here today..

Your love, prayers, and affections have been greatly needed and felt through these last few months.

Terry and Tammy

of special note, I want to say thank you to Terry Erhman and Tammy Johnson.

There were many days that Terry and Tammy came and cleaned the house, or made food, or gave personal care, or just sat with mom and dad.

The night she passed, Tammy had volunteered to be there overnight.

You’ll never know how grateful we are for that.

Others

I also wanna thank all of you who came to see her and encourage her..

There are too many of you to recount.. but please know we are grateful.

Hospice

Finally, I want to say thank you to Hospice of Cleveland Clinic for all of your care. Each and every person who came was such a blessing to mom and to dad.

DAD

I also want to acknowledge and honor you dad.

We know the last few months have been very difficult for you.

And I want to honor you for the fact that you were there, fully commited until the very end

That you honored your vows for 60 years and loved the best you could

That not something thats common in our world anymore

and I want you to know that we see it.

Surreal

As a pastor, I’ve thought many times about what I would say when this day came.

Its one of the the greatest privileges of my life to stand behind this pulpet and remember such a beautiful woman.

Ive stood here for countless others..

going through the same process and motions that a funeral demands of a pastor…

But if i am honest, this last week Ive struggled to compose the right words..

The surrealness of this moment is strange..

Even though we knew the time to pass was coming..

Still when it came, like everyone else before us, we were not truely prepared.

So today I will try to make my remarks brief,

though those who know me know that is probably a lie..

Mom

Our mom was a special person.

She was not, by her own admission, a perfect person..

She had flaws just like everyone else…

She had made mistakes in her life,

Both before and after coming to christ..

and she knew and recognized that..

Heaven

i remember one particular day we were talking about the mistakes we had made..

and we both came to the conclusion that we hoped with all that was within us that we make it to heaven..

There was no doubt about the saving power of Jesus

it wasnts a question of security in Jesus..

She knew God had given her grace and forgivness for her past..

It was a simple admission and understanding of the depravity of this world and our carnal nature..

and she knew she, like us all, needed a lot of grace to finish the race well

Pastor

A unique privilege that I had was to be her pastor for the last six years.

That was a unique experience.

I found out early that we didn't alway agree on everything..

sometimes I would correct her..

and sometimes she would correct me..

Sometimes we would just out right debate the right thing to do in a situation..

but she always showed repsect for my position as pastor..

She was very admiment about making sure she didnt subvert that..

and I also showed my respect to her as my mother..

In the end it was a blessing..

And in that experience it gave me an opportunity to see some of the things that truely made her special.

Places where she really thrived in her calling and purpose..

Teach

One of those things, is that she loved to teach

and this was not just relegated to the church

Cooking

She instilled a love for cooking in all of us…

She never minded giving you a receipt.

She didnt mind showing anyone how to make something she made..

One of the grandkids reminisced this last week about how she stayed up forever on the phone with her years ago helping her to make a Turkey on thanksvigiving…

Other remember learning to bake jam cakes and pies with her..

The older we all got though, we loved to teach her to cook.

At one point, my brother christ and I strongly had a fight with her about what the best way to cook chicken was..

My kids failed me in the fact that they said hers was the best way..

I know christ succeeded in teaching her new kitchen tricks..

And this last year I taught her how to cook butter swim biscuits..

By giving her the receipt that i didn't wanna make.. I only wanted to eat..

and she, through trial and error figuired it out..

and they were some of the best biscuits ive had to this day….

Church

But as a pastor I saw her love for teaching Gods word..

And she was good at it..

People sought her out to ask questions..

Every church or ministry she was in she ended up teaching..

A number of years ago, I let her teach Wednesday nights for a few weeks..

when I tried to go back the church revolted because they wanted her instead!

And I wasn't offended..

She was good teacher..

And she had a passion for Gods word..

Prayer

another thing that made mom special was her passion for prayer..

Everyone, asked her to pray for them..

Even people who didn’t know or serve God..

If someone had a crisis.. they wanted her to pray..

because many times.. when she prayed.. God listened and things happened.

kid

I remember that when I was a kid she would have her friends over for prayer meetings..

My bedroom was above the living room..

and it wasnt uncommon for them to pray, in true pentecostal style, until 1 in the morning..

Or we would go to the church..

and I remember her praying in the altar..

and I would fall asleep in the pew..

and wake up to leave and it would be midnight..

she loved to pray..

and when she prayed.. things happened.

Wreck

when I was 16 I got my first car..

and I one day I was on my way to a friends house for a church party..

and I was going too fast..

and had a pizza and crazy sauce in the passenger seat.

And as I make a sharp curve..

the pizza slid..

and so did my wheel off the road..

and I hit a telophone pole at high speed..

Crack the pole in half..

totaled the car..

and walked away with a bruise or any trama..

I found out later mom had been praying for two weeks..

god had put someone on her heart but she didnt know the need..

I was that need..

and I know i am alive today because of that prayer..

There are many here today who can attest today to her prayers.. and how God listened when she prayer..

Loved Jesus

the final thing, and most important thing that I know about our mom..

Is that she passionately loved Jesus.

Salvation

According to her own words..

at 30 years old she was in her bedroom one night ..

she said it was around midnight..

one the verge of atheism…

ready to give up on the idea of god..

She said.. jesus walked into her room..

Like Saul in the bible,

She encounters the risen Jesus in a personal manner..

She said that in that moment she knew she was a sinner..

and that Jesus was the answer..

and it was that night that she gave her heart to the Lord.

That night she found the reality of the gospel..

One paul himself wrote about in Romans..

Romans 10:13 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Life

According to her..

from that moment on life was different..

and though, again by her won admission, she was not a perfect person..

She was not the same person..

Witnessed

Through the years I witnessed that love for Jesus..

One that drove her to teach..

Drove her to pray..

Drove her to preach..

To serve..

To give..

To love..

And i can honestly say that that love for god is part of the reason i know the Lord today.

Believed

I know what mom believed..

She believed john 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

She believed romans 10:9-13

Romans 10:9–13 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

She believed John 1:9

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

She believed John 14:1-4

John 14:1–6 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

She believed 2 Corinthians 5:8

2 Corinthians 5:8 ESV

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

And she believed

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT SHE BELIEVED..

We can be confident that when she breathed her last breath two weeks ago on this earth.. that the very next thing she saw was the savior she spent the last 46 years of her life serving..

Jesus

Us

Ill be honest..

Im not broken about losing my mom..

I miss her greatly..

Everyday I have to remind myself that I can’t call her and talk to her about nothingness..

And that seperation hurts..

BUT I CAN HAVE JOY TODAY..

Because I know that she is celebrating in the presence of the savior she loved..

and I know that because I know Jesus as well..

I will see her again one day..

and we will be reunited in heaven..

YES.. this is grief.. But it is a grief that is founded in the hope of Jesus..

You

I would be remissed if I didn't add one more thing..

Something she would add..

That you too can have that hope..

You too can know Jesus.. and make heaven your home one day..

You too, dont have to walk alone.. but can have the everpresent help of Christ in your life that helps you to navigate these days with a peace that surpasses all understanding..

Its just a prayer away..

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I wont aksed you to make that choice today…

But know that its a choice you can make at any moment on this side of eternity..

Like mom, You just have to call on him…

Poem

I want to end today with a poem that I have shared at every funeral I have done..

Because I believe that its words are true and helpful in times such as this..

As for grief, you’ll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it’s some physical thing. Maybe it’s a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it’s a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.

In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don’t even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you’ll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what’s going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything…and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.

Somewhere down the line, and it’s different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O’Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you’ll come out.Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you learn that you’ll survive them. And other waves will come. And you’ll survive them too.

I want to encourage you to let yourselve grieve..

Were gonna have a lot of good and bad days..

certainly we already have..

but I promise, that though the grief never leaves..

It will take a sweet note at some point..

and the tears will be beautiful memories that your cherish of a wonderful woman..

Pastor Dave is going to come and pray for us once again..

and then were going to listen to a song.. and the funeral director will come.