Carolyn Gray Funeral

Introduction

On behalf of Carolyn’s family, I thank you for being here today as we take this time to reflect, remember, and appreciate the amazing life and legacy of Carolyn Gray this morning.

I want to thank the family for allowing me the honor and the privilege that I have today to stand before you and to honor Carolyn today, as she was a dear sister in Christ to me and was someone that have come to greatly admire and love over the last two years that I have had the honor working alongside the Lord’s church here in Fort Cobb.

We mourn today because we will miss the presence of someone really special in our lives.

We miss terribly an amazing mother, grandmother, great grandmother, friend, and servant of Jesus Christ.

Yet what I would like for us to remember this morning is that last title, the fact that Carolyn was a servant of Christ, a follower of king Jesus, ought to make a huge difference in the way that we proceed this morning because Carolyn’s faith gives us the ability to celebrate what we as humans have long feared, the enemy of us all,

Death.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Death as the Enemy

In fact in just a few short weeks we will see many dressed up in costumes that shed light into that Old World concept of death won’t we? Over the centuries humans have looked at death as something to be feared and dreaded and so when we think of death we think of

that old timeless figure of the Grim Reaper, that faceless, robed figure floating about with that sharp scary scythe who comes to claim the living and carry them off to death.

We think of death as chilly hand that comes like a ghost in the night, all figures that align with the fact that scripture calls death an enemy an enemy of mankind.

Death Defeated

But Carolyn believed in the one who defeated that enemy of death. And because of her faith in God and in His word we don’t approach today with hopelessness, but celebrate that Carolyn’s faith has now become sight. That she has now laid spiritual eyes on paradise.

We celebrate because Christ gives us the victory over death. Because of this we can agree with the scriptures when they record things such as the writer or Ecclesiastes wrote:

Ecclesiastes 7:1 ESV

1 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.

“A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.”

Revelation 14:13 ESV

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

2 Corinthians 5:6 ESV

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,

John wrote in Revelation the words of Christ which say: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”

Paul recorded in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians that “while we are home in the body, we are absent from the Lord” of course implying when we leave the body, we are at home with the Lord.

So this morning we will reminisce about our sweet memories of Carolyn.

Memories

Great sense of humor and a love for life.

One of the first memories - Bea and Carolyn - We’re going to try to stay out of trouble but if we get arrested we’ll call you to come get us out.

I had the opportunity to sit down with the family the other day and to hear some of their memories of their Nan, Carolyn, and while I don’t have time this morning to share them all with you, I’d like to share with you a few that demonstrate her love for life, her family, and for God.

Early Life - worked at the hospital, girlfriend that she lived with had a date, She saw the man she had a date with and carolyn decided she needed to date him instead of her roommate, so she told her roomate a story and went out with dad.

She was brave and bold and was never afraid to do the things she wanted to do by herself.

When she was younger she boarded a ship bound for Germany by herself with Mari and while pregnant with Sue.

Later in life she would dress up to the nines and go to the republican conventions and hold signs.

Kristy said she was watching TV one day - Anadarko town Hall and she saw Jacob and Nan in the background.

But there was also times where this willingness to try new things could result in funny situations.

Hot Springs - Hot tubs - Story

But she was able to do many incredible things with this attitude, she went rafting, jeep riding, and never thought twice about jumping in the car and going where she wanted to go and doing what she wanted to do.

Lawton - Chain story.

But that doesn’t mean at all that she was in any way selfish.

Carolyn had a great way of doing things in life that she wanted to do, while at the same time being a servant to all those around her. In fact that’s the word that I heard over and over as I spoke with the family, that she lived the life of a servant.

Judy said that on their many trips to Colorado that Carolyn

Would always cook for them while they were up there together, and would wait for them to leave to go up with Millard to the rest of their vacations.

Susan recalled how Carolyn would stay with her in the hospital for days in order to care for her, and how when you asked her to go home she would tell you “No, she was doing what she had to do.”

Kristy - recalled how the kids would come up with call kinds of concoctions and mixtures such as sprite, and water, and flour and how if the kids asked Nan to try it, she always would.

She loved singing and she appreciated listening to good singing.

Kristy remembers taking Carolyn to an El Divo concert and making sure that she got her T-shirt and remembers looking over in the middle of the concert and just seeing Carolyns face covered with tears.

Of course, many many others stories

Close with a memory of mine

Baptism of strangers

If that’s how she felt about complete strangers getting right with God, How much more joy do you think she would have knowing that her own beloved friends and family were living for God?

End of Some things

As we dismiss this morning I just want to observe that we recognize that death is the end of a great many things.

We mourn today, because we understand that death is the end of making more wonderful memories with Carolyn, but we should also rejoice that death is the end of other things for Carolyn

tells us that death is the end of the cares of this world.

tells us that death is the end of all suffering

But we also know from Scriptures that death is also the beginning of other great things.

They tell us that death is the beginning of Rest

That it puts us in the presence of the Lord.

That it Joins us with the faithful who have gone on before.

And that it puts us in Paradise where there are nothing but good things.

So as we leave here this morning, allow the memory of Carolyn to speak to you, hear it tell you that living a life of service to Christ is worth it. Listen to her life of love for God and follow her example.

Because where she is now, is where she wants us all to be.