Jazmin Lyn Valdez

Order of Service

Family Seating……………………....…………Pastor Scott Richerson

Song:

Amazing Grace!

Welcome and Prayer…………………………..Pastor Scott Richerson

Jazmin Valdez - Life Story……….………..…Pastor Scott Richerson

Poem - Ruday and Felicita - IF tomorrow stares without me.

Personal Remembrance…………………………..Family and Friends

Message

Song – It is well with my Soul!

Closing Prayer………..………..Pastor Scott Richerson

Jazmin Valdez - Life Story……….………..…Pastor Scott Richerson

Jazmin Lyn Valdez

Was 15 years old – Last Tuesday, November 17, 2020. Jazmin was called into eternity by God the Father. She was preceded in death by her paternal grandmother, Melba Valdez; and maternal grandparents, Juan & Epifania Perez.

Everyone who knew Jazmin knew that she was a good- hearted person in every way. Jazmine truly loved helping others.

Reading & drawing were Jazmine’s favorite things to do, always having her nose in a book.

She also enjoyed building model cars, clocks and just about anything that was hands on.

In recent years she took an interest in taekwondo, where she earned her green belt back in March of this year.

It is said of Jazmine’s life that She always had a wanted to help other people and was always willing to learn.

Jasmine also loved cooking, “sopitas” being her specialty.

Her long term desire was to Harvard University to become a doctor, and then later on a special education teacher to help students.

Jazmine expressed a desire to adopt children and after her kids were all grown become a crazy cat lady with lots of baby kittens.

She was always smiling, happy and loving and will be missed greatly.

She is survived by her father.: Rudy Valdez (Felicita); mother, Mary Jane Perez (Mandy); brothers, Xavier Valdez, Javier Valdez, Hector Valdez, John Ramirez, Aven Williamsen, and Brandon Roys;

sisters, Josephine Valdez and Nevaeh Gonzales; grandfather, Thomas Eureste (Sandy); step grandparents, Rudy & Sandra Gonzales; and with numerous loving family members and friends.

Poem - Ruday and Felicita - IF tomorrow stares without me.

If Tomorrow Starts Without Me

If Tomorrow Starts Without Me… If tomorrow starts without me, and I’m not here to see, If the sun should rise you find your eyes all filled with tears for me;

I wish so much you wouldn’t cry the way you did today, While thinking of the many things we didn’t get to say.

I know how much you love me, as much as I love you And each time that you think of me, I know you’ll miss me too.

But when tomorrow starts without me please try to understand, That an angel came and called my name and took me by the hand.

He said my place was ready, in heaven far above And that I’d have to leave behind all those I dearly love.

But as I turned and walked away a tear fell from my eye. For all my life I’d always thought, I didn’t want to die.

I had so much to live for, so much left yet to do. It seemed almost impossible that I was leaving you.

I thought of all the yesterdays the good ones and the bad. I thought of all the love we shared, and all the fun we had.

If I could relive yesterday, just even for a while, I’d say goodbye and kiss you and maybe see you smile.

But then I fully realized that this could never be, For emptiness and memories would take the place of me.

When I thought of worldly things I might miss come tomorrow I thought of you and when I did my heart was filled with sorrow.

When I walked through heavens gates I felt so much at home. God looked down and smiled at me from his great golden throne

He said, “This is eternity and all I’ve promised you” Today your life on earth has passed but here life starts anew.

I promise no tomorrow, but today will always last And since each day is the same there’s no longing for the past.

You have been so faithful so trusting and so true. Though there were times you did some things you knew you shouldn’t do.

You have been forgiven and now at last you’re free. So won’t you come and take my hand and share my life with me?

So when tomorrow starts with out me don’t think we’re far apart, For every time you think of me, I’m right here in your heart.

Personal Remembrance…………………………..Family and Friends

Message

There is an order to life that we all come to expect. Seasons fall one after another - Winter, followed by Spring, followed by Summer, followed by Fall and then Winter again.

Plants that God in the created order of God. Planting the seed follower by the sprout, followed by the sapling, followed by the tree.

Sun rise followed by Sun set - Day Followed by night -

Birth, Followed by infancy, followed by toddler, followed by Adolescent, followed by young adult years and so forth.

In all of everything we see and everything we experience there is an order - There seems to be a timing involved with that Order. and there is a reason in that order all coordinated by the sovereign design of God. The Only God who exists and who is the Giver of life to all things.

When a child passes into eternity before a parent does no matter what the circumstances are - There is always the sense of being out of order.

We think and we say things like :so young! - Too early! She was taken way to early in life!

Then there is the question of Why - Why Her? Why Now? Why death?

My prayer this morning is that in the words that I share and the thoughts and declarations that are from God recorded for us all that ALL of us would find comfort in the order, understanding in the whys, and begin to know and understand God, The one true God who loves us, cares for us and has walked with us in the exact same path.

The first question that I would like to bring some sense of understanding to this morning is the timing question. The question that causes us to say “she was so young” “she went too early” and in those answers seek the comfort and peace in knowing God - a comfort and a peace that only God and his Holy Spirit can provide.

God - The God of the Bible, The one and only God who exists - Created all things and in that creation He gave life. How do we know this? How do we know there is a God? We know there is a God the same exact way we know there is a builder of this very building we sit in this morning. We know there is a builder because there is a building.

WE know there is a creator because there is a creation. We know some thing ans some one brought about into existence the tree that we parked under this morning. we also know this becasue the tree is a 1000 times more complicated than this building.

God who created all things also gave that tree something that the builder of this building could not give. God gave the tree life. He made that tree a living breathing three that would grow and function and have meaning.

And so God as creator and also revealed Himself to us through His creation - WE know he is real and we know He is there becasue Creation is.

He created everything and all of us. AND Because God is creator, all of creation belongs to Him.

So one of the thing that we can take rest in is God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty - IT a word that means supreme authority. Gods authority is not like Human authorities - God authority is Holy which means its totally and completely different than mans authority. God authority is also perfect in every way.

God the creator the one who is sovereign looking over all of us. is compassionate, He is gracious, He is slow to anger and fills with lovingkindness and truth.

And as a sovereign ruler over all f His creation who is filled with compassion and loving kindness God marks out the days of our life. He sets the boundaries of our habitation. He knows exactly the number of our days. He knew exactly the number of Jazmins days.

AS the questions of Why Her and Why us and Why suffering comes and ultimately why does death exist. Out side the sovereignty of God there are probably no answers that make complete sense. However we are not ever alone in our suffering and pain - God is with us and can and will comfort us in our time of need.

IN the Old Testament of the Bible which is the story of God’s chosen people. Chosen for a single purpose. That through the relationship they would have with God God would use them to bring Jesus to all people.

These people struggled with their relationship with God as all o us do and they demanded to have earthly kings placed over them. ONE of those kings was a king by the name of David. David was young when He became King and David as considered by God to be a man after Gods own heart.

David grew as King over God’s people and David would marry and have children - David would actually have many children -

David would also experience the Loss of two of those children.

David a king, chosen by God himself to rule over gods people. A man who was considered to be a man after God’s own heart. Lost his Son is a tragic set of events - Davids son is considered by some to be between the age of 15 and 25 - About the same age as Jazmin.

It is so very interesting that if you read the biography of David recorded for all of us in the Old Testament - It would be VERY easy to think that David should have gotten mad at God and rejected God and walk away form God.

But David knew, Somehow David Knew that leaning away from God would only cause more pain and grief. Running away from God would only cause more suffering. David was not a man who was perfect. There was plenty of things in Davids life that He was guilty of.

But in the midst of His suffering and in the Middle of His pain He leans in to God. He seeks a closer relationship with God - As David writes the 86 th Psalm over the loss of His son.

Psalm 86 NASB95

A Prayer of David. 1 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy. 2 Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You. 3 Be gracious to me, O Lord, For to You I cry all day long. 4 Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. 6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications! 7 In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me. 8 There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours. 9 All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name. 10 For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God. 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. 12 I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. 13 For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 14 O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them. 15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. 16 Turn to me, and be gracious to me; Oh grant Your strength to Your servant, And save the son of Your handmaid. 17 Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

We see in this passage of text - That in the midst of Davids suffering He ran to God and Cried out to God calling out the lovingkindness and compassion of God and was comforted by God.

Let this be us in this season of Grief - Run to God. let us take out anger and our fears and our doubts to God and our grief to God. Cry out for His comfort, Acknowledge His sovereign rule. declare his loving kindness and compassion over your life and heart and mind - and call upon the name of God. and His promise is that in due time He will comfort all of us.

IT is also interesting that God himself has specific compassion for us in our current state of the loss of a child in the loss of Jazmine. Because God the father suffered the death of God the Son on the cross of Calvary.

Jesus himself dealt with Grief and anguish. In the Garden right before Jesus died, God tells us that Jesus was in grief about the burden that he was to carry. So much so that his sweat turned to blood. In this moment of grief and Suffering. Jesus was not alone - Jesus did not isolate himself -

Jesus Gathered his closest friend near to Him and asked that they would be with Him and spend time with Him.

Jesus poured out His should to them and shared with him his deepest feeling ans sorrows -

Jesus asked for them to pray with Him and step in and join Him in crying out to God

In the grief Jesus Suffered - He poured out His heart out the Father in prayer and He rested in the Sovereignty of GOD.

The question that ultimately must go through our minds at times and days like today is why is there death at all. Every single one of us will at some point will Die. We will take our last breath and we will step into eternity. Most of us, if not all of us in this room have suffered the loss of someone we knew, someone we loved, someone we were close to and possibly we have seen the loss of someone we did not care for very much.

The question that can be in the back of minds during times of grief and loss of a loved one is why is there death at all.

God has provided us the answer of the question why is there death in our world and in our experience as human beings. When I think about the answer that God gives it brings me comfort in knowing that Death is not this ransom thing that just happens and has no cause or reason.

The Answer is found in the over arching understanding of our humanity and how we have interacted with our creator from the very beginning of time. You see in the beginning when this thing called life got started, God, out of his great love and compassion, created all things and man kind, all of us, in His image. Not that he had to create us but that He wanted to create us. In the beginning, mankind and God were in perfect relationship with each other. Man kind and God walked with each other, knew each other, we in perfect harmony together. In that perfect relationship God placed a boundary in front of man. That man should not eat the fruit from a particular tree. Because God knew that IF mankind ate of that tree there would be a catastrophe.

mankind looked at the fruit of the tree and saw that it would taste good and the enemy of God and gods creation told man that it would make Him like God. And the enemy of God and all of Gods creation placed in the heart of man the seeds us unbelief. And man began to question God and to Judge God and the instructions that God had given about the fruit of this particular tree stopped making sense to Man -

Out of this unbelief man made a choice and what mankind did is they took a bite from the fruit f the tree that God had said not to. The moment they did that they rebelled against the one true and holy God who created them and loved them.

When they ate from the fruit the tree, rebelling against God in what the bible calls SIN, man kind broke the relationship with God - God the giver of Life. They broke the relationship with the Giver of life. and Death ENTERED into the experience of mankind.

The broken relationship with the giver of life has catastrophic results for all of us. Every single one of us is born in a state where our relationship with God is broken. Our Own unbelief causes our own rebellion against God and is proof that we are born in a natural state of rebellion against God and our relationship with Him is naturally broken. This broken relationship effects EVERYTHING - It effect our ability to have a healthy relationship with each other, It effects our ability to have repair our relationship with God, If EVEN effects our ability to have a healthy relationship with ourselves. That is broken in every way!

Sounds like really bad news and it is - HOWEVER the Good news about God, The Gospel, is that God is repairing all of that brokenness through the person and work of his son Jesus Christ. The Jesus life death and resurrection God has opened the Door by which all people can be put back into right relationship with God!

How does this happen? God called all people to faith! and God, through the person and work of His son, puts back into a right relationship with Himself those who turn their while life over to God in a living faith. An act that God himself described repentance.

Faith in what - Faith in the historical facts that God came to earth to dwell among us as the person of Jesus. The Son of God - That Jesus lived a perfect life and was totally innocent of any rebellion against God. Faith in the fact that as a totally innocent person He freely accepted the sentence of death on a Roman Cross. Faith in the facts that as He was dying on that cross and his blood was being pored out on that wood of that cross, Jesus was paying the penalty of our rebellion against God. Jesus was dying in our place. Faith in the historical fact that God, by the very power that created all things Raised Jesus from the dead and that three days after his death He rose again from the dead.

Faith in the fact that in those two acts His death and resurrection Jesus Christ defeated Sin and Death for all who believe and making those who believe Those who have surrendered to Him alive again to God and the relationship with God totally and completely repaired.

This morning as we remember Jasmine - I stand before you an ambassador of Christ Jesus with a ministry of reconciliation - All that means is that the ministry that God has given is to place before you the understanding that God is calling you to faith and the knowledge that if you respond to Him in faith, A gift that he and he alone gives you. You will be saved and you relationship will be made right with you Creator once again. The only true God who loves you and cares for you and comforts you in these times of sorrow and grief.

Lets Pray.