Kornbread and Kathy Cowart

T.O.M.T.

James 4:13–17 NKJV

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

In one of his books, A.M. Hunter, the New Testament scholar, relates the story of a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him something about the place to which he was going. As the doctor fumbled for a reply, he heard a scratching at the door, and he had his answer. “Do you hear that?” he asked his patient. “It’s my dog. I left him downstairs, but he has grown impatient, and has come up and hears my voice. He has no notion what is inside this door, but he knows that I am here. Isn’t it the same with you? You don’t know what lies beyond the Door, but you know that your Master is there.”

Today as we gather here to honor and lay to rest the bodies of Kornbread and Kathy Cowart, we do so on the one hand with sad and heavy hearts: sad and heavy because from this side of heaven we have lost friends, a mom and dad, a grandmother and grandfather, and two of the godliest people that I have ever met in my life.

However, as sad as we are, we rejoice on the other hand because those who knew them best knew that with great anticipation they stood on this side of the door wanting to be with his Master.

I asked the the kids to share with me anything that they would like me to say either spiritual or personal.

Vance: They found Kornbreads work gloves and were reminded of how hard of a worker he was; first for the kingdom of God, then for his fellow man, and finally his amazing endurance and physical work ethic. Kornbread was not afraid of any of these and Vance says his dad would out do him any day of the week in any of these areas.

Family and friends, we have work to do in these areas and while we may never be able to fill his shoes, we have to make our own footprints with the time we have here on earth.

Yall have a legacy to carry on in your own way.

Vance on Mom: Years ago mom wrote me a letter. It was about prayer and the meaning of it. 3 ways in which she believed God answered prayer. 1. Yes, 2. No, 3. not yet your not ready. When being in moms kitchen, if there were homemade fried pies i would automatically ask, “what time is Doyle Jr. going to be here?” She knew I loved rice crispy treats. On the rare occasion she made some pies and no one else was visiting I would send Doyle a Bragadocious photo for bragging rights. Mom called dad Doyle unless she was serious, then it was ORVAL.

Amy: Mom and dad were always so good to me. I was disciplined but I always knew i was loved and special to them. Mom ad I would always talk everyday if only just for a moment. I will miss that and I felt so good after the calls. Dad and I’s relationship was different than my brothers. Dad loved John Wayne and western movies. He was my rock. During times of trouble we could talk and he would make things better and not so difficult with understanding. As I look at the past everyday was special due to them being very unique and wonderful parents. Mom and dad were always so proud of us and the grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Doyle: My dad had my back always. No matter what. He would be there in a second. Nothing was a bother to him. I would be hollering and yelling about something. He would tell me to calm down. I have this. Its gonna be alright.

I would like to talk about them for a moment from my personal experience. And I can say that it goes back to before I actually met either of them. (Doyle’s SS class)

When I met Doyle at Sunoco I never imagined that I would have the Joy of being his parents Pastor or the difficult honor of doing their celebration of life service.

Mrs. Kathy

Before I knew anything else about Mrs. Kathy, I knew that she was one step shy of sainthood, and I knew that there was NO ONE, who could compare with her cooking. I know this because Doyle said so.

My wife actually got to meet Mrs. Kathy before I did. It was here at the Ladies tea, before we even came to be that pastor. She walked up to introduce herself and told here that she was in her sons SS class in Port Neches. Mrs. Kathy smiled as she took a selfie with my wife and so sweetly asked if she was one of Harley’s friends.

There was never a time that we went over that Mrs. Kathy did treat us like her own kids. She would even fuss at me when I told the kids to sit down or stop asking for snacks.

Instead she would tell my kids to eat what they could find and she would ALWAYS have an ice cream sandwich for them.

Mrs. Kathy may not have been the “out-there” personality like her husband but she was the reason he was able to be that man.

He always knew that He had a faithful, godly, wife and mother at home caring for the house and the kids allowing him to go out and share the gospel through his work at the Gideon Ministry

I believe that the best thing that could be said of Mrs. Kathy would be to quote Solomon in Proverbs 31:10-31

Proverbs 31:10–31 ESV

10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. 11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. 13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. 15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. 16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. 17 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. 19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. 20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. 22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. 25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Kornbread

At 36 years old, Kornbread was over twice my age, and yet every time I talked with him it was like I was talking to a great friend.

He knew how to relate and he was a GREAT communicator ( often in his own language. ) We are going to miss his special vocabulary and anytime he would say “Let me see how am I going to say this.” It wasn’t because he didn’t know what to say, he was just trying to find words that you and I would understand.

He was cut from a different cloth. He worked harder than any person I have ever met at his age and ABSOLUTLY NOTHING WAS GOING TO SLOW HIM DOWN.

Kornbread dedicated his life to much but above all he dedicated his life to bringing Honor and glory to God.

There was NEVER A TIME that I would walk up to Bread and say how are you today that he wouldn’t respond with “Blessed and Highly favored.”

I don’t care if the man had just cut off his left thumb and stumped his big toe, all you were going to know about him is that He was blessed and highly favored.

I hope to make this my personal testimony, rather than complaining about all the little insignificant things in this life that bother me, I am going to try and remember that I am blessed and Highly Favored.

Something else I will say about Kornbread is that while he may not have been ready to go, he was prepared.

T.O.M.T.

I had the blessing of being at many of his men’s breakfasts and if you have ever been out to the gathering place, you will only be there for a moment before you see the letters T.O.M.T.

This was Kornbreads phrase and he embodied James 4:14

James 4:14 NKJV

14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Every time we had that breakfast he would say, “We may never be together like this again, so today we are going to have togetherness one more time!”

Knowing that this was Kornbread’s favorite message, it is also the one that I would like to bring to you today.

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow.

We live in a tomorrow world.

We do this in two ways.

First by always anticipating what is next.

It is okay to make plans and to have goals that you want to accomplish in the future but not at the cost of missing what is happening in your today.

Kornbread and Kathy lived everyday to its fullest and the enjoyed their life!

Being so concerned about tomorrow is what often keeps us from praising God for what is happening in our life right now.

In Luke 17, When Jesus healed the 10 lepers, he did so by telling them to go and show themselves to the priests. This would have been required by the law and thus when they took off running the probable believed that the priest were going to heal them.

the bible says in vs. 15, Then one of them, WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS HEALED, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet giving him thanks.

You see while the 10 of them were running to get what they thought they needed. One of them realized that Jesus had already given him exactly what he needed.

Can I encourage you this morning, slow down. Enjoy the live that God is allowing you to live and use it to bring Him honor and glory.

Live in today and recognize that if you are a born again bought by the blood of Christ believer that you are “Blessed and Highly Favored.”

II. What is life but a Vapor.

This is what Kornbread fully understood when he talked about TOMT.

He was ready, Mrs. Kathy was ready. When they closed their eyes together on earth they opened them together in the arms of the one who died for them!

But let me ask you are you ready? Are you prepared?

Because, we may never be gathered together like this again.

Everyone in this room has an appointment with death.

Hebrews 9:27 CSB

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—

you have today and today only, and James tells us not to boast about tomorrow because it is not promised to come.

Kornbread and Kathy loved the Lord.

I am still amazed that God allowed me to have a time as their “spiritual leader” though I actually believe God placed them here to help me grow.

I have heard some funny stories from both Doyle and Brandon about how my preaching actually changed Mrs. Kathy’s thinking on a few things. But one thing I did have to do, was give them a burden or passion for sharing the Gospel. They had that already.

So what I am going to do is exactly what I believe Mrs. Kathy and Kornbread would want me to do.

I am going to tell you that if you are here this morning and you don’t now Jesus as your savior, then you dont have the hope that they had. Their faith has become sight.

You may believe that you are a good person but the bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20

Ecclesiastes 7:20 CSB

20 There is certainly no one righteous on the earth who does good and never sins.

Your goodness is fithly rages before God.

The bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and further more the wages of sin is death! BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

THE REASON WE CAN SMILE TODAY THROUGH THE TRADGEDY IS BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT KATHY AND KORNBREAD CLOSED THEIR EYES HERE ON EARTH TOGETHER AND THEY OPENED THEM TOGETHER IN HEAVEN.

NOT BECAUSE THE WERE GOOD PEOPLE, NOT BECAUSE THE WERE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE BAPTIZED, BUT BECAUSE THEY BOTH, OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL, DECIDED TO MAKE JESUS THEIR LORD AND SAIVOR.

Romans 10:9 CSB

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

ARE YOU READY?

T.O.M.T

BUT THIS MAY BE YOUR LAST TIME.