My Eulogy

My Eulogy

August 5, 2024

            The other day my son and I were talking and he shared with me how he was thinking about getting his affairs in order in the event of his death. Then he hit me with the age-old question, of whether I had a will prepared. I made a joke about it, but that is a very wise thing for anyone to do. It is always better to be prepared for something like that. True, it will not affect you, but it does make it a lot easier for your loved ones you leave behind. Then he asked another question that initially struck me as quite odd. But, him knowing me like he does, it does make sense after I thought about it for a minute.  He asked me if I had written my Eulogy. I of course had to answer his question with a question and said, “Why, do I look that bad and you’re scared you won’t be able to come up with something nice to say about me?”

            We laughed it off and moved on to another topic. But it did get me thinking, and you all should know by now how dangerous that can be. I immediately saw some advantages to writing my own eulogy. That is one way to ensure you have the last word, without having to listen to any rebuttal. You can certainly stretch the truth and make things sound more favorable. And of course, it takes the burden off a family member having to do an unpleasant task. Then suddenly, the light bulb lit up and I had an epiphany. If you can write a fair and unbiased eulogy, that would serve as a clear reflection of how you view your time on this earth and where you stand as far as being prepared for the life hereafter. So, with this challenge in mind, I decided to write my eulogy and challenge each of you to do the same. You don’t have to share yours if you don’t want. But, use it as a grade card to see what your strengths and weaknesses are. Use it to see if there is anything you need to change or add to your story

            For brevities sake and other obvious reasons, I will omit the dates and the parts about being preceded and survived by family members and get right to the juicy part. So here goes; He Lived then he died! The End. Ok, I’m joking around a little bit, but I did it to make a point. You had no say-so about being born, and most likely, have little or no control over when you die. But, everything in between, is up to you. You get to write your own story. And if you don’t like the way your story reads or where it is heading, God gives us a new day, each and every day, to start over. Like I mentioned in the opening paragraph, getting your financial affairs in order, is a very smart thing to do. But, if your spiritual affairs are out of kilter, then you do have important work to do! Work that shouldn’t be put off. Nothing in this world is more important than where you will spend your eternal life. And here is another great thing about this whole thing, it makes no difference how your story starts, or what happens in the middle of it, all that matters to God, is how it ends. Maybe your life got off to a rough start. Or maybe somewhere there around the middle, you managed to mess up everything you touched and made every mistake a person can make. Again, God doesn’t care, he will hold none of that against you, as long as you repent your mistakes and accept his gift of salvation before you die.

            Ok, I’m actually going to do this now, are you ready? We are gathered here today to say our final goodbye to Roger Adkins. In lieu of someone else having to come up with something to say about him, he wrote his own eulogy, and I will read that for you now. Afterward, if anyone has anything they wish to say, you will be allowed to do so, providing it is flattering and you’re not here to collect on an old debt. (His words not mine). Roger was a simple man or so it seemed. He wasn’t attracted by the nice things of the world. He was quite happy as long as he could pay his bills and live a modestly comfortable lifestyle.

            He never had a lot of friends, because he focused on family and devoted his time and his life to them. He used to say that he was born at the wrong time, that he felt he would have fit In, sometime around the 1800s, when life was simpler and a man worked his land to feed his family. He liked being one with the land, your family, and God. He loved being able to see and touch the results of hard work. He loved the peace and quiet that lifestyle afforded and would never have missed the hustle and bustle of modern life.

            He thought of himself as a humble man, and it made him happy to be able to help others. He strived to be a devoted husband and prayed constantly to be a good father to his children. As a matter of fact, he had three wishes in life, and they were; to serve God well enough that he would someday hear these words.” (Welcome home my good and faithful servant, your days of struggle are over.”) He prayed that his wife knew how much he loved her, and she honestly felt that he had been a good husband, to the best of his ability. He prayed that his children never had to be ashamed of their father and knew that he did his best to do right by every one of them.

            Ok, that is about all the good he could come up with, and seeing how he prided himself on being fair and unbiased, now he will tell you his ugly secrets. From the time he was a young man until late in life, he struggled with the person he wanted to be versus the person he carried inside of him. And believe me, they were as opposite as night and day. His one true hero was the Apostle Paul, and that was due to many things but the main reason was what he wrote in Read: Romans 7:15-20 You see the way he saw it, if as great a man as Paul wrestled with sin daily, than that gave him hope for himself. Roger knew the only good in him was that of God. So eventually, after way too many years, he got off that fence and decided to live his life for the Lord.

            He tried his best to do anything God asked of him. God called him to write stories, even though he knew he wasn’t an author. He held tight to the notion if these stories helped even one person, it was all worth it. He prayed often that God would use him in a way that might help someone find the Lord, or encourage a believer along their way. And remember earlier I mentioned an advantage to writing my own eulogy was having the final word. I’m going to take advantage of that right now and give my final word. If you are hearing this read at my funeral, it is too late for me to change anything if I wanted to. Which, I don’t. Don’t worry about me, I am already at home (Finally). God made me this promise and I’ll take it to the grave with me. I will not miss this earth, or it’s trials and problems. I thank God for the life he gave me, but it is nothing compared to where I am now. This truly is the greatest day of my life!

            If you are hearing this, you still have time. How much, no one knows. But right now, you have time. Would it be a weird thing to drop to your knees and claim God’s forgiveness, at a funeral?  Heck, Yeh! But I never was one to follow the normal and if I had any way of hearing about it, it would make me the happiest man around. My point is, if you have not received eternal salvation, don’t put it off. And if you aren’t where you want to be with God, why wait to fix that? Today is the appointed time of salvation and now is always a great time to allow the Lord to make you whole again.

Scripture of The Day:  Romans 8:38-39

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.