April Malone 9-13-09
If someone were to ask you, how much longer do you have to live, what would be your answer? What would you use to try and figure it out? Who would you use as your comparison? The real answer to the question is “I honestly don’t know.” We all live with this great uncertainty of death in our lives and even though we know it is all around us somehow, we don’t think it should touch us, our families or our friends. Death is supposed to happen to other people’s people. Yet my friend as surely as I stand here today, You and I are all going to one day die.
The One who is most concerned about our death and has done the most to get us ready for it is not the insurance company, it’s not the funeral home if we prepaid our funeral, and it’s not the hospital even though we may be hooked up to a breathing machine. The One who is doing all that can be done to get us ready for that inevitable day, that big appointment that we all will keep is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am going away to prepare a place for you and I will come back and take you to be with me.” You see some 2,000 years ago, Jesus died and then three days after he died came back to life. He knew what was on the other side of death. He then went back to heaven to prepare a place for us to spend eternity in a real place called heaven. Now why did he do this.
In the very beginning there was nothing but God. That God created this entire universe by speaking it into existence. When God said “let there be, it was.” The final part of God’s creation had to do with the creation of a man and a woman. God wanted to have a personal relationship with human beings. He gave this man and this woman everything they needed to have a happy and fulfilled life. That couple was Adam and Eve. They loved each other in ways we can only imagine as husband and wife. God gave them one commandment to obey to demonstrate their love for God.. Eat from every fruit tree in the garden, except that one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
All was going well until one day, a slick talking creature by the name of Satan showed up. Satan convinced this couple, that they were really missing out on a good time. If they could only see that God was holding them back by telling them not to eat from that specific tree, they would be liberated to complete joy and satisfaction. Satan convinced them that they were missing out on something they had a right to have and God was keeping them down. They got what they wanted for a moment when they ate from the forbidden tree. But they had to reject God to do it. It felt good to eat from that fruit for the moment, but there were consequences they had not expected.
Very shortly thereafter, their rebellion not only drove them against God, it put a separation between them. Where as before they could look at each other with honesty and openness with no clothes on, all of a a sudden they were ashamed of their bodies and tried to cover themselves up. We have been playing this game of covering ourselves up and pretending to be something we are not ever since. But God did not leave them hanging. God promised he would send a Savior who could bridge the gap between God and people and between people and people.
Because God is love, God continues to have the same concern for us as he did for the first two he created. God and God alone gives us the gift of life. God in his infinite wisdom has never created two of us exactly alike. Even with identical twins, there is a mixture inside of them that’s different. Even though we like to put the word my in front of another word to describe April, such as my friend, my sister, my daughter, or my mom, the first claim does not belong to us and neither will the last. God was the first to say she’s my creation for even in her mother’s womb God was at work putting her together so that we and He could be blessed by what God was doing. God poured so much into making April, that so many of us was touched by her life in a positive way.
April was a lot of things to us. She had one of the most uplifting smiles that sent out a message of life and humor. When we asked her family to give one word descriptions of April, we got that she was loyal, loving, stubborn, determined, generous, sexy, confident, caring, faithful and responsible. April had the paradox of being a tough and compassionate person.
As sweet as she looked when she was looking innocent April was a literal fighter. She was the kind of person you wanted to have around if you were going to get jumped. That’s one thing she enjoyed about having your back. Sometimes she was hoping somebody was going to jump on it so that she could jump in it and it would be on. She knew what it was to be tough. If you were going into battle she’d let you know “I gotcha” and she meant it.
And yet the back side of it was she had a tremendous heart of compassion for other people. At age 13, April was our youngest counselor in the summer program years ago. Yet I was amazed at how well she did with the kids in her group. She made each one feel special, and they loved her because of it. I knew then that she had great potential for her life.
When she recently served as at The Cleveland Clinic, she didn’t see a job, she saw people. She made them feel like people. God had given her a gift to minister to others in their times of need. There was a comfort in her eyes, her smile and her voice all working together to making you feel like you were somebody. Her co-workers there said that she was a sweet joy to work with.
Aprile would often say to others, “do whatcha do” and I’m not sure what exactly she meant, but she did what she did in caring for other people in a special way. If April gave you her word she would be there in your time of need, she was going to be there. Somehow she recognized she had a gift of presence, and by that I mean, she would show up and just be there with you to help get you past some crisis in your life. Even if you told her she could leave, she’d say I’m not going anywhere.
April was full of life in so many ways. She never met a ride at an amusement park that she did not like. She loved Cedar Point and all the thrills that it can bring on the most daring of rides and roller coasters. She was ready to take on any haunted house she could get to. She was full of energy when it came to dancing. Antwon’s school had a mother/son dance and she and Juanita stayed out there all the time on the floor even after Antwon had called it quits. They were a double line dancing queen duo.
April enjoyed eating. As a matter of fact she enjoyed it so much that her favorite restaurant was Olive Gardens, Plus Subway, Mr. Hero, Wendy’s and anywhere else you would like to go where food was being served. Give here a carmel candy apple and she thought she was near heaven. Put diet pop in your refrigerator and she’d make sure it was gone when she left. Now as much as she enjoyed food, you’d think she would be a blessing in the kitchen. I’ve been told, you were danger if April was in the kitchen trying to cook for you. If she offered to buy you some food take it, but don’t let her cook for you unless you were ready to meet the Lord. When Juanita was sick, April brought her in meals everyday. Knowing Juanita she probably checked to make sure April had not cooked it.
April loved family. She loved her girls night out with her cousins. She loved the moments of sitting as a family of watching movies together. She would call Juanita to let her know that “Ma, its time to spend time together” to which Juanita would respond, “Girl you must don’t have anything to do.” But deep down inside Juanita was glad for the call and for the time. April wanted to be included in your life. She’d give you a scolding if you didn’t pick up the phone or return one of her calls. She’d say you never know if it was an emergency or not, even though she knew it wasn’t one.
April loved her kids Antwan and Aiyana, and wanted the best for them She tried to have them looking good on the outside, but she was just as determined to have them looking good on the inside. She cared about how they behaved and brought love and discipline into their lives to point them into the right direction.
April knew what it was like to have disappointments and get back up again. She was not content with the decision to drop out of school. She got back up and when and got her diploma. She went back again to get her STNA license. She was setting her sight on school again to head for a nursing degree.
When April came to our church about a decade ago, I remember her enthusiasm when she answered the call of Jesus Christ on her life. You see Jesus once said, if anyone wants to truly have life, the person has to make a choice to come follow him and say no to many of the desires that will come into their lives. April responded to that call and said yes. I can remember she was so eager to get baptized.
She was the 755th member of our church and was baptized on March 28th, 1999. I had a talk with her a month or two later and she said, she had thought when she got baptized she would be so changed that she would not be tempted to do wrong anymore. I told her, “April temptation will always be with us, but we have to believe that God has what’s best in mind for us. That’s why we walk in His commandments.”
Jesus once told us, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I have that you might have life and have it more abundantly. April began to believe that promise and she became involved in the life of the church. She had dreams and goals and ambitions for herself. And then just as Satan showed up with a temptation in the beginning to let the first man and woman , Adam and Eve, know that by following God, they were missing out on the good things in life, he started to give April that same message. We have all received that message in one form or another.
April began to believe that she was missing out on some fun, and instead of looking to God for direction, she looked to herself. We all have this amazing ability to deceive ourselves into thinking we know what’s best for us. We don’t need others telling us how to live our lives. Nothing bad will happen to me. I’m going to get what I seek in life if I just do things my way.
She started a plan that led her away from the church. She got involved in relationships that were not in her best interests. She became mom far too young in her life. She brought tremendous pain into the lives of those around her who loved her dearly especially Jaunita. She was searching for an elusive dream that she could not find on her own. April knew that she was young, she knew she was pretty and she knew she was sexy, but one thing she did truly understand was that God had created her beautiful. And because she and all you other young ladies were created beautiful, you are of tremendous value and worth. You young men likewise have incredible value when you know who you are in God.
Because she did not understand her true value, she was willing to settle for far less than God intended for her to have. God put within her that desire she had for family, but she missed God’s will for how it was to take place, all because the enemy was able to trick her into believing that God did not love her as much as God truly loves her.
But in the midst of her wanderings and brokenness, God was still calling to her, “April, I love you, come back home.” Those words finally got through to her and 2009 began a transformation in her life. She came back to the Lord. She saw all the unconditional love she had received from Juanita during her periods of rebellion and it brought her tears. Jaunita we thank you for being Jesus to her when she didn’t really want Jesus around. But April got to that point of publicly declaring how she could see the truth about God. As Pastor Toby shared, She told Jaunita how wrong she had been and how grateful she was for her presence and her love in her life. April was determined she wanted to have God’s best for her life and was taking the steps to making that happen.
Alison’s wedding had a profound affect upon her. April began to understand that God had created her beautiful too, and that her desire for family was to have a husband and not be content with being someone’s baby’s mother. It does make a difference if you are someone’s live in girl friend or someone’s wife or someone’s live in boyfriend or someone’s husband. Young ladies you are beautiful, and you are of immense value. You should demand that you be paid full price for who you are. Young men you should demand the same likewise. God is not into blessing relationships that are outside of his plans for a relationship. It doesn’t mean God does not love you and God does not care for you, but it does mean God is not pleased with the way you are living your lives. A live in mate will never take the place of a husband or a wife.
The good thing about God is that even when we blow it, we can start over right where we are. April started over and ended her life as a witness for the cause of Christ. She didn’t do it because she thought she was going to die. She did it because she realized, that her life in Christ, was much better than her life without Him. If she was going to be all that God intended for her to be, it would have to be on God’s terms and not her own.
Some of us are thinking, one day I might come to the Lord, as though we have control over our future. 8 days ago, none of us thought we would be at a funeral for such a young, bright, energetic and full of life person like April Malone. Yet we are here. Suppose it was you who had died. Would we be able to say with confidence, you died in Christ? Would we be guessing where you are spending eternity.
There are only two ways to live in this life. You can live for Christ, or you can live any other way you want to. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody is going to heaven without a relationship to Jesus Christ. We have all done wrong and the only way to make it right, is to accept the price Jesus Christ paid on our behalf for that wrong. If you die without Christ, you will be lost forever. A terrible judgment is waiting for you and you will not be able to save yourself. None of us have lived without doing wrong, and it all it takes is one disobedience to separate us from God.
If you die in Christ, not only is your life going to be more meaningful now, you will one day again see April alive and well in heaven. If you die without him, April will only be a memory for you. The choice is for each of us to make.
The Bible tells us 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
