Eulogy Richard Cheeks Sr. by Rick Gillespie- Mobley
John 14:1-14:7
Richard Cheeks was sent by God into this world on February 23, 1930. God had filled him with an abundance of possibilities for his life, but much of it would depend on the choices that Richard would choose to make. The same God that sent him into this world, called Richard on July 10th, 2011 to give an account for the decisions and the choices that he made in that rather brief time between birth and death.
Richard Cheeks was, a son, brother, an uncle, a husband, a father a cousin, a friend, and co worker. He was born, he lived, he died, he went home to a place prepared for him. We all go through that cycle of birth, life, and death because its automatic. Yet it takes a willful decision on our parts to go home to place prepared for us.
For those who remain on this side of death, the Bible tells us, there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. A time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to hope and a time to give up, a time for joy and a time for pain, a time to be born and a time to die. The one experience that is common to us all is death. It is as common and as natural as all the other things done under the sun.
The Scriptures tell us that there is a way that seems right to a person, but at the end of it is death. If we are all living in order that we might some day die, it should be of utmost important that we live in such way that in the end our lives would not have been lived in vain. Whether or not we have lived in vain will not be determined by how much we accumulated in terms of material goods, for naked we came into this world, and naked we go out.
The only thing that we can take out of this world is what we have given away. For that is how Jesus said to lay up treasures in heaven. If we have not loved and have not given then our living has been in vain. I did not know Richard personally, but I did get a glimpse of his life through the eyes of his sister, Dorothy, his son, Richard and one of his nieces.
God sends everybody into the world with a gift to offer to the rest of humanity. Richard was a man who loved life itself. He had a tremendous love for his family. He especially loved his parents. He appreciated the love his family had for him. Richard was a man of courage. He earned his purple in Korea, charging a nest of enemy soldiers and throwing a grenade into their bunker. The blast of the grenade blew Richard away as he ran in the other direction. No doubt someone owes their life to his bravery in that moment of time.
Richard had the gift of steadfastness. He was a diligent worker and gave 30 years of his life working for the Kayline Company. Richard enjoyed playing pool and was pretty good at it. He was a person who was an avid walker. He enjoyed walking so much, he didn’t bother to always wait on the bus. If it was not time, he was on his way. If you didn’t arrive to pick him up on time, his feet knew how to hit the road. Not only did his feet like to walk, they also liked to dance. Richard knew how to cover some space on the dance floor and he passed that talent on to his son.
Richard was not always an agreeable and easy to get along person in every day life. You may as well be prepared to listen to him fuss about what you asked him to do, but if you hung in there, he had the kind of heart that would do what you wanted him to do for you. When his wife was alive, he was a classy dresser.
Richard was fond of drinking beer, actually drinking a lot of beer. Richard was usually quiet and off to himself. Once he had some beer in him, he became much more sociable and active in conversations. Now if he promised to give you some money while he was drinking, then you had better have gotten it while he was still not quite sober. Once he got sober, if you mentioned the money he had promised, he’d just right it off as a promise he never intended to make and that the beer was at fault.
At times Richard could be very proud. He really didn’t want you to give him anything. At other times he could be quite comical. Many people knew his ability to be a prankster. He mastered the art of pulling a table cloth off a table loaded with food. It was a perfect trick, if you didn’t mind picking up your food and utensils off the floor once he did his trick.
He had a lot of spunk and could come up with some great one line comments that would catch you off guard. Although he thought he was quite a singer with his voice, some people thought his singing was off key and would joke with him saying the metal plate in his head from the war injury was causing him to sing in Korean.
Richard deemed himself a secret chef. He didn’t eat a whole lot of other people’s cooking. His specialty dish was to get all of the leftover vegetables in the refrigerator and start cooking them together in a pot. The aroma of the vegetables smelled delicious, but he’d let you know, smell if it you like, but you won’t be invited to eat them. He loved his own cooking. His sister described her brother as a jolly old fellow who enjoyed life.
Richard lived his life as Frank Sinatra would say, “I did it my way.” But no matter how we choose to live our lives, the reality is that Death is at the end of it for us all. The bible tells us there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is death. Death is closer to all of us than we think it is. If you had to meet it today and your life would be over this afternoon, would you be happy with the life you have lived. Would you be ready to go with no regrets?
Have you said your were sorry to those you hurt and granted forgiveness to those who hurt you? Would you be as certain as being in heaven tomorrow as you are of sitting in this room today. The good news is that it is still possible for you to be certain.
How many of us live as though death is a million years away from us? How many of us pay more attention to what our hair looks like than we do the condition of our souls which is what ultimately counts.
Death is significant only because it marks the end of our opportunity to have an affect upon others for the sake of Jesus Christ. For as I said before, the Scriptures tell us that there is a time for everything under the the sun. A time to be born and a time to die. The mere fact of being born is a guarantee that we shall one day die. A lifetime in eternity hangs upon the balance of the choices we make during the brief interval that we call life.
But death is not something to be feared, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die but have everlasting life. Jesus, God’s Son, said, let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. For I go to prepare a place for you. Not only has Christ gone to prepare a place for us, He has revealed to us the road in which we should follow.
Jesus tells us that there are but too roads in this life. One way has a wide gate, is a broad road and that the bulk of people travel upon it, but it leads to death and destruction. He tells us the other road has a narrow gate, is very narrow, and that few people travel upon it, but that it leads to life. Jesus himself is that narrow gate. For he issued a call, "If anyone wants life, let the person deny himself or herself, pick up his or her cross and follow me.
Have you ever wondered how good do you have to be to go to heaven and meet God. The truth is, none of us could ever be good enough to go to heaven. It’s worthless to even try it. But going to heaven isn’t about how good or how bad we have been. It’s a matter of do we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus has gone forth to prepare a place for each of us. But, we must make a choice to live for Jesus if we are to receive the place Jesus has in mind. None of us know the day nor the hour when we shall leave this world. Jesus has died on our behalf that we might have life. It’s as simple as confessing our sins, our yielding our lives to him. For in the end, the only decision that will matter is what did we do with Jesus Christ, and His claim upon our lives. For only what’s done for Christ will last.
The decision we make to live for Jesus is going to matter a thousand years from today. No one can make that decisions for us. We each have to invite God into our lives and make the decision to allow God to live in us. I challenge you to make that decision before you stand before God to give an account for your life. You can know well in advance where you will spend eternity. It’s good when we live our lives in such a way that others know that we know the Lord. If you are not in a church today, I invite you to come and join us at Glenville New Life Community Church on East 105 or at Calvary Presbyterian Church on Euclid and East 79th. We all need a church home to know the possibilities that God has spiritually for our lives.
The joy of dying in having lived for Christ is that goodbye is never goodbye. For the word of God clearly states, " Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men and women who have no hope. 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.
According to the Lord’s own words, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left at the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down form 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.
After that, we who are still alive and are left, will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. Our God is faithful.
