Last May, Eunice called me after a doctor’s appointment and asked me to meet her at the apartment. I had a feeling on my drive over that the news was not good. That day she told me that she had 3-6 months to live. We cried so hard. Then we got the idea to ask the Lord for more time. We prayed right then. God gave her an extra 6 months, and she invested it well. At her next appointment we asked Dr. Heath how "the end" would be and he told us that once Eunice's liver stopped functioning, she would fall into a deep sleep and that would be right near the end. That day we walked out to the parking lot at the Cancer Center and danced a jig. She wanted to go out to celebrate God's goodness! During dinner she said, "I don't dread the future now. I know this is a merciful thing God has done for me."
This is the first time I have been in this church without Eunice. As I look out there I miss my friend.
This past year Eunice decided that we would try to do some things she had never done before. So after one of her surgeries we arranged to have a sleep-over at her apartment. She had never been to one and thought it was a great idea. She was like a little girl. We crawled into bed and she said, "I have never been to a Pajama party before so you’ll have to tell me what to do." I said, "Well, we talk about boys of course!" "OOOOOH," she said, "tell me about Paul’s kisses." I thought, "WOW, this girl cuts right to the chase!" So I told her that after 29 years his kisses still give me butterflies and my knees get weak." She lit up and exclaimed, "HOW DELICIOUS!"
She liked to have a good time! She once had a pet mink named, Randy. Her mink liked to go places with her so she carried him in her purse. She stopped taking him to stores when Randy poked his head out of her purse one day and scared a sales clerk half to death. She nearly fainted.
We are here this morning, in part, to remember, and mourn the loss of a remarkable woman. Even a reporter from the Roanoke times called yesterday and based on the information in her obituary, wanted to do a feature story about her in today’s Roanoke Times. Her cheerful smile, encouraging words, and positive attitude were infectious. Many of the emails sent to her while she lived out her last days in our home were filled with gratitude for her life, love, and laughter.
While we are here to mourn our loss, we are also here to celebrate a life, changed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.
It may surprise you to know that Eunice was not always the happy woman we came to know and enjoy.
Nine years ago, in 1994, after traveling the country for 10 years, Jim and Eunice had parked their Airstream trailer in a trailer court in Tennessee, where Eunice met a woman named JoAn. One evening Eunice had shown JoAn and her husband how to play a Domino game called Mexican Train. JoAn loved the game so much she went to her friends in the trailer park to show them how to play it. She did not know that Eunice had her heart and soul set on making new friends by showing them this game herself. So imagine the surprise Eunice had when she took her dominos to some potential friends and found out that JoAn had already been there and shown them that game. Eunice told me that she was furious with JoAn. How dare this JoAn burst her bubble! She marched right over to JoAn’s, pounded on her door told her off, and demanded an apology. Can you imagine JoAn’s astonishment? JoAn asked her in, and gave her a heartfelt apology. JoAn was a believer. She knew who she belonged to, so Eunice didn’t shake her foundation a bit. She had such a soft answer for Eunice that it turned away her wrath. From that time on, Eunice had so much respect for JoAn that when JoAn shared the good news of Jesus Christ with her, Eunice listened.
Let me interject here how astonished I was when Eunice told me this story. It was hard to believe that my bubbly, enthusiastic friend once behaved in that way. I said, "Eunice I can’t believe you were like that! Then she proceeded to tell me other things she had done; how negative and petty she had become, how much she hated her own attitude. Then one day in 1994 it all changed. I’ll read it as JoAn wrote it in her email.
"Don & I remember that day - July 9, 1994 - when walking through the woods after Bible study and you shared that you sure wanted to learn more about the Bible. And the angels rejoiced in Heaven that day when you asked Jesus to come into your life and be your Saviour and Lord."
Eunice wrote on the cover of her Bible, "I shall always love my dearest friend, JoAn, for helping me see my God as my Savior. He has forgiven my sin, and my name is written in the Lambs book of life. There is no fear in death for me for I know I will be with Him in Heaven.
Had we met Eunice before 1994, as she tells it, we would not have seen the woman we all knew and loved. The woman we have known and have loved is a new creation. God had transformed her life as He promises to do for all who come to Him. We were blessed to be a part of her life. Many who called and wrote commented on her enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm has its root in the Greek word, Enthousiasmos, meaning God Within. That was the secret to Eunice’s joy, even in the face of death. She was certain of God’s indwelling spirit. {God Within} She knew she had a Shepherd that she could trust to lead her all the way home.
The day she moved into our home I took her luggage out from storage and she packed it with 3 leisure outfits, 3 pair of pajamas, and her overnight kit. I said, "Eunice is that all you want to take with you?" "Don’t you want to take some pretty things to decorate your room?" She looked around at all the treasures in her apartment that she had collected from all over the world. Then she walked over to a table and took a small picture of Jesus holding a little lamb to his chest. "This," she said, "is all I’ll ever need." I have the picture sitting on the altar here so you can look at it as I speak.
One morning I woke up and went to check on her. I had propped that little picture up beside her pillow so she would see it first thing in the morning when she awoke. I found her fast asleep but in the early morning light she had seen the picture, reached out to it, and had fallen asleep with her finger pressed against the glass. She had learned the most important of life’s lessons. She didn’t need any other earthly treasure to be happy. She only needed Him.
Mark wanted to use a scripture verse on her website and the one that I found was from Ps 116:15 which says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. There were times at the very end, when she could no longer communicate, or sip water, that I prayed, "Lord, show me how this is precious. God always answers prayer, and this is what he showed me. My children, who had been working with the Franklin Graham Festival and had been away all day, into the night, phoned to say they were on their way home. I started preparing a snack and found myself anxiously waiting and looking out the window for their car headlights. Maybe you’ve felt that way when you were waiting for your grown children to arrive. They pulled into the drive and I found myself jumping up and down with joy. "They’re home, they’re home," I shouted to Paul. They came through the door smiling, happy to be home and last, and God’s word spoke to me. This is what the process of death is for Him. He awaits our return. He has prepared a place for us, who believe in Him, and he waits for the appointed time to take us home. Precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of His saints, because we are going home at last to Him; our creator, redeemer, and friend.
I could list Eunice’s accomplishments because they were many but what she would boast most about in life was her Lord. We do mourn our loss today, but for Eunice, she has gained eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is cause for rejoicing. Amen and Amen.