Thursday, November 16, 2021
WELCOME – opening remarks Pastor Jessica Linhart (Bonnie Hissom)
Song: Go Rest High on that Mountain Chuck Young
Eulogy by Carol Zika Pastor Larry Board
Song Beulah Land Chuck Young
Obituary Pastor Larry Board
Scripture Reading Psalm23 Brother Harrison Johnson
Message A Gentle Giant Reverend Jessica Linhart
Song Amazing Grace Chuck Young
OPENING REMARKS: Thank you for your attendance today! This is going to be a hard time, but God is here. 2 Timothy 4:17 promises that God stands with us today and he will strenthen us. Let me express the family’s gratitude for your presence. The journey of grief is long and those who walk it should not have to walk it alone. In times like these nothing takes the place of good friends and family.
D. L. Moody said, One day you’ll read that Moody is dead. Don’t you believe it, for at that moment I will be more alive than ever before! D. L. Moody was the Billy Grahm of the 1800’s. Another time, as he lay dying, his daughter asked to pray for him, to which he replied, Oh, no, please don’t, I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life. That precious moment arrived for David Lee Stephenson and we are here to celebrate his life.
David Lee “Moose” Stephenson, husband of Ruth Zika, father of Sue Painter, Wanda Marks, and “special” father of Wanda Marks, brother, grandfather, uncle, and beloved friend of many, including his family at Hissom Tabernacle Church of the Nazarene.
As I pondered David’s passing and prayed about this service, I couldn’t help but ask myself: What can I say about this man? What would be the best way to describe him? To give him the respect due him? To let anyone who didn’t know him well, and remind those who knew and loved him, who he was and what he was like. And suddenly it came to me. The one way to describe David Lee “Moose” Stephenson – a Gentle Giant, who made you feel safe! He was so at ease. He made everyone around him feel comfortable. His humble demeanor drew people to him. Gentle Giant, who made you feel safe, and who had a servant’s heart and the gift of service.
WELL, DONE:
Let us pray:
Dear Lord, we are so grateful that you have made us all in your own image, giving us gifts and talents: which, we use to serve you. Thank you for (David Lee Stephenson’s) life, and all the years we shared with him. We lift him up to you today, in honor of the good we saw in him and the love we felt from him. Comfort his family and friends today! Allow them to focus on their memories, but give them the hope, that you for grant them a reunion day in heaven! Separation is long and it’s a hard time and I lift these, in this place, up to right now! Supply them with your peace, give them joy, and certainly Lord give them your love this hour.
In Matthew 25: 14-30 Jesus was trying to tell his disciples what the Kingdom of Heaven was like, He told the story of a man preparing for a trip, calling his servants together, and entrusting them with his money while he was away. Rather than give all the money to one man, he proportioned it according to their abilities. To one he entrusted 5 bags of silver, to another 2 bags of silver, and to the third man, 1 bag of silver.
The servant who received five bags of silver immediately invested the money and earned 5 more. The servant with 2 bags went to work earning 2 more. BUT the servant who received 1 bag, dug a hole in the ground, burying the master’s money. To make a long story short, when the master returned, he was furious with the servant who buried the money, and chastised him severally, throwing him out.
But he was most pleased with the 2 servants who invested and increased his fortune and praised them saying, Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
Those of us who knew and loved David can surely imagine that those were the words he heard from his Lord and Savior as he entered into his final home. This Gentle Giant, who made you feel safe, was truly a servant with the gift for service.
SERVICE to his country: After graduating from Logan High School, this Gentle Giant enlisted in the Navy in 1952 during the Korean Conflict, serving as a gunner on the destroyer Dortch. When he knew his country needed him, he signed up, stepped up, saying in essence, here I am, send me. He was very proud of his naval service and wore his navy cap with dignity.
SERVICE to his state: After serving 4 years in the navy, seeing the world from a ship’s deck, he returned to his beloved West Virginia, and served in the WV State Police for over 20 years, where this Gentle Giant became known as Moose. One time when he was having lunch at Gino’s in Smithers, the waitress kept saying, I know you from somewhere. This went on for a while. Then she came to the table and said, I know exactly where I know you from. You were that ________ who patrolled Gauley Bridge. This Gentle Giant was a WV Legend in the State Police.
He caried his trooper badge with him all the time. One Wednesday while we were serving dinner at our church for the homeless community, a fight broke out outside. David and Larry immediately went to the door. We all noticed the fighting stopped and weren’t quite sure what these 2 strong men had done. Well, apparently all this Gentle Giant had to do was walk out and look at them, because when I asked, did you flash your badge, he said, didn’t need to. He made you feel safe.
Well, that wasn’t the end of his commitment to justice. When Ruth told me he was a member of the Kanawha Valley Regulators, I confess I did not know who or what they were. But apparently David often said he was born too late. He should’ve been a cowboy. Kanawha Valley Regulators website says, Doing it the Cowboy Way. When you open that website, there is a picture of a posse looking group of men and one woman. And there on the front row right stands our Gentle Giant, who made you feel safe. For the shooting matches, the members have nicknames and for our David; which were: “Moose and WV Legend.”
SERVICE to his city: Well, if 20+ years as a state trooper wasn’t enough, David served 2 terms as Chief of Police in Montgomery, and a short term as Chief of Police in Hurricane. He also served as Security Guard at Putnam County General Hospital where he met his beloved wife, Ruth, who served there as a nurse. She told me once she was dealing with a man who was causing trouble and refusing to leave, but knew she was safe because David was standing behind her. The Gentle Giant who made you feel safe.
SERVICE to his family: David was a very loving, caring husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather. When we visited at Hubbard Hospice House, he shared a lot with me about his family and how proud he was of his daughter, Sue, also a nurse. It would be ok to say David Stephenson was not only in God’s hands, but in the hands and tender care of his loving, personal nurses, Ruth and Sue, 24/7. He was always requesting prayer at church for any family members who were in need.
SERVICE to his church: The first morning David showed up at our church, we introduced ourselves and he said, there are 5 churches between my house and this church, but God wants me to be here. It wasn’t long until he joined the church. One Sunday both the adult SS teachers were out. When David entered, I asked him if he would teach the adult SS class. He said, I’ve never done that before, but if you need me, I will try. I understand he did a good job. A servant with the gift of service.
When we served dinners on Wednesday night, who do you think went to the kitchen to clean up? Yes, this Gentle Giant with a gift of service would be washing dishes.
When we made a plea for hot dogs, bread, etc. for the lunch program, who do think would be the first to offer to get them. Yes, this Gentle Giant with a gift of service. And sometimes he would just stop by the church and give Felicia food to help with the lunches.
When we called a cleaning day at the church, who do you think showed up to help? Yes, this servant with the gift of service and a few other servants of the church.
When we made a plea for funds to help someone or for a special need of the church, who always gave? Yes, this Gentle Giant with a big, giving heart. When David was confined at home because of Covid regulations, he never failed to send his tithe money to the church.
When he fell and fractured his pelvis, we were all very concerned for him. But low a behold, his first Sunday back, he actually walked up the stairs to the platform to read the scripture, and received a standing ovation. He loved being included in the scripture reading rotation.
It has been and honor and privilege to know and love this Gentle Giant who made you feel safe, and who served others. Today we are gathered here, not only to mourn how different our lives will be without David Lee Stephenson, a Gentle Giant, or how different our church will feel without his presence, but to give thanks to God for his life with us and now his eternal life with God.
Any time we gather together to celebrate the life of a friend and loved one, we are reminded of the brevity and uncertainty of life, and are thankful for the promise and hope of eternal life with our God.
The Bible says to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord. After closing his eyes here, David Lee Stephenson, a Gentle Giant who made you feel safe, who served with a servant’s heart, opened his eyes in Heaven to hear, Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. He completed the race, kept the faith, and a crown of glory is now his. Let us pray.
God you are our strength. You are our refuse, our strong tower, and our shelter. Lord give each one present today strength and shelter them in your loving arms. Be with them in the challenging days ahead. Comfort us in our grief, Lord, and give us assurance of your promise of eternal life. Let us look with faith to the day when Jesus will return and we will enjoy the fullness of your promises for eternity. I ask that as each one goes back to their homes and daily schedules, please bring refreshment to the hearts and minds of those affected by this loss. Renew their strength. Revive their passion for life and relationships. Let them see your sustaining grace every day. Give them resolve to recover from the loss and face the coming days with greater hope, energy, and focus. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Doe s anyone want to share something about David?
At the Graveside – the committal.
When the people have assembled, the minister may read any or all of the following scriptures:
“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27).
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 54-58).
Forasmuch as the spirit of our departed loved one has returned to God, who gave it, we therefore tenderly commit his (her) body to the grave in sure trust and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall give to us new bodies like unto His glorious body. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”
Prayer:
Our Heavenly Father, God of all mercy, we look to You in this moment of sorrow and bereavement. Comfort these dear ones whose hearts are heavy and sad. Will You be with them, sustain and guide them in the days to come. Grant, O Lord, that they may love and serve You and obtain the fullness of Your promises in the world to come.
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21).
Live taping and video: at http://www.snodgrassfuneral.com http://www.snodgrassfuneral.com
