My Papa's Eulogy

Robert Ball was born April 29, 1930 in Kenova, West Virginia. He passed away October 18, 2016 in Titusville, Florida. These are the notes of the eulogy I delivered at his funeral. 

My name is James Alexander, and I had the great honor of calling Robert Ball my Papa. So now I'd like to honor him with a eulogy. I hope it builds your faith in Jesus of Nazareth, my Papa’s King and Savior. 


I'll begin with a note I found in his own Bible which said this:

“There is no new message – the same message.There is no new hope – the same hope, only the hope that Christ has brought, and is bringing.There is no new way – the same way.Christ has set His message on a hill, and you and I are the hill.Let us not cover it up, but let it so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify the Father.”

I'm not going to say any new message today. I'm going to tell you about my Papa, and I'm going to tell you about Jesus, and I'm going to proclaim to you the Gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom because that's where Papa met Jesus.  So let's meditate together on Psalm 1 because Papa saw Jesus there very clearly. Psalm 1 was written by King David, the beloved shepherd of Israel, with whom I hope my Papa is getting to meet as we hold this funeral. 

Psalm 1 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Today, I'm going to tell you 3 things mainly. First, I'm going to tell you how my Papa was like a tree whose fruit nourished us all. Second, I'm going to tell you about Jesus, because Papa wouldn't have been like a tree in the first place  if It weren't for Jesus. Third, I'm going to tell you the Gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom. And in displaying these three things, my goal is to stir up your appetite and joy for God.

Rare and precious are the men who meditate day and night on the Law of the Lord. Rare and precious are the trees in our world today – men whose roots tap straight into the Jesus of the Bible, and whose greatest delight is God. By God’s grace, my Papa was one of these rare mighty trees. And I'm here as just one person out of many who were brought to life by the fruit he produced and the shelter he provided.

Now most of you may want to take the metaphors of Psalm 1 figuratively and only regard them as symbolic language. But that's not what my Papa taught me. He taught me Psalm 1 is to be taken literally. When David says the blessed man will be like a tree, he really means it. “Now people are just like plants, son, now don't forget that,” Papa used to tell me. And it's true. The Bible says so, and my Papa said so. Every one of us is a tree that produces some sort of fruit by our words and actions. The words you listen to and believe and repeat, and the actions you do will prove what type of tree you are – whether or not you are planted in the truth of Jesus.

So one of the honors that I owe my Papa today is to show you what a man looks like when he is a tree planted on Jesus. And my goal is that when you see what a blessed and happy man Papa was, then you'll crave the same Jesus who made him so happy. No new message – when you see Robert Ball, you should really see Jesus. Why? Because every person in here should want to be just like my Papa – a God-obsessed, people-caring, life-giving tree like he was. But you'll never be like that unless you feast on the same Jesus who made Papa a good man in the first place. A proper eulogy for Papa should erupt in happy worship of Jesus Christ. I can't think of a better way for his funeral to be more consistent with his life. If you think this is the funeral of a good man, then you haven't taken it far enough; this is the celebration of a saint – a man with no hope of being good unless God had supernaturally set him apart as holy. You want to be a good man like my Papa? Then don't aim for Papa – feast on Jesus because He alone can make you good.

So let's ponder again how a man who delights himself in God’s law is like a fruit-bearing tree. What’s the purpose of a tree's fruit? I can find at least 4 big Biblical reasons God made life-sustaining fruit trees, and as I say these then you who knew him well will be able to see a clear picture of Robert Ball.

God made fruit-bearing trees:
1) To feed the hungry (Gen 1:29, 2:9),
2) To shelter the vulnerable (Lev 23:40, Nm 24:5-6, Ps 104:17, SS 1:17, Ez 31:3)
3) To give pleasure to people (Gen 2:9), and
4) To multiply itself (Gen 1:12,28)

You all see my Papa in that list? To God’s glory, he couldn't help but do these things.
Anyone in here ever get to watch him feed the hungry – or perhaps he fed you? Were any of you sheltered by him when you were vulnerable? Was Robert Ball ever interested in your personal gladness, especially your gladness in God? And did he multiply himself by planting in others what God had grown in him?

You better believe he did.

Papa’s words and actions were a constant source of nourishment to people, because he just kept passing along to us what God was feeding him.

I'd like to tell you some of the fruits with which my Papa nourished me. I'm going to list briefly just a few of the thousand soul-strengthening, faith-building blessings my Papa fed to me as if they were apples from a tree.

This is where I really hope you see and savor Jesus, and worship Him as holy.

The firstfruits of how Papa fed and nourished me:

-Fishing – Papa took me to a trout farm for my first fishing trip when I was about 3 or 4 years old. The first fish I caught flopped around and scared me so that I ran away, and Papa still belly-laughed at me about that as recently as a few months ago.

-Presence – Papa was there, which is not an easy quality to find these days. He was so good at showing up to just be with you, and when he was with you he really attended to you, took interest in you, and enjoyed you.

-Clocks – I grew up thinking Papa’s collection of clocks was famous. It showed he loved the inventions and mechanisms of God’s creation, and respected the inevitability and responsibility of Time.

-Humor – This man was so glad to be so glad. If there was a melancholy hair on his body then he would've shaved it off, or else he just hid it from his grandson. That's not to say he didn't have plenty to be upset about, of course he did. But he had a real gift of cheer, and he used it liberally. We all wanted to be right next to him all the time. 

-Gravity – His humor was well-balanced by a solemn experience of pain. He knew severe hardship from his earliest memories. He could be as silly as a teacup one moment and then deep as an ocean the next, and he would never miss a beat.

-Antiques – I don't even know where to get started on this one. He loved antiques – loved connecting himself to ancient junk and treasure and seeking the value of it. He loved to redeem things like that; actually he loved redemption in all its forms.

-Nature – He fostered in me a love of woods and rivers and growing things that I'll never outgrow.

-Food – I always felt when I was in his house that he was actually happy to share meals with me. And Papa loved going out to eat. And let's be honest – I think he never had any intention of obeying the Dr’s restrictions on food. Avoid Cracker Barrel and Bob Evans and gravy and steaks on his birthday? You can forget it!

-Patriotism – This man loved this country. Especially toward the end of his life, he wanted his family  to steward well the gifts of liberty he had inherited.

-Compassion – He was orphaned when he was 9, and he didn't receive so much as a crumb of compassion from some of the people who owed it to him most. It is remarkable, then, that he became so tender-hearted toward people when he became a Christian. Where did he learn that kind of mercy? He learned it straight from the risen Lord Jesus.

-Toughness and Manhood – Do not think his compassion was weakness. Quite the opposite. He was tough as nails and never complained, and he taught us grandsons to follow suit. When I was 18 I suffered perhaps the hardest week of my entire life even to this day. Nana & Papa came to be with us for it (e.g. Presence). With great compassion and toughness, he did not invite me to cry in his lap or sulk. He put me in the car, and took me to apply for a job, and charged me with helping take care of my family from now on. Then he told me to be a man. And I am so glad he did. His leadership helped secure me in a world that now pretends there's no such thing as a man.

-Marriage – 67 years to his only wife, and at the end he still flirted with her like a teenager. I’m a witness that he didn't just love Nana, he enjoyed her, and he craved her. He taught us boys that a real man doesn't just have a wife, he earns a wife. Every day he treated her like a prize he had won. My marriage is stronger because of their marriage, and because he enjoyed Nana so well.

-Singing – From my earliest memories of him, that man sang to me. All kinds of things. Old music, good music. I'm talking everything, from "I've Been Working on the Railroad" to "The Old Rugged Cross". Papa nourished me with every note.

-Love for The Church – His zeal and affection for God’s Church remained red hot even when dowsed with buckets of cold betrayal and prejudice.

-Love for The Bible – He  taught me the Bible is a shield of truth - don't just quote it, hide yourself in it.

How many more of these sweet fruits could I list and expound upon? Plenty! But I only have time to show you just one more, and it may be the sweetest of all.

-The Gospel – Now that Papa is gone, what he's given me will nourish me beyond just 67 years of marriage – it'll feed me on into eternal life! He fed me the sweet Gospel of Jesus Christ. He's the first man I remember hearing say the word “Gospel” with real affection in his voice. In his later years, he became obsessed with one single, subtle expression of the Gospel called the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

In his honor, I'd like to proclaim to you the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven from his favorite parable.

The parable is in Luke 10, is only 12 verses long, and it reads like this: 

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” 
And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Here is the Gospel within the parable of the Good Samaritan: Jesus is the Good Samaritan who saves your life and pays your bill. You and I have been beaten, stripped, and left for dead by our own sin. And if you have not yet recognized yourself in this broken state of despair and helplessness, then you will treat the Samaritan’s compassion as optional or quaint. But receiving this mercy is not optional – it is life itself! If you are still so strong that you have not yet received the Samaritan’s care, then you will never be able to pass it along to others because no one can give what they haven't received.

Do you want to know the dynamite of it all for my Papa? As benevolent as he was, my Papa identified himself not as the Samaritan showing compassion, but as the wounded man who received God’s compassion. Only when you receive God’s mercy can you give God’s mercy.

It is in this spirit that Papa said repeatedly what I also found in the personal notes of his Bible: 

“Giving yourself is the expression of compassion… You must be willing to cross the road as Christ crossed it for you.”

So I tell you, beloved friends and family, Robert Ball crossed the road for many of you because Christ had crossed the road for him and was greeted by faith.

Now I say to you with no new faith, but the same faith as our beloved Pastor Ball, Uncle Bob, Papa, and daddy: you go, and do likewise.

Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.”