On behalf of the family we welcome you. Your presence is much appreciated. There is a group behind the pall bearers who are of this ministry that Tyler believed in. From the time Tyler was a baby he would come to fellowship meetings and as a child he and his siblings – I hesitate to say ‘played meeting’ – because it meant a lot to him and to his parents. One of the hymns that Tyler chose often is in the folder; “We Have Found Him”. Those involved in mission work in Kansas and Nebraska and surrounding states will sing that hymn to begin the service.
“We Have Found Him” sang by the workers present.
LeRoy Sandford prayed
DARLA FISHER: “We have found Him – bear the tidings far”. Bearing tidings wasn’t just in word, but in actions and in spirit. Many times these days we have heard “Everyone loved Tyler.” And we have known that, but Tyler loved everyone and we know that. A ‘generation gap’ was something Tyler didn’t know. He loved the very young and he loved the elderly and if there was anything that could cause a generation gap his hand was outstretched in kindness and love and reached over that and it means a lot to us today because of something we understand. We know Tyler loved God and it wasn’t just the kindness of Tyler we were knowing, but it was the kindness of God through Tyler that we were feeling and were knowing. That was why it means so much to us. These days I have been so aware of the feeling of the coldness of reality. The reality of Tyler’s death is like walking outside and feeling the cold winter wind hitting you and your response is to turn and flee and we would rather not face it. Do you know what God is offering is like a warm coat so you can endure the cold. God is offering to us the warmth of His comfort and His presence so we can endure. When Jesus was on the cross they offered Him vinegar mixed with gall. That was in order to ease the pain, but Jesus refused it. So many times these days I have wanted to take away the pain but I realized that in doing that I would be refusing love because if we love we will have pain. But what we pray for and what God is so willing to give is comfort. Jesus said “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” That is what we do today; we leave it in God’s hands. Luke 22 Jesus prayed in the garden and he said “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me”. He would rather not take it. He knew what was before Him; bearing our sin; separated from His father’s face, but he said “But nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”. That is wholly resignation and there appeared an angel strengthening Him. He knew the comfort and strength to endure the situation ahead. And then it says He prayed more earnestly. That is what God is offering us – strength to endure our situation. Jesus was not preserved – Tyler’s life could not be preserved, and Tyler had found Him and He found the One who can preserve his soul. And we thank God He planned it so.
SHARON CARROLL: Ecclesiastes 12 Solomon in all his wisdom he said this “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Words that were inspired by the Holy Spirit and they are made real again this morning. We know Tyler could have done lots in this world because he gave his heart to everything he did, but early in his life he gave his life to Jesus. We witness that submission that commitment to the God of heaven understanding that my life is not my own, but belongs to God. Some went into Tyler’s bedroom and found his bible open on his bed. It could have been something else. He was exercising that which was Godly. He was a good boy, but he was more than that; he was Godly. Even that last day talking to his sisters he told them he loved everyone in this world – “there is no one I hate”. He lived for others – not to himself. I thought of Jesus and His last hours. He uttered to His Father “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. Even to those who did not say they were sorry that they had nailed Him to the cross, but still He asked for their forgiveness. Vs. 6 is a picture of a pitcher broken by the fountain. We know the broken things of this world are discarded, but broken things are precious to God. Like Tyler’s reading his bible that morning – his life filled with the living water is still going to effect our life yet today. We can read about the living word – we think of Tyler in the Sunday morning meeting. He was filled with the living word and sharing with others. Tyler at first read for himself and then he brought that to the meeting so it could cleanse and refresh his brethren. The scripture tells us a broken contrite heart God will not despise. Tyler was speaking from this book of his life and said “I am so thankful God ever spoke to me”. We read of a broken alabaster box. She said so much more with her life than she did with her words. That she wanted to spend eternity with God.
Up in a quaint old attic
As the raindrops pattered down,
I sat paging through an old schoolbook
Dusty, tattered and brown
I came to a page that was folded down
Across it was written in childish hand,
"The teacher says to leave this for now,
It's hard to understand."
I unfolded the page and read,
Then I nodded my head and said,
"The teacher was right, now I understand"
There are lots of pages in the book of life
That are hard to understand
All we can do is fold them down and write:
"The teacher says to leave this for now,
It's hard to understand."
Then someday-only in Heaven-
We will unfold the pages again,
Read them, and say "The teacher
Was right; now I understand."
When it comes to the death of the person
Whom we are laying to rest today,
About all we can do is fold down the page
And write, "The teacher says to leave this for now,
IT'S HARD TO UNDERSTAND."
We are so so thankful to the God of heaven and we just want to leave it to Him. Vs. 13: “ … the conclusion of the whole matter”. The end of it. Nothing more to say. We see in Tyler – in our little Tyler – we see the fruit of that. That it is not in vain, but it is what life is all about. We are so so reminded of a Father who was so willing to give His Son. Our Father who did not hold back, but gave His perfect Son. Because of that sacrifice we can have rest and hope in the resurrection. We can feel as a sister once said a long time ago: “I know my brother – I know our little Tyler – will rise again.”
STANLEY MORRISON: I just want to read one verse this morning. Acts 17:31 “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” The more I look into that verse the greater it becomes. There is a whole lot of things contained in that verse. I lost a brother in 1957 in a farming accident and I decided later that it was harder on my parents than on me. The reason is it was my brother and it was their son. I think I can understand a lot better how Darren, Brianna and Tonya feel than Duane and Brenda, but even if we can’t fully understand we can care. With this verse he made it very clear the reality of the judgment day. If we do not face every day with reality we do not get very far. If we do not face eternity with reality we won’t get far either. We will be judged by the righteousness of Jesus. That is all. It is not what we have done or have not done that will matter. Does our thinking matter? I remember stopping at Grotz’s when Tyler was about four years of age. I told him “I knew your mother when she was younger than you.” He looked at me in total disbelief. And If we would have told him a week ago that we would be at his funeral today he would not have believed that either. You can think a lot of things and so can I, but remember this that we will be judged by Christ and there is no getting around it. I would like to say this to all the younger people especially to remember you have no guarantee on tomorrow. We have no guarantee - -- whether you serve God or reject Him that is what you will be judged by. That is just the reality of life.
What is the ultimate meaning of life
Babyhood, boyhood, prime,
Down to the age of the tottering step
Is it merely a passing of time?
This is the ultimate meaning of life:
Time to become like God’s Son
This is our hope as we toil in the strife,
Our rest when the labor is done.
Do we let Him work or do we think we can do it without Him? The reality of life is pretty real sometimes. On the day of my brother’s funeral my mother greeting one of the men who brought them the gospel with; “Where would we be today if you had not brought the gospel?” It was what brought comfort. This verse does not mention forgiveness, mercy, love or grace and yet it does because it is what we do with Jesus. If we accept Him we have forgiveness, mercy, love and grace to do what we need to do. I am not going to be judged by what I have done in the community or anything here but I will be judged by what I have done with Christ Jesus.
LEROY SANDFORD: Matthew 16:24-28 We have been asking the question if there was something that Tyler mentioned especially in the fellowship meetings and the answer that was given is that he often prayed to “remember that nothing matters but salvation”. With that thought this verse “taking up my cross” and then “whosever shall save his life shall lose it”. When we are aware that nothing matters but salvation that is what makes us willing to lay down our life. Tyler was a farmer and every spring a lot of seed was sown in the ground and died, but what came forth was so much more than that. It is the same thought spiritually. That whatever we lose here on earth is really not lost. We do not buy salvation do we, but what we do is submit to God and fall into the ground and die and now it mentions the glory of Jesus coming in the glory of his Father with his angels and then he says “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” One thought is if I have a vision of the Son of man coming into His kingdom it does not matter what I have to die to - I am willing if I can have a part with Him. Another aspect that there were some standing there who were on the Mount of Transfiguration and they saw Jesus change and what a tremendous experience to see that, but there was a connection with that in II Peter 1:16-19 What is this “no sure word of prophesy”? We understand the day star being the sun. We see the sun rise and we can see everything of this creation clearly, but if we go out at night everything is the same because it is dark. But what about the sun rise in our hearts? It’s like seeing Jesus within ourselves. When that happens we have something that no one can take from us. We are just so grateful that this was Tyler’s experience. We do not want to lose the reason for Tyler’s life and we do not want to lose the impression of this day and we do not want to lose what God has for us individually.
Hymn “It Pays to Serve Jesus” sang by Tyler’s young friends 30 years old and under.
Minnesota: Roy Williams, Bruce Van Shelton, Alfred BroadyGRAVESIDE SERVICE
“When Life Is Ended” sang by crowd
JOHN SMART: It’s been really special to be with the Grotz’s the last four days. I don’t have much to add but what came to my mind Thursday afternoon when we were at the funeral home was God is asking His people to love Him and that is what I saw there. We love the kindness that was shown by the neighbors and friends coming to the house, but when we could look at Tyler and let him go because we believe in the resurrection and because we know that if we would ask him that he would not want to come back and so such a tragedy on Tuesday night will change the lives of his family forever, but they saw the Lord on the throne and they understood what He is trying to do for His people and they can bow their head and worship and that is what I am thankful for today.
Roy Williams prayed
Workers PresentKansas/Nebraska: LeRoy Sanford, Owen Heisler, Stanley Morrison, Leslie Pountney, Brad Stuefen, Eric Hahn, Don Davidon, Douglas Ogden, John Smart, Virginia Kleeb, Judy BIxby, CHristina Creech, Julie Harthorn, Sheila Miller, Darla Fisher, Roanne Kooy, Michelle Lord, Amy Ngo, Jana Jelinek, Lara Wilhoit, Anna Cronk
Iowa: Loran Skaw, Susan Eicher, Doreen Beyer, Shari Connelly, Jennifer Bartels,
Marybelle Armstrong, Anita Forsberg, Grace Henderson
Missouri: Tim Vaughan, Warren Taylor
South Dakota: Gayle Motley, Angie Olson
Oklahoma: Ken Pinney
Here is a link to an article posted in the local York newspaper regarding the service:
York newspaper article of Tyler's funeral
Following are some pictures taken by a friend of ours commemorating the day. Please know how much your thoughts, prayers, and continued care means to us. The posts you have left will help us understand just how far reaching our own pain is felt, but also how much love is shared across the globe in this dear family of God.
Thank you again for all you've shared.
Duane, Brenda, Brianna, Tonya, Darren & Cara
