August 11, 1927 - March 26, 2007
given on Friday, March 30, 2007 at the
Charles Cookman Memorial Service
Glad Tidings Church, Dunn, North Carolina
Tribute and Benediction
in honor of
Dr.
Charles H. Cookman
August 11, 1927 - March 26, 2007
given on Friday, March 30, 2007 at the
Charles Cookman Memorial Service
Glad Tidings Church, Dunn, North Carolina
by
Rev. Dr. Mark Muirhead
910, I know that area code, don’t you?
Whether it was rotary dial back in 1966, you could dial that area code from
anywhere in the world, it would take you to 102 Fairground Road, Dunn, North
Carolina!
910-892-2827 and from anywhere in the world you could dial it and you
could always be assured one or two people were going to answer!
910-892-2827 and you’d hear a warm voice and I would say “Well, who is this?”
“Why this is the old daddy rabbit here,” and there would always be that
connection of comfort. When you would call, you would always be lifted up.
And as I look at my watch right now, why its, its lunch time! So I would make my
call. Many times and we would go out to lunch, my wife, and son and I, and
the Cookmans.
One of the last times he and I ate lunch together we began to get in the car.
Brother Cookman could talk a lot about different kinds of food. He would tell
me and take me through explorations about how a rutabaga was planted and how it
would grow and how it could be boiled and how it could be mashed. He’d tell me
about greens and things like onion sandwiches, as we would get ready to stop to
our lunch spot.
The last time we had lunch
together, just the two of us, we were at a cafeteria. We were standing there
looking at the menu and there he was, the general himself, brushing that
mustache as he was looking over the menu choices. I had ordered the fish with a
salad and vegetables that day and he stroked that mustache and said, “I’ll have
the four vegetable plate!” He stroked the mustache again, “I’ll have
broccoli, and carrots!” Then to my amazement, he declared his final two
choices, “And then, I’ll have macaroni and cheese and apple pie!” I
said, “Brother Cookman, are those part of the
four vegetable family?” And he said, “YES, you can
dip your hat in the creek with that.”
Esther, God will comfort you. Not a day of your marriage you didn’t
know he unconditionally loved you and the children and the grandchildren. He
whole heartily loved God and you know this day he whole heartily loved people,
he loved you. And Esther, we’ve talked about this, he loved the ministry family,
his colleagues. Take a look around the room, Esther, would you, just take a look
around the room. Because standing on their feet are Assemblies of God
ministers, ministers of fellowships in the charismatic movement and other
denominations! Their standing to their feet right now! I want you to see some
of the treasures Ester that have come to say “Charles Cookman loved us, we
loved him and our lives are better today!” Esther, go ahead stand, and
take a look around the room. We come today as a family, your extended family
to say Esther, we love you and the family and Charles loved us and we come
today to love God, and honor Charles. We thank God for a man named Charles
Hardy Cookman and his lovely wife, Esther. Praise Be Unto God. Look at the
treasure around you today Esther, look at your friends that are here, people he
invested his life in. I want to thank you my dear colleagues for coming. You are
brothers and sisters that Charles Cookman so dearly loved. Esther, God will
comfort you.
And to the children, God will
direct you. Pastor Tim Rice and I were in the hospital the last Wednesday of
your Dad’s life. And Tim it was a life moment for both of us, my son was there.
Brother Cookman grabbed our hands, the pastor and I, and he put our hands on
his heart, and he said, “Pray for my heart”. Pastor Rice and I put our hands on
his chest to pray for his heart, and in that moment as this moment that is here
with us now, I thank God that that little boy accepted Jesus Christ as his
Savior and Lord into his heart. That he had a Godly mother; your grandmother
that stood up for Christ in the midst of the poverty that the depression
era was filled with great dismay. Vegetable eating reminded him
of the tough days of where he came from. But in spite of the fact that his
father left the home when he was five years old, thank God for a mother that
raised him up, sent him to church, exposed him to a world wide family that comes
from knowing Jesus Christ as Savior. Charles Cookman’s life, has let you, his
children, and all of us know, that no matter how tough times can be in your
life, no matter what circumstances you come from, when Christ is planted in your
heart, you won’t waive the victim card, you’ll waive the victory
card! It's all because Jesus Christ made a difference in your dad. In spite of growing up in
a fatherless home, he became a great father!!! You can overcome any obstacle in
the name of the Lord. God will direct you, children of Charles Cookman. Jesus
was in his heart, Jesus is in your heart and your bloodline is an extension of
our Lord and Savior and your great dad.
To the grandchildren, I want you to look at me. Your grandmother, God’s going to comfort her. Your parents, God’s going to direct them. But you, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren, God will guide you. God will guide you. And yes I will pre-suppose what Charles Cookman will say. Which he would say to me, “Say whatcha want and tell ‘em I said it.” God will guide you. When General William Booth passed away the Salvation Army on August 21st, 1912, sent out this bulletin., “The General has laid down his sword” Here’s the bulletin for the grandchildren of Charles Cookman. The General has shared his sword. God will guide you. And your granddaddy, the old daddy rabbit, would call you in your lifetime to be a pioneer! You can rise up with the pioneer spirit not to merely imitate what other people do for the Lord Jesus Christ! How we thank God for people that have done things before us, but your granddaddy would want you to be an innovator, not an imitator. Go to the original and copy from Jesus Christ. Don’t let your life or ministry just be a copy of what someone else has done or perpetuated. There are gifts your granddaddy would say, that are in you and can rise up! He rose up! You can overcome great obstacles, overcome great challenges create something great and lasting for the Savior in your lifetime. Go for it! Let God guide you as a pioneer, just like your Granddaddy, a church planter, an encourager for new churches to start! God’s comfort, His direction, His guidance will be with you and all of us. Grandchildren, God will guide you.
In closing, I want to show and share with you what was posted on his hospital room door, grandchildren, hear these last words he dictated, “Enter, Pray, Believe, Have Faith. Converse, chit-chat, fellowship, enjoy each other’s company – in the waiting room – or other eating areas.” Do that, and grandchildren, God will guide you.
Today, that phone number I have given you, we all have and it’s listed! I can hear Charles voice, “And don’t all of you call it today!” But in the next few weeks you call and if Esther or one of the family members don’t pick up, your going to hear a voice on that answering machine, “This is Charles and Esther Cookman, we’re not in right now, but if you’d please leave a message, we’ll look forward to getting back to you.” Oh, someday we’ll all be getting together again!
Well it’s about lunch time, there’s some
vegetables to eat today! Charles Cookman is in heaven, and I know he’s been
looking for the banquet eating table! There’s no calories there! There’s no
carbohydrates, there’s no clogging of the arteries anymore!
Charles Cookman is
in heaven, but yet I hold dear to my heart 892-2827.
Let us pray:
Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for this
gathering. To come together in the midst of our mourning and the challenges we
face with the transition of one we so loved. No one can understand in this
room, Lord, what Esther and the children, grandchildren are going through in
regard to this specific situation. But Lord, You do, You do. And, so You’re
comforting them, You’re directing them, You’re giving them guidance. And his
life goes on through them and us. “Let the words of our mouth and the
meditations of our heart be acceptable in Thy sight Oh Lord our strength and our
redeemer,” from this point and onward. We give you all the praise and all
the glory for the life of Charles Hardy Cookman, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and
all of God’s people said a strong ‘AMEN!’
This (pointing to the casket) was the Assemblies of God ordained superintendent;
in 1966 their were 78 churches in North Carolina; when he left office in 1992 there
were 201 churches; oh yes, let’s make it a real strong, ‘AMEN!’
This benediction hymn was Charles Cookmans favorite, let us sing,
“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen!”