Eighty days have passed. The longing feeling to hold her in an embrace is present. The desire to hear her voice, to see her smile, to watch her color, to see her organize her room and toys.
One year ago she was playing outside in the woods. Feburary 3rd 2025:
Below is a summary of her service.
· Welcome/prayer– Andrew
Good morning and thank you all for coming out today as we remember and celebrate our daughter, Audrey Grace Taylor. Along with honoring her we want to give all praise and Glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Audrey loved being here at church and right up until her final weeks this was the one of the few places she still wanted to visit, where she could be with friends, family, and was loved. It has been the hope of Rachel and I that we could foster that same experience and feeling today for each of you. Audrey enjoyed seeing familiar faces and meeting new people here. She enjoyed the music. She enjoyed coloring. She enjoyed singing. She enjoyed hearing the truth from scripture. She also enjoyed the snack and food when it occurred.
So today in honor of Audrey we are going to have some singing, some coloring, some scripture truth, and of course some food and time with friends. Time to meet new people and time to see old friends.
- Let me open with a word of prayer.
- Heavenly father, we thank you for sending Audrey to Rachel and I and the sweet blessing she has been to us. We have enjoyed having her and Benjamin, Hannah, and Emma in our lives and we cherish the responsibility to loving raise them. We want to remember Audrey today but also glorify your name. We often do not see the bigger picture or understand all that is going on, especially in the lives that surround us. We find our strength in your promises and the truth including the fact that Rachel and I will see Audrey again. Just as we will see you Lord. Lord we ask your blessing over this time and for strength and wisdom in sharing. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
We are going to start with a song but a couple of items to point out. I will be walking around with a mic later if anyone would like to share a memorable moment or share some thoughtful words. I share this so you can be aware.
There is a room setup outside the sanctuary to the right if anyone needs some space – I called it the crying room.
Regarding kids or childlike adults there are some coloring pages and crayons around, some rocking chairs over here…if kids walk and move around, it’s not a big deal, we would love for folks to be comfortable and it’s great to see and hear the kids. Audrey loved watching little kids come up on stage during service or a song.
· Song – Hymn of Heaven
· Song – How Deep the Father’s Love
o Scripture reading – Rachel and I have some scripture we wanted to share that has been near our hearts during this time. Life is often measured by a certain standard. Many of these standards are not great marks though. I see folks measure by wealth, or perhaps home size and vehicles, some by prestige and how well known they are, some by power or that position that they have come to be in, others maybe by how busy their schedules are and what types of organizational boards they serve on. These things are not bad, I’m not saying that, I’m just saying do these things matter…eternally. Shifting the perspective to one that is more distant, one that is often quite hard to grasp. It’s not talked about a lot, and you certainly won’t see it on the news but the eternal perspective. Rachel and I have been touched by this passage and how to relates to our family and specifically Audrey. This passage talks about a desire, a groan it even refers to it as. For when we have obtained these temporal successes of this world like money or fame we are still empty and still longing for more. We are longing for what we were created for. Our eternal home our eternal body.
o 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
o For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
o Lastly, the word “know” is included. We know that here on Earth we are away from the Lord. We know, by faith, not by sight that we would rather be at home with the Lord. In reflecting upon this we are excited for Audrey as she is now home. Rachel and I look forward greatly to going home to be with her, more importantly with our Lord and savior Jesus for eternity. We have confidence in this. We know this in our heart. As we reflect on the this and the confidence Audrey had we encourage you to similarly reflect where your heart is. On temporal things of this world or on the eternal.
· Pastor Chris Coakley to speak.
o As I have thought about today, one of the questions that has come to my mind has been what does it mean to have a FULL life? If you have ever been to a funeral for someone who was old, you might have heard the following statement: “Man, they had a full life”. So the question then is today did Audrey have a full life? Spoiler alert: YES SHE DID. I would like to submit to you today that the length of life has nothing to do with the fullness of life. Audrey had what we ALL are looking for in life. It's those feelings and accomplishments that we are all looking for. So, what did Audrey have that we are looking for?
· 1. Love
o We are all looking to be loved; all of us have a hole that only love can fill. Not only did she have the love of her parents, family, friends, church family, but all of you here today. She was loved AND is loved.
· 2. Friends
o I can nor speak for every friend she had, and there are probably too many to count. But what I can say is that every kid in our church would consider her a friend. In fact, I would also call her a friend. I will miss the little drawings she did for me and the little jokes she would play from time to time.
· 3. Family
o She has a great family. A family that loved and worked hard for her for a long time, even up until the very end. Not only did she have great parents, but she had great brothers and sisters.
· 4. Joy
o She was such a joyful little girl. No matter what she was going through, she always had a smile on her face. Sometimes when I would check in and ask how she was doing, even right after a surgery, I would receive back this message, “she's doing ok, she is out playing right now.” She had a deep sense of Joy.
· 5. A sense of belonging
o She not only belonged to a family, but she also belonged to a church community, a school community, and others. She was accepted, and she belonged with us. In fact, I think that is one of the things that makes this so hard for a lot of us because a part of us is missing. When you belong to something, you make it better by your presence. And Audrey made the places she went better.
· 6. Peace
o Even in her pain, she found peace. I personally never heard her complain. We will talk more about this peace in a moment.
· 7. Meaning
o We are all looking for meaning, or our purpose in this life. Even though it is hard to grasp right now, or even to truly know fully. She had a purpose. She taught us all how to live well. How to fight hard. How to not let the moment ruin the journey. I know I will never forget the lessons she taught me, and I know they make me a better man.
· 8. Hope
o Finally, she had a hope. It is a hope that she now realizes is true, and it is fully complete in her. She had a hope in Jesus. Not the kind of hope where I am hoping I get this or that for Christmas, but a Hope that can only come from Heaven. A hope that says that if I believe in Jesus, accept Jesus, follow Jesus, that one day it will not matter what circumstances I faced here on earth, because I will get to walk with Jesus and talk to him face to face. Audrey believed this. She not only believed it but I personally witnessed her living this belief and hope out in her daily life. She confessed to knowing Jesus with her lips here, and I know that the moment she took her last breath, she heard Jesus confessing that He knew her and she was welcomed into Heaven. What a beautiful scene that must have been, and what a beautiful hope we can have in Jesus. You, too, can know this hope that Audrey held onto. A hope that she now fully realizes. If you would like to or want to talk further about this, you can see Andrew or Rachel, or me. I am not sure I know anyone who had it worse than Audrey, but let me be clear. She has it better than any of us right now. I would like to close with a song from Switchfoot. I was talking to a friend of mine, Jordan, and he said this song came on after Audrey had passed. It’s called live it well:
· Song – How He Loves Me
· Open mic time – Andrew to offer the congregation the opportunity to share – walk mic around and hug folks, carry box of tissues
· Song – What a Friend We Have in Jesus
· Closing prayers/thanks/ invite to TeaParty and mingling after last song – Andrew
o Special thanks to our church family, Pastor Chris, Chris Bailey, Jordan and Leah Schaeper with music, Levi and Josh on tech with lighting and sound, Gideon Snyder with Snyder Funeral home. Wife Rachel for continuing to honor Audrey and how strong she has been to maintain normalcy for our family. Thank you God our father in heaven and salvation alone through Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
o Closing prayer
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