First of all, I want to say to you all how thankful I am to this woman who has now gone on to be with the Lord. Not only was this woman a wonderful daughter and sister, an amazing wife, a loving mother, a faithful friend, and proud grandma, but she is a woman who has truly left a legacy. I don't know how many countless people she has touched throughout her 58 years with her kind words, loving touch, by sharing in laughter, or even in the sharing of tears. I think it would be impossible to count the number of people who this amazing woman's life touched in some way or another. When I think about mom, I think about the Fruit of the Spirit that is talked about in Galatians 5. The fruit of our lives should be like the following description if we know God and are walking with Him. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self control. Those are the attributes of God, and those were the attributes of my mom. The way she demonstrated these nine fruits of the spirit have forever changed my life. And it is not just because I was often a recipient of these blessings that I was changed, but its because they testified so strongly of the reality of Christ working in her life, that it in turn led me to give my life fully to Christ in September of 2003. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." and my mom and dad have forever changed my life by showing me the true way to live. It has changed not only my life, but now my family tree too as I raise up kids as unto the Lord. The legacy does not stop there though. Because of my parents example, I am now working full time in the ministry of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Through the FCA ministry, we are touching thousands of lives in Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas with the truth of God's word. I have many opportunities to use the influence of sports to make an impact for Christ in the lives of young people. Those thousands of kids who are being impacted in one way or another for Christ may have never known my mother, but someday I hope that many of them will meet her in the resurrection and discover that she had a large part to do with them discovering truth. And her legacy continues on and on as people continue to connect with other people. As I was writing this memorial, I received a call from a friend in Des Moines, IA. He was a teammate of mine at Northwest, and although we were good friends I am fairly certain his mom had never met my mom. Years later, someone gave her a book called "Lifted Up from the Deep" and she was profoundly impacted to the point where she shared it with her son who was my friend. He called me today to let me know that his mother cried when she heard about mom's death. Although she didn't know mom, she saw mom's heart written on the pages of that book, and it impacted her in a profound way. How many stories like that are out there? Only God knows, but the legacy continues down through the ages as those people mom touched will go on a reciprocate the blessings. Ironically, a couple of week's ago I began to lead some area high school athletes through a Bible study called "Legacy Builders" in St. Joseph. The first lesson was called "What's in your box", and it was geared to help people identify the number 1 motivating factor in their life. They were to write it down and throw it in the shoe box I brought. We discovered that whatever is in our box will be the filter through which all of our decision making passes. For some it was money or success. For some it was family. For some it was friends, and for others it was sports. What I shared with the students was that all that really matters in life are the funeral topics. What do people talk about at funerals? God. Family. Friends. That's about it, and that's what life is all about. I shared with them that a relationship with Christ is the only way we can truly be fulfilled in our relationships with God and others. For Kim Simmons, the filter that every thought, emotion, action, or otherwise went through consistently, how it would it honor God, and how would it bless other people. That was what was in her box. Those of you that knew her well know that about her. And because you know that she passionately pursued the cause of Christ on the earth, you may find yourself sitting there wondering all kinds of questions about "Why?" Why would someone who devoted her whole life to God be allowed to die so early? Why would God let this happen? Why couldn't she live 10, 20, 30 or 40 more years? These things are a mystery, but one thing that mom believed wholeheartedly until the very end is Romans 8:28. This verse reads : "And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to the purpose." Notice that it does not say that God "causes" all things, but he takes the good, the bad and the ugly and weaves it together into a beautiful tapestry of grace sothat, at the end of your life, you can honestly say that by God's grace "nothing bad has ever happened to me." This is now mom's vantage point. And if that doesn't satisfy your "Why" questions, let's think about this a different way. Instead of questioning God, why don't we let God question us? What is God teaching you or showing you through this woman's life and now death? Maybe the discovery of this answer will help each of us to answer our question of "why" God allowed this to happen. For some of you, He may be showing you that you too need to live your life for Him like she did. For me, God is showing me that I need to slow life down, and take the time to show others the fruit of the spirit that my mom lived out daily. For others it may be an encouragement to finish this race strong like she did. Mom remained faithful to that race all the way to the end. We Simmons' are a sports family, so I love the Bible verses that convey truth through analogies about competition. The verse that comes to mind right now, that mom could share with you right now if she were here still here, is 2 Timothy 4:7. It reads: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Mom finished strong. I would like to just share the story of the last week of mom's life with you. The week started with a surprise that my wife Amy went into labor on Monday night. Mom was excitedly awaiting the birth of her first grandson, who was born last Tuesday night around 10:30 PM. This boy was especially treasured to her and my whole family because his name is Jason, the namesake of my older brother who died in 1998. Needless to say. mom was absolutely ecstatic. A couple of blessings she received came from the mouth of my 2 ½ year-old daughter Andrea. Right after Jason was born, Andrea crawled up in her lap and said in the sweetest little voice. "Jason loves you." It melted her heart and made her day. Imagine those words coming to her with such purity after all she has been through with her own Jason. Her and dad then took Andrea home to our house for the night and she got to have a slumber party with Andrea in her princess tent that sits atop her bed. The next morning, they woke up and were coming back to the hospital. In true Christ-like fashion, when my parents saw a couple of down and out young people walking down the highway away from an abandoned vehicle, they stopped to take them to the next gas station. As it turned out, they had an Excelsior Springs connection with the girl, and as my mom always did when given the opportunity, she gave them each one of her books and shared her faith. As it turned out, those two young people may have been her last assignment on earth to impact for Christ by showing His love and sharing His truth. But here is the part that really touched my mom that day, and I want to share that with you. About the time they were pulling into the gas station, my daughter spoke up and said: "You know. it's good to be born." Immediately the couple's attitude of grumbling about missed meetings broken down cars changed for the better, and they agreed by saying: "Andrea, you're right it is good to be born." My mom was very moved by this childlike faith. She told me on the Friday that she died, that she wanted to make that the motto for the rest of her life. "It's good to be born!" She even talked about making a t-shirt. Although her life on earth lasted only about 13 more hours from that point, this motto is as good right now as it was the minute she spoke it. Now, she has been born from above. Born-again. Born into heaven and delivered into the hands of her everlasting Father who will wipe every tear from her eyes. So, I leave you with this. From Andrea's precious little heart to my mom's, and from my beautiful mother's to mine, and now my heart to yours. Let mom's legacy continue to live on through our lives, and like her motto was, let's always remember. ‘It's good to be born."