Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV
Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks put the circumstances of our lives, both good and bad into God’s hands and help us see them through His eyes. Last night our beloved daughter-in-law Melinda slipped from this world into the presence of Jesus. And while we are overwhelmed with grief and shock, these words are promises to which we cling. Melinda has finished her race. Her battle with cancer is finished. And while that pernicious disease claimed her physical life, it could not touch her soul. That remained fully and exclusively in the hands of Jesus with whom she now lives. Nancy and I didn’t know how to process the news that came in three words. “She is gone.” Yet as sadness rolls over my heart I sense the message echo back from Heaven, ” She has arrived!”
I will delight myself in Thy statutes. I will not forget Thy word. Psalm 119:16 KJV
When we are serving in memory care facilities, stirring memories is a great beginning, but as Christian workers, we must set higher goals. After all, in the facilities where those struggling with cognitive decline live there are others who are already doing that. They play songs from the distant past, present old movies and employ a variety of resources to stir up the residents’ minds. But God gave us music as a key to unlock a door, and we need to do more than just open it. We need to walk through that door with the Gospel. Now, I venture to say that you imagine that this is a tall order for folks who can barely recall their own names, and I will be the first to agree with you. Effectively sharing with our friends in memory care is a unique challenge that can only be overcome when the Holy Spirit is at work. Just as the message Jesus gave to the thief on the cross was very different from the challenges and teaching, He gave to His disciples, so our goals must be simpler and more direct. Though I occasionally begin a song by first sharing, an encouragement, or a memory of my own, most of the message is wrapped in the songs themselves. The wonderful thing about Hymns is not just that they are familiar, easy to sing or happy. The best hymns give the message of the Gospel in three to five verses. As I lead my friends in song, I try my best to lead them from, “This Little Light of Mine, through the Garden of Prayer, and ultimately all the way to the Old Rugged Cross. Though the specific song selection that you use may be different than mine, the trajectory should be the same. God has put us in places where very few others have the privilege of going, with a message so simple that even a child can understand and even our friends living in memory care can embrace! Memory loss, Parkinson’s, and Dementia create a seemly endless storm in the some of our loved ones and those precious to us. But when we stand with them in the eye of that storm, remember that Jesus is standing there with us. He is the Master of the Storm and the Pilot who can lead us safely into harbor.
Peter came up and he said to Him, “Lord, how often will my brothet sin against me and I forgive him?” Matthew 18:21 ESV
The forgiveness Peter hoped was good enough, entailed adding and subtracting. But the Lords’ answer took him by surprise, when Jesus moved the conversation from addition to multiplication. Peter’s problem, like ours is that we add up our brother’s sins thinking that we need to subtract from our own resources to forgive them. We forget that it was Jesus who paid the terrible price of pardon and that He washes sin away with multiplied grace!
Yesterday was a day that will live on in infamy, or at least in the top ten of my not favorite days of 2026. It all began as my wife, the family bookkeeper, started up the laptop to check our checking account yesterday, when lo and behold she discovered that we were overdrawn by $600! Now we run a pretty tight ship around here (my kids call me cheap). So this came as a shock. No, we had not spoken to anyone on the phone, clicked any bad links or been hacked by the CIA. Instead, three unexplained checks showed in the account, made out to folks we had never heard of. Immediately I fired up the Di lithium crystals and put the car into warp drive and headed for the bank. There we discovered that a forger had written three checks for several thousand dollars, totally wiping us out. The remainder of the day we spent filling out reports at the bank for their fraud division and then again at the sheriff’s office to report the crime. By dinner time, I had no ambition to cook anything complicated, and my wife’s diet calls for no evening meal at all. To simplify things, I simply broke out the skillet, and determined to have eggs, sausage and an English muffin. Yes, I still remembered that God works all things together for good, but at the moment, I needed something more than hearing that truth quoted to me. Imagine my surprise when I opened the egg carton and saw a Bible verse on the inside lid.
This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24 NKJV
Though He doesn’t do it all the time, I have been amazed and blessed to discover the many occasions when God drops a line of Holy Scripture on my path, just when I need it most. Though someone could have given me a well-deserved a lecture on thankfulness or sermonized on the reality that in this world we will have tribulation. But God chose a gentler approach to soften my heart and attitude and turned my terrible, horrible, no-good day, into a wonderfully blessed one and a time I will remember His gentle correction and care for years to come. Isn’t God amazing? I hope that whatever your circumstances, that He may come alongside of you today with His word and bring light in the darkness, calm in the storm and rejoicing in this day that He has made!
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