How Nursing Home Volunteers can respond in the Corona Crisis

March 4, 2020 / pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

I was sick and you visited me…Matthew 25

Being in the grip of public health emergency it is important to know how we as volunteers can help. Our first order of business is not to panic. Our precious friends in long term care already are dealing with serious personal medical situations as well as depression and loneliness. We need to find out what we can do to lift their load.

Secondly we need to face the Corona virus not as some mysterious plague but as another in a yearly cycle of serious diseases. Use common sense. Follow the directives of the facilities you are visiting. I go 3-4 times a week into different homes to sing. Each time I shower and change first then still use the hand sanitizer at the door as I sign in. I use another sanitizer between wards and then again on the way out the door. Once home I wash with warm soap and water. If all this sounds like a lot of trouble remember that sickness can be whole a lot more trouble than soap!

Last of all we need to not only pray but also be creative and upbeat. Keep in touch by text with staff or other volunteers who are out sick. A phone call or even a card can do as much as any medicine in the face of discouragement. We are serving on the front lines of both a medical as well as a spiritual battle. We must keep our heads about us and trust the Lord. He has sent us to bring a message of hope and life and this is the time to buckle up and be ready for anything. He has promised to be with us and He just might want to use you to remind someone else of that today!

The Crystal Lamp

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 / pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:30-31

My mom married my dad when she was only 19. By the time I was a baby things just weren’t working out as she had hoped so one day when dad was at work she packed her begs and with me in tow headed for her parents home. The next few years mom disappeared from my life while she worked in New York and my grandmother who I called Gammy become my mom. Gammy was pretty old fashioned about rules but I found I could always count on her encouragement and love.

Fast forward to my early teen years and though by then I was predominately living with mom, I also took any opportunity I could to visit my grandparents. During one of those visits I woke early in the morning and somehow as I got out of bed my elbow caught the edge of the crystal lamp on the night stand. Horrified I watched as it crashed to the floor and smashed into a thousand smithereens. Luckily for me (I thought) it was early enough that no one else was awake. I silently slipped into the kitchen and found the dust pan and brush and a shopping bag. Then as quickly as possible I swept up every last shard of glass and hid the bag of fragments far at the bottom of the big kitchen trash can. Then breathing a sigh of relief then went off for the day, thinking I had dodged a bullet.

On my return that afternoon my Gammy was waiting for me in the doorway. She was standing with her arms crossed looking right at me and my heart sank knowing in an instant that she had learned the awful truth of the lamp.

“Peter;” Gammy began with a slight lilt to her voice. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice that yesterday there were two lamps in your room and this morning there is only one?” she chuckled. “You know you can always tell me the truth.” she said. While embarrassment and regret washed over me my one consolation was that I knew I was still loved. Gammy had found out the worst and yet she forgave me even before I had asked.

Even greater is the forgiveness that God offers us. In spite of our vain efforts to sweep up the consequences of our sin and hide them He already knows and yet He has already provided a way for our forgiveness. But there the comparison fails not because Gammy’s love wasn’t true but because our heavenly Father’s love is so much greater. He saw me sin and break the crystal lamp of my relationship with Him into a thousand pieces. He watched as I silently hid the hurt I had caused others by my self centered heart and sped away like a hit and run driver. While I had forgotten Him Jesus still remembered me and stood waiting in the doorway for my return. While i was sinking deep in sin the love of Jesus reached down and lifted me!

O love lifted me – Love lifted me

When nothing else could help – Love Lifted me

O love lifted me – Love lifted me

When nothing else could help – Love Lifted me

Love Lifted Me by James Rowe 1912

Nursing Home Prayer Request

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 / pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

The entry of the Corona virus into a nursing home in Washington state is a frightening development for which we need earnest prayers. As I was out singing this week at long term care facilities I paused to look at the faces. These precious but fragile brothers and sisters as well as the health care workers stand at the edge of a cliff. All the talk about not worrying because only old and sick folks are seriously at risk misses the emotional impact of the hearts of those of us who love them.

Please consider setting aside time each night to go beyond blessing the food and asking for a good night’s sleep and ask for God’s help, protection and wisdom for our long term care community.