Our Future Hope

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses Matthew 8:17 KJV

Did you know that God is so intimately concerned with our physical needs that He has even counted the number of hairs on our head? We have a great hope that whether in this life or in the next; God will heal every disease, restore all that is broken and renew our youth like the eagles! Whether sitting in a wheel chair in a nursing home or confined to a bed with a tracheotomy tube in order to breathe, Jesus offers the hope of complete and entire healing as one part of His promise of eternal life. That promise may be overlooked or forgotten by those in perfect health, but God does not forget. The same Jesus who was moved with compassion for lepers, the blind and the lame has promised to wipe every tear from our eyes. He not only has compassion for our aches, pains and disabilities but the Bible tells us that He took all of these onto his shoulders and carried them. If we continue reading in the chapter of Isaiah that Matthew quotes we see in the very next verse that it is by His stripes that we are healed. God is so very concerned for every one of our pains and infirmities that He allowed a whip to fall across the shoulders of Jesus. As He was wounded again and again we were being healed. Weak arms will be lifted, failing voices will sing again and deaf ears will hear the shepherd’s voice! When the things of earth have passed we will stand strong and eternally young in the presence of our ageless King!

Gentleness and Trust

I don’t much like storms and even less darkness. I hold on tight to life’s rudder fearing the creeping in of weakness. But God, who loves me more than He loves Himself knows every turn that lies ahead. Oh for just a bit more patience of Christ for there is no fear when I trust in His gentleness.

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
Philippians 3:10 NKJV

But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild At every word,

Methought I heard one calling, Child!
And I replied My Lord

George Herbert – The Collar

Remembering the Forgotten

This past Wednesday was my last service at Allied Nursing Home after 23 years as volunteer chaplain. I was deeply moved by the expression of love and thoughtfulness of so many. I want to thank each of you who have liked, loved or commented on this special moment. While I deeply appreciate all the good wishes I would most of all love to see others step up to get involved in some way, because these years have been all about remembering the residents who are often forgotten by others. To help anyone who is interested in getting involved , I am running a free book promotion over labor day week-end of all my books dealing with nursing home ministry. Here are the links to two of them. Reflections is a daily reader devoted to residents, family members, staff or anyone else touched by the challenges of long term care.

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Reflections of Hope

There are also 4 other books that concentrate on training and inspiring volunteers, but I will just post the link to the most comprehensive of these:

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Nursing Home Ministry -The Heart of Jesus Christ