children

Woulda – Coulda – Shoulda

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda were
All childhood bosom friends
And they live near each other 
Where the Worry River bends

Though God still loves them dearly
He hopes for them to hear
His voice that calls them to launch out
By faith and not to fear

But instead, they sit at home 
And say “Oh, not today.
This is really not the time
Tomorrow, we'll obey!”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2b ESV

Woulda – Coulda – Shoulda
by Peter Caligiuri
copyright © 2024
All rights reserved
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels.com

Why Should We Care About Memory Care?

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Genesis 48:10 ESV

They barely remember our name and struggle to recall where they are. The hands, once strong and able that provided for us, protected us and even at times disciplined us now hang limply at their sides. What is the use of visiting, when they will not remember it an hour from now? Those are hard but very real questions we may struggle with if we have a parent in memory care.

Genesis 48:10 ESV  Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.48.10.ESV

But God remembers them and like Jacob, they still hold the blessings for our children in their hands. Rather than simply pity them, or stay away in discouragement and sorrow, let us go remembering that God has designed this chapter in their lives to still have purpose. Remember that after Jesus was born, he was brought by Mary and Joseph to the temple.  There Jesus received blessings from, Simeon and Anna, the two oldest members of the community.

Those who are least respected by a society weary of caring for its elderly, are highly honored by God. These weakened by infirmity and age have been entrusted with the blessing for our children. Why should we care about memory care? Because Jesus does and He remembers them and sees when each one falls.

Jacob – the Prodigal Son

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Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. Luke 15:13 ESV

Of all the parables that Jesus told, the one we call, “The Prodigal Son’” is likely everyone’s favorite. We love this story because at some point in our lives we have been (or maybe still are) that prodigal son. And though this wonderful story seems unique to Jesus, I was surprised recently when I began to see parallels with another young man, in the Bible whose name was Jacob. We usually think of Jacob, wrestling all night with an angel, or of His tricking his father into blessing him, by pretending to be his older brother Esau. But I have rarely thought of how, just like the prodigal, Jacob ran away from his family at a very tender age. Though, Jacob got to feed sheep while the prodigal was feeding pigs, Jacob still ended up doing hard and thankless work. Instead of the good life that Jacob had hoped for when he lied to gain his father’s blessing, Jacob ended up a thousand miles away herding sheep.

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Why does any of this matter? Because, while the prodigal’s problems seem to be solved quickly in Jesus’s parable, our real-life prodigal problems take a lot longer to fix. Children run away and decades latter we are still praying for their return. Maybe we are the ones who have been running from God’s calling, and half a lifetime has passed us by. Jacob’s story of redemption spanned twenty-years and eight long chapters in the book of Genesis. From the very beginning though, God was watching over Jacob, long before Jacob was looking for God. While Esau, loved pleasing their father by bringing in fresh game from his hunting, Jabob stayed closer to home, working on pleasing his mother. When Esau came in from a hunting trip exhausted, Jacob showed no mercy and bargained for a better place in the family by selling his own twin brother a bowl of stew. Jacob was devious, willing to lie and unconcerned about the welfare of his brother, yet, the Bible says that God loved Jacob and didn’t give up on him. In that same way, If you have wept tears, and given up on praying for a prodigal in your family, know that God is still at work. God has ways of breaking through stubbornness, our pride and sin, not with harsh punishment, but by grace. Stay tuned for a surprising meeting in the desert, where Jacob first begins to hear the voice of God!