Memory Care

Before I Knew Him There

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
I did my best to visit but
Her memory was thin
And she kept asking if I knew
When she’d go home again

“What difference can I make?”
I asked and slumped down in my chair
“In just an hour or so she will
Not know that I was there”

So, I slipped out of the doorway
Hoping that perhaps I’d find
The answers to the questions
Parading through my mind

After I walked a mile the rain 
Began to fall and I
Started looking for a shelter
Underneath a tree nearby

There clinging to its highest branch
Stood a cardinal and he
When he saw me started singing
In his cheery joyful glee

And His melodies brought memories
Like echoes from a well
Reminding me of promises
That I only knew too well

Of my Savior and His passion
And the cross He chose to bear
To pay the price so high and deep
Before I knew Him there

"… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." 
Ephesians 3:18b-19 NIV

Before I Knew Him There
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved

I am dedicating this poem to the memory of my precious stepmom Amy, (pictured in the feature photo with my dad.) Amy battled Parkinson’s Disease for the last 6 years of her life and passed away in 2004. Though the scene in “Before I Knew Him There” is an imaginary composite, it is one that I see a bit of every week as I visit in the memory care wing of a local facility. I also dedicate this little poem to all those whose loved ones are passing through the veil of memory loss, or who are perhaps beginning that journey themselves.

Where Shepherds Knelt to Worship

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? James 2:5 ESV

With our culture’s emphasis on success, the American dream and racing towards our goals, it is easy to lose sight of what really matters. But once a week God gives me a refresher course on the economics of what He values, in the memory care wing of Sunshine Christian Home. There I have the distinct privilege of meeting with a group of very special people. These friends of mine have lost everything that society says is important: their homes, their friends, their health, and maybe most precious of all, their memories. Not even in India have I met people poorer in the things of this world, and yet, every week they encourage my heart, by the richness of their faith. Though it may take a few minutes for them to focus, once they look up, I am greeted with smiles as big and beautiful as you will ever see in church. In today’s verse, the Apostle James points to people just like these friends of mine and asks, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world, to be rich in faith?”

By stripping away all the external signs of wealth, they are left with the eternal riches that only God can give. They are rich in faith, because when everything they have depended on all their lives was taken, they found that God was still on their side. There in that tiny room we sing about the kingdom that waits on the other side of the door and the promises of God that stand forever. There the Savior draws close as He once did in a stable where He lay His head on hay, and cattle lowed, and shepherds knelt to worship!