Nursing Home Ministry

Looking Out the Windows

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

‭‭Psalm 68:5 ESV‬‬ Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

As I walked up yesterday, I saw Norma’s hands pressed against the glass door panels of the memory care ward. She stòod there looking out and wondering if anyone would open the door for her again, as they did when she was young and lovely. But now, the door is locked. She cannot leave, nor can anyone enter without being buzzed in. There is little fresh air, no place to walk in a garden, no bench to sit at in a park, nor any birds to feed. There are just two hallways, an activity space with a television and a small lunch room. Visitors are few and the staff is often overwhelmed both mentally and physically. But God remembers. He knows her name, her heart and every sorrow. He came to earth not only for the strong, the young and comfortable. He came because He remembered all the Norma’s, and offered Himself as a friend and a Father, who has counted every hair and then gave His life on the cross for us all.

He Arose at Life Care

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 ESV

Sometimes I try to imagine, what t would have been like on that first resurrection morning and wish I had been able to see Jesus with my own eyes and hear HIs voice, saying, “Fear not.” Thomas wished the very same thing, and eight days later, Jesus obliged that wish and showed Himself to Thomas and invited him to come and touch His wounds. What a privilege Thomas had to be able to see and touch Jesus, but how humbling that must have been for him to also hear, “More blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed.” So, on those days when, like me, you wish you had been there, remember that you are more blessed than even those eleven disciples, and have an opportunity for an even greater joy. In singing Robert Lowry’s rousing hymn, “He Arose”, it gives us me the sense of what it must have been like to rejoice in seeing Jesus just like the first believers. We get to lift our voices with such a joyful uncompromising praise that my heart is filled to the brim. The most amazing miracle of all time – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead changes both all of history and the history of our lives, because we believe in Him. I hope that you will enjoy seeing the many faces of our special friends in assisted living as they joined with us today. But no matter whether you sit in a wheelchair in a long term care facility or in the corner office of a giant corporation, there is no greater hope that you can have, than to know Jesus. He rose from the dead and has come to offer us eternal life, if we will put our trust in Him. “He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!”

Kept in God’s Pocket

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

After a brief bout of sickness, it was great being back with my friends at Life Care Center this Friday. After we sang the hymn, “Take my life and let it be” I shared about what it means to be “Consecrated, Lord to Thee.” Religious sounding words like consecration, or as the New Testament calls it, sanctification, may make us think of some special ceremony. But the wonderful reality behind consecration is far more personal than some formal ritual. When Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood, He paid the price for us to belong personally to Him. Another way of looking at is is that, just as my car keys are kept in my pocket, because that Red Kia you see parked outside is mine (or actually mine and Nancy’s!), God puts us in His pocket. I keep my keys safe, because they are precious and of great value to our family. In that same way, when God receives from us the key to our hearts, He takes us and puts us in His pocket. There He keeps us safe, because from that moment on we are His! Have you surrendered the keys of your heart to Jesus? There is no experience more personal, than for Him to receive you into His family and to be exclusively be set apart for Him!