Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. James 5:13 ESV
The other day as we looked at the hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” I wrote about the times when we need to simply fall to our knees and watch with the Lord in our own Garden of Gethsemane. But there are also times when God delights in a tidal wave of praise and gratitude, such as James describes here. There are few places where such praise seems more out of place than a long-term care facility, but my friends there teach me that sometimes there is nothing better than good old-fashioned hand-clapping praise. Last week, they showed us just how that is done, when as my former pastor used to say, “If you can’t clap on that song, your arm must be broken!” I do hope that whatever situation you find yourself in this Thanksgiving, that you will find a way to praise, whether in health or sickness, surrounded by family or alone in your room, because God loves us and sent His only Son, to pray for us, heal us, wash away our sins and to die in our place. How can we not find times of joyful abandon to simply: “Call Him Up” – “Have a Little Talk With Jesus,” and tell Him that we are the ones who are “Standing in the Need of Prayer?”
nursing homes
Welcome to Sunday School!
You might think people at the nursing home, just want to hear a few quiet hymns, pray and go back to their rooms. But nothing could be further from the truth! Not only do they like some hand clapping and foot stomping music, but they also LOVE Sunday School songs! This was a recent session from Life Care Center, that we recorded last Friday. I hope you will not only enjoy the music and story, but that you will be inspired to trust God and pray and stand firmly on the B-I-B-L-E through every storm!
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life Matthew 6:26-27 NIV
Everyone Can Be a Volunteer
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. Luke 10:34 NIV
My volunteering in nursing homes began with a friend named Darryl, who with his wife Beverly went to church with us. Then one day Darryl had a massive stroke and ended up in a nursing home about thirty minutes away from where we lived. Since my job was in that city, Beverly would often ask if I could stop by some day after work to visit him. Though that sounded like a nice idea, but I procrastinated because I knew how tired I was at the end of the workday. Every week I made another excuse, but every week Beverly persistently asked (and the Holy Spirit was convicting me!) Finally, I decided to at least give it a try, and that visit, some thirty-four years ago, opened the way to becoming a volunteer chaplain, which has been of the greatest blessings of my life.
But being a volunteer goes far beyond the walls of long-term care facilities. For example, we have friends with three daughters, ages 10-17. Their youngest is named Laura and Laura is a down’s syndrome child. Raising their girls with equal love has been a tough balancing act because sometimes Laura requires so much time and energy that the other two have had to put their own time with mom and dad on hold. Then there is my good friend Rob in our men’s group who has multiple sclerosis. Rob struggles just to stand up and get a grip on his walker, at the end of each meeting, and yet he is there most weeks, in part because his wife Lisa helps him to get ready. If you think that these people are the exception, you would be correct. But the story of the Good Samaritan shows us, that God has strategically placed people in all our lives, to give us the opportunity to be what Jesus would call a volunteer – a good neighbor! As a neighbor we all know a Laura, a Rob or a Darryl and what we decide to do can change their lives and ours forever.
I once heard someone say that “If you can get paid for what you love to do then you will never work a day in your life.” But as a volunteer I like to think that “If we just love for free, the people God has put in our path, then one day we will discover treasures in Heaven that will last forever! “
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