nursing homes

How to Walk With Lambs

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Genesis 33:13 ESV

While he was a young man, unlike his brother Esau who had been primarily a hunter, Jacob took care of his father’s flocks of sheep and goats. Then over the next twenty years, Jacob worked for his father-in-law doing guess what? Yup – he was still messing around with sheep and goats! So, if there was one thing that Jacob knew, it was how to walk with the flock. Now, I am by nature a hurrier. I used to rush through breakfast, speed out the door like Dagwood on the way to his job, and wolf down my lunch, afraid of falling behind. But when I became a grandfather, I learned the delightful art of walking slowly with my grandchildren. They stopped to look up at birds, bent down to pick up acorns and stomped in every available mud puddle. They taught me that efficiently speeding around the block was far inferior to genuinely enjoying the journey and seeing all the wonders along the way.

How strange it has been to learn that at the opposite end of life’s spectrum, in nursing home ministry that what I learned from my grandchildren works there as well. When I stop in to see my friend Lorna I can’t simply ask, “How are you doing Lorna?” without giving her a minute to gather her thoughts and tell me about her doctor’s visits, the nice young lady who took her to church or her daughter’s plans to visit for Mother’s Day. Spending time with people who don’t have many visitors means that they want to soak in every moment they can while we are with them. I was struck this past Sunday by a testimony from a couple in their eighties, who serve in our church’s nursery. During their talk, the pastor showed a short video of them holding babies, and gently rocking them. They had learned that walking with lambs means that sometimes we even have to carry them!

Who are the lambs where you live? You may need to pray and ask God to open your eyes to the see them. And walking with lambs means slowing our pace, because getting places on time is far less important than arriving with every lamb that God has put in your care!

For those with an interest in learning more about nursing home ministry, I have written a book filled with stories about some of the lambs I have met along the way. Walking With Lambs is available in both soft cover and eBook format on Amazon.

Where is Jesus?

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied. John 7:45-46 NIV

Can you imagine the scene of today’s verse? Here was a squad of trained, professional soldiers, coming back from their assignment, which had been to arrest Jesus. But instead of bringing in the Rabbi they had been authorized to detain, they show up on the doorstep empty handed. “Where is Jesus?” their commanders asked. “Why are the handcuffs empty?”

“You don’t understand sir,: the captain of the detachment replies. “No one ever spoke like this man!” You see, it isn’t just during our worship time, that the things of earth can grow strangely dim. This little story tells us that when Jesus was seen for who He truly is, even His enemies weren’t sure what to do with Him. We may try to look away, but His eyes hold ours, His words penetrate our hearts and the power of His presence is more than we know how to deal with. Today it is two thousand years later, but people are still asking, “Just who is this Jesus?” The answer of our faith is that, He is the King of kings and the Lamb of God. He is the carpenter from Nazareth and the Word of God in human form. Jesus is the beginning and the end. He is the bright and morning star. Jesus is the Holy Son of the Living God and the Savior of the world. He humbly rode in on a donkey, but one day He will victoriously return on a white horse. Are you ready for all of who Jesus is? Am I? Why not turn our eyes upon Jesus this morning? Let’s look full in His wonderful face, before we go out to face the world, so that we will be empowered to report to others, “No one ever spoke like this man!” I pray you will be blessed by this simple version of the old hymn, along with the short message, from our Sunday service at Watermark.

River of Life

/ pastorpete51 / 11 Comments 
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14 ESV

I remember having a cistern for a few years, when we lived on a farm. It was filled with rain water, during the rainy times and in drought we called for a water truck to come and fill it. The water was kind of okay, but the day we were able to replace the cistern with a deep well, the transformation was unbelievable. Cool clean water flowed endlessly from our well, and the taste was wonderful! Jesus promised us the same. Before we have Jesus, we may have religion - maybe even the Christian religion. But our spiritual life is stale because, none of it is coming from within. All we have is dependent on an outpouring in church or a teaching from the pulpit on Sunday. But when we come directly to Jesus for ourselves, He creates within us a well of water that is dependent on no one but on Him. Neither circumstance, nor failure can un-dig the well that Jesus gives. All we need is now available directly from His presence that has come and made a home in us. 

When I first became a Christian, many years ago, one of the first songs that I learned at church was "Spring Up O Well" It was short, easy to sing and upbeat, but it also it tells a truth that we need to daily remind ourselves of. That well of that comes from the living water that Jesus gives, is promised to every one of us who comes and asks Him for a drink. You might think that because of the bouncy nature of the music that it is a more recent composition, but in all actuality the words were written by Mary Lathbury all the way back in 1884! This week, I was blessed to have been able to go back to the nursing home after having Covid (again!) and had a blast teaching this to our people. Since it was unfamiliar to many, many folks just listened, but by the smiles on their faces as they clapped along I could see that it will soon be a favorite. I hope you will enjoy and maybe in join in with us too on our sweet little song video for this week. Have a blessed weekend everyone!