Senior Voices Still Sing

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

To the chief musician upon Muthabben. A psalm of David. I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart – I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1 NIV


For over thirty years I have been blessed with the fun as well as the privilege of singing for seniors. One challenge in singing for seniors is to get them to sing along. There are multiple reasons why that becomes more difficult over the years, such as our vocal chords weaken, our ears begin to miss some of their range of hearing and our lung capacity diminishes. Of course I did not realize any of this at the beginning. I simply loved singing for my friends and even more, hearing their voices joining in on their favorite hymns. It is ironic that after all these years I am now finding myself up against the wall facing these same obstacles. Each time I tune my guitar and put together a list of hymns I know that the battle to sing them lies just ahead. But what gives me the greatest joy as I put the key in the ignition, start my car and head for nursing home is that I know that I am not Heaven’s song leader and God only asks me to join my voice with that of the chief musician and with all my heart tell in song again all the wonderful deeds of the Lord!

If you are in the same boat with me, you may notice that we are surrounded by younger voices and that those leading worship are unaware that our desire to praise is no less than that of our younger brothers and sisters. So, if you struggle with participating in corporate praise or just wish you could better enter in with those stronger voices around you, be encouraged. God is listening to your heart, and He will not only help you to keep on singing to the end, but His hearing is excellent, and His ears are listening to even our weakest notes of praise!

Jesus is Knocking at Your Door

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20 KJV

I enjoy watching Police Dramas and the popular show Bluebloods is my favorite. I especially love scenes when Detective Danny Reagan stands outside the bad guy’s door shouting. “Police! Open Up or we’re coming in!” Then two seconds later he kicks the door open yelling, “Put your hands where I can see them!”

Photo by kat wilcox on Pexels.com

In some ways Jesus Christ is like Danny. He has collected all the evidence against us and has obtained a search warrant from the Judge of the universe. But there the similarity ends, because Jesus hasn’t come to arrest us and His plan is not to slap us in handcuffs and drag us down to the station. Even though He is able to knock down even the heaviest door, Jesus chooses to stand outside and knock. That gives us hope in three ways. First, we know that God has our address. He knows where we are and cares enough to come to our door. He has not forgotten us. Secondly, Jesus wants to enter our home. He has been knocking since He came to the manger of Bethlehem and He kept at it all the way to the cross of Calvary. Now He wants to sit down at our table – the one with a few spaghetti sauce stains and a chip or two on its corners. He didn’t come to see how perfect our house is. He came for us, and He is waiting just outside this morning to see if we will hear His voice and open our door.

Far Beyond and Infinitely More

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:30 NLT

This morning I just wanted to express my overflowing gratitude for God and for you who have prayed for our nursing home outreach. Since reopening the three homes I visited pre-Covid only 2 of them have returned to somewhat normal attendance. One facility which is nice but understaffed has been so unresponsive that though I was earnestly praying for people to come I was ready to give up our meetings. Then two weeks ago God began His answer by having a sympathetic staff person get involved who brought in 8-10 people. At the time I posted here about my excitement at God’s answer but I was totally unprepared for yesterday’s amazing experience.

It began an hour before I was scheduled to come when one of the residents called my cellphone. This would normally have been my week to sing for the memory care unit but Lucy let me know they had me on the calendar for a different room. A bit confused I prepared some extra devotional newsletters to give out and loaded my things in the car.

On entering Watermark Assisted Living the lady at the desk directed me towards a meeting room on the first floor I had never seen before. In a bit of confusion I carried my guitar and music stand around a few corners till finally I walked into a room jammed with more than twenty residents and family members from every ward including my special memory care friends! So today I simply am posting to give God glory and say thank you to every one of you who have prayed, commented and encouraged me along the way. No matter how long I have been following Jesus, He never seems to run out of new ways to amaze me by his far beyond – overwhelming – and infinitely more way of answering prayer!