Memory Care

Back to Basics in Nursing Home Ministry

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

It takes time to get a ship back out to sea after it has been ties up at the dock for a while. Maybe some of you are going through this process in your place of service. I would love to hear how God is helping some of you in this. Have a blessed week all!

pastorpete51's avatarWalking With Lambs

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;not for shameful gain, but eagerly – 1 Peter 5:2 ESV

After a three week pause due to both my wife and I contracting this last form of Covid, I was delighted to get back visiting a couple of the facilities this week. The memory care wing of one home was open for business as usual, but the dining room where we normally meet at another was still closed due to their own outbreak. Thankfully with the aid of an n-95 mask and the kind guidance of one of the nurses I was shepherded to various individual rooms to visit. The experience was exhausting but rewarding and it brought me back to those first few years, when I either visited very small facilities or in private rooms of people in larger…

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New Mercies Every Morning!

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” Lamentations 3:22-24 NKJV

I was so happy to be back with my friends in the memory care wing at Sunshine Home this morning. We not only had everyone show up, but they really sang! Though we were only shut down for three weeks, it felt like three months. I am so grateful to God for His great mercies and delighted to sing this hymn with my brothers and sisters. People say they are in memory care, but they remember both the words and the great faithfulness of our Father! And why are His mercies new every morning? Because every day we mess up!! 

Mother Teresa said, "Bless those who curse you, think what they would say if they knew the truth."

But God knows the whole truth about us and still He offers 
His mercies new every morning because of His love!

Walking With Lambs is Finished!

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments

I am deliriously happy to announce that our book project for the nursing home ministry is finally finished! After six months of writing and almost another six of editing and rewriting, the eBook edition is now live on Amazon! I am so excited. The book of Proverbs tells us that:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 NKJV

Hope deferred has been exactly my experience, since I began this project last summer. I was hoping to have the book done by Christmas. But that hope was deferred time and time again, but I am humbly grateful that here in August we are finally done! Yay!! One thing I have learned is that this project has been a team effort – and working as a team, needed far more time and patience than I had originally scheduled. My wife did some of the first edits, followed by my good friend Rob Keller who also designed the cover. After I trudged through their corrections, it was nearly Thanksgiving, and I handed the manuscript over to Sue Hyson for a more detailed edit. The final edit and formatting of the manuscript was done by our daughter-in-law’s brother, Winston Crutchfield who not only edited but also fixed my formatting mistakes and improved the older photos as much as possible. These people have selflessly given of their time for one reason – and that is to tell you the story of our many friends in long-term care. Though it is my hope that “Walking With Lambs” will prompt more people to take action in practical ways, I believe you can also just enjoy getting to know some of the wonderful stories of friends whom I have made over thirty-five years in nursing home ministry. Their stories have taught me more about life than everything I learned in college and Bible school combined! If you would like to check out the eBook version, the link is here

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9K2BHKD

The print edition should be out next week for those of you like me, who like to hold their books in their hands.