Nursing Home Ministry

A Little Sunshine at Watermark

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV

Watermark Assisted Living is a beautiful five-star place, and of all the facilities I have visited in three different states, it is by far the nicest. But in spite of the fancy sitting room, the delightful ice cream parlor and snack bar, it is still a lonely neighborhood. Some families do visit their loved ones, but the many rarely have a guest. Sometimes, I puzzle over the abandonment of our older family members, neighbors and friends we worshipped with at church. Maybe it all comes down to the feeling, that a long term care facility is a dark place. The loneliness is suffocating, even for visitors. No children play outside, no mail carrier, whistles through the hallways dropping letters and packages. There is no corner barbershop nearby or a place to grab a slice of pizza and sit for a quick lunch with a friend. Everything here seems stiff, artificial and professionally friendly, and yet, God has not forgotten. God has not abandoned. God is walking through their neighborhood and He asks us to walk with Him. In today’s verse, Jesus commands (not suggests) that we let our light shine before others. Now, we know that the source of that light is Him, yet we who are followers of Jesus, have both the honor and the duty of carrying His light to places that are dark. We don’t need to feel sufficient, strong or radiantly cheerful to let His light shine. We only need to trust Him and do what He asks. The amazing and unexpected miracle is that when we do this, not only will we shine a light for others to see, but it will light our own pathway as well! I hope you enjoy this hymn, which was a favorite of our youngest, when he was coming with me to nursing homes, forty years ago. Every time I sing it, I hear his little voice and see his big smile as he would clap his hands and sing about how Jesus with the sunlight of His love makes all our darkness flee!

If You feel far from God – Guess who moved?

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

This week at Life Care was an interesting experience and a perfect example of why we must expect, the unexpected. Today we were looking around wondering where half of our faithful friends were as the meeting began. Then we discovered, halfway through, as they briskly wheeled several of them back, that they had been with the podiatrist getting their toenails clipped! That made me laugh, but it also made me realize that all the planning in the world, can’t foresee everything, and sometimes we just need to go with the flow! I do hope you like our rendition of “Just a Closer Walk”. This song reminds me of the question my stepmom used to ask anyone who would listen. “If you feel far from God, guess who moved?” Of course the answer is that God is right where He has been all along. 

 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Luke 15:23-24 NKJV

The blessing is that when we come to Him (or come back to Him), God is willing to receive us and accept us into His family. In the story of the prodigal son, the first thing the father did was to have them kill the fatted calf. That calf was a special animal which was reserved for a celebration. That calf going to the barbeque grill irritated the older brother because of the expense, but it cost God far more than a calf for us to come to Him. It cost Him the life of His only Son. Thank God that the blood of Jesus That is certainly a prayer which God loves to answer!

Your Father Feeds Them

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26 ESV

Our younger son recently gave me a book by Pastor Tony Evans called, Kingdom Man. Though it is from a few years back, the basic principles on biblical manhood really haven’t changed. Being a bit of a bird lover, I especially enjoyed his take on this verse about how God takes care of the birds. He says, “A bird can’t just sit on a branch with its beak wide open, waiting for God to drop a worm down…” Though Dr. Evans was mainly focused on alerting men to their responsibility to work, this line inspired me with a slightly different message which I shared at Life Care Center on Friday.

First, God has given every bird its own song. Long before dawn the rooster begins his crow, in the daytime the Chickadee peeps and in the middle of the night, the owls hoot and pigeons coo. In that same way, each of us, needs to lift our voice in our own way, every day to our Father in prayer. Yes, He knows what we need, but He is waiting to hear our voice. Next, whether it be night or day, every bird, is appointed a time to look for food. Whether seeds or fish, carrion or worms, every bird knows they must to look for food. In that same way, we are each given a source of food, called the Bible. Within its pages, there are more than 7,000 promises, numerous warnings and chapters of helpful guidance for our lives. But God will not whisper the stories of Genesis in our ear, while we play golf, nor will he sing the Psalms over us when we are watching TV. It is our responsibility to open up our Bibles and seek our daily bread. In my dad’s last week of life, one of his great comforts was a nurse who came and spent time reading the Bible to Him on her night shift. Dad didn’t say, “Well I’ve lived a godly life, I know Jesus as my Savior, so what’s the use.” No! He knew that his source of strength was to be found in the pages of God’s book. Last of all, every bird has a job. Eagles build their nests, our mockingbird swoops down to harass the hawk, because it is too near his nest, and mother robin must feed an endless supply of worms to her chicks. In the same way, we all have an opportunity to serve. It is not God’s job to mow our neighbor’s lawn when they are sick. He will not bake a cake for your son’s birthday, nor will He do the dishes, when your wife needs a break. Jesus already has finished His part. Now it is our privilege to do ours, and then watch in grateful amazement as God takes care of all our needs!

I do hope you like our rendition of “His Eye is On the Sparrow. It has been a great blessing having our newest volunteer, Sharon Clark, helping me to sing. I have already put her on notice, that when we go to visit family this summer, that it will be her turn to keep the meetings going. Have a blessed weekend all!

From the top, these are Mallard ducks roosting on a neighbors roof, a group of Ibises near our community pond, a Muscovy Duck, an Anhinga drying its wings and a Great White Egret looking for lizards.