Nursing Home Ministry

A Little Firefly

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments

 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:15 KJV

One of my favorite old time songs from church is “This Little Light of Mine. It reminds me of a night when our boys were small, and we lived in a tiny second floor apartment. One night my wife thought she heard a sound coming from the children’s room. Since our flashlight was buried somewhere in a kitchen drawer, she just carefully worked her way through the dark towards their door. I half woke up as she got out of bed, but when I heard her voice suddenly pierce the night with “Oh! Oh!” she had my undivided attention.

“What’s going on?” I shouted sitting bolt upright ready to rush to her rescue. By this time though the startled little scream had been replaced by peals of laughter. “You wouldn’t believe it!” Nancy said as she quickly slipped back into our bedroom. “I was in the right middle of the kitchen when a firefly lit up no more than an inch in front of by nose!” That tiny bug had everyone’s attention, not because of how impressive the candlepower of his light, but because he chose the darkest night to shine it.

With all the problems going on in the world around us we can easily get discouraged and feel like our little light won’t make much of a difference. But it just may be that God has called you to give just a little flash of His love to someone on the darkest night of their life!

Through the Great Waters

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

The closing of the door to nursing home ministry during Covid reminds me of this verse. 14 months ago the doors closed to in person visitation and frankly I was unwilling to continue putting myself and others at risk. Then came long uncertain and often confusing months of terrifying statistics and our world shut down to silence.

During that time I began producing weekly videos and put out a devotional newsletter as an effort to stay connected and to bring a little cheer. These were not professionally done nevertheless the residents seemed to like them. What a joy it was today to step out of those great waters today as I began singing again for my dear friends in memory care at Sunshine Christian Home. This is the second of three facilities where we used to have services to reopen.

A few even remembered me! I say all this to encourage you to never give up on what God has given you to do or the field of service he has called you to. No great waters are too great for God! In fact God delights in making a way through impossible obstacles because just like the children of Israel we can rejoice on the other side of the sea. For the record, the first song we sang after 14 months was, This is the Day. Yes this is most certainly the day the Lord has made!

Tomorrow the third place where I used to hold services has invited me also so I’ll update you on how that goes. If anyone has been involved with ministry at Long Term Care facilities and you have questions let me know.

Like a Home Coming!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

On my first time into Watermark Assisted Living since the beginning of the pandemic, it was great hearing my friends sing, taking their requests for songs and finding out that one elderly lady took on leading Bible studies once a week since they had been closed down. We often hear or even say things about God being in control but it is amazing to actually see how He has been doing it!

Here I am visiting after the service. We actually had a full room during our time of singing and prayer

Here is a photo of just visiting with some of my friends at Watermark after church. The room was almost full during our first church meeting we have had after 14 months of COVID. What a blessing. If you have been vaccinated, live in the North Tampa area and would like to help out let me know. For now we have been invited to meet every other Sunday at 11 AM. God has been faithful! So much to tell but space will not allow here!