Parkinson’s

God Loves You!

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments 
 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life John 3:16 ESV

Marie* wants to see you in the cafeteria after the message” they told me. Marie suffered from Parkinson’s Disease that often leads to depression, and that afternoon she was so depressed that she hadn’t come in for our song and prayer time at her nursing home. As I went in to sit with Marie, she began to cry and took hold of my hands blurting out, “God hates me!” 

She felt isolated from the outside world, because no old friends ever came to visit, no family came for her birthday or Christmas. “What in the world can I say?” I wondered. What good news do I have to share with her?” Then I remembered the verse we all learn in Sunday School, and I said, “God loves you, Marie! Because the Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” At those simplest of words, Marie calmed, her face brightened, and she happily listened as I took my guitar back out of its case to sing her favorite hymn, “In the Garden”, and afterward we prayed together.

Maybe you aren’t in a facility, and don’t have Parkinson’s, but at some time in our lives we all face moments like Marie did. No one understands our hearts, and it feels as if God has turned His back or simply forgotten about us. In those darkest of moments, we have to remind ourselves that just as God did not forget Marie, He has also not forgotten us. Though we may not be the richest person in the world, we have its richest hope, because we have received the lavish gift of God’s love. We also need to remember that there are Marie’s and Bettys, Bob’s and Joe’s all around us every day. There are people we bump into at the store, on the street corners or even in our family, who desperately need to hear about the hope of God’s love. Yes, “God so loved the world!” So, why not pass that great hope of Jesus on to others today?

Before I Knew Him There

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
I did my best to visit but
Her memory was thin
And she kept asking if I knew
When she’d go home again

“What difference can I make?”
I asked and slumped down in my chair
“In just an hour or so she will
Not know that I was there”

So, I slipped out of the doorway
Hoping that perhaps I’d find
The answers to the questions
Parading through my mind

After I walked a mile the rain 
Began to fall and I
Started looking for a shelter
Underneath a tree nearby

There clinging to its highest branch
Stood a cardinal and he
When he saw me started singing
In his cheery joyful glee

And His melodies brought memories
Like echoes from a well
Reminding me of promises
That I only knew too well

Of my Savior and His passion
And the cross He chose to bear
To pay the price so high and deep
Before I knew Him there

"… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." 
Ephesians 3:18b-19 NIV

Before I Knew Him There
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved

I am dedicating this poem to the memory of my precious stepmom Amy, (pictured in the feature photo with my dad.) Amy battled Parkinson’s Disease for the last 6 years of her life and passed away in 2004. Though the scene in “Before I Knew Him There” is an imaginary composite, it is one that I see a bit of every week as I visit in the memory care wing of a local facility. I also dedicate this little poem to all those whose loved ones are passing through the veil of memory loss, or who are perhaps beginning that journey themselves.