I’m sitting at the computer in my home office on Monday. It’s late afternoon and my day has been full of ministry of various sorts. I visited Dee Brucker and found her experiencing a little bit of a setback from her surgery last week. She is doing OK, but was just a bit discouraged, or perhaps frustrated is a better word. I went then to see Ruth Darnell, mother-in-law to Harlin Miller, who is the new choral teacher at Napa Christian. She has been in the hospital for several weeks now and will have significant surgery on her foot later this week. She was tired and weak.
I went then to Sierra Vista and saw Donna Moore who is improving and beginning to look forward to getting back to an apartment of her own after some very difficult health challenges. Next I went to Napa Nursing Center to visit Frances Parvin, grandmother to RoseAnn Dalmas and then Kenny Bliss, who I always enjoy bantering with week by week.
After a quick lunch I went down to the Memorial Gardens on South Soscal and participated in the celebration of the lives of David and DJ, two young boys who died just two days apart. David was in the home of Dennis and Jeanine Opp and DJ was in the care of Michael and Lynnie Spencer-Smith. Jeanine and Lynnie are sisters and both of them care for children with severe development challenges. They often get these children as infants and they give them love and care knowing that they will probably lose them as children. So, we had a double celebration. It is hard to see two little caskets together with children gone without ever having a chance to really live the lives that children should.
I left from there to go to Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo to visit Dorothy Holland who had surgery to repair a broken leg suffered in a fall in her nursing home room. The surgery went well, but she is in a lot of pain.
There will be many other visits this week. Some of the above need to be seen more often. Nancy Tikker had surgery on Tuesday of this week and will have a second surgery on Friday. I will go and see her in San Francisco on Thursday.
Why am I sharing all of my itinerary with you? It is not to receive any affirmation for pastoral duties. My reward for that comes from seeing relaxed faces as they know that they are cared for and prayed for.
I am thankful for many of you who also take time to visit and so many of you who spend significant time in prayer for these, others, and the ministry of our church. We are so blessed with so many committed people who do so much to make this church happen.
How many hours go into programs like VBS and our weekly Connections Classes for children and adults? How many hours are spent in preparation for the music each week?
But, there are always some who give special gifts on a daily basis. I don’t want to embarrass them, but I want to acknowledge the love and care that Jeanine and Lynnie give to these kids with such special needs. They take these kids, not as a source of income, but as a mission project and they give them not just good care, but genuine love. Every time they take a child in they are just setting themselves up for a world of hurt. I have witnessed their care and their pain many times and I know that Jesus smiles on their work.
We live, my friends, in a world of hurt, hatred, sickness, pain, and loneliness. At the same time it is a world of much joy, beauty, love, and hope. The hope is not in the peace treaties or uniting of nations. Our hope is in the promises of Jesus Christ.
I guess I am writing all of this down because I need to always remember it myself. It is one thing to preach it and to minister it, but it is of no value unless I can live it in my own heart. Sometimes, when you are constantly involved in sickness, suffering, and loneliness you just feel like you don’t have the answers any more. It is then that I remember that indeed I don’t have the answers, but He does.
I don’t fully understand sin and suffering and loss. I don’t understand why it has to continue and we can’t have Christ’s return now. I don’t understand how we can continually get so caught up in the busyness of the business of this world that we can’t see the City because we are too close to the buildings.
God has put us here with each other for a reason. We are here to minister to each other and to walk the path arm in arm and holding each other’s ropes every step of the way. We are never to judge or evaluate another’s walk or experience. We each have our own struggles to conquer and we can do that only in His power and not our own.
Pray for our members struggling with health, loneliness, and aging. Pray for our members who are in jails and/or prison. Pray for them. Write to them. Visit them, and always, always love them.
This church family is the most precious gift we have ever received in our ministry and we thank God for you every day. Ministering here is not work, it is a privilege and I am so very happy that our team is at full strength once again. Mark and Sherilyn are such a great blessing, and I am so excited by what I have seen with John and Cristina already. Let’s never cease thanking God for His blessings and let’s continue to work together and bloom where we’ve been planted.
