I’ve always appreciated seniors. When I was a young girl, it was a day and age where we visited seniors’ homes to sing Christmas carols. During high school, I worked in the kitchen at a nursing home in Virginia, and still retain and recount fond memories of those times. I loved getting to know the people there and hearing about their lives. Getting to know people and their stories is probably my favorite activity of all. Seniors have great stories.
Recently, I visited my father for his 80th birthday. He lives in a retirement center in Lansing, Michigan. For the week that I was there, I visited him daily, participated in some activities and got to know the staff and some of the other residents as well.
Edgewood Retirement Center is a Christian owned and run retirement center. Thanks to Karen – the Activities Director there – my father asked Christ to come into his heart a couple of months ago. So, one of the first activities I went to was Bible Study with my father. There were about 15 people there for bible study. We introduced ourselves
Karen led the study of Matthew 14:22 – 33. Most of our time was spent on the first three verses: “…He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.”
The discussion centered around what it must have been like for the disciples, fighting a wind storm for hours until the early hours of the morning the next day when Jesus walked across the sea to meet them. We shared personal experiences of waiting for something during stormy times in life. One of the stories touched me tremendously – Henry’s story. Henry was sitting next to me with his oxygen tank. His wife had actually been at Edgewood before Henry, while Henry was in the hospital. She would claim to the staff that “Henry’s going to be here soon,” as she waited for him to be released from the hospital. Sure enough, Henry joined her at Edgewood. But shortly thereafter she passed away.
When asked how he was doing, Henry replied: “It’s a little lonely, but I know she is with Jesus and is happy to be there!” What a huge blessing it was for me to see and hear faith in action in Henry. I’m sure Henry’s wife is in heaven saying “Henry’s going to be here soon!”
