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Christian Concourse Newsletter of the Month April 2008 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Greetings to each of you on this bright, crisp Spring morning in Hampton Roads! If we stop and think about it, how marvelous God’s creativity is – dark and dreary, light and clear, partly cloudy, stormy, soft showers, thunder, warm breezes, foggy, cool, cold, balmy, hot, sizzling, freezing, windy, still, blustery – they are all familiar but each day is fresh and new and full of surprises! And, whether we stop and consider the Master’s Hand in all this or not, He faithfully sustains the elements, watching over His Creation. He balances our barometer, directs our dew point, oversees our chill factor, gauges our humidity, controls our temperature, manages our wind, and sustains our sunlight. If He gives such artistic attention to our environment, how much more do you think He pays attention to us? Of all His hard work on behalf of His wondrous world, as far as we are concerned, nothing compares to the price He paid to purchase our salvation. We know Who holds the weather…do we know Who holds our hand? Why do we doubt His love and His ability to sustain us and see us through each day? With all of its wrangled circumstances, complicated and difficult relationships and yes, weather – rain or shine, this is still the day the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it!!! We have a truly wonderful report on the seminars we conducted at the annual conference of Virginia’s activity directors! God really answered our prayers as He gave us great favor among those who chose to attend our session and, thanks to you, we had materials to give them. In most facilities there is a sizable proportion of residents who have found or are seeking for their spiritual well-being in the framework of Christianity. Our message was on their behalf. We gave the activity directors plain guidance on the specific needs of sincere Christians. Stressing the importance of Christian fellowship, bible-based teaching and prayer, we discussed the role of “faith” in a Christian’s life. We made clear that for a believer, this faith is focused on the Person and the work of Jesus Christ as He is revealed in Holy Scriptures. It is not unusual for a nursing home resident to be dealing with circumstances and struggles they never imagined they would have to endure. For this reason, Christian residents desperately need three things: 1) They need someone to visit them and interact with them whose strong love for Jesus shows; 2) They need interaction with someone who has genuine faith in the promises of God in Scripture; 3) They need someone’s Christian life to radiate on them with their touch, their attitude and their actions. In the light of these needs, we emphasized how important the role of the activity director is to the spiritual well-being of care center residents: they manage the volunteers. We praise God that the end of our presentation was highlighted by the applause of the attendees! We trust God to harvest great fruit from these humble efforts. Needless to say, dedicated Christian volunteers are also crucial to help the residents of nursing homes. This is where we come in. Please pray for God to continue to lead and strengthen us as we seek to inspire and equip Christian nursing home volunteers. Thank you so much for your help. May the Lord bless you for your kindness to this ministry. Love, Jerry and Dar Johnson |