Stepping Up

A few months ago I was contacted by a local fire chief. He said a World War II veteran was transported to the hospital and had no family, no support system, except the firemen at a local fire house, and really needed someone to love on him.  The 93 year old senior had fallen and injured his back. After his hospital stay he was transferred to rehab. That’s where I met him.

I sat with him while he shared story after story about his amazing life. Some stories he liked so much he would tell me again and again. He was still living in the home his great-grandmother had built. He wanted to go back home and he sorely missed his dog.

We made arrangements and I picked him up and took him home. He told me his lift chair was broken, but that’s where he wanted to sit. He settled in, turned the western channel on the TV and a fireman who had been caring for his dog brought her home.

We had some obstacles that were compromising his care. He chose to remain in his recliner, but very quickly it was evident that he needed more private duty staff than we had hired, because he couldn’t get up and walk. As we began to discuss possible options to move him, he never wavered, “This is my home, this is where I lived with my wife, I’m staying here.”

A week or two later he fell and was taken back to the hospital. He remained in the hospital for awhile but eventually was transferred again to a skilled nursing facility. When I went to see him, he asked me not to let him suffer “in this horrible place” much longer. The doctor told me his prognosis was poor and she suggested Hospice. The dog is his only family and he missed her terribly.

I have been maintaining the house of a longtime family friend who died in December of last year. I was unsure what God wanted to do with the house. But, the fog lifted and it became very clear what God had in mind. I went back to the nursing home and made a suggestion.

I told him that God has provided a house that is tailor made for him. There’s a wheelchair ramp, it’s in a central location, it has a yard for his dog and it belonged to a World War II veteran, who had no one and was 93 when he went to Heaven. I said, “Nothing would have made my friend Don happier than to have a war buddy stay in his house.” My new friend grabbed my hand, smiled and asked if he could move in the next day. This was last Monday night.

By late on Friday afternoon he rode up in a non-emergency ambulance. They rolled him in and put him in the front room, specifically set up for him. My friend needs 24/7 care as he is bed bound. Private duty staff started today at noon. So, there will always be someone there with him to care for him.

My new friend doesn’t know Jesus. Whenever anyone mentions Christ to him, he responds with, “My wife, she was a Christian woman.” So, we are asking for prayer support that he will say “yes” to Jesus.

But, we are also asking for volunteers to spend time with him during the day. We are also asking for some meals. He doesn’t have much of an appetite but he will eat when we talk up a dish and then give it to him! He also has a sweet tooth!

If God nudges you to step into the life of this man and love on him, please let me know. He is more apt to eat if someone is eating with him or at least within earshot so he can tell you of his deployment to Germany, the days of playing guitar with American Dance Band, in Shakey’s Pizza and some famous folks in Nashville.

As many of you know, my sister and brother-in-law took me on the vacation of a lifetime. We went to see Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. It was a week of being overwhelmed by the presence of God in everything we experienced.

We witnessed some geothermal features while being led on a tour by Park Ranger Jim.  During our tour he came to a mud pot...and he said nothing.

Silence.

He then spoke and said, “Yellowstone is a symphony, a full sensory experience. We didn’t do anything – humans – it all exists without us doing anything.” He said, we are so easily disconnected from this symphony in part because of all of our social media addictions; our need for noise. “Yellowstone touches all of our senses if we allow it to. We didn’t have to do anything; it’s here because we didn’t do anything.”  God’s Glorious Presence!

Now, I don’t know if Park Ranger Jim is a Christian but this is amazing theology to me!! The brilliant colors, the odor of a bison walking by my window, the sounds of water falling, leaves crunching, the fullness of the moon, the brisk temperatures early in the morning, the reality that no matter where we went in the park – and we went everywhere! in the park – there were no duplicates, no repeats – everywhere we went it was a reminder that God is the God of all creatures, thermal features, LIFE and there are not two of anything, we are all unique and perfectly designed!!! He designed us for His symphony.

We are being obedient by loving on this Veteran and we are hopeful this will be the first step towards the Don Shank Ministry House.

We hope you will join us as God leads us in this new adventure into a greatly needed territory of ministry!

Know that you are prayed for.

In His service, d

We can do more. We can do better. 

“The Presence of God Changes Everything…the Presence of God…it marks us, it stuns us, it shatters us, it remakes us, it propels us.” Pastor Alex Himaya

“Then I heard the Lord asking, `Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?’ And I said,

`Lord, I’ll go! Send me.’” Isaiah 6:8