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Fight of faith

Subhead
Built on a Rock
Lead Summary
By
Dick Lauger, pastor First Baptist Church

I never look forward to visiting a nursing home. Despite the fine efforts of local staff, these places simply are not attractive to me. From time to time I have considered the rest appealing — meals delivered, TV in one’s room, naps at any hour, time to read, but a day or two of that would be plenty. So my visits are something of a “fight of faith.”
                  The atmosphere is ... difficult. Smells, sounds, and sights combine to communicate a sense of sadness. This is a place where life progresses at a decidedly slower pace. From the perspective of a young, healthy person, usefulness is limited. The residents do not build homes or cook meals or ring cash registers or rake leaves. Some make significant efforts to keep mentally sharp with books and crossword puzzles and nursing home activities. But most spend the day sitting and snoozing or watching the staff bustle about or watching TV.
Visits depend on many variables. Sometimes conversation is difficult due to noise. The neighbor across the hall has the TV volume as high as it can go. The hearing aid is lost or the battery run down. Sometimes conversation is difficult due to physical or mental disabilities. Short memories recycle the same words five or six times in a half hour visit. Stroke-silenced lips struggle to form recognizable sounds. Sometimes conversation is difficult due to lack of familiarity. I may be new to this person because I am new to the area or I am new to this deteriorating mind that no longer recognizes even family and longtime friends.
Despite all this, I go regularly to nursing homes. Several reasons keep me faithful. Perhaps the most important are selfish ones. You see, while I never look forward to visiting a nursing home, I always rejoice after the visit. That is why it is a fight of faith for me. I must have faith that our Lord is still at work despite human appearances. The Spirit is in that person. The Spirit is with us as we visit. He is in our talk. He is in the scriptures as I read, perhaps from the marked-up Bible of the person I visit. He is in the hymns we might sing together. (I quietly: he/she silently.) He is in our prayers. He is there answering the prayer I sent heavenward while driving to the nursing home,  “Lord, give me joy in this visit.”
I have for years taken a verse with me into these places. “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:15).  I suspect that people in nursing homes are doing some of the finest work of their lives. Surely their prayers, interceding for pastor and church and loved ones and country and unsaved friends, are heard swiftly and miraculously. So if I can help them in their “fight of faith,” I am certain of their help in my “fight of faith” as well. I think that I am getting the better part of the deal.

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