Dear Friends,
Greetings, this is Dar. Jerry has been very busy the last few weeks and asked if I would write something to you this month. He has hundreds of hymnbooks that he printed for folks who have ordered them. They have to be collated, stapled, folded, and trimmed. It’s nice that many facilities have opened up now to faithful nursing home volunteers who have been waiting a long time to go back in and be a blessing to the sweet people who have been through so much in the last two years. They need the love and encouragement that the Word of God and the old hymns bring. Unfortunately, I’m not able to help with producing the hymnbooks. I do help with putting labels on the accompanying CDs and on the beautiful DVDs that use the music from all three of the hymnbooks. I also handle the e-mail.
We have breaking news about the DVDs this week! First, Jerry has finished the last hymn on the Praise To Our Redeemer videos. Also, he has just completed putting the words of the hymns on the screen for all 27 hymns. This DVD set uses the music from Hymns of Our Redeemer. So now anyone watching can sing along even if they can’t use the hymnbooks. It’s been over three years in the making. If you’d like the completed DVD set to use in your nursing home ministry, let us know. We give God all the glory for it!!
As I write this, Father’s Day is approaching and I have some thoughts about it to share. I was blessed to have a wonderful earthly father. He and I did a lot of things together over the years of my growing up as an only child. My parents took me to church and I saw my dad read the Bible at home. He was a hard worker, humble, patient, honest, gentle and kind. He was a man of few words but when he spoke it was worth listening. I never heard him get angry or say a bad word. Children were attracted to him for some reason that was not really apparent. He was shy and didn’t show affection outwardly. I just knew he loved me and I adored him. He loved his grandson and granddaughter in the same way and they loved him greatly. He went to be with the Lord when they were 12 and 13. But they had many memories by then because he had been retired for ten years and he and my mother took them on great adventures. I think that having such a Daddy made it easier to love my Heavenly Father and to trust Him with my life. I believe that He is the reason my father was the good man he was. It was the Holy Spirit in him that we could see and feel through the way my Daddy lived his life. What a blessing.
There are many names for God and definitions of His name in our study Bibles and in the concordances and books written about our Heavenly Father. I’m moved by some of the contemporary Christian Praise music that glorifies God so beautifully. I love to praise Him as Jireh, Yahweh, Counselor, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Mighty One, The Great I Am, Provider, Healer, Prince of Peace, Comforter, Saviour, Friend. But when praying, sometimes I just want to talk to my Daddy….Abba.
Many lonely, hurting, discouraged souls in long-term care facilities need to be encouraged by someone taking the Love of God our Heavenly Father to them. There are a lot of ways that this can be done. That’s the purpose of all that we do in this ministry. We want to provide hope to them through our materials in the Name of Jesus Christ and the Love of our Father.
Thank you for your prayers and your support for the ministry that keep us going. Please let us know if you would like any materials. We love you and appreciate each one of you.