Love Week and Old People

I like old people, but sometimes they scare me. They don't scare me nearly as bad as babies. At times they share some similar characteristics, but I don't hold them so I am not afraid that I will drop them. 

The thing that has brought a little bit of fear into my life when it comes to the elderly is that I have had a few awkward moments with them. For example...

A. The time I went to the hospital to visit an elderly church member and in the middle of my prayer for her I forgot her name and said and I quote, "dear God help this lady in her time." I then quickly said amen and in my haste to get out of their quickly I tripped over her IV.

B. The time I led a group of college students to sing Christmas carols at a senior adult home. In our first room I asked if the gentleman would mind if we sang a Christmas carol. He responded with and I quote "FEED ME!" I lost it. The guy started yelling it so loud that one of our college students picked up a spoon and started feeding him. I couldn't stop laughing and I was in charge. I felt awful when we left because as the leader I should have composed myself better, but I didn't. Sometimes I don't have an off switch and this was one of those times.

C. The first time I went to the hospital to visit a senior adult with Stu Hodges. Stu is now the lead pastor at Waters Edge, but back then he was youth pastor at Liberty Baptist. Now as the intern I had only been forced to do hospital visits one other time. It was with my previous boss who had recently changed jobs.  When I went with my previous boss he made me stand out in the hallway as he prayed with the senior adults. So when I go with Stu I naturally stand out in the hallway as he goes in. The first room he walks into had two senior adults and Stu said and I quote "Hi my name is Stu Hodges and this is Rob Shepherd." Only I was waiting in the hallway. Now I know that this doesn't really have anything to do with a senior adult, but that day we did see one trying to escape and he was wearing nothing but his hospital gown. He saw us, got scared, and then shuffled the other way. He may or may not have given us the full moon. 

This past Sunday was one of my all time favorite days in the history of Waters Edge Church.  Lead Pastor Stu Hodges led our church to invest in our community for Love Week. The idea is that in one week our church will show love by volunteering.  Over 1,000 opportunities were available and long before our sixth service we ran out of spots.

Courtney Hornsby leads the senior high girls Community Group at Waters Edge.  She called me on Monday and asked if my group of senior guys would join her girls at the York Convalescent Center.  This is a senior adult home. I was very excited to volunteer with my senior high guys, but as I already documented I don't have the best track record with senior adults. I was just a little scared.

Lucky for me this go around I was a little more mature. I didn't bust out laughing. In fact I had some great conversations.  My favorite part though was seeing our seniors invest in seniors. The girls brought nail polish and painted fingers and toes. Both the guys and girls played games, made small talk, and showed some love. It was a great night. I am more than proud of my guys and the senior girls. Enjoy some pics...

Now you may notice that there aren't a lot of senior adults in the pictures. They didn't want to hang out with us at first. After about 15 minutes we got permission to go room to room and that's when the students shined. Oh and we were told after these pictures that we weren't allowed to take pictures. My bad.