St. Luke's Blogs

My family has a tradition of going to the Festival of Lights in Chickasha.  In fact, we have gone there as a family nearly every year for 25 years.  Our church would take a busload of people and we would eat at Jake’s BBQ followed by a stroll through the park.  Through the years we have continued this tradition with friends and family, but there is one year that stands out above the rest, and that was in 1999.  That is the year that I proposed to my wife, Suzanne, while at the Festival of Lights.

This year has been hard for lots of people, but when I say hard, it can mean both good and not so good.  I can’t say enough good things about the great things the Children’s Centers have been able to accomplish. When we were told during the summer that school would not be back in session, we began to dream.  What if we could create a space for children to do their schoolwork and still have other activities to occupy their days and allow their parents to continue working, even if it was at home.  We would have extracurricular activities the children could participate in, such as music, art, soccer, and ballet.

In the past years, I have taken a few days off just before Thanksgiving.  I spend some of that time decorating the outside of the house and putting up our Christmas lights.  I love to hang the lights on the house, wrap them around our trees and set out the lighted candy canes.  Somehow, in the middle of winter with brown grass and leafless trees, our house seems more alive than any other time of the year.  This year, we started decorating for the Advent season a bit earlier than normal…

When the freezing rain began in the afternoon on October 26, Bob had been isolated in our master suite for 10 days because of COVID-19.  I had been quarantined during that time and was sleeping upstairs in our guest bedroom.  Our home is surrounded by very large trees and even before I went to bed that night, I could hear some of the limbs beginning to crack and break from the weight of the ice.  I moved to the living room that night to sleep, not wanting to take the chance that a large limb would crash through our roof. I found comfort in being near Bob, even though I could not be with him. I had candles ready in case we lost power…

When I teach a Bible Story to children, I try to help them imagine being in that moment in time; what it would look like, feel like, sound like, smell like.  Being fully immersed in the situation, and the Christmas Story is no different.  The shepherd’s part of the story would go something like this.  Close your eyes and imagine being in a huge field on a dark night, trying to wrangle sheep that keep wandering off in a pasture filled with holes and mounds.  You can smell the sheep in the pasture, and maybe even yourself if you haven’t bathed in days.  You can hear the sound of the sheep moving around, and then out of nowhere a bright light shoots down from the sky and there’s a huge creature with massive wings that appears to be glowing!   Not only does this angel appear of out nowhere, but he begins talking to you!  He tells you to go to a town and look for a baby in a manger.  The angel doesn’t tell them to go to the town and head east at the camel stables, then hook a hard right when they see the ladies weaving baskets.  He sends them with vague instructions and says, “Go!”

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”  When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

This year, more than ever, I am doing the best I can to focus on my blessings and find gratitude daily.  It is easy these days to worry, stress, or be frustrated in many moments.  However, in the midst of 2020, I cannot help but thank my God for His hand in my life.  My daily gratitude includes the big-ticket items like a roof over my head, food on my table, good health in my family.  However, I want to focus on the little things too…

Lately, I have taken a liking to the music of Hank Williams.  Not sure why.  It’s not the kind of music I generally like.  Perhaps I was influenced by Ken Burn’s excellent documentary on country music a few months ago.  Hank Williams wrote about the times he lived in and the troubles he encountered.  Many of his songs reflect hard times such as, I’m So Lonesome, I Could Cry, Cold, Cold Heart and Why Don’t You Love Me.  Sometimes his songs speak of the hope he found through faith in Christ.  I Saw The Light talks about wandering in the darkness….  Just like a blind man I wandered along… worries and fears I claimed for my own.  Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight… praise the Lord I saw the light!

In April of 2018, my husband and I received the news we’d been so anxiously anticipating – we were going to be parents.  However, just a few weeks later, we learned that the pregnancy had not progressed as we’d hoped.  The next couple of months were some of the darkest of our lives as we dealt with the reality that we would not be bringing a baby home the following January.

Illumination – I’m a fan.  I like all forms of illumination: sunlight, daylight, electric light, candlelight.  The best and brightest illumination, however, is the Light of Christ.  There’s an old hymn that describes this divine light…