St. Luke's Blogs

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
    my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
    or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
    In your presence there is fullness of joy;
    in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

“Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”– Mark 12:29-31

My last year of seminary was challenging. It was academically demanding, to say the least. I had several classes that were going to require significant reading and writing. One class had me nervous before the semester even started. I knew the work would be hard and, on top of that, there would only be a handful of students in the class so I would have to come prepared each time.

I remember walking into the small classroom on the first day of the semester. I sat at the table with the other students. Our professor came into the room, joined us at the table…

As Jesus went from town to town, he encountered many different people. Some of the people he encountered wanted to simply see him as he passed through their community. They followed him like a modern-day celebrity. Others sought after Jesus because they wanted to hear his intimate religious knowledge. Some wanted to challenge him on his understanding of scripture and the law. Often, when Jesus entered a community, he would encounter people who were eagerly waiting on him because they needed healing and heard that Jesus was capable of great miracles. They were people in great need and Jesus represented hope for healing.

It was on the road, leading into Jericho, that Jesus encounters a person in need of healing and hope. A blind man was sitting along the road. He had heard that Jesus was passing by, so he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The blind man was persistent and caught the attention of Jesus. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  The mercy he wanted was to have his sight restored…

Wanda Smith knows what it is like to have a dream but have obstacles and life’s demands before her. Wanda’s dream was to become a teacher. She loved children and wanted to spend her days helping them to become the best they could possibly be. Wanda was a mother of three children, who also had a big responsibility of caring for her mother who had a long-term illness. Wanda never let go of her dream. She spent most of her time taking care of her family. With her limited time, Wanda would work at the local elementary school, in Brenham, TX. She would work as a bus monitor and eventually as a custodian in the building.

At the age of 37, Wanda returned to college to pursue her dream…

Jim Morris was a high school baseball coach for the Reagan County Owls. Coach Morris wanted to encourage his team to strive for success, so he made a bet with his team that if they were to win district, he would try out for a major league baseball team. The Owls rose to the occasion and won the district title.

Coach Morris honored his part of the deal. He attended a tryout hosted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although Morris had spent some time in the minor leagues, he had been plagued by injuries and had what he believed to be a career-ending shoulder surgery. He showed up at the tryout and told his story to the Devil Ray’s scout…

The end of the American Civil War arrived in 1865.  The United States was finally at peace after four brutal years of conflict.  The end of the war brought peace on the battlefield, but the terrible loss experienced during the war was felt in every community in the United States. By the war’s end, over 600,000 men had lost their lives in the line of duty.

Not long after the end of the war, Henry Welles, a druggist in Waterloo, New York, approached several members of the community, including General John B. Murray, with the hope of finding a way to not only praise the living who had fought in the war, but to honor those who had given their lives in service to the cause…