St. Luke's Blogs

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
    he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
    I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me,
    the anguish of the grave came over me;
    I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
   “Lord, save me!”
The Lord is gracious and righteous;
    our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the unwary;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul,
    for the Lord has been good to you.

Leanne Carrasco was just as excited as any other senior to graduate and start a new chapter of life. However, she did not want to mark the end of high school with the usual party. Instead, Leanne decided to throw a big pizza party at a homeless shelter for children and women in Houston, Texas.

With just a month to go before graduation, Leanne Carrasco began to organize her friends to help her host this party…

In a world that often feels selfish, unkind, and hurried, there are simple acts of love for all creatures great and small happening all around us. The other day I was part of our Friday St. Luke’s caravan of volunteers on our way to our second Mobile Market stop. We were all in a line heading east on 23rd Street by the Capitol building when traffic suddenly came to a stop. Wondering what was happening, I looked out of my windshield to see a man stopping three lanes of traffic and then kneeling on the pavement…

Recently, Sophia Furtado was faced with a difficult situation. Sophia is a driver for DoorDash. DoorDash is a company that delivers restaurant meals to homes. She responded to a delivery request from Caryn Sullivan. Caryn ordered a late dinner. She wanted pizza and Sophia was in route with her food.  It was a nice spring night, so Caryn decided she would wait outside of her home for the delivery.

While waiting in the driveway, Caryn had an accident. She recently had a knee replacement that failed. Caryn fell and hit her head…

She was just seconds away from being stoned to death, and everything hinged on His response to the question, “What do you say?”

That’s the suspense to one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  In John 8, we read that Jesus was teaching in the temple when the scribes and Pharisees “brought a woman who had been caught in adultery.” (John 8:3)  They said to Jesus, “Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. (John 8:5-6).

That potential charge, according to biblical scholars, was a catch-22 for Jesus…

The question, “Who am I?” is a significant question. This question can be answered in so many wonderful ways. I am a husband, a father, a pastor, and a disciple of Jesus Christ are just a few descriptions of how I can answer the question, “Who am I?” We each have multiple answers.  Philosophers have wrestled with this question and written pages upon pages about it. Poets have penned verse after verse about who we are, and yet we still grapple with our identity. In so many ways, our modern culture is struggling with the question, “Who am I?”

Recently, Laura Young helped to identify and rescue one person, lost to history, and return them from obscurity. While looking for hidden treasure at her local Goodwill, Laura spotted a marble bust. At first glance, the statue looked old to her. When she picked it up, it was cold and heavy. She had no doubt it was marble. Laura knew that the marble bust was something more, something special. She paid $34.99 and took her treasure home. She contacted a few experts and soon realized that she had found something extraordinary…

But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth′ian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Story of Cain and Abel is filled with daily struggles. Both Cain and Abel work hard. They wanted to please God. Cain especially struggled with anger, jealousy and selfishness.

Cain worked in the fields, growing crops. Abel managed animals, working hard to increase his flocks. Each understood that giving a portion of their crops or flocks to God was the right thing to do. After Cain’s crops had been harvested, he brought a small offering to God. Around the same time, Abel selected “Fat portions from the firstborn of his flock.” Abel’s offering pleased God, but Cain’s offering did not find favor with God…

Do we care for others because we love them OR do we love others because we care for them?  I came across this question several months ago and I find myself thinking about it more and more.  Why do we love others?

I recently became a grandmother – a “Lolly” to be exact!  And yes, I have volumes of sweet photos to prove it.  Before I gained entry into this amazing club, I always had the appropriately kind words when anyone would share about their grands.  But honestly, I didn’t “know.”  And how could I?  I had never experienced such a profound love.  I distinctly remember driving to the hospital when we received the news that Cosmo had made it safe and sound to join us on our earthly walk.

As I drove, I had a surge of energy which I can only attribute to God…