St. Luke's Blogs

When I think about building a better world, I cannot help but think about my little sister, Tessa.  Right now, she is in her third and final year of law school.  That itself is a mountain to climb.  However, it is not her only uphill battle.  She is also enduring the quiet, but unruly disease of endometriosis.  From the outside, she looks happy and healthy, but on the inside her body is attacking itself and causing intense pain.  Some days are good, some days are bad, and some days are ugly.  Nonetheless, she has persevered through the pain and the ups and downs of infertility issues that endometriosis is causing for her.  Her future in getting pregnant and carrying a child of her own is unknown and proving to be difficult.  Again, through all this, she has worked hard and done very well in law school…

Taking life day by day is the way we have been running our four childcare centers for the last two years. Each hour, each day and each week can look a little different. Our lives have been changed forever! Our culture is evolving exponentially, in a great way. Our staff have grown closer over the last year, and they look for ways to help and protect each other. I see kindness shining through all of them as I walk through the centers.  Our teachers will stay late for each other when staffing is short. They take time to check on each other and watch closely over the children in their rooms.

We are “Building a better world” for the children and parents in our facilities…

Luke 19 tells the story about a man named Zacchaeus and his encounter with Jesus.  The story begins as Jesus makes his way through the town of Jericho.  We learn that Zacchaeus was very rich as he was the chief tax collector in this region.  We also learn that he was short in stature, which compelled him to climb a tree so that he could see above the crowd as Jesus was passing through.  When Jesus came to the tree where Zacchaeus had climbed up, he stops and addresses Zacchaeus and tells him that he is coming to be a guest in his home.  Zacchaeus was excited and overjoyed, but the people around grumbled about Jesus being the guest of a notorious sinner…

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

In the book Bagels from Benny, Benny is a young Jewish boy who works at his grandfather’s Bagel shop each morning before he goes to school. Every day, when the shop-goers thank his grandfather for the Bagels, he replies “Why Thank me?” Benny in childlikeness asks his grandfather, “Why shouldn’t Mrs. Green thank you? You make the bagels.” Grandfather replies, “Aren’t the bagels made with flour? Doesn’t the flour come from wheat? Wheat comes from the earth? And who made the earth?” “God did” Benny replies. “Then we thank God for the Bagels.”

Benny verbally thanks God for the bagels, but God didn’t verbally respond, so Benny begins to wonder if he should thank God another way…

One of my favorite books is Where the Red Fern Grows. I first read this book when I was in the 5th grade. It is a wonderful book about a young boy, Billy Coleman, who dreams of having his own hunting dogs. Billy works and saves to buy two Redbone Coonhounds. When the two young pups arrive, Billy names them Dan and Ann. Billy and the dogs are inseparable. They spend their free time hunting. The theme of the well-loved book is relationship and adventure. The book records the many adventures in the Ozark mountains, while allowing the reader to see how powerful the love between a boy and dogs can truly be.

Where the Red Fern Grows was written by Wilson Rawls. He was born in Oklahoma in 1913. Rawls was raised at a difficult economic time in the United States and especially in Oklahoma. Like many from Oklahoma, when the Great Depression arrived, Wilson Rawls and his family moved to California in hopes of finding work…

Why do good people do bad things?

We could trace the reason back to Adam and Eve disobeying God, of course, but oftentimes it’s because of life’s circumstances.  Bad people hurt us or influence us.  Disappointment and tragedy harden our hearts.  The allure of fame, power, or money is too strong to ignore.

Some of those reasons for doing bad things are impressively displayed at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas.  It’s a fascinating exhibit.  When you walk inside, there are massive signs on the walls that reveal a sad chapter to the pursuit of the American dream, more than a century ago…

A few years ago, an old friend of mine sent me a picture through Facebook. The picture was of the Boy Scout troop in Tulsa I was a part of in the late 60s. It was a picture from scout camp where I spent a week each summer for about five or six years in a row.  It brought back a lot of memories of when I was a boy and the fun I had at camp.

I know the Boy Scouts have been at the center of controversy lately, and that makes me sad for many reasons.  I have such good memories of scouting and I think about the leaders in our troop who helped to shape my values.  These were the fathers of other scouts in our troop who gave of their time so we could go camping and learn about a thousand other things…

Winters in Wisconsin are rough. The average temperature is 30 degrees in America’s Dairyland. Not only is it cold, but Wisconsin is one of the states with the highest snowfall. The winter weather makes even the simple task outdoors a difficult one. When garbage day arrives in Wisconsin, people often must drag their cans to the curb through heavy snow and ice. It is a task that must be done, but the weather makes it challenging.

One neighborhood in Appleton, Wisconsin, has been experiencing a winter mystery. A wonderful surprise has been taking place in the cold and snow. Before leaving for work, homeowners would drag their trash cans though the snow to the curb. When they returned home from work, the trash cans were returned to the house…