Carl

God's blessings on your day.  Hope you all had a wonderful day.  My day went really well.  I went to Historical Theology where we learned mostly about the Middle Ages struggling with the battle over church and state and they are to work together.  Then I went and met with my boss, and got the good news she is promoting me to Student Supervisor for the whole cashier system.  I will still be working my general labor hours, but then also now in charge of this.  It should give me about 15 solid hours every week, of work.  It did come with a few other benefits, but I am not suppose to directly tell about those.  It will be good, plus Kim my boss, knows she can trust me with any job, and says she loves my work attitude.  Thank you to all the people who have helped me learn how to not be too proud for any job, and to do any job with a smile.  As my boss at Concordia always use to say, "Be thankful for the thankless job you have."  So that was a highlight of my day.  Then I went to chapel and lunch.  After that was Pastoral Ministry where Dr. Utech actually taught us again.  We discussed the entire process of getting and accepting calls, and went into a lot of details on how the "placement" procedure works after we graduate from here.  This had a lot of guys shaken up, but I figure I have enough to worry about for today, tomorrow and this weekend, that a call in four years will be there if and when I get to it.  

So I was having a pretty good day.  Then I met with the guys for our Wednesday ritual of Institutional Module, and we headed to the nursing home.  I first got to meet with a very nice lady in the apartments named Celeste.  She seemed to be doing very well, and she admitted had her husband still been alive she wouldn't be there.  She did express that no matter how long she was there, it would never be home.  I think most people feel that way about any nursing home.  Just because they put home in the title, doesn't make it true.  We had a very nice chat just getting to know each other, but nothing to deep.  Then she began to give me the signs and clues that she was done visiting.  So I respected her wishes, ended in prayer and left.  I went back and asked Rev. Roger if he wanted me to visit with someone else with my remaining time.  He set me up with Carl.  Now I had heard very good things from my friend Ben that had already visited with Carl.  So I was all excited to talk with him and get to know him.  I was actually a little worried I would run out of time.  However, I started visiting with him, and my heart broke instantly for this man.  

He is 95, and has only been in the nursing home for three weeks now.  He is very low spirited about having to have help to get out of bed, get into bed, and get dressed.  He said, "A man can't last very long like that."  He started talking about how he says his prayers every day, but he feels like there is so much else going on in the whole universe and he is just a simple little man, so how could God possibly have time to think of him.  I was shocked and sad.  I just wanted to stop him from saying anything else and give him a two hour sermon based on the entire Gospel and its fullness.  However, I just let him go on and I just listened.  He went on to start talking about his wife, which again from Ben, I knew was his entire world.  He is 95 and his wife is 88.  They have been happily married for 72 years.  He brags about her non-stop, always telling the nurses, residents, and even me how beautiful she is.  He was talking about her and just so proud of her and the love he had for her.  He told me how when he dies he wants to be cremated and his ashes put in an urn.  He explained that way when she dies, he could be put in her casket with her and they could be together forever.  I could tell right then he was as true a romantic as any man hopes and dreams to be by that time in his life.  Then as we continued to talk, he looked past me and his whole face light up with the biggest, sweetest smile I have ever seen.  He practically yelled, “There’s my baby.”  I turned around to see his wife being pushed in a wheelchair towards us.  She was a beautiful lady for her age, but I know no matter how closely I looked at her, she would never come close to as beautiful in my eyes as she was in his.  They wheeled their wheel chairs side by side and gave each other a long kiss.  My heart was melting to see his whole mindset and spirit lifted as he got to kiss the love of his life and hold her hand.  I told him I wouldn’t bother him while his wife was there.  I did thank him for his time, and as I patted him on the shoulder I told him to keep saying his prayers.  I told him God is listening and hears him.  I hope it gave him some comfort, but I think his mind was already on his baby.  I do plan to go back and talk to him another week we are there, but I wasn’t about to ruin a second of his time he could be spending with the woman who you could tell was more loved by him than most women can dream of ever being.

My thought for the day comes from Pastoral Ministry.  While he was explaining how the whole call and first placement process works, Dr. Utech said that he felt this was the best possible system known to him.  He jokingly said that they could just trust the Holy Spirit to directly guide them as they threw darts with our names on it at a map to see where we would go.  Then he added, he believed God gave us brains, logic, and common sense to use to make wise decisions.  Also, I would like to argue that throwing darts to see if the Holy Spirit really guided us to our first call might be kind of like testing God.  So while I know hardly any of you have to deal with a call process for your vocation, you still make daily decisions that effect your life.  Do you just say, "Eh God will lead me where He wants me to go, so I am just going to choose the first answer cause it's easiest" or do you you say, "I will use the smarts God gave me to make an informed decision, but still pray that He will be with me"????  Hopefully you choose the second one, but I am not so sure we always do.  Dr. Meyer said in his opening sermon, "God gave you a brain, USE IT!"  Make smart, well thought out decisions, pray for comfort and peace with your decision, and then get out there and proclaim the Gospel to all the little sweet men like Carl who doubt God hears him.  All Praise be to Him!  

Dear Heavenly Father, 

Thank you so much for making us Your prized creation, so special that we are in Your image.  Thank you for giving us intelligence and the ability to think before we act.  Please be with us in all our decisions, guide us, strengthen us, and always keep us in the true faith.  We praise Your name on high for knowing that You, our almighty, superior God, hears our prayers.  Please be with Carl, as he doubts You have claimed Him as Your child.  Help Him to remember that through his baptism, You placed Your name on him, and always hear his prayers.  Be and abide with us all, now and forever more.  In You holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  One God, now and forever. Amen.