Thomas Schoenherr

Dear Roger, 

Sorry to hear about Bette's struggle with pneumonia. We will keep both of you in our prayers as we ask for God's healing and strength for her. The Good News for us is that we can lean on God's promise and trust God to be there with her in the midst of her fight for breath. May God grant each of you God's peace.  

Roger Koehlinger

Tom

Thanks for your prayers. She is home as of yesterday.  She has serious heart and lung issues and this is just another "bump in the road".  It will be a slow recovery.

Marilyn Droege (McClure)

Dear Roger, we will keep you and Bette in our prayers. May God give you both comfort and strength.

Sandra Weaver (Dubbelde)

Get well soon Bette.

Susan Waikel (Till)

Prayers for Bette Koehlinger.

Susan Till

Thomas Schoenherr

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. . . the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge . . ." Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Sandy, and your family. God holds your father and  all of you in God's loving arms.

Thomas Dohrmann (Dohrmann)

Roger (Zozz),

Hang in there and keep strong. My thoughts are with you. I enjoyed seeing you at the reunion.

Tom

Cheryl Lindeman (Markey)

To all my classmates who have spouces, parents, children, siblings who are ill or now with God, I send you my heartfelt sympathy and wishes for recovery or healing from loss.  God holds us and gives us strength, otherwise we would not make it.  Keep him close and ask him to encourage heal you.

God bless you all.

Cheryl

Susan Waikel (Till)

For everyone hurting from medical issues, losses or just plain sad...............we are so blessed by a Savior who loves us and holds us in His arms...............

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Roger Koehlinger

To Everyone - I have received a few phone calls and several postings in the last few days concerning Bette's health.  I don't know how this rumor got started and we thank you for your concern but she is ok. Continued prayers are appreciated though as she continues to deal with long term health issues.

Roger & Bette

Janet Schoenefeld (Buuck)

I am so sorry for the loss of Tom Reck and pray for God's peace and comfort to fill the family during this time.  I am reminded of Pastor Oldsen's sharing one of his favorite prayers.  I read it tonight and thought I would share it.  I can see and hear him say it in our religion class. We were so blessed to have him teach us!

O Lord, support us all the day long of this troublous life, until the shades lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work is done.  Then, Lord, in They mercy, grant us safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord,  Amen

God bless and comfort Tom's family.   In His love, Janet

Diane Cowan (Kurtz)

Janet, thank you so much for your words and for reminding me of Pastor Oldsen' s prayer.  Tom was needed in the heavenly Easter choir this year and we rejoice that he is strong and healthy again.  

Blessings,

Diane Cowan Kurtz

Janet Schoenefeld (Buuck)

I am prompted to give a recommendation to three of our classmates who have published books and made a worship cd that have all been a great encouragement and source of inspiration to me the last several months.  One is Ken Haugk's book, Don't Sing Songs To A Heavy Heart.  Ken has written other books on the art of caring for those who are hurting and built his life ministry to that end.  Thanks Ken, for all the love and care you have poured into helping the hurting souls get through their pain.  I know his own life loss of his dear wife, Joan, has made him even more effective in ministering to others with real empathy.  I was reading in it again today and was blessed again and comforted by your words and examples.  It's written with much compassion, understanding, wisdom and insight, based on experience with thousands of individual lives, their stories and research to bring awareness to help us better understand what helps to say and what not to say to those in their pain and suffering.

 I was especially inspired as I read the last chapters.  Ken words have a great way of lightening the burden for the journey through pain.  Taking an example from Chapter 11, Creating a Safe Place: "Expecting progress or --worse--pushing for progress when there is none leaves suffering people feeling lonely and isolated.  Wanting them to look good or to have a good attitude about their situation leaves them feeing frustrated or hopeless.  It is far better for you to join them on their journey, wherever you find them, whatever their condition, and create a safe environment where honesty and openness can flourish."  So very true.  We all know someone who has experienced pain and loss, have been there ourselves or are there now, or as we get older, will encounter these dear souls.  Thanks, Ken, for creating a tool in this book to help us help others with greater compassion and wisdom in knowing what to say or not say or do to be a blessing to more people in our lives.  I'm very grateful!

Jan Buuck

Janet Schoenefeld (Buuck)

Now I want to thank Tom Schoenherr, another gifted and talented writer with much compassion and empathy!  His book, The Deeper Journey, is written with deep insights, compassion,and humor (we can remember Tom's humor from high school days, right?) in such a way as to provoke the reader to think deeper into his own life's situation.  It's written as a series of blogs, woven together as threads of thoughts about a book he read, someone's life event that inspired him and stirred him to pray...into a wonderful book that I found hard to put down when I began to read it.  I learned we have common interests in baking bread and prayer walking as we listen for God's leading in all the big and little things going on around us.

 It's hard to pick one paragraph from his book to share, but  "...Is it You again?" caught my attention.  The last paragraph reads, "Each of us has stories of troubles and sorrows that others may not know; problems of fear, loneliness and distress that we carry with us.  We need to have people who will look away from their phones, put them down, and attend to us in our distress.  We are invited to do the same for others.   As good as our technology may be, we still need human-to-human connection for healing and care for one another.  We need to see Jesus Christ in one another, for this is how God gets His loving activity done in the world.  So when we see "whoever" coming toward us, sitting across from us or next to us, maybe we will ask, "Oh, Jesus, is it You again?"

As Rita O'Dea wrote in the Forward: "His insights help remove the "cataracts" from  our eyes that keep us from seeing the holy in the everyday and the sacred in all that is around us.  He prays with a pen...  He weaves his musings into a broad tapestry with threads from local news, global events, musicals, film, poetry, contemporary fiction, and Scripture scholars from many traditions."

I have loved his writing style and his broad knowledge that challenges deeper thought...along with his "gentle humor" that we all know.  He refers us to his blog post website, www.spiritualcompanioning.wordpress.com.  I recommend his book as a wonderful gift or just a nice read to be enjoyed.  Bless you, Tom.  Thanks for the way you are making a big difference in the world around you!   Jan

Janet Schoenefeld (Buuck)

I am now wanting to share the blessing that came from hearing Donn Werling's worship CD, Wrapped In Grace; Songs for the Seasons of a Christian Life.  It's inspiring and unique in every way.  I loved the way it combined different songs that included songs done by Donn and Diane (I was in awe of Diane's beautiful voice!) and the familiar songs done by a group of singers, (some of our classmates included) and recorded at Concordia Seminary.  I was able to hear it this summer when we were home and visiting Don and Carole Schoenefeld.  It's so wonderful and I hope we can support Donn and Diane for doing this CD. Donn's email is werlingdonn@gmail.com.  

Donn, can you let us know how we can purchase this?  Thanks for making this collection of 19 songs.  Jan

Steven Doctor

Just want to share some feelings after reading some of the posts from fellow 1963'ers.    

I realize how blessed I have been over the past several years.   So many people to thank.  We certainly are in a world of unkowns and surrounded by many people of differant ideas and beliefs.  Looking back over the years I understand why parents raised us with Christian values and understood the reason to send us to Christian schools.  I just wish I could go back and thank so many teachers, pastors, and friends that have had a positive influence on my life an so many others.  So often, just a smile,  or a simple 'hello' goes a long, long way.  Just want to let you know, many of those smiles and hello's came from you people while walking the hallways of Concordia School, way back then, and even today, as I read these post.

Thank You.

God bless you all,

Steve 'Doc' Doctor

James Smith

Thanks to all classmates who make use of our website to share concerns and joys.  It makes developing the site worth the time and effort.  I have sent you all an e-mail listing members who are not on our site.  If you still have contact with them, plese encourage them to join.

Carla Wadewitz (Ternieden)

So sorry to hear about Mr. Henke's passing.

My prayers go to the family for comfort and strngth.

Carla W. Ternieden

Thomas Schoenherr

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, there is anxiety and fear felt throughout the world. There is no other news in all the world apart from this virus and its effects on so many families and individuals. Our positve and hopeful thoughts, as well as our fervent prayers in this unprecedented time, cry out to God for all of God's children. We pray for compassion, clarity and humility on the part of our leaders in this most troubling time. Lord, have mercy. We seek God's healing for so many people who are suffering now and will be struggling with the visrus soon. We pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones. Lord, have mercy. In the midst of it all we cling to hope and long for Good News for the world God loves so much.

My wife, Barb, and I are going into the treatment phase for each of our concers at the same time. She has breast cancer for which she has had successful surgery, with clear margins and lymph nodes that came back negative for cancer. She is hopefully going to be entering chemo and then radiation treatments soon. I have prostate cancer and will hopefully be entering radiation treatment soon. We are grateful for your thoughts and prayers during the coming months, particularly also that treatment will continue in light of the coronavirus pandemic as it affects surgeons and nurses, etc.

Sometimes trying to deal with our cancers, as well as the social distancing and quarantining that comes with   the coronavirus, can be overwhelming. Lots of people have difficult struggles in the midst of this worldwide pandemic. We are bold to ask for your continued wrestling with God, and for God's loving arms to hold us all close throughout these anxious and fearful times. I wish you all Christ's peace and hope!

James Smith

Dear Classmates, 

     I have a prayer request for a longtime friend named Gene Gevers.  We are lifetime friends since we were born on same day in same hospital with mothers sharing a room.  Last week his grandson Grant died, a young man who had gone a servant event with our youth group from Fort Wayne.  Gene loves to go on these trips with us and brought Grant along one year.  He was only 23 years old.  Please pray for his family.

Marcia Buehler (Pfeifer)

James Smith

Thanks, Marcia!

Susan Waikel (Till)

Been praying this past week for the Gever/Youngblood familiy  as Kelly and Julie have been friends for many many years......Prayers for Tom and his wife too.................will continue  ---- Susan Waikel Till

James Smith

Please continue to pray for Denny Smothermon. His doctors have advised against surgery so he is presently going through chemo. He has asked that we pray for him and his wife as well who is also having health issues. 

Susan Waikel (Till)

Dear ALL: 

Will keep praying for all our classmates and for the good Lord to help with health and situation issues.  May He bless you during Lent as we celebrate His saving us from an eternal damnation by His sacrifice. WE ARE BLESSED!  

Love in Christ,

Susan