Daily Devotion

by David Schackmann

I was just out of college when I became acquainted with an after school tutoring program at First Lutheran Church in Over the Rhine. This wasn’t today’s OTR. This was the old OTR.  I began working with two brothers, 8 and 10 years old. They were regulars at the tutoring sessions and were delightful boys. When the time change occurred in the fall, I started walking them home in the dark and met their parents. Their parents were great people and very supportive of their sons’ education. They were basically illiterate, however, and knew what it was like to try to get ahead without an education. By the end of the school year, I saw the amazing progress these boys had made and felt they valued an education as much as their parents did. I did not see them again as their parents had moved the family to a better neighborhood during the summer.

The boys had learned a lot and I hope they are successful and happy. I, on the other hand, had learned even more. I learned how helping someone with something as seemingly trivial as their homework can change their life and mine.

We’ve all heard and seen the quote from Acts 20:35 many times, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” I don’t think I understood that until my 9 months at First Lutheran with two little boys.

The work done by the members of Good Shepherd continues to inspire me to give more of my time and treasure. The volunteer work, the fund raising for Haiti, the relationship with the students at Taft Elementary, Inter Parish Ministries, etc. have shown me many ways to give back to others and to the church. Good Shepherd has the most prolific and meaningful outreach of any parish of which I have been a member these past 50 years.