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Young Christian copies the Bible by hand
In October 2024, at age 29, Seth Loersch completed the “Big Bible Project,” the full Bible copied in about ten spiral notebooks.
Sometimes blessings come in unexpected packages.
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My wife’s and my five children are incredible blessings from an awesome God. They were good kids—easy to raise, well-behaved with few issues that caused us concern. With our kids being baptized and then raised in WELS elementary schools (well, we, their parents, were WELS teachers too), it was always our hope they would stay faithful to Jesus and serve him faithfully with whatever gifts the good Lord chose to give them. If a few became pastors or teachers, that would be an extra blessing.
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Well, how’s that all been working out? Four have graduated from Luther Preparatory School, Watertown, Wis., and Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.—the boys in the pastor track and the girls in the teacher track. Our oldest is a pastor, while our youngest son is a vicar. Our girls taught for several years and are now active lay members in their congregations.
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But what about our middle son? He went to public high school and didn’t attend college at all. Hmm . . . Here’s a brief timeline of our middle child’s life: Seth James Loersch was born in May 1995. Mother and child were doing well, yet the medical professionals noticed a few things and thought we should get Seth genetically tested. A few days later, it was confirmed: He’s special—he has an extra chromosome!
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Thus began a journey where we got to meet—and witness to—many physical therapists, occupational therapists, parents of other children with Down syndrome, and doctors who befriended and guided us in helping Seth achieve all he could.
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Seth Loersch and his siblings in 2024. Back row: Seth and Josiah. Front row: Hope Frailing, Nathan, and Elizabeth Stokke.
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On Thanksgiving Day, members of New Life, Lake Zurich, Ill., drove a couple of passenger vans to Great Lakes Naval Station to pick up 28 naval recruits. These young people, nearing the end of boot camp, were “adopted” by the congregation for the holiday through . . .
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It all started with a good story. Pastor Tony Schultz had collected many interesting objects throughout his life—some of them from his travels across Africa, Asia, and South America. He began giving little talks about them at local congregations. Word traveled fast, and . . .
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The beginning of the new year is a strange thing. Are you really ready for another 365 days? You can be so hopeful at the thought of an opportunity for a new beginning. At the same time, you know that the coming year isn’t really going to be all that new. You . . .
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