Page 173 began as a continuation of the previous day’s power outage.  I woke up around 2 AM to the sounds of various appliances restarting, signifying that the electric power had been restored.  Once I was awake, sleep seemed to evade me so I spent the early morning hours writing yesterday’s page.  When I had it written and published, I went to bed and got a few hours of sleep before heading into work this morning.  With Vacation Bible School at church this week, I began the day checking bathrooms, flushing toilets, and freshening things up.  My morning was spent taking care of some of the record-keeping and correspondence for the church’s missions ministry.  With yesterday’s power fluctuations at the church building, some of the A/C controls were still cycling through a reset, so I spent time checking on each of them to make sure they would be running for tonight’s VBS session.  By the end of the workday, my lack of sleep last night was catching up with me so I headed home with rest and relaxation on my mind.  

I did rest for a little while and then while MJ went to church for VBS, I put some chicken on the pellet grill then Susan and I headed to Mishawaka and spent some time walking the riverwalk while the chicken cooked.  It was a beautiful evening for a walk and plenty of photo opportunities throughout our stroll.  One of the evening’s photos was of a lily that as I framed it up in my viewfinder, made me think of a title, “What was, what is, and what is to come.”  The lily stem contains a dead blossom that was, a current blossom that is, and some buds that are blossoms yet to come.  While the photo made me think of the description of Jesus who was and who is and who is to come, it also made me think of my relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  My relationship with God was in existence as part of His creation from the time I was born.  My relationship with God is growing now because of the redeeming work of Christ.  My relationship with God is to come when I arrive home and dwell in His presence for eternity.

I pray that you and I would not only value where our relationship with God currently stands, but we would look forward to that relationship growing as we mature in Christ.  I pray that we would help others grow in their relationship with God as we represent Jesus Christ in everything we do.  I pray that we would make the most of our current situations even as we anticipate a glorious future as we approach the day of Christ’s return.

Page 172 began in the normal Monday fashion but the last third of it was spent without electricity at home.  I was awake early, so I went in to work and started the day doing a little cleaning and taking out trash from the receptacles in the bathrooms and foyer.  While it is not a huge task, taking out the trash first thing Monday morning has a huge benefit.  Removing the trash in a timely fashion not only helps an area look better, it helps prevent bad smells and bugs that come looking for food.  The same is true about the trash that accumulates in our life.  The more diligent we are about recognizing it and removing it in a timely fashion, the better our life looks and we are able to give off a fragrant aroma of Christ rather than the stench of garbage and the evil that seeks to feed on it.

Once I had made the rounds through the building, I settled into my Monday morning task of writing a prayer guide for next week.  Some weeks I go in to the office with a good idea of what the topic will be and other weeks I find myself trying to be still before God as I spend time in prayer trying to know what He would have me write.  Today was one of those that I was having a difficult time hearing.  Eventually I settled on the topic of “Words” and once that was clear, the daily prayer points about how we choose and use our words flowed rather freely.  When next week’s prayer guide was complete, I spent some time working on my current book project.  Sometimes writing these devotional journals that God has had me doing recently end up taking longer than I anticipate because I find myself drawn into many of the daily topics.  The most recent topic that is taking longer than I expected is about heaven being a home with living bread — the life-giving bread of Jesus.  As I spent time with God coming up with devotional questions and thoughts for that topic, I was drawn into a time of worship as I realized just how much the presence of Jesus in my life sustains me each day.

With an early start to the day, by mid-afternoon it was time to get some lunch and call it an end to the workday.  It was rather hot and muggy outside so I picked up a sandwich and headed down to Potato Creek to sit along the lake for a little while, hoping to catch the bald eagle out doing some late-afternoon fishing.  By the time I got there, the sky begun to get very dark to the north and soon descended on the park.  The eagle never made an appearance, but I was able to spend some time sitting on the dock watching the clouds roll in before the rain finally arrived and sent me packing.  As I left the park and headed home, I drove through the brunt of the storm with a torrential downpour that made visibility difficult and left standing water on many of the roads.  As I was nearing my house I got a message that the lights had flickered off a few times at the church but the electricity remained on but we were without power at home.  Since I was out, I stopped by the church to check on things and then headed home.

Since our electric was out at home, I pulled out the gas grill and cooked hamburgers for supper.  By this time, the storm was well past us and the sky had cleared with the brightness of the sun shining through the few remaining clouds.  Standing at my grill, I was at just the right spot that the sun was “topping” the large pine tree on our property.  So inside I went to grab my camera and play with the settings in an attempt to capture what my eye was seeing — the photo on today’s page is the best I could do.  As I thought about this scene, and the beautiful sunset that would follow a few hours later, I thought about how God carries us through the storms of life and brings us into the peace and calm of His presence.  Yes, the storms will come and there will be times we find ourselves right in the middle of what seems like the worst of it.  But God tells us that the storms — the things that cause us to weep — are temporary.  Weeping may last for a night, but the joy we have in Christ comes in the morning!

As the sun set in a neighborhood with no electricity, I could hear the steady hum of a few generators as attempted to get some sleep.  The sun had been out long enough after the rain that the air had become warm and humid so the open windows didn’t seem to help much in creating a comfortable atmosphere to sleep in.  I finally ended up on a couch in the basement, but even then it was more tossing and turning than sleeping.  Finally, sometime around 2 AM I began to hear the sound dehumidifier coming to life with a series of beeps and realized the electricity had been restored.  I made the mistake of turning on the computer to check email and here I am two hours later finishing up the writing of page 172. 🙂

I pray that you and I would daily spend time with God and allow the conviction of His Spirit to lead us in “taking out the trash” from our mind and life.  I pray that we would live a cleansed life that offers a pleasing aroma of worship to God.  I pray that we would not be dismayed when the storms of life come against us but that we would trust God to carry us through to the peace we have with Him after the storm passes.  I pray that our confidence in the peace that is coming would give us a spirit of peace even during the storm.

Page 171 was a Sunday but it actually began as a continuation of page 170 when I went in to work late Saturday night for a “quick” freshening up of the building for the Sunday morning worship gathering.  Sometime after I had restocked the bathrooms and did the initial cleaning so I wouldn’t need to spend much time taking care of it Saturday night, someone decided they needed many of the rolls of toilet paper out of the bathrooms.  These were complete rolls missing — no cardboard cores left on the dispenser rollers and none to be found in any of the trash.  While it added to the late night time I needed to spend, I was thankful that I decided to freshen up the bathrooms even though I had already prepped them for the weekend — it’s not a good thing for people to discover there is no toilet paper when they are in the restroom.  🙂

Anyhow, that part of page 171 didn’t take long and I was in bed and trying to sleep by 1 AM.  For some reason I had a difficult time falling asleep but after I eventually did, I didn’t make it up in time to make it back to the church building for Sunday School.  We did make it for the morning worship gathering to praise and worship our heavenly Father for His goodness and mercy in calling us to Himself.  The morning message was shared by one of our elders, Carl Evans, and during the sermon a poem I had previously written came to mind with the idea that I should share it.  When I’m in town I generally do the closing prayer time for the service so I knew I would have opportunity if I could find the poem by then.  I pulled out my phone and after a quick search of my writing website I found the poem I was looking for, “My Dad”.  It is a poem that God put in my mind to write two years ago on the eve of Father’s day 2014.

After the worship service we went out for lunch then I rested for a little bit at home before heading to my mom and dad’s farm to wish dad a happy Father’s Day.  As we drove up the farm lane, I noticed one of the glads had begun to blossom, so after we had visited for a while I headed out to photograph some of the flowers mom and dad grow.  While it is a little early in the season for many of the flowers and because the grow the fields of flowers to sell plants and cut flowers, it can be a difficult thing to actually find a lot of blossoms.  I did manage to find a variety of lilies in bloom, a few hollyhocks, some daisies and early blooming flowers, and one glad stem with open blossoms.  Glads are one of my favorite flowers and the rows in today’s photo are just a small sample of the work that goes into the flower fields that mom and dad grow.  As these flowers start to open, they will be cut and brought up to the Farmers Market in South Bend to sell.  The fields of flowers that are not only grown, but are kept cultivated, weeded, and watered before being picked are a testament to the work ethic of my parents.

While this “Father’s Day” page may be a little different than many of the pages I write, I know there are many lessons represented in what I’ve written because I have learned so many lessons from my parents.  I think of the photo I’ve included on the page and recognize the need to keep the weeds from taking root in my life.  Years ago I tried to grow sweet corn and other vegetables to sell but it was at a time in my life when I didn’t have the energy to really take care of it and most of my field had weeds taller than the sweet corn.  Needless to say, while the weeds prospered, the sweet corn did not.  For my life to fully prosper in the way God designed it to, I must carefully guard my mind and thoughts against the weeds that try to take root and grow.  Any weed that I allow to remain in my life will eventually draw the strength and nourishment I need away from my spiritual growth.  As I spend time with God in prayer and His Word, I allow His Spirit to cultivate and purify the soil of my heart and mind.

I pray that you and I would always give honor where honor is due.  I pray that we would find ways to honor our parents as we live in obedience to God’s command to do so.  I pray that we would examine the condition of the soil of our heart and mind as we seek the best conditions for God’s Word to grow and produce fruit in our life.  

Page 170 was a summer Saturday which means it was a dad/daughter morning, grilled hamburgers for lunch, and a family afternoon.  Sometimes predictability can be a good thing. 🙂  As Susan and I headed to the zoo, she had one thing on her mind — a lion!  She had down-sized her stuffed animal just before we went on vacation to something that would be manageable on the plane.  Since arriving home, and beginning to realize her birthday was fast approaching, she has been increasingly restless about finding a new animal.  In keeping with her child-like faith and innocence, what she really wanted was to bring one of the actual lions home from the zoo!  I was able to convince her that the zoo was where the lions lived and they needed to stay at their home to visit with the people who come to see them.  After we had made it around to see the animals we stopped by the gift shop where Susan found a lion that she fell in love with that was much smaller and less live than the one she originally preferred — though to her, just as real.  I bought it for her birthday and Susan was beaming and waving to everyone as we left the zoo.

We stopped and picked up a few groceries on the way home, then fired up the pellet grill to make some mushroom bacon cheeseburgers for lunch.  After relaxing for a while in the afternoon, we headed to Goshen for a family walk along the millrace . . . and to get ice cream.  While a little warm, it was a beautiful evening for a walk with so much beauty to see while being serenaded along the walk by an assortment of song birds.  Also along the walk was a large patch of black raspberry vines containing the first ripe raspberries I’ve seen this season.  After our walk we made a stop at Sam’s Club before heading home where I sat down to write today’s page before heading to work for a while to make sure the bathrooms are clean and the building is ready for tomorrow.  Praying that when I get there I keep my mind focused and don’t create an all-night job for myself like I did last week.

As I thought about the day, Susan’s lion and the raspberries were reminders of waiting, of patience, of seasons, of life itself.  When Jesus says that we must become like little children or we will never see the kingdom of heaven, I immediately think of Susan.  She has a clear view of heaven and is always excited about taking whatever animal she attaches herself to with her to heaven to see Jesus.  Susan has always attached herself to a stuffed animal for a season of time that brings her joy and comfort.  Eventually that season ends and she starts to get restless and begins the process of deciding what will be the right companion to keep her company for the next season.  As a person who doesn’t handle change well, seasons are difficult for me.  Seasons of weather or seasons of life each bring their own assortment of changes — some easier to appreciate than others.  There is a season when raspberries bloom, a season when the ripen, and a season when they are dormant.  Most people only appreciate the ripening season, but all of the seasons are necessary in order to have berries to enjoy.  

I pray that you and I would understand the changing seasons that we experience in life.  I pray that we would have a child-like faith that longs for heaven and desires to take others with us.  I pray that we would make the most of the days we have with the friends and family that God has put in our lives.  

Page 169 was the up side of the roller coaster temperatures we have been experiencing.  Yesterday the high temperature didn’t make it out of the 60’s and today we were well into the 80’s.  Going from a cool cloudy day to a hot sunny day seems to confuse the building’s A/C system.  A few adjustments here and there seems to keep most of the building somewhat comfortable as I continue to learn the “quirks” of our HVAC system.  The morning was spent taking care of some maintenance and cleaning tasks then heading out to pick up some needed janitorial supplies.  I was also able to work on some of the banking paperwork for the prayer ministry on my way back to the building.  After unloading the supplies and catching up on mail and messages from while I was away, it was time for a late lunch before calling it at day.

By late afternoon, my family and I headed to a nature preserve to get some walking in and take some pictures.  As we walked the boardwalk trail, the swamp water beneath us was constantly being stirred by the activity of a multitude of frogs.  As we would stop at various places along the walk and look for the frogs, it would take a lot of careful observation to see them as they blended in so well with their surroundings.  As I thought about my day, and particularly about these frogs, I wondered how often the Christian community is a lot like these frogs.  We gather together each week with a flurry of activity and some joyful noise as we scurry about trying to be unnoticed by everyone except those like us.  When we leave our church gatherings, we are quick to adapt to our surroundings as we do whatever it takes to blend in.  We don’t mind being a Christian in the day-to-day world, we just don’t want anyone to notice.  When we do something, or say something, that causes people to take notice, our first response often has to do with being still and hoping that no one notices that we were the source of what they heard or saw.  

What would life be like in our communities if the noise we made as Christians was a good noise and we were proud to present Jesus as the source of our joyful noise?  Is our life being lived “out loud” in such a way that people would even want to experience what we have through Jesus?  While the “disappearing frog” approach is one ineffective way to live our Christian life, the red-wind black bird “dive bombing” approach is typically just as ineffective — but that will need to be a page for a different day. 🙂

I pray that you and I would let our light shine in such a way that the people around us glorify God.  I pray that we would always be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ.  I pray that we would be careful not only in how we live, but also in how we answer those who question our beliefs and faith.  I pray that we would find practical ways each day to represent Jesus well in every situation we find ourselves in.  

It seems that many times when God’s Spirit propels me into a growth spurt in my spiritual walk, the enemy is quick to push the right buttons in my life to try to derail the good that God is doing.  While I am often now able to recognize the attacks when they are happening, I’m not yet very good at seeing it coming until I’m in the midst of it.  God is continuing His work of restoring my connection with the camp I once served at and yesterday was a significant step forward in that process.  So it should not have been as much of a surprise as it was that I walked into a situation at work today that frustrated me even before I found out the details of what had actually taken place.  For all of us, this process of growth is a series of ups and downs which should increase our trust of God.  

While the down side of the morning had my mind in a turmoil that made the writing process come to a halt, I headed outside to clear my mind.  As I spent time with God clearing my mind, I got the ladder out and also spent time cleaning the gutters on the building.  While they weren’t really in bad shape overall, several of the downspout openings were blocked so the water had no where to go but over the top.  With just a little work and attention, the gutter system should be in good shape for the next rain.  I suspect that most of us who are actively pursuing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, have times where our condition is similar to the gutters on the building.  Our daily walk, our time in prayer and God’s Word, the cleansing of the blood of Christ in our lives, has set us free from the build-up of filth that the enemy tries to bury us with but there are still times when we need to seek God’s help in clearing the “downspouts” of our mind so the flood of negative thoughts can be released and washed away.  The more diligent we are about keeping our mind clear and focused on Christ, the shorter the time that the entanglements of the world can cling to our thoughts.  

After taking care of the outside work that needed done, and clearing both my mind and the gutters, I was able to get a little more writing done on my current book project before calling it a day and heading home.  At home, I mowed the lawn and then grabbed my camera to take some photos of some of the beautiful flowers growing outside.  One of my favorite it the purple ball alium.  Each ball contains hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of tiny blossoms that continue to expand the size of the ball as they open over a 3 – 4 week time period.  By itself a single blossom out of this ball would hardly be noticeable but when joined together in the manner God designed them to be, these giant purple balls are a real eye-catcher!  Many times we, or at least I, start to feel small and insignificant.  We wonder what good one person can accomplish.  We may even ask ourselves, “Who would even notice if I was present in this life or not?”.  Sometimes we even deliberately withdraw from the ball — from the body of Christ that God has placed us in, thinking I don’t need them and they don’t need me.  The body becomes divided and pulled apart until we begin wondering why no one seems to notice Christ in us and through us.  It is when we find value in simply being the blossom God created us to be and remain in contact not just with the vine but with other blossoms that God has created for us to be with, we shine forth the beauty and light of Christ for all the world to see.  When we join together without any part being concerned about drawing attention to themselves, our witness for Christ becomes and eye-catching thing to those who are watching.

I pray that you and I would seek to honor God not only on our successful mountaintops, but also in our disappointing valleys.  I pray that we would live as those who are cleansed.  I pray that we would examine not only what we allow into out mind, but also what it is we hold onto in our thoughts.  I pray that we would understand the visible presence of Christ that would be seen if we joined together with the simple purpose of being who we were created to be.