Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• I wasn’t too excited about the alarm going off this morning, but after one round of the snooze button I got up and headed to work.
• As I went about my morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep tasks I was thankful for the work that was done while I was away representing the prayer ministry.
• It is good to have people around me who value the prayer ministry enough that they are willing to cover my tasks at the building while I am gone.
• It can be difficult to shift from days of focused ministry conversations back to “regular life” work, but it helps when I see each aspect of the work I do as ministry.
• When the building was ready for the day I turned my attention to the sermons I’m working on for the next two Sundays.
• My morning also consisted of a great conversation with the coordinator of a prayer breakfast I will be speaking at in March.
• It is fun to hear stories from people about how God has brought them to a greater desire to connect with Him in prayer.
• As I worked on the prayer ministry schedule, I realized it was time to write the somewhat monthly newsletter that I send out for the prayer ministry.  Not only does it inform people of what is going on, it reminds me of what God has been doing.
• Journaling in whatever form it takes is a good practice to make you actually think about what God is doing in, through, and around you.  This daily page is a part of that journaling for me.
• By early afternoon it was time for a break so I went to lunch with my family.
• When I returned to the building I spent some time going through some of the photos from my conference trip while I waited for the building to clear out so I could start getting it ready for Sunday.
• Today’s photo is of one of my afternoon visitors.  I never get tired of looking up from my work and seeing wildlife out in the woods.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• The conference I was at drew to a close this morning, so I was up early doing some writing and packing up the room and the display.
• While I wasn’t looking forward to the nine hours in the truck to get home, I was looking forward to getting home and to the huge block of quiet time with God I would have on the drive.
• While the mountains blocked being able to see the sun at sunrise, the result of it rising was visible long before it crested the top of the mountain in front or me.
• Sometimes we can’t see the actual work God is doing in and through us, but we should be able to see the results of that work.
• The final conference meal was a continental breakfast which I decided was a fancy term for “without bacon”. 🙂
• I always enjoy the conversations about prayer I get to have with people when I set up a prayer ministry display.
• It was a beautiful day for a drive and I had plenty of time to work and rework a couple sermons in my mind.
• Taking the interstates increases the speed of the journey, but I’m confident I missed a lot of the surrounding beauty because of it.
• We can race through life and think we finish in first place, but what have we really gained if we went so fast we missed the most important things?
• As much as I was tempted at times to take a detour or two in order to find things to photograph, I was more interested in getting home and kept my mind (and truck) focused in that direction.
• Our ability to avoid the temptations which can detour us from our walk with God can be connected to the level of desire we have to reach our destination with Him.
• I only stopped once on the way home and that was to get some lunch.
• There is a difference between stopping to be refreshed and refueled for what lies ahead and stopping in a way that distracts us from our journey.
• The sun was setting so beautifully as I neared home that it was difficult to keep going without stopping to take some photos but I didn’t want to add the the length of the journey so I just enjoyed the beauty as I drove.
• As I arrived home, the sun had already set and the moon and stars were shining brightly in the sky overhead.
• Today’s photo is the early morning view as the sun rose behind the mountain to start the day and then the moon as it lit up the night sky at the end of the day.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• After a late night trying to get work done with inconsistent internet access, I was awake early and couldn’t sleep so I spent time with God working on next week’s prayer guide.
• I discovered that I had been working on the prayer guide all week as the topic we settled on was the delight we ought to have as His children.
• Choosing to live with delight requires that we first learn to delight in the Lord in all circumstances.
• Once the prayer guide was written it was still dark, so I drove to the top of the mountain to spend time with God as the sun came up.
• As I left town it was looking like there was a good mix of clouds and clear sky for the sunrise to look nice, about halfway up the mountain it looked very overcast at the top so it was looking like a wasted trip, by the time I made it to the top it became apparent that the overcast look was caused by a freezing fog which actually added to the beauty of the sunrise.
• Some things are what they appear they will be, but other things are not, and some things are better — you usually won’t know for sure until you experience them.
• My sunrise photographing ran through breakfast by the time I got back to the hotel, so the rest of the morning was spent at the prayer ministry display talking to people.
• There was a big block of free time in the schedule for the afternoon, so I headed out in search of a waterfall hike.
• The trail I found didn’t seem like it would be too bad as it was under three miles to the waterfall.  However, my Garmin said the hike ended up being the equivalent of climbing 165 flights of stairs by the time I made it to the falls.  At least that meant that once I rested it was all downhill back to the truck. 🙂
• After the hike I cleaned up and headed into town for dinner where I found some good BBQ.  I had planned on doing some window shopping at all of the little shops in town, but after eating I decided to skip the walk through town.
• The evening was more prayer ministry conversations, a worship session, and catching up with friends afterwards.  I suspect in God’s eyes each of those things were a different aspect and type of worship.
• Today’s photo is one from the morning sunrise trip as the sun began to break through the freezing fog.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Page 23 has been a long day filled with good conversations and difficult memories — perhaps an odd combination, but that has been my day.
• The good conversations revolved around the prayer ministry and the work God continues to do through it.
• Some of the conversations were what I would call “organic” as they simply took place as people walked by the display and wanted to know what it was about.
• It is always fun for me to “tell the story and give God the credit” when it comes to the ministry God has given me to share.
• Some of the conversations has “outside fertilization” as people would stop by and want to talk because they had been to a workshop where my devotional books and writings were highly recommended.
• It is encouraging to me to know that people not only use the material they picked up in previous years, but think highly enough of it to recommend it to others.
• I sat in on a workshop that was designed to share a story of transformation that is taking place at a camp.  It was fun to hear of the changes taking place, but it was also difficult as the problems they have been addressing represent a very hard and difficult time in my life.
• I think sometime we get so out of step with God that we lose sight of the people we have walked over in our own pursuits.  We hit bottom and realize we have to change, but in the midst of our own hurt we lose sight of those who were wounded by our dysfunction.
• God’s view of repentance is not only that we change, but that to the best of our ability and with His help we make things right.
• I didn’t make it outside, but the hotel has a large bird enclosure so I was able to photograph birds today without ever leaving the building. 🙂
• I found the main session area empty this morning while everyone was eating breakfast so I was able to pray at each seat again.
• Our worship gathering this evening was sweet as we drew near to God through songs and prayer.
• Today’s photo was taken from the balcony of my room which faces east while the sun was preparing to set in the west.  Even though the building blocked my view of the sunset, God extended the colors throughout the sky tonight.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Set off in search of a covered bridge this morning and my GPS said there were several in the area.  My research had only come up with one, so I was pleasantly surprised.
• The first bridge I came to was the one I had been looking for and it was a restored bridge built in 1875 and still in use.  The others from my GPS were either nonexistent or modern built covered bridges made to look old for the resorts around Gatlinburg.
• Sometimes my GPS leads me in the way I want to go and sometimes it takes me on a wild goose chase.  Either way can be good if I consider the adventure of the journey to be joyful as well as the destination.  However, if the destination is what’s important then I better have good directions!
• If you want to end up at the right place, you must follow someone who has the proper directions.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Those are directions from a source that can be trusted.
• Pieces of a hymn that I’m not sure I’ve heard or sung since childhood have been floating in my mind the past few days.  It’s amazing how music can plant seeds in our mind that stay around for a long time.  What kind of seeds are you planting today?
• I think the lines are from the chorus but I would have to look up the song to even see if I have the anywhere close to being correct in my mind, but here’s how I remember them — “Roll back the curtains of memory now and then, show me what you brought me from and where I would have been.  Remember I’m human and humans forget.  So remind me, yes, remind me dear Lord.”
• Sometimes when I don’t think I’m where I should be, it is good to remember I’m not where I once was.
• I was one of the first arrivals at the conference which gave me plenty of time to pray at each chair in the meeting and worship area before anyone else arrived.
• It is much easier to talk about prayer being important than it is to make prayer important in everything.
• Today’s photo was taken during my morning walk as I found these tiny flower blossoms doing their best to defy the winter chill.  Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and in all seasons.

Here are some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• I suppose if the day had a theme, today’s theme was worship with a sub-theme of delight.
• Early in the day my mind was filled with the verse that says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
• I’ve not always received the desires of my heart, so I suspect I haven’t always found delight in the Lord as I should.
• If I truly delight in the Lord, I suspect the desires of my heart will be the things that He desires.
• As I watched some deer graze within arms reach of the road, I thought about how familiarity creates a comfortableness that is either a good thing or bad thing depending on what we are becoming comfortable with.
• In a culture where we go to great lengths to entertain ourselves, it is good to learn to delight in the simple things of life.
• I was eating lunch today when a group of young (early elementary age) boys came running around the corner into the area where I was seated and one remarked very loudly, “We can’t eat here, there’s no game room!” . . .  I guess I’ve been doing my eating all wrong.
• As I watched some deer graze in an open meadow with blue sky and mountains as their backdrop, I delighted in God’s creativity.
• As I sat in a church building with no sound system, no carpet, no heat, no bathrooms, and sparse furnishings consisting of a pulpit and wood benches, I delighted in a God that has called people to Himself to receive their worship in any and every setting they can find.
• As I walked uphill along a stream running downhill beside me, I delighted in the laughter of God that I could hear as the water tumbled over the boulder-strewn stream bed.
• As I made my return walk downhill along the same stream, I delighted in a God who calls me to come to Him for rest.
• As I watched a beautiful sunset that I couldn’t photograph because of all the trees in the way, I delighted in a God that designed an eye that can take in the full beauty of the sunset and filter out the distractions in a way no camera can.
• Today’s photo is the first one I shot today.  This scene was one of the things that made me think about the word delight as I went about my day.  The little dots in the meadow to the right (above my name) are a group of deer and a flock of wild turkeys.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Today was a lot of road time.  Some times travel gets boring as everything begins to look the same and other times the scenery is fascinating.
• I notice more of the beauty of creation if I drive with the radio off.  I suppose my mind is free to take more in if it is quiet.
• As I began my journey with the sun rising over the eastern horizon, I found myself singing “Oh beautiful for spacious skies . . . “.  The snow covered fields bore no resemblance to “amber waves of grain”, but the song still became a prayer for God to bless America.
• The drive gave me a lot of time to think about how God is at work in my life because of His amazing grace.
• I think many Christians struggle with the tension between complete freedom in Christ and deliberate abuse of that freedom.  We know we can’t earn our salvation, but the idea of “continuing in sin so that grace may abound” doesn’t sound right either — because it isn’t.
• Figuring out the daily application of “all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial” should help us make choices that honor God.
• Grace really is a complete gift from God but it is not a gift that He forces on anyone — we must choose to accept it before it is ours.
• The words Jesus used most often about the religious leaders of the first century ought to challenge every believer to examine themselves carefully to see where their heart really is.
• It is a sobering thought to read that those responsible for leading God’s people were confronted by Jesus because it wasn’t bad enough they were not entering the kingdom of God but they were keeping the people from entering as well.
• It is very easy for me to become legalistic in my mind and then in my words and actions.  Being right isn’t bad until it is done in a way that keeps others from finding God’s righteousness revealed to them.
• It is usually not very safe to stop along an interstate highway to take photos, so most of today’s “photos” are only in my mind.
• The photo for today’s page is one of the only scene that I photographed today.  As I prepared to finish up the day, a sliver of moon appeared over the tree line, so I took a few photos of it.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• After a day and night with no new snow, I didn’t have any outside work that needed done to start my day.
• It is better to be prepared for something that doesn’t need done than to not be prepared for something that does.
• The sunshine yesterday melted a lot of the snow which is making the parking lot look better, but it also made it easier to track in so the morning cleaning continues to include extra attention to salt residue.
• My morning included extra cleaning and setup in preparation for a dinner at the building.  Flexibility and a good group of people working together goes a long way toward accomplishing good things.
• Even with the current warming trend, it is still cold outside and the heating system continued to need some attention.
• As we spend time with God, we ought to find growth within our spiritual life but that doesn’t mean we can quit giving it the attention it needs.
• As I prepare for a camp leaders conference, I spent part of the day working on prayer ministry flyers and boxing up the books I will be taking.  Having done inventory when I got back from the last conference helped make my preparation for this one easier.
• Knowing what we have makes it easier to realize what we still need.
• By late afternoon I finally found a stuck valve that I think was causing one area of the building to not warm up as it should have.
• Sometimes when the answer we’re looking for isn’t readily available, all we can do is keep seeking until we find.
• As I spent the evening cleaning the building to get it ready for Sunday, I prayed for those who would gather to study and worship God together.
• Today’s photo is of a little bird who spent a good amount of time just standing in the snow looking around.