Page 229 began as the clock struck midnight in the midst of a record rainfall that was trying to make its way inside the house.  There were a few places where the water was streaming in through the basement wall so I tried to figure out why it was coming in so steadily.  As I tracked down the water source, I discovered that the water was pouring over the top of the guttering just above the main leak into the basement, as well as a few other places.  So I grab a raincoat and ladder and head outside into the rain shortly after midnight to clean the downspout areas of the guttering.  This got a lot of the rain flowing away from the house as it should.  When I came inside, I also discovered that the sump pump wasn’t keeping up with all the water coming in.  Fortunately, cleaning the guttering had slowed the amount of water coming into the house so I pulled the sump pump and discovered that all of the intake area was clogged.  As messy as it was, it was time to put the raincoat back on and head outside to do some cleaning and try to backflush it so it would draw up water and pump it out again.  After some time, I finally got it to where water would flow out the bottom when I ran a hose down from the top so it was time to get out of the rain and see if it would work.  When I connected it back in place and plugged it in, I could hear the water flowing up through the pipe and the water level was slowly dropping instead of rising. 🙂  By now, I had spent an hour and a half between inside and outside working on the water issues that had caused me to wake up from a couple hours of sleep.  The rain had finally slowed as well, so it was back to bed although sleep was rather elusive as my mind and body tried to unwind from the nighttime tasks.

It didn’t seem like it was long before it was time to wake up and head to work to get the morning cleaning and prep work done before the students arrive for school.  Next on my project list for today was the missions accounting for the church.  As I did that, it was also time I could spend praying for the various missions that Deer Run helps support.  The bookkeeping and prayer time took me into the early afternoon hours so I packed everything up and headed to a late lunch with my family.  Once home, the short night had caught up with me so I took a nap before deciding to load up the canoe and visit Potato Creek for the evening.  When we arrived at the park, the lady at the gate wanted to know what we planned on doing as most of the park activities were closed due to the high water and flooding from last night’s rain.  Since we planed on canoeing, I didn’t think that would be a problem — water actually helps 🙂 — but she said all the boat ramps were closed and we weren’t allowed to launch the canoe.  So, a quick change of plans and we drove around the park to the places we could go and got some great photos as the colors of the sky, water, and land were incredible.  With such great photo opportunities, it ended up being the best boat ride never taken.  One of my favorite photos was this flower blooming in the flooded shoreline.  It seemed fitting for the way my day started as I’ve titled it, “Underwater”.

Sometimes life feels like we are “underwater” emotionally, spiritually, financially, or in a countless number of other ways.  The good news when we are underwater is that we have a God who can part the water, calm the water, and even walk on the water.  He creates beautiful masterpieces out of the things that are messes that we would just as soon avoid.

I pray that you and I would turn to God when the storms of life pour down upon us.  I pray that we would look for the comfort of His presence in the midst of difficult times.  I pray that we would find beauty in the way God restores the messes we make of life.

Day 228 was tough to get started and stay focused so it made for a longer than anticipated day at work in order to get my Monday tasks completed.  The workweek began with the usual Monday morning cleaning and building prep with a few unexpected tasks to keep me on my toes. 🙂  Once the building was ready for the day and the trash was taken out, I sat down at my computer where I was greeted by a pleasant surprise.  As I checked email, I found a wonderful note from a participant of the recent National Student Conference.  A big part of the note was a thank you for the books I gave out and the teaching I did, but I was touched more deeply by the testimony of how God has already been using my writings, particularly a couple of the poems, in her life.  After I went through the rest of my emails and responded to the ones that needed a response, I began to settle my mind into God’s presence to begin work on the prayer guide for next week.

As I tried to focus, it seemed like there was one distraction after another and they all appeared to be designed to not only steal my joy but to become a greater discouragement than the encouragement from the morning’s email.  As I fought off the battle through a pursuit of God’s presence, I settled on the topic of inheritance for next week’s prayer guide.  It was a good morning spending time with God in His Word learning more about the inheritance that belongs to me as one of His children.  I suppose it was due to the battle that is raging within me, but the listening for what to write took much longer than it does for most prayer guides.  But I stayed with it and fought through the distractions with a continued pursuit of God.  The prayer guide was finished shortly after noon so I turned my attention to doing some more writing in the “Devotions for Those Who Serve” series while I was in a writing mode.  Today’s writing in that series began a focus on serving with patience.  Some of the topics I wrote about today include patience through wisdom, patience through love, and patience produced by God’s Spirit.  Patience is one of those things that people like to joke about never praying for because the answer usually has to do with experiencing things that stretch our patience so that it grows.  Yet when we serve people, it doesn’t take long before we realize just how much we need God to produce patience within our life in order to serve most effectively for Him.

By late afternoon I glanced at the clock and realized the day had gotten away from me after spending nine hours at work.  By then, it was too late even for a late lunch so I headed home and fired up the pellet grill to cook some chicken to go on a lettuce salad for supper.  While it was cooking I was able to relax a bit and then after supper I began the writing for today’s page so I can hopefully get to bed early to catch up on some needed sleep.  Today’s photo is from last night’s visit to Potato Creek and the haziness reminded me of the feeling in my mind today.

I pray that you and I would always pursue a relationship with God and learn to be even more deliberate about it when we like we are struggling to stay afloat.  I pray that we would understand the great value we have in the inheritance that is ours as children of God.  I pray that we would be help others to understand the inheritance that can be theirs when they turn to God.  I pray that we would learn to serve with a patience that only God can give.  I pray that we would never give up in our desire to be found faithful when Jesus returns.

Page 227 was a Sunday that began with an interruption of sleep as Susan had a seizure in the early morning hours.  Once she was through it, we all went back to sleep and slept in a bit before it was time to get up and ready for church.  After a good worship gathering at Deer Run, it was time for lunch and a little rest before heading down to Bourbon to spend some time visiting with family.  On our way home, we stopped by Potato Creek State Park where I caught sight of an eagle off in the distance.  I managed a few long distance photos before it moved further down the shoreline and out of sight.  

As I write this page and reflect on the lessons of the day, I think of the beauty and majesty of the bald eagle.  Whether perched in a tree or gliding through the sky, the eagle draws the attention of nature lovers everywhere.  It reminded me of the sermon that David shared at Deer Run this morning about our need to love like Jesus loved.  Jesus drew attention to Himself, not through pride and arrogance but through a complete obedience and submission to His Father.  It was His humility in teaching the truth of God in complete love that had crowds listening to Him in amazement.  Just like the eagle, we have the ability to draw the attention of those who are looking.  The big question we must ask ourselves is what are we drawing their attention to?  When we look to Jesus and imitate His life through the power of His Spirit within us, He is what people will notice in us.  When we love like Jesus loved, people notice something in us that is extraordinary — so extraordinary that they instinctively know that what they see has to come from a source beyond our self.  

We can see the impact that loving like Jesus loved when we look at the lives of the disciples as they move from learners at the feet of Jesus to leaders of the early church.  As learners, they made their share of mistakes and had times when “loving like Jesus” would not have been an accurate description of their treatment of people — we can relate, right?  Yet that is what good learners do.  They make mistakes and learn from them.  We see that when we look at their lives as leaders.  When God’s Spirit empowered them to love like Jesus loved, all of a sudden “the world is being turned upside down” and those watching have no explanation other than noting that these men had been with Jesus.  It makes me wonder about my life, and I hope it makes you wonder about yours; do people observe the way we love others and take note that we spend time with Jesus?  When we become consistent in loving people like Jesus loves people, we become the eagles of our culture that draw the attention of many to the source of our beauty and majesty.

I pray that you and I would seek to live in a way that presents the beauty and majesty of God accurately to the world around us.  I pray that we would consistently spend time with God so that our life is lived in a way that people would notice His presence in us.  I pray that we would grow from being learners to leaders as we spend time at the feet of Jesus and allow His Spirit to empower us love like He loved.  I pray that we would soar like eagles as we draw the attention of people to Jesus.

After a long day yesterday, page 225 technically began with my early morning cleaning taking place from midnight until two this morning.  By doing that, it meant that I could sleep in this morning and try to catch up on some needed rest.  When I got up, I considered taking the kayak out but decided I didn’t have the energy to deal with the heat and humidity even for the beauty of some time on the lake.  Instead of going out kayaking, I spent some time online and booked a fall break vacation to celebrate our anniversary.  With our work schedules and the timing of the fall breaks at school, the trip will come a month after our 35th wedding anniversary.  The afternoon included some rest and then a trip to The Chief for ice cream and a stop at Sam’s Club before coming home.  By evening I had taken a seat on the porch with my camera to watch the hummingbirds visit the feeder.

As I watch these tiny hummingbirds, I am amazed at their ability to hover in place and then dart off with such speed that they are difficult to follow.  I will watch the feeder and all of a sudden a hummingbird seems to appear out of nowhere, drinks its fill of the sugar water, and then disappears as quickly as it came.  It reminds me of the Bible’s description of the work of God’s Spirit in us.  Jesus explains to Nicodemus that those who live by the Spirit are like the wind which we cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes to.  God’s Spirit works in our life at our invitation, but always in direct obedience to accomplishing God’s perfect work in and through us.  While containing the Spirit is like trying to catch the wind in our hands, its presence will always seek to accomplish the work of God in our life.  Too many times we want to contain God’s Spirit in a way that He would do our bidding but that’s not the way it works.  When our life is lived in submission to God, His Spirit is present to guide us, comfort us, correct us, equip us, and produce in us the fruit that can only come from the Spirit.

I pray that you and I would live by the Spirit in every aspect of our daily life.  I pray that we would recognize the faithfulness of a God who always keeps His promises.  I pray that we would live with a humility that doesn’t attempt to control God for our benefit, rather we would submit to Him for the benefit of others.  I pray that we would not ignore the presence of God’s Spirit within us as He seeks to guide us in paths of righteousness.

Page 224 has been a long day and will likely end up even longer once I’m done writing today’s page.  I started the day early cleaning bathrooms, sweeping halls, and taking out trash to get the building ready for the day.  Spent time throughout the morning working through some issues with a bill for service work that was considerably more than expected and also worked on some of the writing God has put before me.  By early afternoon, it was time for lunch with my family and then we headed up to Michiana Christian Service Camp where MJ helped prepare a meal for Hope Ministries while Susan and I did a prayer walk around the property praying for the camp and the group from Hope Ministries that is there this week.  After helping to serve the evening meal, we headed over to Lake Michigan to catch the sunset.  It was a beautiful sunset, but not necessarily one that marked the end of the day as I will likely head into work after I finish my writing and get my morning cleaning done so I don’t have to be up early in the morning.

I love watching the sunset and have learned to enjoy the sunrise as well.  While I can find beauty in God’s creation at any time, the colors of a good sunrise or sunset will have me shooting hundreds of pictures in an hours time.  While watching the glowing ball of the sun drop out of a cloudless sky and out of sight into the horizon of a calm lake is pretty spectacular, throw in an assortment of scattered clouds and the colors and textures add a beauty that simply cannot be matched.  I never get tired of watching the sun come up with its promise of a new day and the opportunity to live it in a way that honors God.  And for me, the sunset serves as a reminder that the day is done and, for good or bad, is now a part of my past.  While I can, and should, evaluate the day, the purpose should always be to learn how to grow more into the image of Christ each day.  The setting sun also serves as a reminder that there is coming a day when my work on earth is done.  One day the deeds that I’ve done here on earth will be judged by fire so that only the things of eternal value will last.  

I pray that you and I would work for the cause of Christ while it is day, knowing that the night comes when our work will cease.  I pray that we would make the most of each day God gives us.  I pray that we would welcome the new mercies that God showers us with each day.  I pray that we would be prepared through a life of faithfulness to God for the day when Jesus returns for His children.  I pray that we would be faithful in accomplishing kingdom work that will bear much lasting fruit to God’s glory.

While the outside temperature in the nineties still shouts summer, page 223 was filled with signs that summer is quickly fading away.  From the early morning cleaning as school began today to the sunflower head missing its petals and many of its seeds, the signs of fall are appearing everywhere I look.  The later sunrise and earlier sunset signal shorter days that will soon become cooler — it also means better opportunities for sunrise and sunset photos are once again on the way! 🙂

I chose today’s photo as a contrast to the beauty of yesterday’s sunflower picture because it both reminds me of fall and of how I feel.  It’s not just me, right?  We’ve all had those seasons of life when it feels like we’ve been picked apart and any attractiveness we’ve had is all gone.  Those days when we want it to be all about us even though we know it isn’t, and it shouldn’t be.  We don’t mind doing our part as long as we can define what our part is.  But as Christians, we don’t get to do that.  Our part has been defined by both the word and example of Jesus — we are called to be servants of all.  And so the days wear away our physical appearance, the seeds we are called to sow are given away, and the results are in the hand of God and out of our control.

In talking about Himself, Jesus reminded His listeners that a seed must fall to the ground and die before it can produce new life and much fruit.  These sunflowers produce many seeds which become food for the birds of the air.  If their seeds were missing, we would think there was something wrong with the sunflower.  There is an expectation that it will be filled with seeds because that is what it is created to do.  Jesus made it clear that we are called to serve and bear much fruit within His kingdom.  If we choose not to do so, some serious questions should be raised about our obedience to what we are created to do.

I pray that you and I would find great beauty in ourselves and others when we pour ourselves out serving people in the name of Jesus.  I pray that we would freely give what we have received from Jesus.  I pray that the seeds that have been sown in our lives would bear much fruit within us. 

Page 222 was another step in getting back into a school-year routine.  I headed to work early to clean bathrooms, sweep hallways, and take out trash to start the day.  Once that was done, I spent time taking inventory of supplies to see what I still needed before school begins tomorrow morning.  As I worked through that, I checked on the possibility of having an Impact Prayer Ministry display at the North American Christian Convention next summer.  Their exhibitor costs are rather pricey, so I need to spend some time with God praying and listening before I make a final decision about that.  I can list a lot of pros and a lot of cons, but I really need to figure out God’s direction in this and how He would want me to best share the ministry and resources that He has provided.

As the morning neared an end, I headed out to pick up the cleaning and maintenance supplies that I would be needing in the weeks to come.  As I made my various stops, I crossed paths with several people I know and was able to get updates from each of them regarding recent issues within their families that have been, and continue to be, prayer concerns.  By the time I finished all my stops, my workday had come to an end and I headed home.  At home, the birds were busy plucking seeds from the sunflower heads so I got my camera out only to have the birds disappear.  The lack of birds didn’t stop me from taking pictures as the sun hanging low in the horizon provided some great illumination for the flowers.  With the sun behind it, today’s photo shows a sunflower really living up to its name.

As I consider the photo, I think about how the Son shining through us is what helps us live up to our name, Christian.  The more that we live in the light of Jesus, the more likely it is that the people around us will see Him in everything we do.  Jesus teaches that we are the light of the world when He lives within us.  As the carriers of His light, we’re instructed to not hide this light from view but to set it on a lampstand that is positioned for everyone to see.  When our light is shining as it ought to be, not only do we provide illumination in areas of darkness but we also draw the attention of those in need to the light that Jesus offers through the indwelling presence of His Spirit.

It is when we live daily in the light of Jesus, we learn to make decisions that we know will keep us there.  The more we experience the comfort and encouragement of His presence, the less likely we are to pursue anything that would take us away from His light.  When we learn to listen to God and His Word for direction and timing in the events of our life, we allow Him to illuminate even the things we consider routine and ordinary.

I pray that you and I would turn to God for wisdom, and the courage to use that wisdom, in everything we do.  I pray that we would do our part in allowing God’s light to shine in us and be visible through us.  I pray that the light we make visible would draw people to pursue a relationship with Jesus.