As with many Saturdays, page 121 came in at least two parts.  The first part was an unwinding at Steak-N-Shake for a late/early dinner following Friday’s work as page 120 ran right up to the start of page 121.  After spending the first hour of the day eating and unwinding, I headed to bed for some much needed sleep.  After sleeping in, the second part of the day was a low-key, relaxing day as the chilly temperature and light rain made outdoor activity not so desirable.  We did make it out to run some errands during the day, but much of my day was spent relaxing and going through the photos I took yesterday afternoon at Potato Creek.  

The photo included on this page is one that I took yesterday.  After a little research, I believe it may be a yellow warbler but I’m still at the very beginning stages of learning to recognize and identify the birds that I have the opportunity to photograph.  Regardless of what it actually is, its beauty in both appearance and song is incredible.  In the past three days I have seen and photographed a blue, a red, and a yellow songbird that were all new to me.  I’m pretty sure they are not new to the area and I very well may have been in their vicinity before, this was just the first that I noticed.  While it is nice to learn more about the subjects of my photos, my knowledge doesn’t influence them being what they were created to be.  They share their beauty and sing their songs whether I know what they are or even know if they exist.

In a recognition driven society, we can learn a lot from the ways of the songbirds.  Even among the birds, there are those who tend to draw my attention in greater ways than what these small birds do.  When I head to the park, I first look for the bald eagles, or the osprey, as their size and beauty in flight tend to draw attention and makes them easy to see.  The lesson learned though, is not so much about my reaction but about the faithfulness of each of these birds doing what they were created to do regardless of my knowing what they are or even knowing they exist.  Watching them go about their day singing their songs of praise, and knowing they do so whether I notice or not, makes me evaluate why I do what I do.  God says that if I do my “acts of righteousness” to be seen by people, then what little recognition that comes from people is all the reward I will get.  God’s desire is that we live in such a way that Christ is lifted up to be seen by others.  I’m afraid that far too often our praise and songs ebb and flow in direct correlation to how much recognition we receive.  How would our lives be different if the song of our life was consistent regardless of who was watching and who knew our name?  Some of the most beautiful lives I have known are those who have lived their life each day doing what they were created to do.  To do so with no thought of notice or recognition is an act of humble service and obedience.

I pray that you and I would seek to honor God through our faithful practice of worship, especially when no one is watching but God.  I pray that we would seek to be what and who God created us to be without concern for the titles and labels our human nature often desires.  I pray that we would pay closer attention to who others are in Christ than to who the world says that they are.  

Page 120 is a Friday so it is a long day for me.  As I have often done on Fridays, I am writing today’s page while I’m at work letting the floor scrubber recharge so I can finish my weekend cleaning.  I did something this morning that I rarely do — I hit the snooze button on the alarm clock and didn’t get to work until 6:30 AM.  Part of the morning delay was an extra 10 minutes of sleep and part of it was stopping to get fuel for the mower so I wouldn’t have to go get it later.  After the morning cleaning routine, I took the trash out and started mowing.  Even with a sweatshirt, windbreaker, and hat, it was rather chilly all morning.  Mid-way through mowing the back lawn, the moisture in the air was thick enough that it felt like drizzle even though nothing was really getting wet.  Once the back lawn was done, I came inside to do some work on one of my writing projects while I warmed up with a cup of hot coffee.  I was able to outline another 31-day devotional journal and begin laying it out in book form.  After completing each day’s focus page, I worked on the cover layout.  The photo with today’s page is what I’m currently looking at for the front and back cover spread.

Once warmed, I headed back out to finish mowing with the addition of gloves to my mowing attire.  Now my mind was set on the topics from the book I am writing and I began to feel a bit melancholy that I’m here and not there.  I began to silently sing, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.”  As that song played and replayed in my mind, I thought about the hymn that was sung as a decision song way back when I first made a public decision to follow Christ when I was in fourth grade.  The words are still some of my favorite, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.  In the light of His glory and grace.”  When I fix my gaze on Jesus and set my mind on a destination that is an eternity with God, the stuff of this world has an ever-decreasing hold on me.  Once the mowing was done, I finished up some office work and headed to lunch around 2:30 to begin a break before coming back to to the weekend cleaning tonight.  Much of my break was spent taking a leisurely stroll at Potato Creek State Park with camera in hand looking to capture images of different things that would catch my attention.  Compared to most of my hikes there, I didn’t cover much distance but found a good variety of God’s creation to photograph. 

After my time at the park, it was back to work at 5 PM to start getting the building ready for Sunday.  As I worked on the cafeteria room floor, a person came to let me know a toilet had evidently overflowed and the men’s bathroom was flooded.  Sure enough, all of the toilets were filled to overflowing and at least one of them overflowed for quite some time.  As I mopped and mopped up water and then mopped and re-mopped again to clean and disinfect, I had to wonder how things could get so bad without someone reporting that there was a problem.  And as a sense of frustration began to build, God brought the words of the song back to my mind — “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim . . .”.  It was as if He was reminding me that this wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as it was starting to become in my mind.  I think so many things are like that.  The urgency, the unpleasantness, the mess, the tediousness, the ugliness, the so many other things begin to make whatever it is seem so much larger and so much more important than what it really is.  So, the clean-up is done.  The bathroom smells clean.  The rest of my days work continues to get done.  And God continues to lead me home.

I pray that you and I would never lose sight of where our real home is.  I pray that we would keep the troubles of this life in proper perspective.  I pray that we would always take time to enjoy the journey as we travel with God toward our heavenly home.

Today’s page had me seeing red . . . sometimes in a good way and sometimes not so good!  Since I began writing these daily pages I have often noticed themes of lessons God is teaching me, but today is the first that the theme was a color.  And for those that know me, the surprise is that the color wasn’t yellow!  🙂  Today began in the usual workday fashion with cleaning bathrooms, sweeping floors, and making sure the building was ready for the school day.  The rain had not arrived yet, so my plan was to finish the mowing on the property today so it was done in case the rain did show up yet this week.  As I finished up the things I needed to do in the building and was ready to head outside, Susan had a moderate seizure that required my attention and assistance to keep her from harming herself or destroying my office.  This one was moderate in both severity and length which translates into a recovery time that would not be brief, but would also not be violent.

As Susan came out of the seizure and no longer needed my direct help, I changed up my plans to stay inside and do some writing so I could keep an eye and ear on her.  The prayer guide that I didn’t get written on Monday, because I began the mowing that day, was able to be written this morning.  I also received an email about some workshop sessions I will be leading at a student conference this summer, so I spent some prayer time seeking direction in developing what God would want those workshops to look like under the broader topic of developing a prayer life.  As I worked at writing and lesson development, the lawn outside my office window was covered with small songbirds.  I believe most of them were white-throated sparrows but there were a few birds in their midst that had me seeing red!  One of them is in the photo with today’s page and I believe he is a house finch.  It is interesting how we tend to use the color red.  We use red as a warning, a message to stop, an attention-getting flag in a bullfight, a light and vehicle color for safety purposes on emergency vehicles, a color signifying we are overdrawn in our accounts and out of money, and in people — a sign of embarrassment or anger.  Yet on this bird, it was an expression of beauty.  

Later in the day as Susan and I went to lunch, I found my fuse getting short in regard to traffic and the way people were driving.  As my anger with people began to build, I thought about seeing red in the form of the beautiful birds from the morning.  Even with an occasional beak stuffed full of dandelion fluff, these songbirds went about their day joyfully singing praise to a God who has supplied their every need.  As I look at my own life, and a mouth that is often stuffed full of much goodness that isn’t dandelion fluff, I find myself repenting of not joyfully and continually praising God who has supplied all my needs.  When I am “seeing red” in a negative way, it is because I am not seeing clearly a God who has given grace and mercy from Himself to me in times when I deserved His anger.  Seeing red should be a warning to me of a need to examine my heart and my attitude.  It should be a reminder that without God crediting me with righteousness through the blood of His Son, I am hopelessly overdrawn in my account with Him.  It should be a message to stop and patiently wait upon the Lord so that He can renew my strength.  It should be a motivation to get my attention and get me moving in the direction God is trying to lead me.  And at times it should be a sign of embarrassment or anger that directs me back to God when my life choices are not what they should have been.  But most of all, the color red should be a thing of beauty as it reminds us of the blood of Jesus which has cleansed us from all unrighteousness!

I pray that you and I would find the times when we are “seeing red” to be of great value in our life.  I pray that we would recognize the incredible goodness God has given to us as He meets our every need.  I pray that we would learn to pay attention to the warning signs that God places in our life.  I pray that our attention is always directed, or redirected, to God when we find ourselves “seeing red” and that we would find beauty in the forgiveness we have possible through the blood of Jesus.

Today’s page followed a night when I finally got some uninterrupted sleep from the time my head hit the pillow last night until just before my alarm went off this morning.  With a mind and body that has been trained for early morning work, most mornings I find myself awake by 5:30 even before the alarm goes off.  After the morning cleaning and building prep, I headed out to begin the week’s mowing.  Mowing the lawn areas that border the parking lots is much easier if I get it done before people start arriving for the day.  It is also less distracting to the students if I can get the mowing done outside the classroom windows before the school day starts.  Today that meant mowing in the chilly pre-dawn hours under an overcast sky that never really brightened much the entire day.  Eventually the cold air got to me and I headed inside to warm up with some coffee and to continue some writing.  

When my work day came to a close, I grabbed a late lunch and headed down to Potato Creek for a photography hike.  With an overcast sky and cool weather I decided to walk completely around the lake.  My phone evidently had some GPS reception issues because while it was timing my hike from the beginning, it didn’t actually start recording the path and distance until 2 miles into the walk.  So, what is normally about an 8 mile hike shows up as 6 miles with a terrible pace.  While the overcast sky made the day not so great for photos, it was a beautiful afternoon for a hike as the entire route was accompanied by a magnificent symphony of birds.  After making it around the lake, I drove over to the east end of the lake to see if the bald eagle had come out for his evening fishing expedition.  Sure enough, he was perched in a tree waiting for me to snap some photos before he headed home for the evening.

God calls us to speak and live in such a way that our words and actions benefit others according to their needs.  While such a directive from God seems clear and straightforward, it is so contradictory to our human nature that we readily come up with excuses as to why the needs of others are less important than our own.  If we do things for the benefit of others, who looks out for us?  We know where we are headed but we want to make sure we receive the credit for every effort we put forth.  It has often been said that most groups of people would be amazed at what could actually be accomplished if each person in the group didn’t care who got the credit for the good being done.  When we make it a point to look out for the good of others, we also learn that there is greater satisfaction to be had in serving others than in seeking your own glory.  If our goal as Christ-followers is to help others come to know Him, then it is Christ we must lift up and make visible in the way we interact with others.

As I take, and make, time to enjoy hikes and walks throughout various parks and outdoor spaces, I discover that God has set the example of giving according to the needs of those you serve.  The soothing songs of the birds, the beauty of the wildflowers, the majesty of the eagles all reflect God’s goodness and all are His gifts for the benefit and enjoyment of His children.  God’s greatest gift of all was the payment of our sin penalty by sending Jesus for our benefit.

I pray that you and I would continually grow in our pursuit of doing good according to the actual needs of those we serve.  I pray that we would seek God’s help in destroying every root of pride that seeks our own glory and credit.  I pray that we would acknowledge God’s goodness in meeting our greatest need through the blood of His Son, Jesus.  I pray that we would gain great peace and pleasure from the beauty which God surrounds us with according to our need to see a glimpse of His beauty.

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Page 117 was ushered in overnight with some loud storms rumbling through the area.  After two nights in a row of interrupted sleep, today seemed to have a tough time getting up  to speed.   The morning included the usual cleaning and building prep, minor maintenance tasks, and some writing.  After lunch with some friends, I finished up my work at the building and headed home by late afternoon.  Even with an overcast sky, we headed down to Potato Creek for an evening walk.  One of the eagles was out but too far away to get any decent photos.  As we walked the trails we were able to enjoy many spring flowers and singing birds.  

My interest in photography has opened up a view into the incredibly vast and diverse world that God has filled with so much beauty.  Today’s sights included several different woodpeckers, including the one pictured on this page.  For me, it is a beautiful sound to walk through the woods and hear the tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker working away on a tree.  Today included three different types and sizes of woodpeckers, each with their own sound which corresponds to their size.  From the quiet tap of the downy woodpecker to the startling rat-a-tat-tat of the red-headed woodpecker, it is fascinating to see how each of them end up with perfectly round holes drilled into the trees they are working on. The small birds in particular get so involved in their work that sometimes they completely disappear into the hole they’ve created in the tree.  Not surprisingly, though, that hole doesn’t appear in an instant.  Rather it takes continued work and a steadfast commitment to keeping at it without giving up.

We could learn a lot from the creation of God if we were paying attention.  That shouldn’t surprise us though.  The Bible tells us to consider the lilies of the field, consider the birds of the air, even consider the ant.  We consider God’s care and provision for the things of nature and we learn to trust Him to care for us and provide what we need.  We consider the work ethic that exists within the wildlife realm and we learn the value of faithful, consistent work.  Many times when we do listen to the instructions God has for us, we begin to follow them but give up when the results don’t happen according to our schedule.  In my experience, the good work that God has created in advance for us to do is usually a lifetime series of small steps designed to draw us closer to God and reveal Him more clearly to the people around us.  Some days all we can do, and all we need to do, is to simply keep pecking away at the work that is in front of us.  That day, the results may not be what we expect but if we don’t to that day’s work we will never accomplish the work God has called us to.

I pray that you and I would take note of the examples that God has given us throughout creation.  I pray that we would understand more fully the eternal perspective that God has in regard to the work He has given us to do.  I pray that we would not become weary in doing good but trust God that the harvest will take place according to His schedule.  I pray that we would faithfully commit to doing the task at hand regardless of how big or small it may seem.

Page 116 began the work week on a short night’s sleep due to a car alarm going off in the neighborhood very early in the morning.  It seemed like I had hardly gotten back to sleep when my alarm clock went off, calling on me to get up and meet our pest control person while the building is basically empty.  As he did his inspection and service, I began the morning cleaning process to get the building ready for the start of the school day.  As I finished up inside and got the trash around to take out, the sun was beginning to rise over the eastern horizon as it spread its light across the sky.  

With a forecast of rain, I changed up my Monday routine and headed out to work on more of the brush clearing at the front of the property.  It was a beautiful morning to spend on the tractor, leveling ground and pushing back brush to continue making the building more visible from the road.  I was able to clear it back to a point where I need to do more cutting so it was a good time to take the loader bucket off the tractor and drop it off at a friend’s shop for some repair/rebuild work.  By the time I got back to the building, my work day was nearly done so I finished up some inside work that needed done and headed home.  Since the rain still hadn’t arrived, I put some pork chops on the pellet grill to smoke while we headed down to the Mishawaka Riverwalk to take some pictures and get our family “Waist Management” walk in.  🙂  With so many trees and plants in full bloom, the walk was a beautiful reminder of the goodness that God has created for us to enjoy.

As I think back over the day, I’m reminded of the beauty that stretched from the beginning of the day to the end.  My mind also lingers on the loader bucket that I’m finally getting some repair work done on.  The front edge is completely worn down, the metal has cracked down the center, the bottom has bowed to such an extend that when the center of the leading edge is on the ground the sides are a good six inches off the ground.  I don’t know of any single incident that caused it to be in such bad shape.  The serial number shows that the tractor and loader was put into service sometime in the late seventies or early eighties so it has seen a lot of time and use over the years.  Every hour running the leading edge over concrete and asphalt pushing snow has slowly worn down, and worn off, the original surface.  Every tree stump pushed out put a little more stress on the metal.  And while it was never noticeably worse after any given project, all of the wear and tear has added up to a need for renewal.

Is it sounding familiar yet?  Sometimes we have an incident in life that wears us down so quickly that we immediately know we need renewal, but most of the time the wear and tear on our spirit is more gradual and unnoticed until we reach a breaking point.  The good news is that we don’t have to let our spirit go without regular maintenance and even if we have, God has the ability through His Spirit in us to completely renew and restore us.  The process is generally less drastic if we spend regular time in prayer and God’s Word, allowing it to renew us daily.  But even if we should drift, we are never beyond restoration if we are willing to repent and turn to God in complete submission and obedience.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the cares of the world that tend to wear us down.  I pray that we would daily be renewed by the power of God’s Spirit so that the wearing down does not accumulate.  I pray that we would never conclude that we are too far gone for God’s restoration process to be effective in our life.

Page 115 was a quiet day of rest and reflection.  I did not take any new photos today, so the ones attached are from yesterday . . . but I’ll get to that later. 🙂  I spent this morning with my family, and church family, in Bible study and worship.  The Sunday morning Bible study class that I’m a part of is still going through the book of Proverbs and gleaning much wisdom to learn and apply.  Our preacher is in the midst of a series through the Sermon on the Mount and today’s message was about “Doing Right . . . The Right Way”.  We heard from the teachings of Jesus about giving the right way, praying the right way, and listening to God the right way.  At the heart of each of these spiritual activities is the need to keep the focus on God and not make them about ourselves.

After our church worship gathering, we had lunch and then I began going through the 750+ photos I took during our Friday afternoon and Saturday family adventure.  The photos I’ve included on this page were taken yesterday when we stopped at Sleeping Bear Dunes in Northern Michigan looking for the best vantage point to view and photograph a couple lighthouses that are offshore from the mainland.  We had to walk over sand dunes and and up a rather steep trail to find the views we were looking for.  While MJ and I enjoy taking photographs of the incredible beauty of God’s creation, Susan simply enjoys being with us out in the sunshine.  To walk hand-in-hand with her over the sand dune hills, or see her put great effort into hiking up a trail, and in all of it watch the great joy expressed on her face, I know that the time we spend together as a family is a valuable treasure.

There have been times in my life when I’ve allowed various things to keep me from enjoying the time with my family that I believe God has brought us together for.  Sometimes it has been my decisions and priorities that have kept me too busy and other times it has been the expectations of others in work and ministry.  I think it is far too easy to believe that there will always be a tomorrow with the family but if I don’t jump at every expectation of my workplace, there may not be a tomorrow at work.  My work at camp was like that and eventually taught me a lesson of setting limits that I’ve learned to apply to my work at Deer Run now.  Susan’s health, particularly the frequent seizures, remind me often that she is God’s gift on loan to us for an unspecified amount of time.  I have a cousin — actually my wife has a cousin but I claim her as well — who has been battling cancer for a long time but has reached the point where it seems the battle may be nearing an end and her life also reminds me that each of our lives are but a vapor and we should make the most of every opportunity we have.  

That is my lesson I share today — give the greatest value to the things that are the most important and the things that are the most important aren’t things at all, but they are the people God has allowed to be a part of your life and you a part of theirs.

Page 114 was a very good day, but also a very long day — thus my writing of it taking place the next afternoon. 🙂  We had spent the night at a hotel on the Lake Michigan waterfront so I was up before sunrise to capture some photos of the moon and lighthouse reflecting off the water.  The peaceful beauty was present both inside and out as the sun began to rise and slowly illuminate the day.  Susan’s recurring seizures have served to remind me that I need to enjoy whatever time God gives us as a family and trips like this 33 hour lighthouse adventure are a part of that enjoyment.  On page 114 we saw and photographed 6 lighthouses that we hadn’t been to before.  With the one we visited Friday night and a stop in South Haven on the way home, we were able to photograph 8 different lighthouses on this trip.  I’ve always loved lighthouses as far back as I can remember — which is somewhat strange considering I grew up with a fear of heights.  As a boy, I remember climbing the stairs to the top inside the Key Biscayne lighthouse in southern Florida.  There is something special about not only their purpose, but the perspective they give when you reach the top.

Most of these old lighthouses have small openings, windows, in the brick structure as you climb your way to the top so that the interior has at least some natural lighting.  Each level of windows also gives an increasing glimpse of the view that awaits those who make it to the top.  Once to the top, a view opens up that you could only imagine existed before seeing it with your own eyes.  It made me wonder about this walk through life each of us is on.  As we travel that narrow path that leads to life eternal with God, could it possibly be viewed a a spiral staircase where each successive step not only gets us closer to our destination but also offers us an increasingly clear glimpse of God’s perspective?  Is our walk with God giving us glimpses of His glory so that it increases our anticipation of what we will experience when we reach the top?  Does our daily walk not only increase our perspective, but more importantly help us to see things from His perspective?  When I visit a lighthouse, I always think of Jesus stating that we are the light of the world.  On the surface, that sounds like a huge task and responsibility.  But then I think of Paul’s teaching about each of us being a jar of clay that contains a precious treasure which is Christ.  This jar of clay is meant to be a lighthouse — not something designed so that those in trouble say, “Look!  A brick tower, jar of clay, Christian person, etc.”.  No, the design is such that when lived correctly people should say, “Look!  The light of Jesus!”  Or as Jesus put it, “Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

I pray that you and I would live life each day to the full.  I pray that we would value the families God has given us, whether they be biological families or not.  I pray that we would recognize that since we’ve not yet reached our heavenly home at the top, we do not yet have a full and accurate perspective on the things of life around us.  I pray that we would continually seek to know God’s perspective in all things.  I pray that we would serve well as structures which show the light of Jesus to people living in darkness.

Our final stop on the way home on page 114 was in South Haven, Michigan to photograph the lighthouse there with the setting sun backdrop.