Earthdate 20160414:  These are the ramblings of one traveler’s journey on earth as he makes his way toward his heavenly home.

Sometimes the days begin to settle into a routine so that it becomes difficult to notice the uniqueness of what God is teaching and revealing.  It is on these days that it takes extra effort to pay attention and not just assume there is nothing new to be learned.  Today looked a lot like yesterday and the day before — the day began by getting the building ready for the day then heading outside to spend the beautiful sunny day cutting firewood and cleaning up brush to improve the property’s appearance and usefulness.

Whenever I would shut the chainsaw off to move brush or pick up firewood, the birds would be singing with such beauty and volume that I think they may have been trying to drown out the sound of the saw. 🙂  It didn’t seem to make any difference what I was doing, they were going to sing!  As I thought about it, I decided it had nothing to do with trying to overcome the noise I was making — it was all about simply doing what they were created to do.  

God has created each of us to be loved by Him and to give Him praise and worship.  Yet I wonder how we are doing at that?  Is the praise I express based upon God or upon me?  Do I praise simply for God or is my praise dependent on who is watching and listening?  When the noise of the world seems likely to drown out the sounds of my praise, do I still praise God simply because that is what I was created to do?  How about receiving God’s love?  Do I accept it in the spirit of grace and mercy with which it is offered?  Or do I act like it is only obtainable if I can somehow earn it?  When I begin to believe I have to earn God’s love, whatever praise I offer becomes shallow and self-serving.

I pray that you and I would understand the purpose for which God has created us.  I pray that we would know and accept the love God has for us.  I pray that we would give Him praise with our lives in all the circumstances of life.  I pray that our praise and worship would always be only for God.  I pray that we would never compromise, or change, our worship based on who is listening and watching.

Page 104 was another beautiful spring day so I began it early so I could get my inside work done before sunrise.  After cleaning, sweeping, and taking out trash, it was a little brisk outside but I started up the Kubota tractor to continue the clean-up work in the woods.  After setting all winter, the tractor started right up and seemed eager to get back to work.  In addition to cleaning up the tree tops from the recent timber harvest, I continue to work at clearing the undergrowth and invasive brush so the building is more visible from the road.  I began this project a couple years ago and it will need to be an ongoing task if I want it to remain clear.  

Sometime in the last 10 years or so, a group of guys put a lot of work into clearing the brush and undergrowth from the wooded are on the south side of the church drive.  While it looked wonderful when they were finished, no one took it upon themselves to keep it maintained.  Last fall I spent several days going back through it and I still have more to do before it is cleared again.  It is a beautiful grove of trees when the ground is cleared but it quickly becomes an eyesore when allowed to become overgrown.  On the positive side, the fact that it had some attention given to it over the years made it easier to clear than the other side of the drive where I’m working now — which doesn’t appear to have had anything done to it for multiple generations.  

Some of my best thinking and praying times come on the seat of a tractor or mower.  As I worked on some of the more stubborn vines and brush, I thought about the invasive brush and vines that we often allow to grow up in our life that strangle our spirit.  Sometimes the strangling of our spirit happens so gradually that we don’t even realize it has happened until something happens that causes us to realize we are struggling for air in the midst of a life that is overgrown with the cares of the world.  Many times people reach that point of realization and the work necessary to clear away the brush seems too great to even attempt.  The good news is that God has given us all the equipment necessary to clear away everything that “so easily entangles us” so our spirit is free to show His Spirit to the people around us.  

Yes the longer we allow the entanglements of life to grow, the more effort it will take to remove them but it is not a task we have to do alone.  Once we allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, remaining in Christ and allowing Him to daily keep our lives free from the overgrowth of the world helps us remain clear before Him.  Living a life that is clear before God is not a “once and done” thing.  It requires a daily, deliberate decision and set of actions to keep it clear.  While the tractor makes clearing the wooded areas much easier than trying to do it with simple hand tools, God’s Spirit is the heavy equipment that has the power to cut through the heaviest of entangling growth that has overtaken our lives.  But the tractor doesn’t start itself and go out and clear the woods any more than the Holy Spirit works at clearing our spirit without our invitation and involvement.  It is our choice to seek God and allow Him full access to work in our life.  But it also must be our choice to daily deny our self, pick up our cross, and follow Him.

I pray that you and I would evaluate the condition of our spirit and see how much work still needs done to clear it.  I pray that we would daily turn to God for His help in removing the entanglements of the world from our lives.  I pray that we would daily spend time with God in His Word and prayer as part of the maintenance of keeping our lives free from the undergrowth that can destroy us.

It was an early start to what turned out to be a beautiful spring day.  The morning cleaning and building prep was finished shortly before sunrise so I did some office work as the sun came up.  The rest of the workday was spent running chainsaw as I began the brush clean-up process following our recent sale of timber from the property.  While I made some progress, this will be a fairly long term project as I work my way through the woods.  Even with the sounds of the chainsaw, the birds were singing loudly throughout the day.  When I would stop to refuel the saw, the birds would come over to see what I was doing.

The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was nearing 50 degrees so we headed down to Potato Creek after work.  We arrived around 5 PM and an eagle was waiting to greet us.  He didn’t stay around long tonight.  I managed just two photos before he flew off, soaring through the sky in increasingly large circles before heading home for the night.  After seeing the eagle, we began our hike around the loop to see one of the osprey nests and get some exercise in.  Along the trail we hiked is a small pond that overflows into the lake.  As we walked past, the beauty of the trees and sun reflecting off the still surface of the water caught my photography eye.  There was enough of a breeze that the lake itself was too rough to capture much reflection off the surface, but this protected pond had a mirror-like surface.

As I noticed the contrast between the water on one side of the trail compared to the other, I thought about how we are supposed to reflect the nature of Christ in our lives.  And then I thought about all the studies and surveys I have read that indicate there is very little difference in the average lives of those who ought to reflect Christ and those who are not yet in relationship with Him.  Then I began to wonder if the scene in front of me might reveal one of the reasons why Christ is often not seen clearly in those who belong to Him.  Could it be that we are so tossed about by the winds of life and the winds of compromise that we are never still enough to accurately reflect anything?  God calls us to be still and know that He is Lord.  It is through an inner stillness — a peace that surpasses understanding — that the people around us can see the character of Christ reflected through us.  As we live with a growing trust in God, the waves that often distort the reflected image begin to  calm and become ripples which soon become smooth water.  

I pray that you and I would seek a stillness in Christ that allows for Him to be seen clearly through us.  I pray that our trust of God would grow in ways that create an increasing stillness in our lives.  I pray that we would understand that times of wind and waves come but that they don’t last forever.  I pray that we would always look to God to calm the storms in our lives that keep us from reflecting Christ accurately.

After a long and productive weekend, page 102 was back to a Monday routine.  The day began early with bathroom cleaning, sweeping floors, and taking out trash.  When I took the trash out in the pre-dawn twilight, a couple deer were standing just beyond the dumpster watching me as I came out of the building.  I stopped where I was and decided I would enjoy the moment more by watching them rather than going back in to get my camera and take the chance they would leave before I got back.  As I watched, another deer came from behind the garage and joined the first two . . . then another . . . and another . . . and another . . . and another until 7 deer gathered and slowly walked into the woods to disappear for the day.

Once the building was ready for the day, I continued my Monday routine by going before God in prayer to work on the prayer guide He would have me write for next week.  As I sat with God, I decided to go with the topic of kindness to follow up this week’s focus of self-control.  Just as God’s Spirit should be producing self-control in our life, it ought to be producing a kindness that the people around us would notice.  Once next week’s prayer guide was written, I spent the rest of the work day writing and doing follow-up from the weekend’s convention contacts.  When I got home my family and I headed down to Potato Creek where we got in a 3+ mile hike and photographed some of the beauty of God’s creation.

While there were a variety of wildflowers blooming, the first photo I took at the park today was of a dandelion blossom.  As I photographed that, several things went through my mind.  The first was a mental flash-back to my ag classes in high school a “few” years back.  In the class, a weed was defined as any plant growing where it wasn’t wanted or desired.  In other words, there wasn’t a set class of plants that were weeds and a set class that were not.  It all depends on the perspective of the person viewing the plant.  While most people, including myself, would view a dandelion as a weed if it were growing in their lawn, when I find it blooming along the trail in the woods it is no longer a weed but a wildflower in my eyes.  Then I thought about the parable Jesus taught about the weeds which were sown among the wheat.  The servants wanted to go in and pull out all the weeds while the crop was still growing.  The master would have none of that plan because it would result in wheat being pulled up along with the weeds.  The instruction was to leave the field be and at the harvest the master would have the weeds separated  from the wheat with the weeds being burned and the wheat being stored up in the master’s barn.

I pray that you and I would recognize the value of people who are different from us and realize that their value is not based on our differences but on the value we have because of our common Maker.  I pray that we would not be guilty of destroying part of God’s harvest by our desire to “weed” the place where we live.  I pray that we would always leave the “weeding” that needs done to God as He rightly determines where each person belongs when the final harvest is brought in.

Well, I’ve made it past the 100 page mark in this page-a-day journey I began at the beginning of the year.  Page 101 has been a cold, dreary, rainy day outside that was made better by being a Sunday so it included Bible study and worship with my church family at Deer Run.  After lunch I spent some time relaxing, going through yesterday’s photos, and answering questions online about the cameras I use.

This morning’s sermon at Deer Run was from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus states that you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  In the years I served as dean of the 5th & 6th grade camp weeks, I would alternate years using salt and and then light as the theme for the week.  We generally expect Jesus to be the salt and light that changes the world so it often comes as a surprise to learn He expects us to fill that role.  When we are immersed into Christ, He puts His Spirit within us so that we can be the salt and light that the world needs to experience.  We become the container through which God pours Himself out into the world so that people would come to know Him.  I know this because Jesus says that our light should shine in such a way that people glorify God because of our good works.  

As I went through the sunset photos I took at Lake Michigan yesterday, I was drawn to the light shining through the spray of water from the waves and reflecting off the surface.  I thought about the power of the waves as they crashed over the lighthouse piers.  I thought about the danger of being caught in the path of these waves as they wash over anything in their path.  Then I thought about the power of Jesus who commanded the waves to be still one night and the wind died down and the sea became calm.  It is this power that call us the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Think about that if you doubt your ability to be salt and light.  The ability doesn’t reside with you, it comes from the One who speaks the word and calls you to be such.

I pray that you and I would live a life of worship that enhances the worship that takes place when we gather with other believers.  I pray that we would recognize our role as salt and light in the lives of the people around us.  I pray that we would be confident in God’s power to make us effective as salt and light through the word spoken by Jesus.  I pray that everything we do would bring glory to our Father who is in heaven.

If each day carries a predominant theme, then page 99 seemed to have the theme of “Bloom Where You’re Planted.”  After sleeping in longer than what I thought I might, I made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Lansing, Michigan to set up the Impact Prayer Ministry display at the Michigan Christian Convention.  When I arrived, I sat in on a session being taught by Ben Merold as I waited for a break to be able to set up the display.  It is interesting that at a convention with a theme of “Relevant”, Ben continues to teach material that I’ve heard him do for a lot of years yet it remains relevant because it continues to work.  For many, when they talk about the church no longer being relevant, they mean it no longer works for them.  God’s Word is always relevant because it works, but it only works in our favor if we apply it.  

At the first break I was able to set up my display and begin talking to people about the work God continues to do through the prayer ministry.  Then during the lunch break I had lunch with a Great Lakes student that was a part of the children’s ministry I led in my early years at Deer Run.  It was exciting to hear her enthusiasm for a mission trip she plans to take this summer and to listen to her pursuit of God being lived out.  The afternoon was filled with a lot of great conversations that were an encouragement to me and I pray were an encouragement to those I talked with and shared the prayer-based resources with.  

As the convention took a dinner break, I was still full from lunch so I grabbed my cameras and took a walk that was almost a 3 mile round-trip from the college to a nearby park.  There was a chill in the air and an occasional flurry of snow but I still managed to get some photos I liked.  With spring’s reluctance to show up, there were not a lot flowers showing color yet but there were patches of daffodils blooming at various places in the woods along the trail.  At the turnaround point of the trail was a small pond with ducks, gulls, and geese gliding across the water looking for bread that someone evidently had been feeding them.  As I walked back toward the college, my mind entered a period of darkness for some reason . . . or for no reason.  The inner questioning of what am I really doing returned and the enemy began to replant the seeds of doubt and despair that anything I do makes a difference anywhere.  It was as this battle was going on within my mind and spirit that I noticed the randomness of the daffodils.  They weren’t always in a place that made sense and they weren’t always in a place that was very noticeable.  Where they were didn’t seem to matter, they were simply doing what they were created to do and blooming where they were planted.  

When I returned to the convention, there were more conversations with people as they came in for the evening session/concert.  Then during the concert, Andrew Peterson talked about struggling with intense sadness for periods of time and finding how God would use memories from the midst of those struggles to form songs.  As he shared in song and testimony I felt that God wanted me to share with him so after the concert and after he had signed CD’s and books for people, I thanked him for his music and his testimony and gave him a copy of each of my poetic devotional books telling him that it was usually in the times of my greatest depression and discouragement that God would put poems in my mind that I wrote down and eventually put into books.  I don’t know if he will read them or even do anything with them, but I did what I believe God wanted me to do in sharing them.  God planted me in this place at this time so my faithful response is to do my part in blooming where I’m planted.

I pray that you and I would realize there is some type of work for us to do wherever we are.  I pray that even when the “work” God calls us to do is rest, that we would be obedient in doing it.  I pray that we would make the most of the opportunities to encourage the people around us.  I pray that we would allow God to use even the seasons of discouragement we face to cause us to listen more intently to Him.  I pray that we would do the things His Spirit prompts us to do even when they are outside of our comfort zone and may not make much sense to us.

Page 98 has had a Friday feel to it as I finished preparing for this weekend’s Michigan Christian Convention.  A big part of the prep today was getting the building ready for Sunday which included my Friday cleaning.  But before that could happen, the day began with our fire alarm company in the building doing an annual inspection and testing of of our detection system.  The final report states that everything passed with no deficiencies in the system — a report I like to hear! 🙂  Once the inspections were taken care of I did some financial record-keeping for the church missions account and caught up on the latest newsletters from the missions Deer Run helps to support.  As I worked in the office snow would fall throughout the day, sometimes fairly light and sometimes quite heavily.  The sun fought to come out at times but always seemed to be overtaken by the snow clouds.  In the breaks between snow times, the wildlife would become active and try to brave the snow until it became heavy then they would disappear until the next clearing.

As I watched the bunnies, squirrels, and a variety of birds come and go, I thought about their persistence in both enjoying the day and finding shelter when needed.  At one point a pair of cardinals sat outside my window singing for me . . . or perhaps more likely, singing for each other.  I thought about how easily many of us tend to give up when circumstances are less than ideal.  Or maybe we don’t give up, perhaps we take the other extreme and stubbornly continue something when we ought to be seeking shelter and rest.  Perhaps we have difficulty singing in the calm because we have failed to take shelter within the hand of God during the storm.  Maybe we feel we have endured a storm one time too many so we have quit coming out to sing once the storm passes.  

God tells us that in this world we will have trouble but that we should be encouraged because He has overcome the world.  While they don’t seem to like to be out in it, the wildlife seem to come out and celebrate the snow as they drink in the moisture that it leaves behind.  Sometimes, particularly in the midst of it, we tend to forget how much the “inclement weather” in our life helps us to grow.  It is when we appreciate the growth process and the necessity of all that helps accomplish that, we are able to sing God’s praises for all that He is and all that He provides.

I pray that you and I would seek God at all times of our life.  I pray that we would look to God for the wisdom in knowing the things we need to endure and knowing when it is time to retreat into a season of rest.  I pray that we would learn to praise God for both the things He brings us to and the things He brings us through.