Author: Tom

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2016: Page 57

My snow removal work from yesterday held up and all the sidewalks and entryways were in good shape when I arrived at work this morning.  My plan was to take care of the things at work that needed my attention in the morning and then take a break for a while before returning for a late night of cleaning and getting the building ready for the weekend.  As I worked on formatting my weekly prayer guide email and blog post, I was called to the office to take care of some networking issues as a computer wasn’t wanting to talk to the printer.  After a couple other interruptions, I finished the work I had started on but before heading out for the afternoon I got sidetracked with the second weekly collection of daily devotions I am working on.  As I wrote, I would grab chips and chocolate out of my desk to munch on to hold me over until I would go get lunch.  As I sat at my desk typing, the birds began to appear in the trees outside my window so I periodically pause from my writing long enough to take photos.  

As I finished day seven of the devotional booklet I was working at writing, I realized the afternoon had gotten away from me and the building would soon be empty enough that I could start cleaning.  After a quick sandwich so I had something to eat besides junk food all day, I began cleaning and spending time with God reflecting on the day.  I thought about the networking issues and how sometimes we seem to get our connections messed up to the point that it feels like communication with God is impossible.  The good news is that it doesn’t take a network specialist to resolve the conflicts that are blocking communication.  It simply takes us humbling ourselves and spending the time to seek God with our entire being as we go to Him in prayer.  

I thought about the variety of birds, and eventually a few deer, that gathered outside my window throughout the day.  So many unique representations of God’s creativity in the wildlife realm that caught my eye and made me wonder if I value the unique representations of God’s creativity when it is present in the people around me.  And then I thought about this series of booklets I am working on.  The one that I wrote today contains seven daily devotions focused on different aspects of serving with contentment.  As I mopped floors and prayed tonight, God reminded me of the times when I’ve served grudgingly with little or no contentment.  He reminded me of the joy that is present when serving others is done with contentment.  He called me to examine my motives in choosing the who, how, where, and why I serve.  Most of all, He encouraged me to keep serving Him as I serve others through the writings He gives me.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the many lessons that God tries to teach us each day.  I pray for the wisdom to understand the life lessons that He wants me to learn through the interactions He knows I will have throughout a day.  I pray for the courage to honestly share with others in a way that helps them see the lessons God wants them to learn.

The photo on today’s page was a tough choice but I’m going with one that may require a second look.  My count finds ten birds in this photo but more than the number, I’m amazed at the different expressions and/or activity that that I notice as I look at each bird individually and then as a group.  I pray that you find joy in doing exactly what God has created for you to do and that you spend all the time necessary with Him to figure out what that is.

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2016: Page 56

The snow that filled up page 55 kept falling onto page 56 to start the day.  There was enough of it on yesterday’s page that nearly all of the area schools had made the announcement last night that there would be no school today.  That included Michiana Christian School and Sonshine Preschool, so it meant that I didn’t have to set the alarm to wake up at a specific time this morning.  I still find it funny when I wake up at 7:30 in the morning and think that I’ve “slept in”.  Once I was up and around, I went out and ran the snow blower on the drive at home as another 5 or 6 inches of snow had fallen overnight.  

When the snow finally quit falling I headed to work to clear the sidewalks and entryways of snow while the building was empty so I don’t have to get up early tomorrow to get it done.  It is also much easier to do before people start coming and going, packing down the snow with every footstep.  After running the snow blower for a while at work, it was time for lunch with my family before returning to work to finish up the tasks for the day.  The snow was wet and heavy, making even the snow blower grumble about having to move all of it.  The secret to getting the snow moved was having the patience to listen to the sound of the snow blower and not allow the engine speed to bog down.

I finished up my work for the day around 3 so I headed down to Potato Creek State Park with my cameras to take a stroll through the trails and capture some snowy scenes.  As I walked the trail, I would occasionally see a snow covered bench.  At each one, the first thought that came to mind was about it being a good place for someone to sit who just needed to “chill out”.  We all have times that we need such a bench, right?  James tells us that everyone should be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”

Sometimes we are in such a rush that our internal “engine” gets bogged down from trying to do too much too fast and we need to throttle back our speed and just “chill out”.  I don’t know what “chilling out” will look like for you, but I’m guessing it is not sitting on a snow covered bench.  For me, it usually has to do with grabbing my cameras and stepping away from the things that draw me into living life at a speed that is not healthy.  Even though it is a lot of work to hike 3 miles through 8 – 10 inches of snow, it is a relaxing work that allows me to spend time with God in the beauty of His creation.  It seems that every time I go out with my cameras, regardless of the weather, God uses the things that I hear and see to teach me more about the walk He desires for me to have with Him.  The physical benefits of walking and hiking can be great, but those benefits pale in comparison to the spiritual and emotional benefits of deliberately spending time with God.

I pray that you and I would recognize our need to have times when we “chill out”.  I pray that we would deliberately throttle back the speed of our life so that we can listen to God more carefully.  I pray that the times we spend “chilling out” with God would prepare us to move forward at just the right speed as we follow His lead in everything.

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2016: Page 55

Page 55 began with an unsettled night for some reason.  Fortunately, part of the cleaning had been done yesterday afternoon so I caught an extra half-hour of sleep before heading in to finish the building prep for the day and check on some door security issues.  The weather guys had been calling for a winter storm so I wasn’t real sure what I would wake up to.  The storm hadn’t arrived yet and the light of the moon filled the sky with a hazy glow behind a light cloud cover.  After I picked up the trash to take out, I was told the school was on a two-hour delay with the potential of being closed for the day.  I was already at work and mid-way through my early morning tasks, so I kept at it.  After the normal tasks of my morning routine, I went out to service the snowblower and make sure it was ready should it be needed.  When I came out of the garage, the snow had begun falling lightly.  Throughout the day it has kept coming and by late evening added up to around six inches of snowfall with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

While an accumulating snowfall creates additional work, the sheer beauty of it is hard to miss.  When my primary tasks were done, I spent some time in the office confirming my registration for next week’s CCCA conference vendor fair and doing some writing in preparation for that.  At first the snow was melting as it hit the ground and the only evidence of it was the coating it left on the trees.  As it kept falling, it slowly began to accumulate on the ground, first with a frosty coating and then eventually covering up all traces of the dormant grass.  The scene reminded me of the hymn which states, “Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”  As the day progressed the dull, drab look of the ground and woods was transformed into a gleaming white snow globe scene.  God has the ability and desire to change the dull, drab, sin-stained existence of my life into a life of sparkling purity as His child.  God did the work through the blood of His Son, Jesus, to make me whiter than snow and He does the work to keep me whiter than snow.  But that doesn’t mean there is no effort required on my part.  I continue to “work out my salvation” with a full commitment to living a life of obedient faithfulness.  I take a stand to resist the devil and throw off the temptations and sins that seek to entrap me.  Yet even the work I do is not of myself, rather it is accomplished through the power of God’s Spirit living in me.

I pray that you and I would live daily in the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus.  I pray that we would make every effort to be found faithful when Jesus returns.  I pray that we would appreciate the beauty that God surrounds us with in creation and in the people around us.

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2016: Page 54

I find myself often waking up just before the alarm would go off to start the day.  Sometimes I look at the clock and think I’ll get another 10 – 15 minutes of sleep and other times I get right up and get ready for work.  Most of the time I find that I am more alert through the day if I don’t try to get those few extra minutes of sleep after I’m already awake.  Today I got right up and went in to work where I could spend time with God in prayer as I cleaned the building for the day.  When I took the trash out, the full moon was beginning to set in the west as the sun was making its way up over the eastern horizon.  So back inside to grab my camera to capture and share some of the beauty God was allowing me to see.

As I watched the moon settling into the tree line on the west edge of the property, it reminded me of a ball stuck in the branches.  There is something comforting about the routines that are found in life and creation.  From one night to the next, it is difficult to see much difference in the moon and stars yet compare pictures taken a week or two apart and the changes are easy to see.  Sometimes I think we expect overnight changes in other people rather than accepting the slow and steady progress that we accept in ourselves.  God wants the transformation that He does in people to take hold and be permanent.  When we live each day a step and a time and make sure each step is in line with God’s Word, we build the patterns and habits of a godly life.  God’s Word teaches us that when we are convicted of the need to remove bad habits and sin from our life, we must replace it with things that are good and just.  When I put the effort into establishing a consistent lifestyle of prayer and worship, I find that they become natural parts of my daily life.  My interest in photography has helped me to not only capture, but to pay greater attention to the creative handiwork of God.  Keeping my eye open for a great photo helps me to see details of God’s work around me that I have spent a lot of years not noticing.

I pray that you and I would constantly evaluate our routines of life to see if they are drawing us closer to God or creating greater distance from Him.  I pray that we would deliberately add the things in our life that bear good fruit as we remove those things that destroy our witness.  I pray that we never lose sight of God’s presence and handiwork all around us each day.

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2016: Page 53

Today was pest control day at work so it began a little earlier than what has become my “normal” early mornings.  After cleaning the building in preparation for the school day, I settled in to my usual Monday morning writing routine.  It is a routine that is filled with prayer and God’s Word as I work on the weekly prayer guide for the following week.  Depending on how much of the morning that takes, and if other needs come up, I also try to do some work on whatever current writing projects God has put in my mind to do.  Today was fun as I worked on a prayer guide with the focus of being redeemed and continued some work on the “Devotions For Those Who Serve” series.

As I worked, I could hear the birds singing their songs of worship outside my window.  Although today was seasonably cool, the warm temperatures over the weekend seemed to have brought with it an increase of birds wanting to sing their songs.  As I listened to them, I began to think about my worship of God.  Do I worship God because of His worth regardless of my circumstances or does my worship tend to reflect my perception of God’s goodness to me?  Am I content with the actual necessities of life when combined with God’s presence or do I complain when God doesn’t give me the things I think I need?  My interest in photography and nature constantly reminds me of God’s creativity and care for the things that are His.  This reminder is extremely useful as I realize that it is not just the birds and the flowers that belong to God and are cared for by Him, I belong to God and am cared for by Him.

Following work I stopped by Walmart to pick up two high gloss mounted photo art prints that I had done for the door prize drawings at the CCCA conference I will have an Impact Prayer Ministry display at next week.  These are photos of mine that were taken as part of my personal worship times over the past year.  I chose them for the conference because of the meaning they have to me as well as the appropriateness I feel they have for those involved in camp ministry.  The first is from an early morning kayak outing where I spent time with God watching the sunrise.  The scripture I put with it is a reminder that rest is God’s idea and plan for each of us.  The second is a close-up of a day lily and the tag on the back will reveal my title for the artwork to be, “Consider the Lily”.  The label will include the scripture reminder that we should consider the lily and how God’s clothing it with such beauty should serve as a reminder to us of His care for us as His children.  He says that we should not worry because He knows what we need.

I pray that  you and I would worship God with our songs and our life simply because He is worthy of all our worship.  I pray that we would rest securely in God’s love each day that we live, knowing that He is fully aware of our needs and He has the resources to meet them.

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2016: Page 52

Page 52 of the year 2016 is a Sunday which means the opportunity to worship God together with other believers . . . and today, rest.  As I spent some down time today with nothing on the schedule, I started going through the 238 photos I took yesterday during our family trip to some Lake Michigan lighthouses.  While most of the photos directly involved one of the lighthouses, a few were other scenes from the day that caught my eye.  On our hike back to one of the lighthouses a view of a tree, some sand, some sun, a few clouds, and the bright blue sky was one of those scenes that seemed to beg to be captured in a photograph.

While the scene caught my eye yesterday, it caught my eye again today as I reflected on the words, “the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land”, from a hymn we sang in our worship gathering this morning.  Our worship leader pointed out, and I believe rightly so, that the hymn-writer likely had Isaiah 32 in mind as God proclaims a time that a king will reign in righteousness.  In such a time, each person will be a shelter from the harshness that has been felt by so many.  It is when we submit fully to the reign of God as our King that we are able to provide refreshment to the people around us who are living in a very weary land.  Not that we have that ability on our own, but in Christ we are tapped into the life-giving source of living water.  

For me, there is something eye-catching about a tree growing and flourishing in what, by all appearances, is a very dry and thirsty land.  I suspect that most people reading this post would often agree that this world in which we live is a very dry and thirsty land.  Each day we pass by people whose spirit has dried up within them as they longed for just a drop of refreshing rain to touch their life.  As sad as that may sound, the tragic part is that far too often those who have the greatest need have not seen or heard from those following Christ.  Those of us who belong to Christ should be a living testimony on a daily basis so that those who long for even a drop of water could see both the effects and source of that life-giving water in us.

I pray that you and I would daily experience the refreshing flow of the spirit of God in and through us.  I pray that we would live as examples to the world around us of the life-giving water that can be found through a relationship with Jesus.  I pray that my life represent Jesus as a shelter — a refuge to those seeking hope in a dry and weary world.

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2016: Page 51

Technically, page 51 started last night with the final hour of cleaning the building for the weekend from midnight until 1 AM.  That led to sleeping in this morning and a delayed official start to the day.  When I finally got up, the wind had subsided a great deal from yesterday’s force and the temperature was very pleasant with bright sunny skies.  With my wife insisting we find something to do so the day didn’t get wasted sitting in front of a computer with no real accomplishment, I decided it was time for a road trip to the lake.  After all, the sun was out, what could be better than a day at the beach . . . in February . . . in Michigan?  

So, after a stop at Walmart to check on some photo art that I ordered for the CCCA conference drawing, we headed out in search of Lake Michigan lighthouses.  My plan was to drive north to Ludington State Park to see the Big Sable Point lighthouse and then work our way back toward home, stopping at an assortment of lighthouses that we had not visited yet.  The 3-hour trip to Ludington took a little longer due to a lunch stop in Holland at Five Guys.  The drive north was beautiful with mostly clear skies and a few puffy clouds.  What I thought was about a mile hike out to the lighthouse at Ludington State Park ended up being a little over 4 miles round trip.  We had taken Susan’s all-terrain wheelchair to make this possible, but I hadn’t anticipated spending that much time at one location.  It was fun and very much worth doing, but it meant there would be fewer stops on the way back home before it got dark.  The lighthouse on Ludington pier was right on the way so we were able to see it as well as what passed as a lighthouse at the Pentwater pier.  We arrived at the Little Sable Point lighthouse just before sunset and it was a beautiful end to the lighthouses for the day before making the long journey home.

While I love visiting lighthouses, and often think a well located lighthouse would make a great prayer center, I realize that they were built where they are at for a purpose.  As I thought about the various types of structures we saw today at their different locations, it was obvious that each one was meant to provide direction to those on the water.  Jesus said that we are to let our light shine in such a way that people see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.  To be effective, the light of Jesus in us must be visible by the way we live, the things we say, and the things we do.  But not just visible, visible in a way that directs people to God rather than to us.  We’ve found a safe harbor through our relationship with Jesus and our light ought to be directing people to that same safety.

I pray that you and I would consistently use God’s Word as the light that leads us in the proper direction.  I pray that we would heed the warnings that our time with God in His Word and in prayer give regarding paths that lead to danger and destruction.  I pray that the light we show to others would always be consistent with God’s Word because it is His light we are sharing. 

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2016: Page 50

Earthdate: 20160219 — These are the ramblings of one traveler’s journey on earth as he makes his way toward a heavenly home.

Hold onto your hat, Christopher Robin!  It seems we had a rather balmy “Windsday” show up on Friday!  With a strong south wind blowing all day, the temperature rose to sixty degrees and the snow cover disappeared from the ground.  

I arrived at work at my usual 6 AM to find that someone had done at least part of the cleaning last night.  That worked out well because other areas needed extra attention to start the day as some sticky concoction had been spilled and/or trailed through the hallway.  It is always interesting how God seems to go ahead of me so that when unexpected things need extra attention, something that I had planned on needing to do doesn’t need done.  After the planned and unplanned cleaning, I spent some more time trying to figure out some network connection issues.  Fridays are generally my long day that requires both an early start and a late finish — I still have an hour or so of work to do once I finish writing this day’s page.  Fortunately, I am usually able to get away for a while at some point during the day.  As I consider how the day has gone, I am reminded of God’s Word which says that His ways are higher than my ways.  Not only are they higher, they are much better!  I pray that you and I would learn to pay attention to the ways of God in order to give him the glory and honor He is due.  I praise God that He cares for me, His child, and can arrange for others to help carry my load and/or give me the strength to carry it with His help.

Today’s “get away” was to go to the funeral visitation for a relative who slipped from this life into the next one night this week in his sleep.  I saw a lot of vaguely familiar faces but they were older versions of people that I used to know.  Many of them seemed to know who I was though, so I guess I haven’t aged a bit! 😀  When I got home from that, I finished up the initial writing for the first in a series of devotional booklets that I am working on.  The idea for these booklets came from the recent camp conference I attended as a number of camp leaders I talked with asked about devotional material for their summer staff that would be meaningful without being too complex and time-consuming.  The idea I am working on is a series of booklets that I’ve called “Devotions For Those Who Serve”.  Each booklet will cover 7 days and focus on some aspect of serving.  This first one is “Called to Serve” and is focused on the calling we have from God to serve one another.  As I searched through my photo files to find what I wanted for the cover of this booklet, I found a picture of Susan and I taken during campfire worship a number of years ago.  I’m still not 100% convinced that it is the right picture for this cover, but it is such a great picture that it is what I’m going with for now.

Called to Serve (front cover)