Page 169 began early as I went in to work to clean bathrooms, glass doors, and touch up other areas of the building so it was ready for our Sunday worship gathering.  As I went through the building in the quietness of the early morning  hours, I began my time of worship praying for the message that would be spoken and for the people who would gather to lift up the name of Jesus while being encouraged, challenged, and even convicted by God’s Word as we shared in it together.  Once the building was ready for the morning, I went home and got myself cleaned up and ready for the morning.

Our Sunday School class is doing a study of 1 Timothy, and this morning we prepared to look at chapter three by sharing a variety of verses which speak to the responsibilities of leadership within the church body.  Paul will address the character of leaders when he writes to Timothy, and we’ll eventually get to that within our class, but the reason the character is so important is because of the responsibilities they have to shepherd and serve the flock of God which is among them.  

After the Sunday School hour, we gathered for a time of worship in song, in giving, around the Lord’s Table, and in the Word.  David continued a series he is doing through the first half of the book of Acts with a message from Acts 5 that he titled, “Living Dangerously”.  The chapter opens with the account of Ananias and Sapphira making a claim about their generosity toward God that wasn’t true.  When questioned by the apostles, they continue their lie and God strikes them dead on the spot.  While most Christians are probably familiar with that story, I’m guessing we tend to gloss over it because the truth behind their actions, and God’s actions, might hit just a little too close to home.  We know the Bible teaches that sin brings death, but we often live according to the lie of satan that says, “you surely won’t die.”  The story makes it clear that they were actually free to do what they did, the problem was misrepresenting their actions — they did one thing but said something else.  In today’s culture many, even many within church leaderships, would say that’s no big deal — things change, accomplishing what we want is more important than how we get there.  God’s Word still tells a different story — live with integrity, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

While that story set the background, much of the sermon was focused on the rest of chapter 5 as God used the apostles to speak boldly in the name of Jesus even after “great fear” had spread among all the people because of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.  Here are the main points we considered:

• The enemy is relentless — Stay Engaged:  Temptation comes in many forms and the enemy is good at knowing just what we’ll listen to when it comes to distracting us and moving us away from God.  Through God’s Spirit we have been given a complete complement of armor to help us be protected during the battle for our soul.  Satan is relentless when it comes to stalking and waiting for a “more opportune” time with the hope he can catch us off guard.  The early church was under attack and it seemed like the attacks were coming from all sides — including inside.  The integrity of the body was being attacked by a lack of integrity of individuals.  Dealing with the sin in the body caused great fear among all the people.  The proclamation of the good news of Jesus brought about the arrest of all of the apostles.  Yet in the midst of all these attacks, and more, those who believed in Jesus stayed connected to one another, and to God, and continued to be engaged in sharing the good news of Jesus no matter what.
• God can use anything — Stay Strong:  It is often easier to look around us and see what can’t be done rather than noticing what God can do.  The actions of one couple in bringing deceit into the body of believers, and God’s dealing with it, brought about an atmosphere of fear that would appear to make growth of the church nearly impossible.  Add to that the arrest of all of the leaders, with the command to quit speaking of Jesus, and it would appear that the early church was finished before it could really take root.  Yet, to believe any of that discounts the power of God to use anything to accomplish His purposes and will.  I think of Joseph’s words to his brothers, who sold him into slavery, when they finally meet after years of separation, “What you meant for harm, God has used for good to accomplish the saving of many people.”  While God can, and does, use anything, it seems there are many times He delights in using our failures to show Himself strong and accomplish His purpose.
• The situation is never hopeless — Stay the Course:  Sometimes the greatest temptation for a Christian isn’t to commit some sin that would bring shame to us and to the name of Christ, but it is to get us to simply give up.  It would have been easy for the early church to look around and question their decision to follow Jesus.  With the apostles in jail and being threatened by those in authority, hopelessness would have likely been a very human reaction.  Yet when it comes to our life in Christ, God makes it clear that this race is not necessarily won by those who are the fastest but by those who finish.  When I think of staying the course, I think of the three Hebrew men who were being threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace because they would not bow before the image of the king.  While the situation looked hopeless, their response is the ultimate “staying the course” — “We know that our God can save us, but even if He doesn’t, we will not bow to you or any other god.”

After the church service, we had lunch and eventually made our way to the farm to visit with my mom and dad on Father’s Day.  With the long day, I didn’t get the writing part of the page done and I didn’t end up taking any photos.  So, today’s photo is one from our Saturday trip to Potato Creek.  As I thought about the sermon title of “Living Dangerously”, the look of this osprey seemed to be similar to the reaction we may have at the thought of living dangerously for Christ. 🙂

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• If each day is seen as a day of worship, it would likely change the way we go about our daily tasks — or at least it should.
• Biblical leadership isn’t the same as leadership in the world so we shouldn’t use the same criteria for church leaders as the world does for its leaders.
• There is often a big difference between one who wants to lead and one who wants to serve.
• God takes integrity more seriously than people often do.
• God not only wants us to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, He has equipped us with everything we need to do so.
• You don’t have to be like anyone else to be used by God — you just have to be the person God created and called you to be.
• The things, and people, that we often discard are often the ones that God chooses to use greatly.
• God’s reward of eternal life is given to those who are faithful to the end.  
• Today’s situation — good or bad — isn’t permanent.  The end of the journey — eternal life in Christ — is.
• Fear can destroy us or motivate us to action.

Page 168 was a restful day as I continue to do my best to guard at least one day a week that I don’t go in to work at all — although, while I didn’t go to work I still had some work that I did first thing this morning.  It seems that while I had written the next prayer guide on Monday morning as I usually try to do, I ended up sidetracked with other tasks and had never made it as far as getting it formatted and scheduled to be posted on my web site and emailed out to start the new week.  So while Susan slept in, I took care of that piece of work so it is ready to go out first thing tomorrow.

Last night, before Susan went to sleep, I had planted in her mind the idea that we would go to the zoo if she woke up early enough.  She has been thinking she needs a new stuffed animal for her upcoming birthday, so after I had finished the work I needed to get done, she was more than eager to get up and go look at animals — and to her their really isn’t much difference between the live one and the plush toy ones.  She enjoyed the trip and was able to see many of the animals up close as they were fairly active this morning.  We finished our trip with a stop in the gift shop where she found the “cat” she was looking for.  I suspect she would have preferred one of the ones roaming around behind the glass panels, but she happily settled for the “big one” she found.  

After the zoo trip, we headed home and I fired up the pellet grill to get lunch started.  By late afternoon we packed up our cameras and took a drive down to Potato Creek State Park to shoot some photos.  One of the bald eagles was out and perched in a tree along the shoreline, so we began by taking quite a few photos of it.  Today’s photo is one of those as the eagle was seeming to stare me down.  After taking his photo, we drove to the other side of the lake where a pair of osprey were at home in their nest.  Each of these birds of prey are incredible to watch as they are designed with everything they need to see, catch, and devour the unfortunate creature that they choose to be their next meal.  

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Plans and routines can be good, but sometimes things get overlooked even with the best plans and routines in place.
• Plans and routines without flexibility will generally lead to a from of legalism — and that’s not good.
• Forgetting to do a task at the time you normally would, is generally not the end of the world.
• “Seeding” a thought ahead of time can help build anticipation and avoid surprises.
• I tend to “wear a lot of hats” with a wide variety of responsibilities and each tends to come with its own title, but the work and title of “Dad” is one of the greatest.
• My logical mind often wants to restrict the definition of real to things that I can experience with my senses.  God wants me to have a child-like faith that accepts that the unseen things of the Spirit are just as real, and perhaps more so, than the physically real things.
• If God has equipped the birds of the air with all they need to survive, how much more has He equipped you and I to not only survive, but to thrive as His children?  

Page 167 began with a glimmer of sun peeking through the rain-filled clouds so I had hope that I would get the mowing done today.  I stopped on the way to work to pick up fuel for the mower and then took care of some inside projects as I waited for the grass to dry.  With a gentle breeze blowing today, I was able to start the mowing before too much of the morning had gotten away from me.  The clouds would come and go throughout the day and I did end up getting sprinkled on a couple of times, but by late afternoon I had all the lawn on the church property mowed and looking nice for Sunday.

After mowing all day, and with the help of the short periods of rain to make it stick, I was well covered with dust, grass clippings, and dandelion fluff.  As I left work, I had just enough time for a quick bath to clean up a bit before heading to an evening open house for a niece who had graduated from high school.  It was a nice event with many people stopping by to congratulate her and enjoy a time of good food and conversation.  

When we made it home, I grabbed a camera and sat on the porch for a while as I rested and listened to the joyful sounds of birds in the nearby trees.  Eventually one of the hummingbirds stopped by and I was able to get some photos and video of it as it spent some time at the feeder.  As I sat on the swing, I also shot some photos of the flowers that were visible from the porch.  Today’s photo is one that when I first saw it through my viewfinder, I immediately thought of the phrase, “What was, what is, and what is to come.”  It is the phrase used in the book of Revelation to describe Jesus as being eternal from before time to after time.  Jesus describes Himself in this way as the book of Revelation opens and John finds himself with a view into heaven itself.  The messenger delivering the letters for John to write down and convey to the seven churches of Asia also refers to Jesus as the one who is, who was, and who is to come.  It is always fascinating to me when God uses what would appear to be an ordinary scene to remind me of His Word and of the extraordinary nature of Jesus.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Sometimes a glimmer of hope is all that is needed to move forward in your day.
• Sometimes the most difficult thing for me to do is to decide not to let the poor decisions of others ruin my day.
• Other times the most difficult thing is to not let my own poor decisions ruin my day.
• Sometimes a long day on the seat of a mower is just the thing I need to drown out distractions and listen more intently to God.
• Accomplishments ought to be celebrated in such a way that God is honored for what He has done.
• Too many things plant seeds of discouragement in my mind.  I must be deliberate about setting my mind on things above.
• Jesus always was, always is, and always will be.
• I will quickly lose balance in life if I focus too much on what was, too much on what is, or to much on what will be.  Each has a purpose in helping me grow.

Well, I had page 165 all written out and decided I didn’t like the tone of it for a public post so I deleted it and will try to write a condensed version.  It took some time, but the morning helped me gain a peace about where God has me and the things He has me doing.  One of the first tasks I did this morning at work was to unload the maintenance supplies from my truck.  As I unloaded my truck, I noticed there was something on the old soccer goal frame at the end of the back field.  After taking the supplies into the building, I grabbed my high-zoom camera and was able to capture a few photos of a hawk perched on the goal frame with an intense gaze on the lawn below it.  He didn’t stay long, so I soon went back in and finished putting away the supplies where they belonged.  

After taking care of a few maintenance issues, I spent much of my workday doing some more writing in the next devotional journal I am working on.  The topic is on living free, and one of the devotions I wrote today was about living free to praise God.  There are many things that the enemy will attempt to use in his efforts to distract us from a life spent in praise and worship of God.  When we are in Christ, God frees us from the bondage that makes us feel unable or unworthy to live a life of praise.  Gazing intently into God’s perfect law ought to remind us of how much we ought to praise God and how much we have to praise Him for.  Even in the midst of trouble and turmoil, God promises to never leave us nor forsake us — if that isn’t reason enough to praise God regardless of the circumstances of life, I don’t know what is.  God used my writing today to remind me that while I am free to praise Him, doing do has to be my choice.

As the workday came to a close, I went out and got some lunch before heading home.  After resting a bit, I went outside to clean up the front yard from a small tree that blew down yesterday.  The heat and humidity were both high enough that I didn’t stay out long before heading back inside to the comfort of air conditioning.  After dinner, some storms started moving through the area which brought a slight relief to the high temperatures.  Today’s photo was taken from my porch as a light rain fell on the roses.  As I was photographing the “raindrops on roses”, a hummingbird stopped by for a quick visit and I was able to capture a couple photos of it also.  Just as God sends forth the refreshing rains which bring coolness and life to the plants, He brings forth refreshment through His Spirit which brings coolness and life to my soul.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Much of the time God teaches me lessons that He wants me to share not just the application, but the lesson plan too, so others can learn from the details as well.
• Other times, it seems like His lessons are more personal and I need to be careful to find ways to share the application without sharing the details.
• Wisdom is seeking God completely to know how to handle each lesson.
• We all need reminders at times that either brings us back to the path that God wants us on, or confirms we are still on that path.
• A proper understanding and application of God’s perfect law ought to free us to live a life of praise.
• If praise seems difficult, we need to spend more time sitting in the presence of God in prayer and His Word.
• God’s Word and His presence ought to be a refreshing rain in our life.
• Even if all else fails, God never will.

Page 164 lived up to its advertised billing as another hot and humid day.  I still find myself awake early most days, so I figure if I’m up I may as well get started on my workday.  My morning walk-through at work included a few small maintenance tasks before turning my attention to finishing up a supply order I began yesterday.  There were still complications with the ordering process but after a lengthy phone call with customer service, I was finally able to confirm the order at a thirty-three percent savings compared to what it would have cost without going through their “pro customer” registration process.

As I finished up that task, the remainder of my book order for the North American Christian Convention arrived.  The UPS guy said that today’s shipment was a little over 300 pounds — that’s a lot of books!  In preparation for the convention, I had ordered an average of 100 copies of each of the eight books I have written and published.  Usually I had ordered copies of one title at a time which made it nice as the entire box was all the same.  By placing an order that contained all eight titles, the shipping department decided to be as efficient as possible — at least for them — and pack as many books as they could in a box, regardless of how many titles that made the box contain.  So, the next part of my morning was spent checking the boxes and confirming I had what I ordered.  

By late morning, the books were all inventoried and accounted for so it was time to go pick up some of the maintenance and janitorial supplies that I get locally.  Susan decided she wanted to go with me, so we made it a Daddy/Daughter trip to pick up trash bags and some cleaning supplies with a lunch break thrown in between stops.  Lunch was hot dogs at Sam’s Club, which was Susan’s choice.  As we went in, there was the sound of thunder off in the distance.  After we had eaten and picked up the few things we needed there, the sound of a very close and very loud peal of thunder.  As the sound echoed through the building, the lights all went out and the sound of the thunder was soon replaced by the sound of multiple security alarms on items throughout the building.  We managed to check out with our items due to back up power supplies on the registers and headed outside into the rain.  

After a couple more stops, we made it home and I started going through the photos from the final day of our recent vacation.  As I worked on the photos, I also fired up the pellet grill to get dinner started.  Today’s photo is one from the last full day of our recent vacation.  I found it interesting as three different types of birds were perched upon various parts of the same light pole.  It made me think of John’s view of the throne of God as He wrote in Revelation about seeing an uncountable multitude that came from every tribe, nation, people, and language.  If every time we gather to worship with others and everyone around us looks just like us, it becomes far too easy to start thinking that is what heaven will look like.  When you consider the amount of conflict over worship styles that arises within church congregations filled with people who are very similar to each other, you may begin to wonder how such a vastly diverse group of people could ever worship together.  I think it’s really rather simple — when our worship focuses entirely on the one we worship and what He wants rather than on how we want to worship, there quickly becomes no room for conflict.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• It is pretty difficult to finish what you never begin, so if you want to finish early it is best to start early.
• Sometimes it is tempting to give up when things become difficult.  Instead of giving up, it is better to find the right help so that you can reap the rewards of completion.
• Efficiency on the part of someone else at their job may not lead to efficiency for you at yours.
• It is always good to consider how your actions will affect those who have to deal with your results.
• Sometimes putting more work into something at the beginning will result in greater efficiency later.
• I am very thankful to be involved in a work/ministry where I can take my daughter with me as I accomplish part of my job.
• When we rely on our own power, it is always good to have a back-up plan.
• When worship is focused on God and what He wants (our entire heart, mind, soul, and strength), great diversity will worship in harmony.
• When worship becomes about us and what we like, we ought to expect conflict.
• With John’s glimpse into the throne room of heaven describing a very diverse crowd, we would do well to practice worshiping God with people who don’t look and speak exactly like we do.

There is often a running joke about fishermen telling the story of “the one that got away”.  In some ways, page 163 feels like the day that got away.  As I look back, it was a rather productive day even though it felt like it was melting away as it took place.  I began the workday going through the building before settling into my office to spend time with God putting together the prayer guide for next week.  As I spent time in the Word, my mind seemed to settle on the work of God’s Spirit.  That led to a morning study of a few of the things the Bible says about the work of God’s Spirit in our lives and in the world.  This gift that God has given us is an incredible thing.  To think that God humbled Himself and came to the earth as a baby in the person of Jesus is an amazing thought.  To know that He chose to dwell among us in order to do for us what we could never do for ourselves, ought to just overwhelm our mind.  But to realize He went a step further and didn’t just dwell among us as Jesus walked the earth, He now dwells within us by the presence of His Spirit!  Amazing and incredible barely begin to describe such a gift.

As I worked on the prayer guide I had several interruptions that were all pleasant — the arrival of the first box of books I expect this week for the NACC, ministry conversations, a visit from good friends, and some encouraging messages.  I suppose that is why it felt like the day got away from me — God’s plans were being accomplished, but my plan was taking a back seat.  But the prayer guide was finished by the end of the morning, God had blessed me in the process, and I was able to turn my attention to some maintenance details throughout the afternoon.  But even in that, what I thought should be simple and not take much time, turned into a process that I hadn’t anticipated but should make the ordering of some of the supplies I use much easier in the future.  When that project was finished — at least the part that I could do today — I looked at the clock and realized the day had indeed slipped away and I was already a couple hours beyond what would normally be considered a full workday.  But that’s okay, because a lot was accomplished both today and in preparation for future days.  

With the workday finished, it was way too late to get lunch so I made my way home and started through another day’s worth of vacation photos as I fired up the pellet grill to get dinner started while I worked on the pictures.  Today’s photo is one of those in the batch I worked on and is from an early morning walk along the beach.  The tide was out and the gulls were standing in the shallow pools of water left behind by the receding tide.  It made me think of the words in James about gazing intently into the perfect law of God’s Word and then doing what it says.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Sometimes “the one that got away” didn’t really get away, it just didn’t look like what you expected it to.
• When I am open to what God wants me to learn, I always come away with something beneficial to me when I spent time with God in prayer and His Word.
• If I study God’s Word looking to justify my own thoughts and ideas, I either come up empty or find myself twisting scripture to make it say what I want.
• God’s Spirit is the real presence of God dwelling within those who have united themselves with Christ.
• God’s Spirit is at work in the life of every believer but we are warned not to “quench the Spirit” which, to me, means it is possible to keep His work from being evident in our life.
• Many times interruptions are only interruptions because we let them be.  Often God wants to use what we call interruptions to teach and encourage us.
• While today’s work may be more complicated than planned, it is worth it when it makes future tasks take less time.
• We would do well to take every opportunity possible to gaze intently into God’s perfect law, doing what we see so that Christ is reflected in us.