The year 2017 is underway and today is page 2 of this year’s edition of my page-and-photo-a-day adventure.  Susan did not feel well over the weekend, so after working Saturday and Sunday, I worked from home this morning so Susan could get some extra rest.  With the school still on Christmas break I didn’t need to go in and clean this morning, so I settled right in to my Monday morning prayer guide writing routine.  As I spent time with God in prayer, settling on a specific topic seemed elusive for quite some time.  I had a couple ideas cross my mind, but upon checking I found that I had covered those with prayer guides recently.  As I continued to pray and work on coming up with a topic, I eventually settled on the subject of being steadfast, or having steadfast qualities about us.  God wants to grow within us a steadfast spirit that is not tossed about by every wind of doctrine and belief that comes along.  Often the best thing we can do is to stubbornly hold onto the truth that God has revealed in His Word, regardless of all of the attempts of the enemy to deceive us.

Once Susan got up she was feeling better than she had been so by early afternoon we headed out to lunch and to pick up some groceries.  While the forecast had called for rain, by late afternoon it was still dry so we headed out for a family walk at Potato Creek.  While the walk and fresh air does each of us good, there were plenty of opportunities to photograph the surrounding beauty as well.  With a gray and overcast day, I shot many of the photos I took today in black and white.  Today’s photo was a capture across the lake of a reflective tree line silhouetted against the wet ice-covered surface of the lake.  We had just returned to the truck after a 4+ mile walk and it began to rain.  Once home, I fried up some bacon cheeseburgers for supper and then sat down to write today’s page.

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

• Family is a beautiful thing when we learn to care for one another according to each person’s needs.
• I am thankful for the beautiful family that God has blessed me with.
• The joy that Susan brings to life makes the flexibility needed to care for her worth whatever it takes.
• Praying can be hard.  Listening to God can be harder, but it makes the praying easier.
• Some things are my problems to handle with God’s help, others are not.
• Living with a steadfast pursuit of God brings with it a peace that surpasses all understanding.
• Beauty can be found in many places and settings if we are willing to take the time and make the effort to look for it.
• Remembering the lessons from today is easier than remembering the lessons from last week . . . unless I’ve written down last week’s lessons to look back on. 🙂

Today begins page 1 of a new year of yet to be written pages of life.  For me, it was an incredible day of blessing as I was privileged to teach a Bible school lesson on prayer and then preach during the morning service at my home church.  Following the worship gathering, I had lunch with my family then spent some time relaxing before we headed out to enjoy the beautiful afternoon by spending some time walking along the river.  The peace and beauty seen in the sky, and reflected in the river, were great reminders of God’s creativity and presence with us as we begin a new year.

As I reflect on the day, here is a summary of the sermon I shared this morning.  

• Praying with POWER includes . . .
  • Praying with Purpose
    • Powerful prayers are prayers which align with God’s purposes.
  • Praying with Observation
    • Powerful prayers will come from observing both the needs that are around us and the work that God desires to do through us.
  • Praying with Worship
    • Powerful prayers come from a heart of worship.
  • Praying with Expectation
    • Powerful prayers are prayed with the expectation that God will answer.
  • Praying with Repentance
    • Powerful prayers come from a life of repentance.
• Praying with POWER is all about God’s power working in and through us.
• Praying with POWER requires that we “keep on praying and never give up.”

Other thoughts from the day:

• Even when it stretches me outside of my comfort zones, using God’s gifting in my life to glorify Him energizes me.
• God has unique, and sometimes ironic, ways of encouraging his children.  After preaching this morning, I read the following quote in a post shared by a friend: “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”  The quote was attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but the ironic part is that the original post that my friend shared was written by a preacher who once told me I had no business being in ministry without a college degree. 🙂
• The beauty and details of God’s creativity never cease to amaze me.
• An afternoon walk with the family is always a good thing.

The year 2016 is nearly over and as I look back, it has been quite a year.  It was a year ago that I read a comment about each day of the coming year being an unwritten page.  The question that followed was something to the effect of what were we going to do with each page.  I don’t remember the exact question nearly as much as I remember the idea of the unwritten page.  As a writer it almost seemed like a challenge, and so I embarked on the adventure of living each day and then actually writing that “unwritten page”.  And so, tonight finishes “Tom’s Book of 2016” as I look forward to the next book of unwritten pages.

Page 366 has been a day of recovery and preparation.  Yesterday’s illness eventually subsided and even after sleeping off and on for most of yesterday, I felt like I slept well through the night and into the morning.  When I eventually woke up, I finished going through the photos I took earlier in the week.  After lunch out with my family, the afternoon was spent reflecting on the past year and taking a nap before heading to work to finish up the cleaning and building prep that I didn’t get to because of being sick yesterday.  Fortunately, MJ and Susan had done a good part of it for me so my time at work this evening involves both the building needs and a continued refining of the teaching and sermon I’ll share at Deer Run in the morning.

As I look back on the year and consider the lessons that God has been teaching me, it has been a year of great joy and great sorrow yet through it all, God’s presence has been with me.  Today’s photo is from one of those “great joy” moments.  One of my greatest joys in life is the time I get to spend with my wife and daughter.  Whether it is a day or two excursion hunting down lighthouses or covered bridges, or an extended week vacation in sunny Florida, relaxing together is good for all of us.  Yes, we have our moments of disagreement and tension, and some of those even take place during our getaways of whatever length, but we press on and continue to find joy in the journey and in each other.  As joyous as vacations are, life isn’t just about vacations and good times.  The year also contained one of the most difficult things I have done so far in my life — I conducted the funeral service for my 21 year old niece.  Even now it is hard to reflect on that time and the great loss experienced by the family.  Yes, because of Breanna’s faith in Jesus, I was able to share a message of great hope.  A hope that she has seen fulfilled and a hope that is also available to all of us.  Yet even in the midst of a knowledge of hope, I knew my ability to bring comfort to my brother and his family was limited and the true comfort would have to come from God Himself.

Most of the pages of 2016 fall somewhere between those two extremes and I imagine that 2017 will contain its share of ups and downs as well.  The question for the coming year probably has less to do with what we will face and more to do with how we will face it.  The joys in my life are all amplified by a knowledge that God’s presence is with me in the midst of success and  happiness.  But God doesn’t leave me when times get hard.  In fact, the sorrows in my life are all manageable because of a knowledge that God’s presence is with me in the midst of great difficulty and sadness.  It is that one constant — God’s presence — that I want to be more aware of each day of the coming year.  And so, farewell to the year 2016!  I pray that these written pages have been useful according to God’s purposes.  After I finish my work here tonight, I will go home and go to bed and if God permits that I awaken in the morning, another year of unwritten pages will lie before me and I will eagerly anticipate the writing, and living, of each one that God gives me.

Page 365 began early as I woke up in the middle of the night not feeling well.  I decided to see if a hot bath would relax me enough to go back to sleep and perhaps I would wake up feeling better.  It was a good idea, but whatever was going on inside of me was keeping sleep from returning.  As I tried to rest, I spent the time mentally going over the sermon I’ll share Sunday and even changed one of the points.  As I tried to keep my mind focused on anything other than how I felt, it soon became apparent that plan wasn’t going to work as everything inside of me decided it needed to be outside of me. 😦  The rest of the night and the entire morning was spent trying to rest as much as I could in between necessary times in the bathroom.  

By early afternoon, I was finally empty and could spend longer times resting and trying to recuperate.  I eventually began sipping liquids to try to avoid dehydrating and to see if whatever had caused the internal warfare was done — so far, so good.  In between long times of rest, I spent part of the afternoon and evening going through the photos I took during our recent getaway.  As I did so, I was so thankful that if I had to be sick that it was today and not while we were away.  Some things are better if they don’t have to be dealt with in public or semi-public areas.  While that is true of physical sickness, it is also true of the spiritual warfare that we find ourselves faced with.  Social media seems to have amplified our society’s inability to realize that many things that happen between people really should be dealt with outside of the public arena of social media.  Many times people forget that their battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness.  It is far too easy to find ourselves attacking a person rather than taking the time to understand the warfare that is taking place.  Yes, issues need dealt with and problems need addressed but it is far less harmful to everyone involved if those things are done in private.  Once the public sees us “vomiting” hatred and insults onto someone in public, it is extremely difficult for those watching to get that image out of their mind when we attempt to tell them of God’s love.  My mind seems to still not be firing on all cylinders, so I hope and pray that today’s page makes some kind of sense in a way that is useful.

Today’s photo is one I took this week as we came up out of the beautiful gorge of Old Man’s Cave at Hocking Hills State Park.  The sun had begun to set and as I went through the photos today, this one seemed to call me to a time of peace.  Even when we face turmoil, whether it is through sickness or conflict, God calls us to find peace in the midst of whatever we face as we rest securely in His presence. 

Page 364 was the final day of our mini Christmas break getaway.  While it did take place over the school and preschool’s Christmas break, it was also a family getaway to celebrate MJ’s birthday.  The theme of the trip was photography with the hope that we would be able to photograph some covered bridges and perhaps a waterfall or two as well.  I would say it was a successful getaway as we had a great time together as a family and made it to 24 different covered bridges and visited a state park with some waterfalls.  Ten of those bridges were seen on our trip home today as we traveled from Mason, Ohio.  On one of them, I stopped and took a photo out the window and have chosen to use that photo on today’s page.  Most of today, as well as the rest of  our trip, was what could be described as a “picture perfect” day.  This photo seemed to have come with its own frame and matting as the sky, water, and dam are framed within the window.   

By the time we made our final stop this afternoon, the clouds had filled the sky and the wind which had been blowing fiercely all day brought with it some cold temperatures and the beginning of some snow flurries.  As I finished the drive home in the blowing snow, I thought about how thankful I am that God gave MJ and I each other and for a shared love of photographing the beauty that surrounds us wherever we are.  As we share the results of these photography trips, we are invariably asked how we find the places and scenes that we choose to take pictures of.  There are probably several answers to that, depending the specific trip or what the photo subject is.  For me, part of it is the training I received from my mom and dad.  Our family vacations when I was growing up seemed to always include state parks wherever we went.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the parks were chosen because they were free, or nearly so, and that was the price that fit the family budget.  All I knew at the time was I loved the peace and beauty that could be found in a wide variety of settings.  So whenever we travel somewhere as a family and have the time to do some sightseeing, I always look for a nearby park.  As our interest in photography has grown, sometimes the trips we take are planned with specific photo subjects in mind.  For this getaway, I planned ahead by setting up covered bridge coordinates in my GPS and made lists that would hopefully allow us to visit as many bridges as possible in the time we had.  But regardless of how the destination comes about, the key in all of it is to keep our eyes open for scenes that a photograph would be able to capture.

As I think about the day, I wonder how often we miss the beauty that God has surrounded us with.  I wonder how much beauty surrounds us on a daily basis that we miss because we haven’t bothered to open our eyes.  While it is sad that so many go through life without seeing the beauty of creation that God surrounds us with, it is even sadder to realize that our failure to open our eyes and hearts to people causes us to often miss the beauty of the people God has put around us.  When we go out photographing, we look for the beauty that already exists and we do our best to take hold of it through pictures.  Perhaps each one of us needs to be more deliberate about looking for the beauty that exists in people and intentionally “take a snapshot” that can be shared in a way that honors God.

I pray that you and I seek God for wisdom in how to make the most of the time He gives us.  I pray that we would honor God within the families He has shared with us.  I pray that we would recognize the scenes of beauty that God surrounds us with.  I pray that we would be deliberate about seeing and sharing the beauty that God has put within each of us.

After some long work weeks leading up to Christmas due to weekend snow storms, I took advantage of the Christmas break and spent another day sightseeing with my family.  Page 363 was another “tankful adventure” as we filled up the truck’s gas tank to start the day and came back with it nearly empty.  The day included a variety of covered bridges, some interesting roads, and a hike with a few waterfalls.  About mid-morning we were tracking down a covered bridge using GPS coordinates from a source that has been very reliable so far.  After turning down Chicken Hollow Road, the next turn listed was to veer right onto Fox Hollow Road.  The names were enough to laugh about the fox guarding the hen house.  As we reached our turn, we found a limestone gravel road with an old, faded road sign on the corner indicating it was indeed Fox Hollow Road.  It didn’t look real promising so I drove past it to see if my GPS would recalculate a different route.  Instead of giving me a new route it told me to turn around, so I went back to try the road.  About 200 yards onto Fox Hollow Road there was a gate across the roadway, which usually is a good indication it is no longer a road. 🙂  So, back out to Chicken Hollow Road to keep driving until I’m far enough away from Fox Hollow Road for it to give me different directions.  Finally, about six miles down the road, my GPS quits telling me to “turn around when possible” and gives me new directions to the bridge we were looking for.

As I thought about that, I wondered how often we live by an internal “GPS” of our own creation that doesn’t always sync with the Holy Spirit who ought to be our guide.  The GPS in my truck can be very insistent that I follow its every direction even though it doesn’t always have compete and accurate information.  Many times we find ourselves at some type of “roadblock” in life and assume that our natural means of response is always the correct way to address the issue.  For most people I know, that means keep pushing forward no matter what.  Every “roadblock” is seen as a test of faith that simply requires perseverance to keep attacking it head-on with the belief that we have to be right so this has to be done.  Less common, at least in my experience, is the person who sees every “roadblock” in life as a sign that the course must be changed.  The path of least resistance becomes a way of life to the point that any hint of difficulty causes a change in direction.  There is a problem with both of those approaches.  Each, in its own way, ignores a God that wants to not only be involved in our lives but desires that we would seek all of our direction from Him.  Instead of giving in to our default response, we ought to seek God first when faced with a “roadblock” of any kind.  Sometimes He will lead us directly through the raging waters and other times He will direct us around the land of our enemies.  We won’t know which it is supposed to be until we stop and become still before Him as we listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd, which is known by all of His sheep.

Today’s photo is of a waterfall from today’s journey.  The beauty is astounding as the water is directed by God — sometimes cutting its way through the rock and sometimes flowing over it all according to His design.  Our life can be just as beautiful when we allow God to direct its path according to His design.

I pray that you and I would find a balance in life that honors God.  I pray that we would seek Him above all else.  I pray that we would understand how our natural tendencies may not be God’s solution to every problem we face — in fact, our wisdom may not be the solution to any of them.  I pray that we would live surrendered to God in such a way that He directs each and every one of our steps.

Page 362 has been a family day as I let the teaching and sermon for this coming Sunday simmer in my mind a bit.  I began the day by finishing up the prayer guide that I wrote for next week.  I needed to make sure it was formatted and available for a church that is using them on a slightly different schedule than my normal publishing of them.  While the next prayer guide will correspond with the sermon I plan to share at Deer Run on Sunday, a lot of my “simmering” time today was focused on the prayer teaching I will do during the Bible School  hour.  One of the favorite teachings that I like to share is about what I call developing a lifestyle of prayer in the real world.  

As the director of a prayer ministry, I often get people to tell me, in one way or another, that they would like to have a more vibrant prayer life but it just isn’t possible for someone in their circumstances.  It usually goes something like this, “I would love to pray more if I could, I simply don’t have the time to pray that others seem to have.”  It is in responding to that scenario that I help people to see God’s command to “pray without ceasing” isn’t directed simply to people who have the time to do that.  No, it is meant for all of us which means God believes it is possible for us to develop a lifestyle of prayer no matter what our life schedule looks like.  Sure, it may take some adjusting to our schedule in areas that we consider “our time”, but mostly it involves praying no matter what our schedule finds us doing.  Each of us have a “real world” that looks different to some degree than everyone else’s, but we can learn some general principles of the who, what, and how to pray in all circumstances as we develop a lifestyle of prayer.

My wife’s birthday was today and part of the day we spent finding and photographing a few covered bridges.  With no leaves on the trees, some of the bridges are more visible during the winter than at other times of the year.  Unfortunately, the winter also brings with it an earlier sunset which limits the number of bridges we can get to in an afternoon’s daylight hours.  Today’s photo was taken through the window of one of the bridges as the sun was quickly dropping in the western horizon.  As I walked through the bridge, the light caught my eye so I stopped to shoot a few photos.  I believe God is constantly shining His light upon us with the desire that it will catch our eye and make us stop and acknowledge His presence.  

I pray that you and I would allow the Word of God and the teachings it contains to simmer in our life on a regular basis.  I pray that godly teaching would mature in our lives for the purpose of sharing it with  others.  I pray that each of us would desire to grow in a lifestyle of prayer as we learn how to incorporate a prayer life into everything we do.  I pray that we would pay attention to the light of God shining upon us.  I pray that when God shines His light upon us that we would freely share that light with the people around us.