The day began with a heavy frost on the windshield and a crispness to the air that made the moon and stars appear especially bright.  As I cleaned the building for the day, I could see some deer outside along the edge of the woods grazing in the underbrush.  They didn’t seem to mind my working inside the building as long as they were free to enjoy their breakfast.  As the night turned into a bright sunrise crawling over the tree line on the back edge of the property, the deer made their way deeper into the woods and out of sight.

Part of the morning was spent catching up on missions correspondence and bookkeeping for the church missions and for Impact Prayer Ministry.  It was good to see how God has provided and to seek Him for what the next step should look like.  As last year came to a close, I had added up the quantity of books I had ordered and was amazed that God had given me opportunities to give away nearly 2000 total copies of the books I have written.  Even knowing that, for some reason the numbers on the financial report for the year caught me by surprise.  It shouldn’t have because I know the printing costs for my books range from $2.30 – $2.90 each.  But there it was in black and white, nearly fifty-five hundred dollars in printing costs all covered by the financial support God has provided for Impact Prayer Ministry!

There were other tasks throughout the day that kept me at work longer than I had planned.  As I got in my truck late in the afternoon to leave work, directly in front of my along the edge of the woods were two deer laying out in the bright afternoon sun!  The deer on the property are my friends and they will often show up outside my office window and not seem too frightened by me.  They often serve as a reminder to me from God to not let fear dominate my thoughts and life.  I pray each day that I would fear no evil because God is with me.

The snow arrived overnight as predicted so it was an early start to the day as there were walks to be cleared and a building to get ready for the school day.  I’ve never been much of a morning person but the routine of being at work by six, or earlier on snow days, has grown on me.  There is something special that takes place as I go about my tasks during the stillness of the day.  The morning quietness helps me to quiet my spirit and listen more closely to God’s Spirit within me.  Even the lake effect snow that fell throughout the morning brought a fresh appearance to everything it touched.

Eventually the snow gave way to clear skies and bright sunshine!  As I finished up some office work, a wide variety of birds gathered in the trees and brush outside my window.  They were each laying claim to the berries and seed heads that stood out through the snow covered branches.  There were even a couple squirrels that joined in the party to see how much of the food supply they could claim as theirs.  It reminded me of the teaching of Jesus not to worry about tomorrow and the things the world chases after.  God provides for the birds and He not only has the ability to provide what I need, He knows exactly what that is even when I don’t.

One of the advantages I have learned about the early morning start to the work day is an early finish to the work day.  I took advantage of the first snow of 2016 to take a quiet nature walk at Potato Creek State Park late in the afternoon.  As I was taking photos across the lake and looking for one of the eagles that live there, I heard the whooshing sound of air movement as an eagle took off from behind me and flew over my head, disappearing into the distance before I could get my camera set and focused.  I left the lake side and took hike of about 3 miles, enjoying the blanket of snow and the sounds of the forest.  When I returned to my starting point, the eagle had also returned to his starting point but his location was surrounded on three sides by brush and one side by the lake so the few pictures I took were not the best.  That is okay because the pictures are really a bonus that allows me to share my experience with others.  The experience of being that close and feeling the wind from the wings of such a majestic bird is incredible.

I pray that God continues to keep me in tune with Him as I allow the quiet times of the day to refresh my spirit.

Another day, another page.  Page three could best be described as restful.  Even with snow in the forecast and preaching a sermon in the morning, most things that I could have worked on got set aside so I could relax.  On the first Sunday of each month, I typically preach at the North Wayne Mennonite Church in the morning.  I had chosen to share a message, “A Gift that is WISE”, based out of Matthew 2.  The concept was to look at the wise gift of the Magi, the wise gift of God to us, and consider what a wise gift to God from us would look like.  As the service began, I noticed in the bulletin that the church would be spending time the rest of the month focused on learning about spiritual gifts with an emphasis on everyone using God’s gifting in their life to serve the body.  As this was highlighted during the announcement time, I marveled at how appropriate the message God had given me to share — not just for that morning, but to help prepare a thought process regarding God’s gifting to us and our appropriate response.

For several years now, my sermon style is based around using a word from the title as an acrostic that becomes the sermon’s outline.  For this one, the word was “WISE”.  We spent time considering a gift that is Wanted, a gift that is Intentional, a gift that is Sacrificial, and a gift that is Enough.  Each of these elements were a part of what the Magi gave when they encountered Christ.  The are at the core of the gift that God has given to us through His Son, Jesus.  How do I make these things central to the gifts I give to God, and to others, is the question that we should continually ask of ourselves.

While preaching probably doesn’t sound like the most restful thing to most people, and would have been completely stressful to me not that many years ago, I tend to draw energy from God when I have opportunities to preach.  Even in the midst of great weariness, this energy brings a spirit of refreshment to my body and soul.  The hours put into planning, leading, and overseeing the 30 Hours of Prayer focus at Deer Run had left me tired and in need of a refreshing that could only come from God.  Being able to preach helped begin that process.  Then a quiet afternoon of rest prepared me for an early bedtime so I would be able to start the workweek early the next morning and face whatever snow and work might come.

Page two in my page-a-day book of 2016 began by covering 5 of the last 6 hours of the 30 Hours of Prayer I led for my church.  From midnight until 5 AM I prayed, listened for God’s direction and insight, and even napped a bit.  As I walked the path through the prayer rooms, I took the time to read what others had written during the previous 24 hours.  I joined in praising God with them and praying for their concerns.  My anger and discouragement from having such a long time period with no participants began to melt away to be replaced by a satisfaction that my work was making a difference in the lives of some.  How many times has God created the perfect atmosphere and called me to spend time with Him only to see me choose other things?  I was reminded of Samuel’s discouragement and feelings of rejection when the people of Israel wanted a king.  God’s response to Samuel was that he was not the primary one being rejected rather the people were rejecting God as their king.  I don’t know if the failure of people to show up and pray was a rejection of God by them or not, but God did remind me that it wasn’t a rejection of me.

The 30 Hours of Prayer ran overtime a bit as the person in the last time slot spent more than their hour with God.  Their appreciation for the work that went in to putting the prayer focus together and the helpfulness that it was to them was a reminder that I had indeed done what I was supposed to do and that the empty slots in the schedule were not my problem.  This encouragement filled me as I spent several hours putting things away and returning the building and rooms to their normal setup so everything was ready for the weekend and the return of the schools from break.  The rest of the day’s “page” was a mix of napping and relaxing with a trip to Sam’s Club thrown in so I could be ready for the potential of coming snow by replacing the snow blower that had been stolen from the church.

All in all, I would say page two was a reminder of the confidence I should have in Christ.  I have so many examples of my not being enough or good enough for people that I sometimes begin to believe them.  Page two says that my value and acceptance come from Christ and are not based on how pleasing I am to others.