Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• The sky was clear once again as I headed to work and the beauty of the stars shining brightly through the crisp air was amazing.
• It was a rather cool drive today.  Usually about halfway to work the truck finally warms up enough for the heater to work but today it didn’t seem to get warm . . . then as I pulled into the drive at work I realized the temperature control was still set on the coolest position after yesterday afternoon’s pleasant temperatures — oops.
• Sometimes when things aren’t what we know they should be, we would do well to examine what we might have done to change the outcome.
• It’s a Friday, so I headed into the day knowing it would be a long one and trying to set an appropriate pace in order to find the closest thing to balance as I can.
• As I went about the morning prayer, cleaning and building prep, my mind was filled with the song lyrics that go something like this: “I need Thee! O, I need Thee!  Every hour I need Thee!  Bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee!”
• I’m not sure there is a better way to begin a day than to acknowledge my need of Jesus in everything I do.
• As I had time, I continued work on my next devotional book with today’s writing finishing up the week focused on serving with gentleness and beginning a section about serving with honesty.
• I am scheduled to set up the prayer ministry display at another camp conference next week, so I selected two of my photos to have made into prints for the door prize giveaway at the conference.  When I went to pick them up, the lady at the photo counter said she really liked them. 🙂
• By mid-afternoon I had finished one eight hour shift and headed out for a late lunch and a break until the building cleared out so I could get it cleaned for Sunday.
• During the break, we took a family trip to Potato Creek to look for the eagles and take a walk.  The eagles did not make themselves known, but we did find some ducks, geese, swans, and a blue heron.
• After our walks, I dropped my family off at home and headed back to work to finish out the day.  I had to work around some other things that were going on, but eventually the building cleared out and I was able to finish my work.
• Today’s photo is of the heron as it was fishing along the edge of the lake.  It kept slowly crouching down and then just as I took this photo I could see the ripples on the surface of the water just out of reach as the intended meal swam away.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• The stars were shining brightly in the night sky as I headed to work this morning.  The clear sky not only meant a beautiful view, it also meant no fresh snow to deal with. 🙂
• By the time I got to work the clouds had begun to dot the sky, so after getting the morning cleaning started I set up my camera to time-lapse the sunrise then I went back to the cleaning while it did its thing.  
• When set in time-lapse mode, my camera will shoot a frame every 10 seconds and create a video that puts 50 minutes of real time into 10 seconds.  A lot can change in 50 minutes, so sometimes it captures a great sunrise and other times not so much.  Today was one that ended up being pretty spectacular as there was the right mix of clouds to capture some stunning color from the rising sun.
• After the cleaning was done and the building was ready for the day I went out to collect my camera and take a few still shots of the beautiful sunrise.
• As I went about my morning work, as I could I also continued work on the writing of the next book I’m working on.
• Today’s writing was still focused on serving with gentleness and one of the topics I wrote about today was gentleness with our words.
• God says that a gentle answer turns away wrath, so a gentleness in our words ought to help bring peace as we serve.
• Using gentle words doesn’t mean we fail to address serious issues, it just means we do so in a manner that is filled with gentleness rather than harshness.
• As the morning turned into afternoon, I headed out to pick up a friend and take him to lunch.  
• Life isn’t lived in a vacuum, so it is interesting to watch how my writing helps my time with people and how my time with people helps my writing.
• After lunch I headed down to Potato Creek to spend some time sitting with God in the midst of creation . . . I was going to say the quietness of creation, but it definitely wasn’t quiet sitting along the lake. 🙂
• Even though it wasn’t quiet, for me the sounds of nature are peaceful sounds compared to the sounds of the city.
• Today’s photo is actually a pair of photos — one of the morning sunrise and one from my time sitting along the lake. 

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• The day began with a light dusting of snow that looked like it shouldn’t cause any problems.  The problem was underneath the snow where a layer of ice covered most roads and sidewalks.
• The snow dusted off of the truck easily, but as I backed out of the drive to head to work the truck kept moving backwards momentarily even after I shifted into drive.
• Just because there is an appearance of everything being okay, doesn’t mean that it is.  Sometimes danger lurks just below a very shallow facade.
• It can be easy to pass judgment based on what we see, but it is through experience that we begin to learn the truth of a situation.
• When I arrived at work I cleared the layer of snow from the sidewalks which exposed the ice and allowed the ice melt I would put down to work more effectively.
• Sometimes even when the appearance of something looks good, we have to undo the appearance so we can most effectively deal with the reality of what’s underneath.
• After taking care of the outside work, I turned my attention to the inside cleaning and building prep for the day.  I had an old song running through my mind as I worked.  It was fascinating because I remember it being a song I hadn’t thought of in a lot of years and I remember thinking both how profound it was and how corny it was . . . and now I can’t remember anything about it other than that.
• It is remarkable how truths planted in my mind in various ways when I was a child continue to influence me even today.  I am thankful for so many who planted good seeds.
• I had a few maintenance tasks that needed taken care of in addition to the usual cleaning and prep, so even with an early start I was pushing it to have the building ready for the start of the school day . . . but I made it.  🙂
• As I went about my morning tasks, my woodpecker and chipmunk friends both showed up to check on the hole that had been created in the tree outside my office window.  It was fun watching them “discuss” ownership of this prime “real estate” and I’m not too sure they really reached a conclusion as to who would call this hole home.
• As I had opportunity, I spent some time during the day working on the next chapter of my current writing project.  Today’s writing focused on some different aspects of serving with gentleness.
• Since gentleness is a part of the fruit of God’s Spirit, it is a trait that ought to be growing in the life of every believer whether it comes naturally or not.
• After a late lunch I headed home and eventually headed out on a family adventure to Potato Creek where we walked a couple trails. 
• Today’s photo is of the woodpecker in the midst of its discussion with the chipmunk.  

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• This morning began with a double layer of work — the snow arrived after the frost had already covered my truck windows, so I had to brush the snow off and then scrape the frost off.
• As I pulled into the driveway at work, I noticed tracks up the embankment beside the drive — as if someone had tried to stop their vehicle and slid off the road and up the hill.  Otherwise, it was a strange place to park even temporarily. 🙂
• I suspect the same conditions that caused frost on my truck underneath the fresh snow made for some treacherous driving conditions until the salt and warmer temperatures began to do their thing.
• My first task at work was to clear the sidewalks while I was still dressed for the outside weather.  It had been warm enough when the snow began falling that the sidewalks were wet and icy under the snow so I put down some ice melt after removing the snow.
• Sometimes when we remove the things from our life that don’t belong, there is still some “residue” that needs taken care of before we can say the task is finished.
• When I finished the outside work I started a cup of coffee and then began the inside cleaning and building prep for the day.
• Even when things “look okay”, I still do the regular cleaning routine so that they don’t just look clean, they are clean.
• It can be easy to slide into a “good enough” way of life that can allow the “dirt” to contaminate us so gradually that we don’t even notice.  God wants us to experience the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus on a continual basis — not just after things get really bad in our life.
• Once the building was ready for the day, I began the search for a photo or two to use as prints for the prize drawing at next week’s camp conference.
• When it was finally time for the sun to come up, I noticed a good mix of clouds and clear sky so I set up my camera to do a time-lapse recording and let it run while I went back inside.
• The sunrise was indeed incredible and was a good reminder to worship God for His creativity and beauty.
• It seems the entire day was a combination of periods of intense snowfall and times of bright sunshine.  The birds would come out with the sun and then disappear out of sight when the snow would intensify.
• As I went about my tasks for the day, I also worked on my current devotional book project which will be a second volume of thirteen weeks of daily devotions focused on how we ought to be serving.
• Today’s writing was focused around different aspects of how we ought to serve with generosity.  
• Generosity, especially from God’s perspective, is not based on what we have, and not even so much on what we give, but rather on our attitude regarding the sharing of our self.
• By mid-afternoon my tasks that needed done had been accomplished and I had completed the writing of the devotions for all seven days of the generosity focus.  After posting the “week four” file on the prayer ministry website, I headed out for a late lunch and then headed home to relax.
• Today’s photo is one I call “Bundled Up For the Cold”.  This female cardinal sat about one layer into the brush and seemed to keep her feathers fluffed out to get the maximum insulation benefit.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Every time we set our clocks forward or back, I wonder where all of this daylight we’re supposed to be saving goes and how I can withdraw some on a cloudy day.
• As I try to adjust to the time change, I set my alarm to split the difference of the lost hour that my body thinks is missing if I wake up at the same time on the clock today as last week.
• With daylight arriving an hour later, at least by the clock, I suppose it was fitting that my morning worship song as I went about the cleaning and building prep tasks included the lines, “When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord!  Blessed be His name!'”
• It was still quite dark when I took the trash out but I could make out the silhouettes of several deer standing at the top of the hill near the dumpster.  Once my eyes got used to the darkness it was easier to see them so I stopped and chatted with them for a little while.
• As I finished getting the building ready for the day and shifted my attention to the prayer guide writing process, I could tell the darkness wasn’t just outside but was also a battle in my mind.
• It seemed that God and I wrestled for quite some time before coming up with the next prayer guide topic.  Sometimes there are topics that I want to write about and God’s Spirit convinces me that the result would be from me and not from Him.
• I finally settled with the topic of faithful and then worked on the daily topics of some areas in which God calls us to faithfulness.
•  As I prayed and wrote, I was reminded of numerous scriptures where God calls us to be faithful — not just for a period of time, but for all time.
• When I think of being faithful, there is no greater encouragement to me than the message of Matthew 25 where the servants are welcomed by the Master with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
• With the struggle of getting started, it was after noon when I finally had the prayer guide written and mid-afternoon until it was formatted and scheduled to be published on Sunday.
• After unloading the prayer ministry display materials from my truck, it was time for a late lunch with my family followed by a trip through Menard’s with my daughter — she likes Menard’s because “they sing the money song”.
• They’re calling for more snow overnight, so I’m writing today’s page early so I can try to get to sleep early enough to be better rested by the time I need to wake up tomorrow.
• It snowed off and on throughout the morning as I was writing.  At one point I had a cardinal walk past my office window with a look that seemed to ask what all the white stuff was doing on the ground again.  Today’s photo is one I took of that cardinal. 🙂

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• With a busy weekend both in my schedule and the building, I was up early this morning to get the building cleaned and prepped for the day.
• The “springing forward” of the daylight savings time change didn’t help any when it came to getting up and going to start the day.
• There was a light frost on the truck, but the crisp night air meant the moon was visible in all of its beauty as I headed to work.
• Sometimes the minor inconveniences, such as scraping frost from the windshield, are what helps to create the things we enjoy . . . such as the clarity of the night sky.  The question becomes, “which do I focus on — the inconvenience or the beauty?”
• As I went about my cleaning tasks this morning, I prayed for those who soon have to decide if they were getting up and making their way to the church worship gathering.
• Once the building was ready for the day, I sat down and wrote yesterday’s page as I hadn’t gotten to it last night.
• During our worship gathering, David continued his series through the book of Acts with a message from the first part of Acts 28, “God’s Survival Plan”.  Here is my take on the main points:
  • Don’t sweat the small stuff:  I enjoy walking and hiking on nature trails that range from paved paths to rugged ruts.  It is rarely the large obstacles on any of these trails that trip me up.  Rather it is often the small, almost unnoticeable, things that I find myself tripping over with little clue as to why I have stumbled.  At least one of two things happen to cause that.  One, the obstacle that caused me to stumble is so minor that it is not even noticed until after it has done its damage.  Or two, the obstacle is noticed but not taken seriously.  But there is an even bigger problem with the small stuff, and that is when we make it out to be larger than it is and we allow it to sidetrack, or even completely derail, our journey.  While each person’s view differs as to what “small stuff” looks like to them, the important thing is to keep walking life’s path with God in a way that doesn’t allow the stumbling through the small stuff make you quit your walk.
  • Let God use even the bad stuff:  I suspect you’ve already noticed that life isn’t always fair — at least not from our perspective.  Bad things happen to people no matter how good we think we are or how little we think we deserve them.  It is interesting how quick we can be to judge a person’s life based on the severity of the misfortunes they encounter, but should the same things happen to us, it all of a sudden becomes a much different story.  We live in a world of imperfect people (and we ourselves are one of them) filled with imperfect things that in combination creates some very bad situations.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with acknowledging, or even pointing out, the wrong that has been done to us but only if we are willing to point out how God has used it for His purposes and His glory.  When Joseph is reunited with his brothers who had sold him into slavery, he not only points out how God has used this very bad thing to accomplish something good, he makes sure it is clear that the intent and actions of the brothers were indeed evil.  Just because God will use even the bad stuff to accomplish something for His glory, doesn’t mean we should wink at evil actions in the lives of others or of our own.
  • Keep everything in perspective:  One of the keys to surviving both the small stuff and the bad stuff is to keep all of it in perspective with a view toward the eternal stuff!  When you consider all of the small stuff and the bad stuff that Paul encountered leading up to being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, most of us would probably understand if he had just decided to quit at any point on this journey and call his accomplishments “good enough”.  Yet whether faced with small stuff, bad stuff, or even good stuff, Paul kept pressing on to a life of faithfulness according to the calling he had in Christ Jesus.  Our survival doesn’t depend on us completing our journey on this earth alive, rather it depends on us completing it in Christ.  When it came to keeping everything in perspective, Paul could count all of his accomplishments in life as “rubbish” and all of his hardships in life as “light and momentary” because he viewed each and every circumstance through the perspective of an eternity with his Lord and Savior.
• After lunch with my family, I spent some time relaxing before heading down to Potato Creek for a family walk.
• A bald eagle was soaring in beautiful circles overhead as we arrived at the park, but that was the most we would see of it.
• During our walk, I noticed a few trees that appeared to be full of buds on their upper branches . . . could spring be on the way?
• A photo of the top of one of those trees is one of the few photos I took today, so it makes today’s page. 🙂

Could spring be on the way?

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• I was up early and on the road toward  Warsaw, Indiana to share at a prayer breakfast.
• It was a beautiful drive as the sun rose over the horizon along the way.  There were many times I was tempted to stop and take some photos, but I knew I needed to arrive at my destination on time.
• Even good things can distract us from the necessary things if we don’t keep our mind focused on our upward calling in Christ Jesus.
• After a good breakfast, I shared some thoughts on developing a lifestyle of prayer in everyday life.
• The first part of my teaching wrapped around three words:
  • Developing:  The developing part means that it is a process.  It requires that we begin with where we are at in our prayer life and follow a path that leads us to where we want to be.  Developing takes intentional time and effort to produce results.
  • Lifestyle:  When I consider lifestyle, I think about the things that have become natural in a life through repeated practice of them.  For most of us, our lifestyle changes at various points in our life — sometimes by our choosing and sometimes by circumstances we have little control over.  When it comes to prayer, we must choose to make it our lifestyle or it will soon be set aside for “a more convenient time”.
  • Prayer:  I tend to define prayer to include the complete process of communication with God whether through talking, asking, listening, singing, responding to His work, or any other way we would approach Him.  While many of us were taught to pray by bowing our head, closing our eyes, and folding our hands, that method is good at times but is not very sustainable as a lifestyle.  For prayer to be developed as a lifestyle, we must find ways to make it as present in our life as breathing.
• The second part of my teaching looked specifically at the act of listening as a part of developing a lifestyle of prayer in everyday life.  The teaching was about “full-involvement” listening which uses all of our senses to pay attention both to the work God is doing and to the needs of the people around us.  I believe we begin to pray more effectively when we’re paying attention.
• After the teaching time, I spent the rest of the morning talking with people and sharing about the prayer ministry.
• After lunch I stopped to visit my mom and dad on the way home.  Once home it was time to unwind and relax for a little while.
• With being away from home for a good part of my Saturday, we decided to head out on an evening family adventure in search of photo opportunities.
• Our first option didn’t yield anything to photograph, so we headed to Lake Michigan where the sun was shining brightly which made the brisk wind somewhat bearable.
• After a couple stops along the lake and an incredible sunset view, we headed toward home hoping to find a snowy owl or two to photograph.
• We finally found one as the sun disappeared over the horizon, so while the photographs were a little more challenging, it was still beautiful to sit and watch for a while.
• Today’s photos include the beauty of the sun setting over Lake Michigan and a snowy owl perched high atop what I believe is an emergency warning siren tower.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• My morning wake-up today was courtesy of the sounds of a seizure rather than the sound of my alarm clock.  My alarm would have gone off eventually, so while I was up I got dressed and headed to work.
• As I went outside, I noticed the moon dancing among the clouds with such beauty that I attempted a few photos.  None of them turned out in they way I had hoped as the lighting and appearance of the moon was constantly changing, but it was fun to watch and attempt the shots.
• Some days I think I can picture clearly in my mind how God would want me to live that day.  While the complexities of life generally keep it from happening quite as pictured in my mind, I still seek His help in making the day as close to what He wants it to be as possible.
• My morning tasks didn’t have much music in my mind but they were accompanied by much prayer for my daughter, that she would rest well following the seizure and would have a good day.
• With a funeral dinner scheduled to take place at the building later in the day, I turned my attention to getting that area cleaned and set up once my regular morning tasks were done.
• With the building as ready as possible for the day, it was time to add the contacts from Tuesday’s camp conference to my mailing list so the new prayer guide would go out to them Sunday morning.
• As the sun came and went among the scattered cloud cover, the birds seemed to be quite joyful as they feasted among the sumac heads outside my office window.
• I had to cut a lock off of a locker today as the key managed to get locked inside.  It made me think of all the things we try to protect, and that sometimes in doing so we lose the benefit we could have had from them.
• It also made me think of junior high, where it seemed like every Monday my first stop in school was at the office to have them look up my locker combination — I couldn’t seem to remember it over the weekend for anything. 🙂
• In between tasks that needed done, I finished printing and putting together material for the prayer breakfast I will teach at tomorrow morning.  
• With activity in the building throughout the afternoon and again this evening, my Friday cleaning and building prep for Sunday will have to wait until either Saturday night or early Sunday morning so by mid-afternoon I called it a day and stopped for a late lunch on my way home.
• Today’s photo is of one of the Eastern Bluebirds that stopped by to sing for me this morning. 🙂