Here are some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Uninterrupted sleep is sometimes elusive, but great when it does happen.
• I spent some time working on the sermon I’ll share Sunday morning at the North Wayne Mennonite Church in Dowagiac, Michigan.
• In the process of sermon refinement, I ended up with an entirely different one that will probably be what I share tomorrow.
• Seeking God is only as effective as a willingness to obediently listen when He leads in a different direction.
• Found out there was a glitch in the process and my registration to have a display at the camp leaders conference didn’t go through.
• Fortunately, I found that out today and could make it right rather than not know until I got there and didn’t have a room — I guess since it’s a camp conference, I could always have camped out.  🙂
• The sun came out so we set out on a family adventure to photograph the winter wonderland.
• Our first stop was to travel some roads in an area where a snowy owl had been sighted the last few days — after some careful looking, we found it perched out in a field on an irrigation rig.
• Sometimes the more elusive something is, the more joy it brings when you can find it.
• After some owl photos, we headed to the beach to take some lighthouse photos.  It was a beautiful day at the beach if you like ice and snow.
• If you look for beauty you are more likely to find it than if you focus on the things you don’t like.

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

• Starting the day with a drive across town made me thankful that my usual commute avoids much of the “city” traffic.
• Most drivers that I saw this morning seemed to have finally come to an understanding that winter driving requires a more cautious approach than what most are used to using in the summer.
• Even when the roads are completely covered in ice, snow, and slush, it seems there is always someone who thinks the speed limit signs represent some sort of “half-life” of the actual speed limit.
• When dealing with a company where one service tech sends you a prepaid shipping label to send an entire computer to them for service and the next day another tech offers to send you a part that might be the problem, the company might have a communication problem.  (Especially when both service techs, along with their supervisor, were copied on the same series of emails.)
• It was encouraging to see the written expressions of praise and prayer as I packed up the journals and art paper from the Watch & Pray vigil.
• It seems there are many who like the idea of having rules and policy that protect . . . as long as they don’t have to live by them.
• As we headed to a late lunch Susan had a seizure, and then another one in the evening.  They always make me consider what’s really important.
• We made a late afternoon stop at a county park to take photos but the gray sky made the lighting a little difficult.
• There was a small waterfall at the park that had a patch of running water at the top and a few small patches of running water visible at the bottom.  While not seen, the water was still “falling” behind the ice which covered most of the visible part of the falls.
• Sometimes it is difficult to see the working of God’s Spirit; but you can be sure that if He’s in you, He’s still at work.
• I loved seeing the ornamental grasses waving in the winter air.  While they may look dead, like the other unseen perennials in the garden, they are merely asleep until the time is right to grow.
• Sometimes we need to rest until its the right time for us to grow.
• I don’t deal with surprises well.  Doesn’t really matter if its a good surprise, bad surprise, or something in between — it messes with the internal balance I try to keep in my mind.

Here are some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Six inches of powdery lake-effect snow is beautiful to look at but it still takes work to clear it from the places you don’t want it.
• Not everything that is good is good in every place and time.  “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.”
• Clearing sidewalks along a roadway is a lot more work than clearing the ones that don’t accumulate the extra slush and snow from the snowplows.
• I’m still working at putting away the supplies and resources from the weekend’s prayer focus — it’s easier to do a little at a time and make sure it gets stored where I want it.
• Sometimes wisdom requires that you step back and accurately evaluate your plans and goals.
• It can be difficult to admit that the timing and/or implementation of your plans need major adjustments, but it is easier to admit that than to push forward with something that isn’t going to work because of circumstances beyond your control.
• An eighteen degree air temperature may not sound very warm, but when you consider that is more than a thirty degree increase from the minus fifteen a couple mornings ago, it was actually rather pleasant outside.
• The Bible says that God’s ways are higher than man’s ways so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to realize that our ways will often need major adjustments in order to align with God’s.
• An evening out photographing in the snow was rather refreshing.
• As the day turned to dusk, we found a hawk that tried to stay hidden while still keeping an eye on us.

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

• I’m still not sure what I think about this abbreviated format for each day’s page, but I’ve not yet felt compelled to return to the fuller version or do anything different than this. 🙂
• Cleaning up and putting things away after a prayer-focused event is a lot less exciting than the setup and preparation.
• Uncertainty can be both frightening and enticing.
• I finished up the writing of next week’s prayer guide as I spent time focused on some things God wants us to seek.
• When I seek the things of God, I find the things of me become less important.
• As I worked this morning the following song lyrics filled my mind: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
• I am amazed at how well my aging eyes can focus on individual snowflakes and the big picture scene at the same time — the eyes God created are much more complex than my best camera equipment.
• Sometimes I think it would be nice to see into the future before I make decisions, but I think it would often frighten me as much as it would help me.
• I didn’t take any pictures today, so today’s photo is from a January 2017 trip to Lake Michigan.  Even when it has the feel of a frozen tundra, there is beauty to be found.
• When we limit our view of beauty to what we like, we will often miss the best God has to offer.

Some thoughts, lessons, and reflections from the day: 

• With an actual air temperature of negative fifteen to start the day, all the layers of clothing I could find wasn’t enough to make me want to stay outside very long.
• It was so cold that my windows frosted over on the inside of the truck on my way to work since I wasn’t willing to stop breathing.  🙂
• I am thankful that someone figured out building heat that moved beyond open fires, wood stoves, and coal furnaces.
• I am even more thankful when I walk into a building and realize the heating sources are working.
• I don’t always find what I’m looking for, but I’m definitely more likely to find it if I look than if I don’t.
• God wants to be found, but He also says we will find Him when we seek Him with a whole heart.
• In addition to Himself, there are a variety of things that God tells us to seek.  Some of those will be the daily topics of next week’s prayer guide.
• Even though the air temperature was still below zero by late morning, the sun brought the cardinals out in search of their berry buffet.
• Nearly everyone wants to be heard, but few really want to listen.
• We often react based on perception that may or may not reflect what is actually meant.
• Updating can be a long process, especially when you don’t really know how much updating needs done.
• It’s amazing how warm five degrees felt when I came home compared to the minus fifteen when I left.
• Improvement is improvement even if we are not yet where we would like to be.

I think I may stick primarily with the thoughts and lessons from each day this year.  Or maybe this format is just for today because I’m still tired. 🙂

Some reflections and/or lessons from the day:

• I can still keep going for 20 hours straight when needed, but rest has never been more welcomed than after a long day.
• When I’m doing what God has called and created me to do, the days don’t seem nearly as long as the hours make them sound.
• A new year is probably more symbolic than anything else, but sometimes we need the symbolism to motivate us to make the fresh start that is needed.
• Spending the first half hour of the new year praying with others is a pretty good way to start the year.
• A high temperature for the day that doesn’t reach double-digits is not very effective in enticing me to leave the house.
• Spending a cold winter day going through photos from last summer is a good way to kindle a flame under the vacation planning region of my mind. 🙂
• Sometimes we hold onto things that are not very useful because it seems easier than replacing them with something new which often requires us to learn a new way of doing things.
• Today’s photo from last summer is a reminder that vacations are both relaxing and necessary.

While each day ahead can be seen as an unwritten page that I write with my life, that is only from our perspective here on earth.  The Psalmist says that “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  Even though God has already seen each story, chapter, page, and word, it has been fun to write out each page these past two years and share them here on my blog.  I haven’t really given much thought about whether I will continue these daily pages or not, and if I do whether I will keep a similar format.  That’s a decision for tomorrow. 🙂

Today began early as I had a lot to get done.  When I arrived at church, the lot had been plowed and we had only received a dusting of snow after I had cleared the walks last night, so my outside work didn’t take long.  I did fire up the snowblower to make easy work of clearing the walkways that had been filled in by the snowplow and then ran it down the walks to remove the little bit of snow that was there.  Once the outside work was done, I headed inside to do a little more prep in the prayer station areas and spend time with God going over the sermon.  The sermon I shared during our morning worship gathering was titled, “Praying for OPEN Eyes”.  As has become my custom, I used a word from the title as my outline and today that word was OPEN.  Here are the main points we considered:

• Praying for Observant eyes:  Perhaps the most obvious point of praying for open eyes is to use them for the purpose they were designed — observing things.  Sometimes we are so sure of ourselves that we don’t pay attention to the way things really are.  In John 4, Jesus states that the disciples are saying it is four months until harvest yet He tells them to open their eyes and look, the field is ripe for harvest.  How often do we miss our part in the spiritual harvest because we do not have eyes that are open to seeing it?  God wants us to lift our eyes up to observe the people around us and see them as He sees them, not writing any of them off as unreachable.
• Praying for Purposeful eyes:  In the midst of a world filled with trouble, it is important that we pray for eyes that seek God’s purpose in all things.  In John 9, Jesus encounters a blind man and His disciples ask, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  The response of Jesus was neither sinned, the purpose of this was so that the work of God could be displayed in his life.  We often need God to open our eyes to see His purpose — both when things are going well and when they are not.  Our apparent victories really aren’t about us becoming successful in the world’s eyes any more than our heartaches are about us becoming failures.  When are eyes are opened to seeing His purpose in our own life, then we are more likely to see His purpose working in the lives of others even when our first reaction may be that somehow they are responsible for their own “bad luck”.
• Praying for Expectant eyes:  I’m afraid that there are times when our prayer life is pretty shallow because we don’t really expect God to answer.  We’ve prayed so many selfish and demanding prayers that haven’t turned out the way we wanted so we either quit praying or we pray very generically.  In the first chapter or Acts, we read of Jesus ascending into heaven with the disciples left looking into the sky — I’m sure wondering what they would do now.  An angel appears and asks why they are sitting there looking into the sky.  At first glance that may seem like a silly question, but not if you pay attention to the instructions that Jesus had given just before ascending.  The instructions were that they were to be His witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world — hard to do that sitting on a mountain top.  They were to live with eyes expecting the return of Christ, but that expectation was one that compelled them to share the good news of Jesus everywhere they went.  Our eyes also ought to be filled with the expectation that Jesus is returning and we would do well to be found faithful in doing the work He has given to us.
• Praying for Needy eyes:  When I put this sermon outline together, this was a strange sermon point to me.  God promises to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory, why would I pray to be needy?  But as I spent time with God in His Word, it became clear that this was about recognizing our great need to have our eyes opened and healed.  In Revelation, the church of Laodicea was given the message that they were lukewarm yet they thought they had it all.  In a lot of ways it sounds like the American church as they are told they think they are rich and have acquired great wealth and don’t need a thing.  But God says they need to have their eyes opened to see how poor they are and how naked and wretched they are so they would seek Him for true wealth and pure garments and salve to bring healing to their needy eyes.  When we pray for a recognition of our own neediness, we find ourselves on equal footing with everyone else who is also in need of the healing salve that only Jesus can provide.

After the church service, I finished up the rest of the details for the New Year’s Eve Watch & Pray vigil that began at 1:00 PM.  The rest of the day has been spent greeting people as they come in to pray and making sure they have the resources and instruction they need and desire to have.  I did get a break early in the evening to get some dinner, and while others are praying I sat down to eat my meal and write today’s page.  Today’s photo is one I took a little while ago of what is probably my favorite “station” in the prayer room setup.  It is an area to spend time with God in examining ourselves as we sit at the foot of the cross.  In a short while, I will lead a concert of prayer to close out the current year and bring in the new one and with that I say goodbye 2017 as I write the final words of today’s page.