Page 127 was the first Sunday of the month so I was up early to spend time with God continuing to refine the sermon I would share this morning.  I continued the “Living as the Lord’s Servant” series I’ve been working on and today was a look at the life of Samuel.  I know it is God and His Spirit that carry me through each time I preach, yet this morning I was more acutely aware of that as it had been a rather restless night.  While it seemed like I slept well for at least part of the night, I know I was up numerous times as my heart, mind, and spirit were full of concern and prayers.  

The message I shared this morning from the life of Samuel was “The Lord’s Servant Shares Words of TRUTH:

• Trouble:  Many times we avoid sharing words of trouble because people don’t like hearing them.  We would much rather keep temporary peace than warn of the trouble that comes from a life that continually disobeys God.  When God revealed to Samuel the trouble that He was about to bring on the house of Eli because of the disregard Eli’s sons had shown for God and His people, Samuel was afraid to share that news with Eli.  Yet because he was a servant of the Lord, he shared truth even when that truth included news of trouble.  We do no one a favor when we avoid sharing truth because it includes news of trouble.
• Respect:  Our words of truth are always more effective when they are filled with words of respect.  Even when Samuel found it necessary to share words of trouble, he did so with respect — both respect for God and for those he was speaking to.  Samuel’s words conveyed to his hearers a respect for their ability to return to God.  He spoke truth in a way that believed that God could change any heart that inclined itself to His Word.  Our ability to speak effective truth hinges on our willingness to speak with respect.  When we believe that God can transform anyone who turns to Him, we are more likely to speak truth to them with the respect that we ought to have.
• Understanding:  Our words of truth must also be filled with an understanding that we can only receive from God.  During Samuel’s lifetime of serving the Lord, the people of Israel decided they needed to be like all the nations around them and have a king to rule over them.  As a leader that God was using to speak His truth to the people, Samuel took the nation’s demand for a king as a personal rejection of him.  God helped Samuel to understand that He was the one being rejected, not Samuel.  Knowing the truth helped Samuel speak to the people with an understanding that was able to explain fully what would happen if they continued pursuing something that was not good for them.  It is very easy to get our feelings hurt which makes it tempting to speak without understanding.  Truth, however, is shared when we seek understanding before speaking.  
• Trust:  Speaking words of truth requires trust.  It begins with trusting that God desires to speak His truth to us and through us.  It continues into our being trustworthy in the eyes of those we have opportunity to speak to.  We can know more truth than anyone else but if no one trusts us, our words will generally fall on deaf ears.  As Samuel prepares to deliver words of truth to the people of Israel, he reminds them of the integrity that he lived with as he served them.  In this reminder, he calls them to stand as witnesses to how he treated everyone with fairness.  As the people agreed with Samuel, a level of trust continued to grow which allowed the seeds of truth to be not only spoken, but heard.  The old saying, “they won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”, is all about building trust so that the words of truth you speak have value.
• Honor:  Words of truth are also words which are filled with honor.  Truth honors God and it honors those we speak to.  Samuel was faced with a choice of honor as Israel was confronted with their sin and rejection of God.  When the realization of what they had done in demanding a king and rejecting God, the people asked Samuel to pray for them.  While many of us may have pulled out the old phrase, “you made your bed, you lie in it”, Samuel lived and spoke with honor as his response not only indicated his willingness to pray but also that it would be a sin not to.  We speak with honor when we choose to not write anyone off as unreachable.  Our honor ought to compel us to pray even for those who reject and mistreat us.  Our words are filled with honor when we offer the hope of God to the people who need it most.

After the church service we stopped by the hospital to see my mom.  Dad was there with her as well as a number of my family members.  Mom was looking a lot better and her improvement was also reflected in dad’s appearance.  By this evening, it sounds like the doctors have settled on a plan to install a pacemaker to keep the heart rate from crashing as it had yesterday.  

With the day being full, I took no new pictures.  So, today’s photo is one that was in my Facebook memories feed from four years ago today.  It reminded me of the peace that God offers to those who put their hope and trust in Him.

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

• God promises to supply our every need but we often have a very different idea of what we need compared to what He knows we need.
• Preaching the Word is an incredible responsibility.  I don’t know how it could ever be done as it should be without fully seeking God in every aspect of preparation and delivery.
• Speaking the truth as a servant of the Lord involves more than just speaking true words.  It involves speaking from a heart that is fully surrendered to God.
• Hope has a way of improving the way we look and feel.
• God’s peace and hope is His gift to all who would receive it.

The written portion of page 126 will be rather brief, at least for now, but if I don’t write something my mind just might short-circuit.  🙂  The first half of the day was spent with my family as we headed to the outlet mall to do some shopping in preparation for an eventual vacation.  After the shopping, we stopped by Lake Michigan to take a few photos.  The wind was strong but the sky was clear so there was good visibility to be able to see the Chicago skyline from the Indiana shores.  Today’s photo was taken in Michigan City, Indiana of the lighthouse with a part of the Chicago skyline in the background.  It ended up being a great reminder of the lighthouse we have in Jesus that we can cling to when the waves of life seem to get a little rough.

The second half of the day was also spent with family but in a very different context.  This context calls upon the need for a lighthouse in the midst of a storm.  My mom was taken to the hospital today with some episodes of a heart rate that drops drastically from where it should be.  While it seems to bewilder many, I know One who understands fully what is going on.  If you would, please join me in praying that God would give great wisdom and understanding to those who need it.  Pray for my mom, but also pray for my dad as this is hard on him too.  Pray for the opportunities that God will present for all of us to represent Jesus well.  Pray that we would keep our eyes fixed on the light of Jesus even as we hold up that light for others to see.

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

• Family is family in good times and bad.  While perhaps more fun in good times, its strength is made evident in the not so good times.
• Sometimes the conditions of life increase the visibility of distant things.
• A lighthouse is pretty when surrounded by calm waters.  It can be life-saving when surrounded by the turbulent waters of a storm.
• The light of Jesus draws people to Him regardless of the life conditions we face.  His light in us ought to draw people to Him in both calm and stormy times.

Page 125 was a Friday so I’m doing the writing part of the page as I take a break during the evening segment of my two-shift day.  I began the day with the cleaning and building prep that I start most days with.  So far, every time I start thinking about shifting my schedule to a later start now that the likelihood of snow is over, I come in and remember how peaceful the building is in the early morning  hours.  The day began cloudy and cool so after the building was ready for the day and I took the trash out, I spent some time reading through the scripture and meditating on the outline for the sermon I’ll share Sunday. 

By mid-morning the sun had broken through the clouds and the temperatures were beginning to rise.  That meant it was time to head outside and work at finishing up the mowing for the week.  The engine struggled to turn over when I tried to start the mower, which I thought was odd as I had just put a new battery on it this spring.  Once it started, I was able to mow for about an hour before it simply died.  Turning the key to restart it did nothing so I got my battery boost pack out of the truck and after hooking it up to the mower’s battery, the mower started right up.  I spent the rest of the morning mowing with the battery booster on my lap as an auxiliary battery so the mower would keep running.  I finally took a break and spent some time online researching some troubleshooting techniques to figure out why the charging system wasn’t working.  I eventually found a web site that I would call a beginners site — at least if felt like they were having me start the troubleshooting at the beginning and only work my way into more complicated areas if the beginning steps didn’t solve the problem.  The second step after the battery itself was to trace out the wiring harness and look for a fuse in the line.  Sure enough, I found not one, but two fuses side by side under the key switch.  Neither of them looked obviously blown, but when I tested them, one of them wasn’t letting current pass through.  By now it was early afternoon, so I headed to lunch with the bad fuse in my pocket and picked up a new one while I was out.  When I returned to work, I replaced the bad fuse and started up the mower, spending the rest of the afternoon finishing up the mowing with no additional mower problems.  By starting at the beginning, a one dollar fuse solved the problem and I was able to complete the task I began.

After the mowing was done, I decided I either needed to take a short walk or a short nap, so I headed down to the river for the walk option.  I still have not gotten tired of walking the river walk and taking pictures of the scenes that I go by.  Today’s photo is of a squirrel that was high up in a tree stretched out on a small limb.  From where I was standing I thought he was sleeping but when I zoomed in for the photo it appears he was just taking it easy at a place where he was unlikely to be bothered.  Rest comes in many forms.  Sometimes it does involve sleep and sometimes it simply involves finding a location where we can relax without being bothered or interrupted.  God’s desire is that we would draw near to Him and find rest for our soul.

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

• Sometimes easier is better and sometimes it isn’t . . . but better is always better.
• My routine needs to be developed around what helps my relationship with God to grow rather than trying to develop my relationship with God around my preferences.
• My routine shouldn’t be my god . . . God should be my God.
• When what we’re doing doesn’t work, it rarely begins working without changing something.
• When the obvious changes don’t help, it is a good idea to seek knowledgeable counsel on what to change next.
• Sometimes we need to make major changes, but sometimes all we need is a “one dollar adjustment” to be back to living as we ought.
• Just as helpful routines vary from person to person, helpful rest doesn’t always look the same for everyone.
• The best rest, regardless of how you get it, is the rest that draws you near to God. 

I’ve been trying to keep a cold/sinus issue from overrunning my head for a while now, so after choosing to work late last night it felt good to sleep in this morning and get some extra rest.  While page 124 has been my “off day” between two long workdays, much of the day was spent reflecting on and letting the sermon for Sunday simmer some more.  I had thawed out some meat last week that would need a full day on the pellet grill to make it the best it could be.  Scheduling and weather kept me from doing anything with it until now, so last night I unwrapped it and did some preseasoning to have it ready to go on first thing this morning.  When I worked on it last night, it just didn’t smell right so by this morning I decided it wasn’t worth the risk to cook it and potentially make all of us sick from spoiled meat.  Instead, by late morning I fired up the pellet grill and made bacon cheeseburgers for lunch.

The afternoon was spent resting, playing computer and Wii games, and continuing to run through the weekend’s sermon in my mind.  As the afternoon was coming to a close I decided that we would meet my parents for dinner so we ventured out into the cool, damp evening and made our way to their favorite restaurant.  It was good, as always, to spend some time with them.  Today’s photo is one I took yesterday and it reminds me of my childhood spent alongside my parents as they worked and lived.  Even when I had no wings, they gave me room to grow while always knowing they were right there to protect and provide.  After dinner we headed home where I began work on writing today’s page so I can get it finished and head to bed.  Tomorrow will be another early and late day so I am thankful for today’s rest.

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

• While not always possible, rest is a good first step when sickness tries to get a foothold in my life.
• Rest rarely happens without preparing and planning for it — or when it does happen without preparation and planning, the reasons are often not pleasant.
• We will rarely spend quiet time resting in the Lord unless we plan to do so.
• God’s Word is alive and active and when we spend time meditating on it, God’s Spirit works within us to instruct and encourage us — and others.
• Sometimes an opportunity has a limited time-frame in which it is useful.  It is important to know when the opportunity is fresh and when it is spoiled so that we don’t sicken ourselves and others by doing something that is no longer good.
• Just because one opportunity has passed, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t another one right around the corner that we should make the most of.
• God strengthens us so that we can nurture others in their growth.
• Good, godly parents are a gift from God.  We should appreciate them if we’ve had them, and even if we haven’t, we should become them in whatever manner we can.

The “light frost” in the forecast to begin page 123 was anything but light as I scraped it off my windshield before heading to work early this morning.  The frost, however, was a sign that the skies had cleared and the day was bringing with it a temporary end to the consecutive days of rain.  After I did the morning cleaning and building prep, I took the trash out and realized the sun had come up while I was cleaning.  While the amount of daylight doesn’t increase significantly each day, from week to week there is a noticeable difference in when the sun comes up during my typical schedule.  The changing daylight reminds me of God’s Word teaching us that “for everything there is a season.”  Sometimes it may not be clear to you or I what our current season is, but God knows and the best way for us to know is to seek Him.

Once the building was ready, I turned my attention to finishing the project I began yesterday of getting online registration for our VBS up and running.  Technically it was up and running last night, so today was a day of tweaking the forms and the process so the information that is entered becomes useful in helping us be prepared.  We live in an age filled with information, but sometimes the information pipeline becomes clogged to the point that what makes it through is not very useful.  When I was mostly satisfied with not only the registration process, but also the information we would receive from it, I turned my attention to the sermon for Sunday.  As I looked a the life of Samuel as being one who shared truth, one of his first tasks was in an area of truth that can be most difficult — sharing the truth about trouble.  No one likes the bearer of bad news even if the bad news is truth from God.  As a servant of the Lord, Samuel did what was needed and told Eli the truth about what God had revealed regarding Eli’s sons.

By early afternoon, the outside temperature had risen and I headed out to begin the mowing for the week.  If nothing else, the cool rainy weather we’ve been having has been good at making the lawn and dandelions grow.  It was a peaceful afternoon as I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and let the sound of the mower engine keep my mind company as I meditated on the points of the sermon I’m working on.  Mowing is one of those tasks that I’ve always enjoyed as the finished product is a thing of beauty and shows a clearly accomplished task.  While I anticipate a late workday and wanted a late lunch because of that, the mowing had distracted me to where lunch was even later than I had planned as I put the mower away around 5 PM.  After lunch I made a quick stop along the river to shoot some photos and take a short walk.  Today’s photo is of a bee busy at his work of collecting nectar and spreading pollen.  As Christians, we ought ought to reflect the beauty of  Christ in such a way that others can collect His sweetness from us and spread the seeds of His love through the contact they have with us.

I had planned on making it to the Bible study class that does a follow up of Sunday’s sermon each week, but as I wound down from the day of work I didn’t make it out of my office.  Instead, I spent some time with Susan and began the writing of today’s page so I will be ready to do tomorrow’s cleaning and building prep as soon as the building clears out tonight.

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

• Perspective determines how we view things that other may see differently.
• Paul says that our afflictions ought to seem “light and momentary” in view of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ.
• Having information isn’t nearly as important as having useful information.  Sometimes we settle for any information rather than seeking useful information.
• Sharing truth may not make you popular with people, but it is a part of being obedient to God.
• Telling someone about trouble that will be found on the path they are following can be one of the most difficult truths to share.
• Some tasks have results which are obvious and some results are not so obvious.  The key is to do the tasks God has created for you to do and trust the results to Him.
• God’s love ought to be spread through us and we ought to live in a way that makes the love He has placed within us attractive to others.

Page 122 found me at work at the usual early hour that I’ve become accustomed to in order to have the building ready for the start of the school day.  I had a few minor maintenance issues to take care of in addition to the morning cleaning, but once the building was ready for the day I set my mind to working on an online registration process for our summer Vacation Bible School.  As I worked on that, I also had my Bible software open to the books of Samuel as he is the next character that I will focus on in my “Living As the Lord’s Servant” sermon series.  I’m not exactly what I would call a “multi-tasker”, but I have learned to have multiple tasks in progress that I take turns working on so when one task feels like a dead-end, I can switch to something different until I can look at the original task with a fresh view.  

There was a point mid-morning when my mind needed a break from both of the current tasks, so I headed out for a walk in the woods to see how much work the trails need.  There is a variety of old junk scattered through the woods from the  years prior to it becoming church property so I’m accustomed to seeing old car hoods or rusted parts peeking up through the blanket of leaves covering the ground.  Someone had even collected the parts of an old rusted out pedestal sink and set it up in the middle of one of the trails.  What I didn’t expect to find was a rather new folding chair set up in the middle of the woods as well.  With children in the building and on the playground, we try to keep unaccounted for people off the property during the day and it is always remarkable to me how belligerent some get when they are asked to not be on the property during the school day.  I guess someone enjoys spending time in the woods and felt that having their own chair would add to their comfort.

Today’s photo is of a May Apple blossom taken during a morning of light rain.  These blossoms are easy to miss as they are found along the plant stem under the canopy of the leafy top of the plant.  Because they are not readily visible, their beauty is often overlooked and goes unnoticed in favor of the more splashy blossoms of early spring.  People are like that too.  Some people have a personality and lifestyle that almost demands that everyone takes notice of them and everything they add to an environment.  Others have at least as much to offer but because their ability and gifting is often expressed behind the scenes and in less noticeable ways, it is easy for them to be ignored and forgotten.  God’s desire, and design, is that every part of the body of Christ that He has created would be given a chance to do its part and to shine with the beauty God put within them.

After my walk I returned to the office where I continued my work tweaking the online registration work and refreshing my mind with the life of Samuel.  By mid-afternoon, it was time to press pause on the work projects so I could get some lunch and go home for the day.  I find it difficult for me to pause projects and return to them another day, but I find that doing so is a benefit to my life outside of the office and work environment.  At home, I played some games and relaxed until it was time for dinner.  Writing today’s page has been my after-dinner task and once finished I will call it a day and get some sleep so I can be up early for another day of work tomorrow.

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

• Small tasks take less time out of a busy schedule than allowing them to become big tasks as you wait for a less busy time.
• It can be more productive to work on something different for a time than to sit in a mental dead end.
• There are times my mind simply needs refreshed and spending time with God outdoors is one of the most effective ways to make that happen for me.
• When we view our actions as being small, it is easy to not see the results of many small actions until they add up to something we never expected.
• Few places, like our woods, become cluttered with trash overnight.  Most often it happens a piece at a time and few think that one piece will make that much difference.
• Our minds rarely become cluttered with trash overnight either.  We usually allow one piece at a time to linger because we don’t think the one piece will make that much difference.  
• God’s work is beautiful in nature and in people.  Some of that beauty is obvious and hard to miss and some of it is subtle and easily overlooked — both have purpose and incredible value to God just as they are created.  

Page 121 began early as I needed to not only do the cleaning and building prep to start the week, but I also needed to take down the prayer ministry display out of the foyer so it wasn’t in the way for the school day.  Once those tasks were taken care of, it was time to settle in for a morning with God as I worked on the prayer guide for next week.  For a few reasons I could think of and probably a few I couldn’t think of, the topic for the next prayer guide seemed to be more difficult to settle on than usual.  As I continued to spend time in prayer and the Word, I finally chose the topic of learning to give.  Because giving is a core characteristic of God’s love for us — “For God so loved the world that He gave . . . ” — giving ought to be a core characteristic of those seeking to be Christ-like.  

When we learn to give as God has given to us, we give of ourselves to the people around us.  Giving becomes a way of life when we begin to recognize that the only things we are able to give are things we have received from God.  Unfortunately, when we hear someone talk about giving, we rarely think of anything beyond money — or at least some form of material thing.  Yet God not only wants us to give generously; He desires that we learn to give thanks, give in a timely manner, give sound answers, give grace, and give attention as well.  When we pray about learning to give, we ask God to help us give in a manner similar to His giving — sacrificially and for the benefit of those who receive.

By the time the prayer guide was written and I had it formatted and scheduled to be published and sent out on Sunday, it was time to wrap up some tasks in the building and finish up the workday.  The sky had been overcast pretty much all day and with cool, rainy conditions I had no visitors come by the office window wanting their pictures taken.  With no fresh photos, I went through some old photos to choose one for today’s page.  Susan was given a photo calendar a week ago and quickly became fixated on needing a tiger.  We tried to resolve the autistic obsession with a stuffed tiger that had been one of her friends in the past, but it didn’t match what was in her mind.  MJ took her to the store today where she found one that made her happy, so all is good for the time being.  Today’s photo is from a few years ago as she was playing patty-cake with the tiger at the zoo.  She loves the zoo tigers and it often appears that the feeling is mutual.  In fact, her preference would have been to bring one of those home with us but we continually convince her that they wouldn’t fit in her room very well.  🙂

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

• What goes up must come down — which makes simplifying display setup a wise move.
• When the mind is having difficulty focusing, it is a good idea to wait upon the Lord to allow Him to refresh it.
• When we read about, and experience, how God treats us, we learn how we ought to treat others.
• Giving includes money and material things, but those things don’t fully define what our giving ought to look like.
• Sometimes our day is overcast and gloomy so we need to rely on memories of the times that God’s light was made known to us.
• Sometimes we need to be reminded that the only thing that can fully satisfy us is God Himself.