Page 340 began the winter adjustments to accommodate the cold and snow — the alarm clock was set half an hour earlier so I would have time to clear the walks in addition to the building cleaning and I dug out the “long johns” for the season.  Unfortunately, they were the clothing “long johns” and not the kind from the bakery. 🙂  As I headed into work early, I found that the sidewalks didn’t need shoveled as the snow had mostly melted, but I did put ice melt down as the melting snow had frozen to make ice-covered sidewalks.  As I did my morning cleaning, I spent time in prayer and listening as I haven’t fully settled on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day sermon texts.  There are a few ideas rolling around in my mind that I believe are from God, so I’m confident He will gel the messages together when the time is right.

Once the building was ready for the day, I settled into my Monday morning routine of spending time with God to put together the next week’s prayer guide.  My mind seemed to have more difficulty that usual in coming up with the next topic.  As I prayed and considered a few topics that just didn’t connect with my spirit, a couple packages were delivered to my office.  It was as if a light bulb went on in my brain.  The rest of the morning was spent in prayer putting together the next prayer guide that will be focused on some of God’s promises, that have been fulfilled in Jesus, to send a deliverer who would rescue His people from their sins.  So as the prayer guide came together, we will be praying next week about some things God delivers us from as well as the nature of how God delivers us.  

With the early start to the day, by mid-afternoon I was hungry and tired.  One of the packages that arrived this morning was a new-to-me camera that will become my “bird” camera with an ultra zoom so I grabbed some lunch and headed to the Riverwalk to try out the camera and get some exercise.  As I started off on a three mile walk, one of my first opportunities to try out the camera ended up as the photo for today’s page.  This beautiful duck was standing on a partially submerged branch just watching the water flow by.  In fact, he was so picture perfect that if I didn’t know better I would think someone had put a decoy out and he wasn’t even real.  As I thought about it, it made me wonder how we present ourselves and whether people view us as being real or not.  Sometimes we become so skilled at putting up a front that is so good, people know that it is just a front.  But what if it isn’t a front?  What if we allow God’s Spirit to fill us to a point of overflowing such that God’s presence is all that is seen in us?  What if the righteousness we wear isn’t a front but is the result of being clothed with the righteousness of Christ?  How amazing would it be if we resembled Jesus so closely that people did a double-take when they saw us?

I pray that you and I would spend time listening to God and trust Him to lead us in the way that we should go.  I pray that we would recognize God as our deliverer and live as those who have been set free.  I pray that we would offer a message of deliverance to the people around us.  I pray that we would live a life so deeply buried in Christ that He is all people see when they look at us.

Page 338 has been a laid back day of much needed rest for the mind and body.  After sleeping in, the short morning was spent on some correspondence and going through the photos I took yesterday.  Shortly after noon we headed to a Chinese buffet for lunch and then wandered through Menard’s for a while.  The center of the afternoon was spent browsing Facebook and looking at some options for a mini-Christmas break getaway and also for my January trip to Gatlinburg for the Christian Camp Leaders’ Conference.  By late afternoon we headed to a house-warming open house before coming back home where I am sitting at the computer writing today’s page. 🙂

With so little accomplished today, this could either be one of my shortest written “pages” or one of the longest. 🙂  The photo on today’s page was taken yesterday afternoon as I found this robin fluffing up its feathers to insulate itself against the cold.  It made me think about the increasing layers of clothing that I will be wearing in the coming weeks and months in an effort to stay warm while doing the necessary outside tasks.  Yesterday I could have used one more layer than what I had on, yet here was this bird using its created ability to insulate its body from the cold.  It was a great reminder of how God cares for the birds of the air in a way that should increase my level of trust in Him.  

As I looked at information today about the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area, I thought about the tension that exists between truth and fear.  Throughout the week nearly all of the news coming out of the Gatlinburg area was about the wildfires and the devastating losses being caused.  Unfortunately, now that that fires are out it appears that the truth of the devastation has created a fear that there is nothing left to visit.  Now the message trying to be shared on one website after another is, “Yes, help is needed for those who suffered great damage and loss but the rest of us need your help through your continued vacations and visits to the area.”  It made me think of how difficult it is at times to let people know about the needs you have without creating a fear in their mind that you are on the brink of some catastrophe.  When we are in the midst of a “fire” in our life, that is what we are likely to talk about even if it isn’t the total, or even majority, view of what is really going on.  While understanding that is important when we consider how we share with others, it is even more important when we listen to them about what is going on in their life.  Yes, the damage and loss need to be made known but we also need to take the time to step back and examine the fuller picture of what we still have.  Even as a Christian, we can experience great loss that will feel like it can completely devastate us so it is critical to remember that no matter what we lose, nothing can separate us from the love of God that we have through Christ Jesus.

I pray that you and I would not just know about, but that we would know how much God cares for us because of His great love.  I pray that we would pay attention to the reminders of His presence that God surrounds us with.  I pray that we would not forget those who suffer loss, but we would also not let their loss fill us with fear.  I pray that we would always remember what we have in Christ, regardless of any loss or tragedy we face in this life.

After a late night on page 335, I was able to sleep in today to delay that start of page 336.  This also meant that Susan was able to sleep in and hopefully catch up on some rest after having a few days of some seizure activity.  When I got up, I spent the morning catching up on bookkeeping for the prayer ministry.  As I worked on the computer I got a message that I needed to check on the heat at the building as one of the rooms has been cold for a few days.  At that point, it was late morning so I had Susan start waking up and fired up the pellet grill to get lunch going while she got herself ready for the day.  After getting breakfast for Susan and putting pork chops on the grill, we headed into work to check on the heating issue.  The boilers were all running, which was a good thing, but that meant finding the solution might be a little more complicated.  As I began to work through the HVAC control system on the computer, I eventually found that the heat setting for each of the zones that had been worked on earlier this fall was set at 65 degrees.  That would certainly make some rooms feel a little chilly on a cold, windy day.  After going through the system and setting the affected zones correctly, I spent some time watching the room temperature readouts slowly climb into a more normal range before heading back home.

At home, I finished up the pork chops and we had lunch before heading to Sam’s Club to pick up some things on our grocery list.  The evening was spent having dinner with my mom and dad with the pleasant surprise of having my older brother and his son join us as well.  It was good to spend time with family and enjoy a good meal together.  As I drove home, I thought about my deer friends that I photographed at the end of yesterday’s workday.  It was so dark, they could barely be seen in the shadows beyond the parking lot lights but I could sense that they were there watching me.  As I peered into the darkness I could see their silhouettes lined up on the hill so I pulled out my camera and tried every setting I could think of that might capture a usable photo of them.  My first attempt had the flash on and it made their eyes glow quite eerily without otherwise lighting up the scene.  When I finally opened up the lens and slowed down the shutter speed I could see that they were watching me just as I was watching them.  It was late, so after a couple photos I drove off as they continued to stand on the hill and watched me go.  As I thought about this scene, my mind shifted to the patience and respect needed for us to get along with those who are different than us.  Most of the time, it seems that we don’t stop long enough to even try to understand those who are different from us in some way.  When we notice differences, the first reaction of many of us is to try to figure out how to change the other person so they are more like us and if we don’t view that as possible, we ignore not only the differences but the person as well.  We would accomplish a much greater thing if we stop and pray that God would give us and understanding and respect for others as we allow Him to make the necessary changes — in them, or us, or both.

I pray that you and I would not only rest when we need it, but that we would be involved in helping others rest when they need it.  I pray that we would take whatever time it takes to discover why things aren’t right when our relationship with God seems to grow cool.  I pray that we would find ways to make time for, and value, the families that God has given us.  I pray that we would stop and pray when we encounter those who are different than us.  I pray that we would trust God to make the changes that are necessary, whether those changes are in us or others or both.  

Once the sun eventually came up, page 335 was warm and sunny for the first half of the day but by mid-afternoon the clouds had brought rapidly falling temperatures with them.  As it is Wednesday, today is one of my long workdays so I’m writing this during a break between teaching a 1st through 3 grade class and cleaning the building to get it ready for tomorrow.  The day began with the usual cleaning and building prep followed by some serious prayer time and work on what God would have me share with my evening class.  I spent some time working on my schedule and I think I registered to have a display at the Christian Camp Leaders’ Conference in late January next year.  

By mid-afternoon it was time for a break, so I headed out to lunch and then down to Potato Creek to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.  As I headed down to the park, the clouds began to stack up quickly and by the time I arrived the sun had mostly disappeared behind the clouds and the breeze coming off the lake was quite cold.  With no eagles sightings and the sun hiding behind the clouds, I didn’t take many pictures.  The ones I did take seemed to match my emotional mindset — a gray cloudy darkness.  I suppose part of it is the typical let-down after the pouring out of myself at a conference.  Things such as ICOM are so encouraging from a ministry perspective, but so draining on a personal level.  I press on, hoping that someday it will feel like I belong somewhere but I suspect that is not likely until I arrive to my home in heaven.

As it turned out, the lesson I taught tonight was about the life of Joseph.  The theme woven throughout my teaching was God is with us in times of trouble.  We even played the old board game, Trouble, as I told the story of Joseph and how God was with him in all of his times of trouble.  So often, we think that God being with us in times of trouble means that He should get us out of the troublesome times.  He does that, but rarely does it happen in the way or time that we would like.  God did get Joseph out of a variety of troublesome times, but it was always according to God’s timing which included years of waiting.  Yet even in the waiting, it appears that Joseph understood God was with him in times of trouble.  I believe it was that realization that helped Joseph see the bigger picture when his brothers showed up looking for food.  Most of us would have been at least tempted to get even, but Joseph could see the hand of God using his troubles to rescue not just the Egyptians, but his own family from a time of severe famine.  So often, I need the reminder that God is with me in times of trouble because I  have such a difficult time seeing through the clouds of darkness.  Sometimes the darkness is in my own mind and sometimes it really is a darkness of rejection, but regardless of the source I must always keep in mind that God is with me.  

I pray that you and I would enjoy the warmth of God’s presence and realize He is with us even when the gray clouds gather in our life.  I pray that we would be involved in teaching others, not from our own wisdom but out of our time spent with God.  I pray that we would believe that God is always with us in or troubles.  I pray that we would look for the bigger picture story of how God will use our troubles as we wait upon Him.  I pray that we would never lose our longing for the heavenly home that God is calling each of His children to.

Page 334 was a welcome relief from the cold, rainy weather of the past few days.  The stars were shining brightly in the clear night sky as I headed into work this morning.  As the amount of daylight continues to shrink each day, it was still dark when I finished the morning cleaning and building prep.  As I worked in my office on some writing projects and my lesson for tomorrow evening’s children’s class, the sun finally made its way over the horizon to brighten the day.  Eventually, a variety of birds showed up to enjoy the buffet remaining in the trees and brush outside my office window.  Today’s photo is of a cedar waxwing who was one of the numerous visitors I had through the late morning and into the afternoon.  

I had intended to participate in the “Giving Tuesday” hoopla by once again making the Kindle editions of the books I have written free for the day.  Unfortunately, I discovered that process need to be set up at least a day in advance.  In the process, I found that I could set up a fundraising page on Facebook that would have the first one thousand dollars given matched by the Gates Foundation in honor of Giving Tuesday.  So, I set up the page, https://www.facebook.com/donate/10210173709674636/, which will be open through December 13 for donations to the Impact Prayer Ministry Resource Fund.  These donations will be used to have more books printed to put into the hands of camp leaders and Christian ministries at some upcoming conferences I will be attending.  Once that was set up, I completed the process to make the Kindle editions of my books available for free over the next two days.  So, Giving Tuesday will now become Giving Wednesday and Thursday done the Impact Prayer Ministry way!  

Once I had those tasks completed, the rest of the afternoon was spent writing a newsletter that will be emailed out just before midnight tonight letting my subscribers know about the free Kindle books from Impact Prayer Ministry.  Yes, the prayer ministry relies on the gifts of others in order to make prayer-based resources available to anyone who will use them, but I don’t feel right calling a day “Giving Tuesday” if all I’m doing is asking people to give to my work — for it to really be “Giving Tuesday”, I need to be giving as well.  So, if you are reading this page on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 or Thursday, December 1, 2016, feel free to head over to Amazon and search for author Tom Lemler in Kindle books and you should find each of my eight books available for free.  You can also go to my Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Lemler/e/B00KEQ0Z6O/ to find the listing of each of my books.  The good news is that if you’re not reading this page on one of those two days, the Kindle editions of my books are regularly priced at only 99 cents.

By late afternoon, my “Giving Wednesday and Thursday” email was finished and scheduled to send out so I packed up my things and headed to lunch on my way home.  As I reflect on the day, the image in my mind of all the birds showing up for a morning buffet made me think of God’s care and provision for each of us, and specifically for  me.  When I schedule prayer ministry displays at conventions and conferences, it is usually so far in advance that I don’t have the resources in hand that will actually be needed for the display.  I spend time in prayer seeking God’s direction for where I ought to be and then I trust Him to provide the money and books necessary to accomplish His purpose for my being at the convention or conference.  While I never seem to have excess, I always seem to have enough.  Occasionally, such as today, I make the need known, but even in doing that I try to do so in a way that simply asks people to consider what God would have them do.

I pray that you and I would look for the brightness of God’s presence to be revealed in the times we feel surrounded by darkness and gloom.  I pray that we would learn to be generous with all that God has given us.  I pray that our words and actions of generosity would be such that they focus on the needs of others rather than our own.  I pray that we would understand how much God loves us as we consider the way He cares and provides for our needs.  I pray that we would trust God to provide what we need to accomplish the work He has called us to do.  I pray that we would seek wisdom from God to know how He would have us to help others accomplish their work for Him.  

Page 333 was back to the work routine following a nice Thanksgiving holiday break.  The pest control service was due today so it was an early start to the day to meet our service rep before beginning the cleaning for the day.  As I did the early morning cleaning, I also prayed about the rest of my day and sought direction for the prayer guide for next week.  Once the cleaning and building prep was done and the trash taken out, it was time to settle in for the morning to spend time with God as we put together next week’s prayer guide.  

I eventually decided to write the next prayer guide with a focus on our need to share.  God has not only called us to be people who share, He set the example as everything we have has come from His willingness to share with us.   Paul writes to the Corinthians, and to us, “What do you have that you have not received?”  The implied answer in the questioning is that I don’t have anything that I have not received.  The follow-up question is just as direct, “If you did receive it, why do you act as if you did not?”  When it comes to sharing, we would do well to always remember what it is that is actually of our own doing and what it is that we have received from God.  It is when we are able to keep that perspective, that we realize the meaning of Jesus telling His followers, “Freely you have received, freely give.”  

But this command to share is not just about stuff.  God wants us to share our self with people — our time, our abilities, our talents, our words, our listening — whatever it is that we have, we have not only received it but we are called to share it.  I probably should mention that this sharing should be a result of time spent with God seeking both wisdom and courage in being able to share what we’ve been given in effective and productive ways.  Sometimes it is a tough balance to be able to share in useful ways and not wasteful ones, but those are the questions we must take before God and listen intently for His answers.  For me, as I share the books that God has given me to write, I tell people they can take what they will use.  I want to be able to freely share the gift God has given me, but I also feel a responsibility to avoid wastefulness as much as possible.  I can’t guarantee that every book that is picked up from my display at a conference is put to immediate use, I can ask people to only take them if they will use them, and then trust God to cause His gift to me to bear fruit in the lives of people at just the right time.

Once the writing of the prayer guide was complete, I scheduled it to be published and emailed out next week.  The rest of my work day was spent taking care of some minor tasks in the building and going through mail and correspondence from the extended weekend.  By mid-afternoon, it was time to head out and take care of some missions banking and get some lunch before heading home.  

Today’s photo was taken a couple weeks ago as I hiked a trail in the Natural Bridge State Park.  While I enjoy the beauty of the natural settings that I am able to visit and photograph, I also realize the beauty is not meant just for me and that I need to share it with others.  The photography gift that God has put in my life and allowed me to develop has allowed me to share the gift of natural beauty with people who will never be able to visit some of the parks and locations I go to.  Every once in a while I begin thinking that I post too many photos on social media and then God will use someone to remind me of how much the sharing of them means to them.  

I pray that you and I would not only enjoy the breaks that we are able to take from the routines of life, but that we would enjoy the routines as well.  I pray that we would seek God in the midst of every task that fills our days.  I pray that we would honestly consider all that God has given us.  I pray that our evaluation of what we have received would lead us to a life of joyous sharing.  I pray that we would seek God for wisdom and courage in knowing how and when to share what He has given.

Page 332 began early as it was after midnight when I finished writing page 331.  When I finally got to sleep, Susan had a seizure during the night which woke all of us up.  As MJ cared for her, I went back to sleep to get some rest before heading out to preach this morning.  As I headed to Dowagiac this morning, there was a heavy frost covering most surfaces, including my truck windows which needed scraped before I could begin the trip.  As the sun began to warm up the air, the evaporating frost created a haze that added to the morning beauty.

It was a good morning of worship with the North Wayne Mennonite Church and I shared another message in the “Living as the Lord’s Servant” series.  Today I focused on the Lord’s servants, Simeon and Anna, written about in Luke 2 with a sermon, “The Lord’s Servants Give THANKS”.  While the Christmas season is a time we most often look at the account of Simeon and Anna because of their response to Jesus, it would appear they lived a life of thanks so that the praise we read about is a natural outpouring of themselves to God.  When we live as a servant of the Lord, our life ought to be one of thankfulness at all times.  As I looked at this morning’s text, there were six things that we need to learn how to give in order to give THANKS at all times.

One of the keys to giving thanks, is to learn to give Trust.  Until we learn to trust that God is looking out for our best interests, we will struggle with being thankful.  Both Simeon and Anna could give thanks to God for sending Jesus because they had lived a lifetime of trusting God’s promise of a Messiah.  Real trust has no time limit.  Our willingness to trust God, and people, will be reflected in our ability to be thankful when we don’t fully understand their motives.  We remain thankful because we trust.

Being thankful means that we give trust, but it also means that we give Hope.  In the midst of their praise and thankfulness, both Simeon and Anna proclaimed a hope that is available to all who would hear and accept.  Our life of thankfulness should be lived in such a way that a true message of hope is given to all who would hear our words and actions of thanks.  Being thankful, especially in difficult times, proclaims to all who are watching that we have a hope that cannot be extinguished.  As we offer expressions of thanks to God and to people, we shine a bright light of hope in a dark and dismal world.

As we give thanks, we also give Adoration.  It would be nearly impossible to find a purer form of adoration that the worship offered by both Simeon and Anna when they saw the baby Jesus before them.  Adoration by itself can be a form of thankfulness as we acknowledge the true worth of the one we adore.  It seems like a typical response by most people to an infant is that they are simply adorable.  What would happen to our level of thankfulness if that view of people never disappeared from our life?  Would we be more thankful if we learned to adore God as both Lord and Savior as much as we adore Him as a baby in a manger?  Would we give thanks to others more often if we could see them as adorable people made in the image of God?

If we are not finding much to adore, perhaps we need to work on the next aspect of giving thanks — give Notice.  I’m not talking about turning in a notice that you are quitting work, or life, or whatever.  No, I’m talking about paying attention to both God and people.  Simeon and Anna were able to give thanks to God because they were paying attention to what was taking place in front of them.  It is highly unlikely that they were the only people in the temple courts that day, but how many others noticed what was right before their eyes?  If we want to be more thankful in our interactions with God and people, a good place to begin would be to start noticing all that you ought to be thankful for.

When it comes to expressing our thanks, giving Kindness goes a long way toward helping a person believe we are truly thankful.  We have all probably had the occasion when someone, perhaps a child, has been forced to say thank you.  We know, not only because it doesn’t appear to be genuine, but because we recognize the attitude from the times when we have said thank you and didn’t mean it.  Simeon and Anna went beyond simply giving thanks to God for sending Jesus, they also expressed kindness in their interaction with Mary and Joseph.  If we want a life of thankfulness that has meaning, it is important that we learn to express a visible kindness as we give thanks.

Finally, giving true thanks also means that we give Self.  Simeon and Anna had both given themselves to God long before the day we read about in the second chapter of Luke.  Their thankfulness to God, while expressed in words and worship on the day the encountered Jesus in the temple, had long before been expressed in the giving of themselves to Him.  In fact, it is the giving of self that may well be the key to living a life that learns how to give thanks in all circumstances.  It is not until we surrender our self to God that we begin to learn how to trust Him completely, how to have a hope that endures, how to really adore Him as we ought, how to notice His presence in our life, or how to even understand what true kindness looks like.  When we decide to give self to God, we learn how to be thankful for His presence within us.  And when we follow the example of Jesus and learn how to give self to others, we learn how to be thankful for who God has created them to be.

The photo I chose today is one I took yesterday on our covered bridge hunt.  This bridge has had some help by the placement of a steel girder support system underneath it.  It continues to function as a bridge today because of the support added by the steel framework.  In many ways our willingness to give of ourselves provides a framework that makes it possible for us to be a person who gives thanks.  We are too weak to be thankful in all circumstances as we ought to be, so God has placed beneath us the power of His Spirit to strengthen us and make us able to do all things through Christ — including giving THANKS!.

Page 331 continued the Thanksgiving holiday and it was nice to have a few days off in a row where I didn’t even have work related projects that crept in to take my time.  Well, at least not directly.  Today was spent with my family doing some covered bridge hunting and photographing but I also spent much of the drive time reflecting on the sermon topic and text I will share Sunday morning.  The day allowed for some sleeping in but with a free day ahead of us and a forecast that was dry, we gathered up our cameras and went out following my GPS to photograph some covered bridges.  I began the day’s trip with 13 bridges on my list but almost immediately crossed off the first one as it was not really lined up in the direction of the others.  One of the bridges on the list ended up being a small cart bridge on a golf course so we didn’t take any pictures of it.  As we neared the end of the list, the sun was quickly fading in the west so we skipped two more of the bridges which brought our number of bridges photographed on this trip to nine with the final bridge leaving us a three hour drive back home.  

Some of the bridges are still in use and carry traffic over them on a regular basis while others stand as monuments to an earlier time while a replacement bridge runs alongside them.  Today’s photo was taken through a window on one of the longer bridges for the day.  As the sun began to set, visible in the photo is the modern bridge that the road now runs over.  Most of the covered bridges we have photographed were built in the mid to late 1800’s with a few being constructed in the early 1900’s.  Some have had major work done on them over the years to keep them in a usable condition and others appear to have had little maintenance done and aren’t even safe to walk across.  Yet even with very little care, the fact that these old bridges still remain is a testament to the effectiveness of their design and purpose.  The reason they were designed as covered bridges was to have the covering of a roof to protect the timbers of the bridge structure so they would endure through the changing seasons and weather.  With a little protection, much of the timber of these bridges have indeed lasted and when you add a little regular maintenance as well, the bridges not only last, they are still usable!

God has given us His Spirit and a set of armor that comes through His Spirit to protect us from the attacks of the evil one.  Its presence over us gives us a certain degree of protection simply because of its existence and purpose.  The greater usefulness is when we continually maintain our life through prayer as we put on the whole armor of God.  Prayer is a key component in the maintenance required for an growing relationship with God.  As people who desire to not just survive, but to be useful in accomplishing the good works God has created for us to do, we must maintain our spiritual walk with a lifestyle of prayer.

I pray that you and I would enjoy times when we are able to take a break from the regular tasks of life.  I pray that we would learn to be flexible in our plans as we allow room for changes.  I pray that we would understand our need for the spiritual protection offered by the armor of God.  I pray that we would not be content to simply have the armor of God available to us, but that we would use it and maintain it through a lifestyle of prayer.