Page 329 was Thanksgiving Day which meant a day off of work to spend with family as we gathered with a spirit of thankfulness for all that God has given.  The day began with the ability to sleep in and catch up on some rest, which was one reason to be thankful right from the start.  By mid-morning I began the process of heating up the pork I cooked yesterday so that it would be both hot and juicy by the time we ate lunch.  The cooking of it ended up taking a little over 13 hours which left it incredibly tender and juicy, so I didn’t want to jeopardize the quality by rushing the reheating process.  

As the compliments on the pulled pork arrived throughout the day, I thought about how often we put a lot of work into something only to have impatience take over and keep the result from being the best that it could have been.  We get tired and rather than persevere, we take the first shortcut that we can find.  How often does our Christian witness suffer for that very reason?  We take great care and put much effort into knowing how God would have us live according to His Word, only to walk down an unguarded path because it looks like it will save us time in accomplishing what we desire.  I have often heard an old saying from a variety of settings, “If it’s worth doing, it is worth doing right.”  I might add that it is also worth taking whatever time is necessary to do it right.  Paul writes about buffeting his body daily and holding fast to the word of life so that he doesn’t run the race in vain.  He understood the importance of not only running the race well, but of finishing the race well also.  

The rest of the day was spent with family and lots of food.  As I sat down to write today’s page, I thought about the day and what photo I would include on the page.  I ended up choosing a photo I took last week of a natural bridge near Slade, Kentucky.  While I enjoy taking pictures of covered bridges, as nice as some of them are, they don’t come close to the magnificence of the handiwork of God.  But I didn’t choose the photo for today’s page because of its beauty.  I chose it because of the symbolism of a bridge as it takes us from one place to another.  As I reflect on the day, I am thankful to be a part of families which serve as a bridge of thanksgiving.  The family I was born into and the family I married into both serve as a bridge which carries me into an attitude of thankfulness.  I know that not everyone has a family that has been that bridge for them, but I believe that each of us can decide to be that bridge for our children, our family, and the people around us.  Our decision to be thankful, or not, has a tremendous influence on the level of thankfulness in the people who surround us on a daily basis.  Attitudes can be very contagious and the strength of our attitude will often determine whether others catch ours or we catch theirs.

I pray that you and I would learn to live with the patience required to do things right.  I pray that we would not give in to the temptations to take shortcuts that would diminish our witness for Christ.  I pray that we would live in such a way that our life would not be lived in vain.  I pray that we would have people in our life that have been a bridge for us into an attitude of thanksgiving.  I pray that we would be a bridge for others so they could make their way from an ungrateful attitude into one of thankfulness.  

Page 328 found last week’s conference schedule catching up with me.  Fortunately, school was out for an early start to the Thanksgiving holiday and only the preschool had classes today so I did not need to head in early to clean.  This allowed both Susan and I to sleep in and start to catch up on some needed rest.  I’ll be taking pulled pork to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, so once I got up I fired up the pellet grill and began the 12+ hour process of slow cooking/smoking the pork.  Today’s photo was taken at about hour 11 and fortunately it is not a scratch-and-sniff photo or your screen might end up with a hole worn through it. 😉  

After I had the pork on the grill, I sat down to work on the monthly Impact Prayer Ministry Newsletter while Susan continued sleeping away the morning.  As I wrote the newsletter, it only seemed fitting that it focused on giving thanks.  Perhaps if we set aside time on a regular basis to examine the many things we have to be thankful for, we would learn to live life with a lot more gratitude to go around than what is often shown.  How would our attitudes change if we deliberately gave thanks every day like we are encouraged to do for the Thanksgiving holiday?  When I give thanks for the partners in prayer and finances God has provided for the ministry, I am less likely to complain about not having enough.  When I am thankful for the opportunities that God gives me to preach and teach, I discover a contentment that looks beyond missed opportunities.  When I give thanks for the gifts God has put within my life, I find myself being a more gracious giver with the gifts that are actually His.  When I am thankful for my family, I recognize a gift from God that needs to be treated with great care.  Thankfulness isn’t just about being thankful, it is about a complete transformation of my mind and spirit which recognizes in a real way that “every good and perfect gift comes from above.”  

As I finished up the newsletter and sent it out, Susan made it up so we got our things around and headed into work.  I spent a little more time on my sermon for Sunday as I waited for preschool to finish for the day.  Once they were done, I began my Friday cleaning routine as I worked to get the building cleaned and ready for the weekend.  One of the nice parts about a holiday break is that I can start the weekend prep and know that I have a couple days to finish it rather than have to work a late night in order to have it ready.  With an empty and quiet building, I was able to get most of the regular weekend cleaning done and will only have a little touch-up to do before Sunday morning.  As the afternoon came to a close, I called it a day and headed home to see how the pork was doing.  The smell of the slow roasting pork made me want to just sit in the garage but it was cold and rainy outside so I went in to the warmth of the house and would just go out to the garage to “visit” every now and then.  As I finish up the writing of today’s page, the cooking should be nearing an end and then it will be time to pull it apart and get it ready for tomorrow.  

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the rest we need — not just the rest our body needs, but the rest we need for our soul and spirit.  I pray that we would learn patience as we wait for God’s work to be complete in us at just the right time.  I pray that we would commit to being thankful at all times.  I pray that we would live with a transformed mind as we live a life of gratitude.

Page 327 began with all the appearances of an ordinary Tuesday.  I arrived at work in the early morning darkness to clean bathrooms, floors, and other areas to get the building ready for the day.  As I collected up the trash from throughout the building, I noticed a pink glow in the northern sky.  Not wanting to miss the morning beauty, I took my camera with me when I took the trash out.  When I got outside, it was obvious that the pink glow on the northern horizon was simply the overflow of the brilliant color coming up from the east.  Today’s photo through the playground equipment was the first one I took after depositing the trash in the dumpster.  I took others as well, but none seemed to capture the majesty of the morning better than this one.  It was as if God was telling me not to judge a day as ordinary that He has created as special.

Much of the day was spent working on a sermon I’ll share at the North Wayne Mennonite Church this coming Sunday morning.  As I continue a series that considers the idea of living as the Lord’s servant, this week I will address the need for the Lord’s servant to give thanks.  We seem to live in a time when thankfulness appears to be in short supply.  I suspect that a culture that teaches us that we deserve whatever we have and whatever we want, isn’t going to create a fertile ground for gratitude to grow in.  When contentment is just out of our grasp, we tend to not only become ungrateful but that lack of giving thanks soon turns into resentment.  As I thought about gratitude and contentment, a brief conversation that took place last week at ICOM came to my mind.  A person reacted to my giving out free books to anyone who would use them with a response that indicated it would be more helpful if I could make college free.  I’m pretty sure there was no thought that I would have any influence in making that happen but instead of saying thank you, the response came across as a feeling that my offer wasn’t all that useful.  I share that not to come down on this person, but as an example of how easy it is to miss out on a life of thankfulness simply because we are focused on what we don’t have rather than on what we’ve been given.  

In addition to the sermon prep, today was filled with a variety of tasks.  Some of the tasks were pleasant but others would be better described as unwanted.  One of those tasks included a considerable amount of blood — not mine, by the way.  After making sure the appropriate people were aware someone had been bleeding, and being assured a couple people in the building are susceptible to significant nosebleeds so it was likely not an emergency, I began the clean-up process.  For most people that may not be a big deal, but I tend to not do well when blood is visible.  Most of the time the fainting that occurs when I see blood tends to be a mind game more than anything else, so as I cleaned I not only prayed for whoever had left the mess but I also thanked God that I have work that enables me to serve others and also lead the prayer ministry He has called me to.  By keeping my mind focused on thankfulness and serving rather than on the details of what had happened, I got the blood cleaned up and didn’t even feel light-headed during the process.

I pray that you and I would realize that the ordinary days of our life are just opportunities for God to reveal His extraordinary character in ways that may well surprise us.  I pray that we would give careful consideration to just how thankful we are.  I pray that we would pay more attention to what we have been given than to what we don’t have that we want.  I pray that we would learn the secret of contentment as we come to know that God is enough.  I pray that we would live thankful lives even when the tasks we must do are difficult.

Page 326 began early as I was back to the morning cleaning and building prep routine of a normal Monday.  As I worked in the quietness of an empty building, I thought about the past few days and found myself singing the words of “How Great Thou Art”.  Once the cleaning was done and the building ready for the day, I sat down to write yesterday’s page as I was too tired when I got home last night to think about writing.  Once that was done, I began work on the prayer guide for next week.  As I spent time with God, the topic of “rejoice” was settled on and I began to prayerfully put the prayer guide together.  While the Bible tells us to rejoice always, it also makes it clear that the way that is possible is when we rejoice in the Lord.  Often it is difficult to rejoice, or even think about rejoicing, when circumstances are not what we like.  Our rejoicing is often a reflection of our feelings, so we end up rejoicing when we feel like it and not rejoicing when we don’t feel like it.  When we understand God’s command, we find that rejoicing must be a decision rather than a reaction.  We must decide to rejoice in the Lord when times are tough, when things are going well, when we suffer for the cause of Christ, when hardships and heartaches come our way, and when we find ourselves riding the waves of God’s blessings in our life.  When our rejoicing is something we do in the Lord, we do so because we trust Him to care for us and carry us through both the valleys and the mountaintops of life.

Once the prayer guide was finished and scheduled to go out next week, I took care of some maintenance tasks and by mid-afternoon it was time to head out for lunch and to pick up some cleaning supplies.  When the work day was done and I finally made it home, I spent some time going through the photos from yesterday’s drive home.  Today’s photo was taken from inside the final bridge I stopped at yesterday.  As I looked out the window of the covered bridge, the sun was shining through the trees creating shadows that were lengthening with each passing minute.  The stillness of the water created vivid reflections of the trees and the cloud-dotted sky.  The scene was absolutely beautiful and provided an excellent backdrop in my mind for a season of worship as I finished my drive home.  While today’s outside temperature was still rather chilly, the same beauty of the sun and sky from yesterday returned and elicited the same response of worship throughout the day.  

I pray that you and I would find reason and ways to worship in the midst of our daily routine.  I pray that we would live with an awareness of the unlimited greatness of our God.  I pray that we would understand God’s command to rejoice and learn to do so always as we rejoice in the Lord.  I pray that we would rejoice through a decision to trust God in every circumstance.  I pray that we would pay attention to the reminders of God’s presence that He continually surrounds us with.

Page 325 was the end of ICOM 2016 and the day to travel home.  After a week of long days both getting ready for and being at ICOM, this page is being written the following morning as my mind needed to rest after I got home.  After taking the display down the night before, I slept in a little bit before heading down for breakfast to begin my day.  The forecast for the trip home was cold but sunny, so after breakfast I went online to see about photo opportunities on the way home.  As I did so, I discovered a cluster of covered bridges between Cincinnati and Indianapolis, so I jotted down their names and soon set off to see what I could find.  As I traveled, the entire day was a day of worship as I sang along with praise songs on the radio and marveled at the incredible beauty God set before me throughout the trip.

One of the bridges that I stopped at, while having a walkway along one side, was not designed for the typical bridge traffic.  Instead, it was built to carry the water of the Whitewater Canal over a stream that fed into the Whitewater River.  I didn’t think about it until I was going through the photos or I would have turned a little more to the right when taking today’s photo, but there were three different bridges designed for different modes of transportation that were crossing this stream at this particular place.  Most visible in the photo are the canal bridge and the railroad bridge with the road bridge railing peaking into the edge of the photo.  While I don’t know the order in which the bridges were built, people evidently decided that all three were necessary to accomplish the transportation needs that existed.  

Knowing the nature of people, I did have to wonder if anyone objected to building another bridge when there was already one in existence.  I can almost hear the possible conversation.  “We’re here today seeking approval to build another bridge that will cross Duck Creek.”  “But there’s already a bridge there.”  “Yes, but this will allow another mode of transportation to carry goods and people across the creek.”  “I’m not in favor!  We already have a good bridge!  If people want to cross the creek they should use the means we’ve already provided for or they can go somewhere else!”  “But this will simply expand our ability to serve more people according to their needs.”  “Well, I think the area is getting crowded the way it is.  Who knows what we’ll end up with if we help even more people to come through here.”  “We’ll end up with more work and the potential for growth.”  “Well, I still don’t like it.  This old bridge has been good enough for me and should be good enough for anyone else that wants to pass through.”

Does the story sound familiar yet?  Yes, Jesus is the only way to the Father and our message must never waver from the truth of God’s word, but sometimes we become convinced that our method of travel along that path is good enough for us and should be good enough for anyone else.  In doing so, we lose sight of the differences that exist among people and end up excluding them from the path of God simply because they are not equipped to travel it in the exact same manner as we do.  It is interesting to note that only one of the three bridges appear to still be in use — at least for its intended purpose — yet down through the years, the purpose of getting goods and people across the creek has been accomplished by different methods that each served a specific purpose.

I pray that you and I would comprehend and not forget the lesson of the three bridges.  I pray that we would understand the difference between our one true message and the different means of transportation that can carry people to the foot of the cross.  I pray that we would always seek ways to help people walk in “The Way” according to their needs and abilities.

Page 324 was a lot like page 323 only longer.  Even with a late night yesterday, I made it up in time for breakfast once again.  With the craziness of the conference schedule, it sure has been nice to start the day with a big breakfast each morning.  Once I made it to the convention center, the day seemed to have a slow start to it.  I suppose fewer people were eager to get up early on a Saturday morning.  By mid-morning, however, a steady stream of people began coming by the display — some to pick up books and resources and some to let me know they had begun reading what they had already picked up and were overwhelmed with gratitude that I was willing to share what God has given me.

Shortly after noon I ran out of copies of two of the titles I had brought with me with low supplies on three other titles.  By early evening the low supplies were gone and I only had copies of three titles remaining.  Several people who had stopped and looked at the books earlier in the conference came back by wanting a specific book or two only to find that they were gone.  I had planned on leaving the display up until after the morning session on Sunday, but as the day came to a close nearly everyone around me had taken down their display.  Even with that, I condensed my display into half of my area and thought I would head back to the hotel and call it a night.  As I calculated how many of my plastic storage tubs I could take back to the truck tonight, the facilities people began coming in and started taking down overhead signs and pulling electric outlets to get ready to turn over the hall into whatever is next.  I decided it would be easier for them if my stuff wasn’t an island they had to work around, so I packed up the rest of my display and hauled it out to the truck to finish up the day.

As I made sure I had everything, I stacked all of the empty boxes on one of the tables.  Each of these boxes had been filled with books when the conference began and now there were no books to put back in them.  I currently have eight different books I have written and between all eight titles, I brought one thousand books with me.  As I packed up the display and did a very quick inventory, I had just 50 books left that are going back home!  I don’t have to think about that very long before I am completely astounded at the work of God through this gift of writing.  And as I would tell people throughout the entire conference, the writing of the books all began with a single poem that God put in my mind not even three years ago!  I continually stand amazed at the gifting of God that He continues to increase in proportion to my faithfulness in using it.  I don’t believe we typically consider the scope of what God could do through us if we would only share what He has already given.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the opportunities that God puts in front of us and respond in a timely fashion so that the opportunity does not slip by.  I pray that we would pay attention to the needs of others and look out for their interests above our own.  I pray that we would recognize God’s gifting in our life, even when we don’t fully understand His purpose for giving it to us.  I pray that we would be faithful in the things we consider little so that He can increase it to His glory. 

Page 323 has been a long and busy day as I’ve talked with people about prayer ministry and shared a lot of books and resources with them.  In fact, if tomorrow has the same interest in the resources, I will be out of the books I brought with me before the conference ends!  Today was a great encouragement and affirmation of what I do with Impact Prayer Ministry and helped me to process some interaction from yesterday.  I had an individual pray with me and tell me they had a sense that I didn’t feel like I belonged there.  It was an interesting encounter because I often don’t feel like I belong anywhere.  And then today happened.  Today was a steady stream of people, often with tears in their eyes, telling me how glad they were that I was there and that they  had stopped to see what I had.  Some of them had picked up books yesterday and had begun to go through them last night.  They said they were so moved by what they found that they just had to come and thank me for being there and for giving books away.  Others would leaf through the books and tear up when I said that they were all free and they could take whatever they would use.  I’m not sure I’ve ever made so many people cry all in one day — but these were all tears of joy.

The most common question of the day is some form of, “How can you give books away?”.  My answer in all sincerity was always that they were God’s gift to me and early on in the writing process, God’s Spirit caused within me a conviction that I was to share them as freely as He has given them.  The missions support that Impact Prayer Ministry receives from Deer Run and a number of individuals make them partners in supplying prayer-based resources to people who desire to grow in their connection to God through prayer.  All of my books have been written out of my prayer time and I share them with the hope and prayer that the encourage others as they use them in their prayer time.

As with most conferences such as this, the day was also filled with reconnecting with people that I know but often don’t see except at conventions and conferences.  It makes me imagine the reunion we will experience in heaven as we have opportunity to greet friends from far and near that we have not been able to see for one reason or another.  The joy of seeing that old friend and knowing they are okay will be great, but it will pale in comparison to the joy of seeing Jesus and knowing that it is finally completely well with our soul.

I pray that you and I would be faithful in doing what God calls us to do even when circumstances may make us feel we don’t belong.  I pray that we would find ways to encourage one another as we value the work God has given them to do.  I pray that we would rejoice with friends we have made throughout our lifetime.  I pray that we would keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as we look forward to that day when we will rejoice with Him in heaven.