Page 241 was a Sunday and with my family helping me clean the building last night, I didn’t  have to go in early to get that done.  Our Sunday School class covered the second chapter of Esther this morning which may contain the first record of a national beauty pageant.  The story of Esther reminds me a lot of the life of Joseph.  Two different people who found themselves in circumstances not of their own choosing, yet through obedience and faithfulness found themselves used by God to save the Jewish people.  Neither probably immediately thought about how God would use them when they found themselves in circumstances not of their choosing, but both stories give us great quotes about the hand of God being able to work in all circumstances.  In Joseph’s case, when he finally reveals himself to his brothers so he can bring the entire family to Egypt to save them from a severe famine, he tells them, “what you meant for harm God has used for good.”  Joseph understood that while the treatment he endured was not right, his brothers actions were carried out with evil intent, and others had tried to destroy his spirit; God was not caught with His hands tied and unable to carry out His plans.  

With Esther’s story, we find a reluctant hero that needs encouragement to risk everything in the hope of making a difference.  She doesn’t seem opposed to doing the right thing, she just wants to make sure her actions will be the right thing and will make a difference.  While the most common quote out of the book of Esther is Mordecai’s words, “Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”, more meaningful to me is Esther’s response in calling for all of the Jews to join together in prayer through fasting for three days before she would plead her case before the king.  After receiving the encouragement of a nation joined together in fasting she is willing to go before the king with the attitude, “If I perish, I perish.”  When we are seeking to do God’s will, it would be good for us to call together people who will join us in prayer and fasting for a period of time.  It is also important that we reach a point of action through the encouragement that comes from God through the time we spend together listening through fasting.

After the Sunday School class, we gathered for our morning worship gathering at Deer Run where David brought a message out of Ephesians 6 which covered what is commonly referred to as the “armor of God” passage.  Part of the message focused on our need to know our enemy.  It is easy to forget that our enemy is not other people, rather our enemy is the evil one who does battle in the spiritual realm.  This enemy uses deception and accusation in ways that often lead us to battle one another instead of putting on the full armor of God and standing firm against the devil.  The battle that wages is not one we have to fight alone and not one that we must face unprepared.  God has given us everything we need through Jesus to not only stand firm against the attacks of the enemy, but after everything has been hurled at us, to be able to still stand.  All of our ability to stand in the midst of a spiritual battle and come out victorious comes from our putting on Christ on a daily basis and is tied together through a lifestyle of prayer.

Following the church service, it was time for lunch and then a restful afternoon on a wet, drizzly day.  Since I didn’t make it out to take any new photos, the photo for today’s page is one I took Friday at Potato Creek.  The calm water created beautiful reflections of the clouds, blue sky, and trees.  As I looked closely at the shoreline around the lake, I could begin to see signs of color change in the trees. While most days still feel like summer, the signs are beginning to point to a change of seasons coming soon.  As I read scripture and pay attention to the events around me, I believe the signs are pointing ever more clearly to an ever-increasing approach to the return of Jesus.  Are you ready?

I pray that you and I would choose to be faithful in our relationship with God regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.  I pray that we would encourage others through our willingness to fast and pray for them in the midst of difficult decisions.  I pray that we would have the courage to do the things God has planned for us.  I pray that we would understand who our enemy really is.  I pray that we would live as people prepared for the spiritual battle is being fought over our eternal souls.  I pray that we would pay attention to the “signs of the times” and live as those prepared for eternity.

Page 240 was a day when I slowed down long enough that the stress and long days of the summer caught up with me a bit.  On a day that I could have slept in, even after a rather restless night of sleep, I was up at my normal time for going into work during the week.  Being up did allow me to write yesterday’s page early this morning as I didn’t get to it last night.  It was a cool, drizzly morning and Susan was sound asleep so I decided to let her sleep as long as she wanted and we would skip the zoo today.  I played a little Wii Fitness and discovered that my fitness age was 23 today.  By 11:30, Susan was ready to get up and it was time to start the pellet grill for our Saturday bacon cheeseburgers.  After lunch I laid down on the couch and soon discovered that most of the afternoon had mysteriously disappeared.  

After I woke up and took time to clear my mind a bit, we headed to Goshen for ice cream at The Chief and then a visit to Sam’s Club.  When we returned home, Mary Jane and Susan offered to help me with my Friday night cleaning that had been delayed due to the building being in use Friday evening.  As I took the first load of trash out, there were five deer standing on the hillside behind the building enjoying an evening snack of freshly cut grass.  I left the trash setting inside the back door and went and got the next load and had Susan come with me so she could see the deer.  I took a couple photos through the window in the door and then we went outside to have a better look.  I was able to take a few more photos of the deer outside as Susan talked to them.  As I threw the trash in the dumpster and Susan continued talking to the deer, they slowly made their way into the woods and out of sight.  We eventually got the cleaning done and the building ready for Sunday so we could head home and call it a day.

Sometimes it feels as if life piles up against us in waves and drifts that we cannot stand against.  When we face the storms alone, it is only natural that we become overwhelmed and frightened.  One of the most compelling contrasts in scripture takes place as Jesus and the disciples are on the Sea of Galilee in a boat that is being tossed by a storm.  The disciples are in fear for their very lives and Jesus is asleep in the boat!  Same storm, same boat, different reactions.  Perhaps the reactions have to do with what happened next.  When Jesus is awakened, He commands the winds and the waves to be still — and they obey!  The power of God to calm the storm was present all along, but Jesus was the only one who was aware of it with full confidence and faith.  With Jesus in our life, we also have the very presence of the power of God that can calm whatever storm we face, but much like the disciples we are often slow to recognize and trust that power.

I pray that you and I would practice the presence of God within us on a daily basis.  I pray that we would endure the storms of life knowing that we don’t face them alone and that the One who is with us holds power even over the storms.  

I began the day thinking that page 239 would be a very long workday, but it didn’t turn out that way.  It did begin early with the usual morning cleaning.  As I was picking up trash that had been left in the hallways, I noticed an incredible orange glow as I would glance out the windows.  It was so vibrant that I took my camera with me as I took the trash out to the dumpster.  I was glad I did as it appeared as if the entire eastern horizon was on fire as the sun began to crawl its way out of someone else’s daytime and into mine.  As I took a few photos of the sunrise, I noticed a couple deer at the top of the hill who were more interested in watching me than they were in the sunrise.

After taking some photos, I went back inside and finished the morning cleaning before checking messages and doing some follow-up with them.  With the sun finally up and the school day soon to begin, it was time to start mowing.  For me, mowing is a peaceful time when I can think and pray while the usual distractions are drowned out by the hum of the mower engine behind me.  At least the praying part is peaceful and the thinking part often leads to more of the praying.  On this particular day, much of my thinking and praying had to to with the subject of integrity.  It seems that many times we put much more effort into justifying our lack of integrity than we do in pursuing a lifestyle of integrity.  It is one thing for the unchurched to label Christians as hypocrites but it is often our integrity, or lack of it, that determines whether that label sticks or not.  I think one of the reasons I’ve had elders in the past tell me I’m too honest is that I try to do things with full disclosure — a level of integrity that attempts to let people see both the good and bad of an idea rather than simply telling half the story so that what I want gets done.  When it comes to promoting our ideas and plans, we have become effective salesmen even if that means we promise things we can’t deliver on.  While that may present an illusion of success, it eventually catches up with us.  Years ago, in the early days of satellite TV, I worked for an antenna company and we had a salesman that was very effective in making sales.  The boss was happy, the salesman was happy, the customers were happy — in fact, everyone was happy . . . at least until I went out to do the installation.  It was when it became time to put the salesman’s words into action that truth and reality overcame empty promises.  In those days, we were installing 10 foot dishes that needed a large clear line of sight to the southwest.  I was constantly having to explain to customers why the dish couldn’t go where the salesman had promised them it could.  Or why putting it directly behind a 10 foot privacy fence wouldn’t work.  Or why I had to drill a hole somewhere in their house to get our 1 inch cable through when the salesman promised we wouldn’t drill any holes.  The list goes on, but the point is that it wasn’t long before the company’s reputation began to suffer — not because we didn’t do good work, we did very good work, but because we weren’t able to keep our word as represented to the public by one of us.  Never mind that they were words that never should have been spoken, promises that never should have been made.  They were spoken and they were made and when we had to go back on our word, our reputation suffered as a company having no integrity.  Anyhow, a lot of thought and prayer takes place from the seat of a mower and today it was about integrity. 🙂

By the time I finished mowing, it was mid-afternoon.  I anticipated coming back for a late night of work as well, so I went out to pick up some lunch and sit by the lake at Potato Creek for a while before returning for my next shift of the day.  As I sat at the lake, I began to realize all of the things I wouldn’t be able to finish when I went back to work later.  We are in the midst of having photos taken for a church directory and where they are set up would make it impossible for me to vacuum the auditorium without greatly disturbing them.  With a group in the building for the evening and people coming and going all day Saturday as they get their pictures taken, there was no way any cleaning I would do would still give the impression of clean bathrooms, floors, and glass doors by Sunday morning.  As I sat and thought about all this, and realized I had already put in an 8 hour workday and was tired, I decided my Friday night cleaning would have to take place on Saturday night this week.  And so, I headed home and spent my evening relaxing.  I was so tired that I didn’t even get around to writing Friday’s page until Saturday morning after I woke up.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the beauty that God surrounds us with.   I pray that we would find times and places that help us to put aside distractions so we can think and pray as we ought.  I pray that we would put so much effort into living a lifestyle of integrity that we would have no need to make excuses for why we don’t.  I pray that we would realize when we’ve done enough before we reach the point of exhaustion and ineffectiveness.  

Page 238 was a half day of work as I took time to get some rest before the Friday double-shift that comes tomorrow.  The day began with the usual cleaning and building prep as I got things ready for the start of another school day.  As I swept and took out trash, I thought about the continual nature of these tasks.  With school in session, every morning there are bathrooms to clean, floors to sweep, and trash to take out.  I suppose some might say those things aren’t necessary every day, but it is in doing these tasks every day that they remain manageable.  In our lives, when we deal with the cleaning, sweeping, and removal of trash on a daily basis, or even more often, we find the problems we face are not as likely to get out of hand.  At least in my experience, most of the temptation we face starts out as small amounts of “dirt” and “trash”,  What we do, or don’t do, with it immediately determines how much it “grows”.  Most mornings, taking the trash out requires two trips to the dumpster.  Multiply that times five and you can begin to see how quickly the trash would accumulate if it wasn’t taken care of on a regular basis.  

We would do well to spend time each day examining the words we have spoken, the words we have listened to, the things we have shared on social media, the things on social media we have allowed our eyes and thoughts to dwell on, the anger and pride that has crept into our heart and mind, the selfish thoughts and desires that seek to exclude the needs of others, and so many other temptations that come our way every day.  As we spend time with God examining such details, it should become apparent the cleaning that needs done and the trash that needs removed.  I have learned that in keeping the trash out of my life, it is best to not even view anything that is shared on social media with the disclaimer, “this is great, but excuse the language”.  If there is a thought that the language is not appropriate, then it is not great — it is trash!  Somehow we think that because it is such a small bag of trash that it is okay to not only leave it in our life, but we begin to see no problem in sharing it with others.  Satan is an expert in taking whatever small foothold we allow him to have in our life and stretching it into more and more control over us the longer we allow that foothold to exist.  If we don’t mind a “small bag of trash” spread out in our life, each day he will add a little more to it until our life is so covered in filth that we begin to believe cleaning up is impossible.  Fortunately, there is power through the blood of Jesus to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  When we cling to that promise each day, we find that the dirt of this world is swept away before it can create an ugly stain in our life.

Later in the day, as I worked on grilling supper, I shot some more photos of birds and butterflies that stopped by my front yard for a visit.  Today’s photo is a finch helping herself to some sunflower seeds.  They are fun to watch as they keep a tight grip on the plant and appear to pluck the seeds one by one from the sunflower head.  I rarely see a seed drop to the ground as their focus is not only on getting the good seed, but on keeping it.

I pray that you and I would examine our lives on a regular basis for any trash that we may have allowed to linger.  I pray that we would allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us as we seek the help of His Spirit in cleaning and purifying our hearts and minds.  I pray that we would pay attention not only to the trash that tries to creep into our lives, but also to the ways in which we might be spreading trash into the lives of others.  I pray that we would keep focused, with the power of God’s Spirit, on maintaining a life of purity in our thoughts, words, and actions.

Page 237 started with the usual cleaning and building prep for the day.  Once the building was ready and the trash was taken out, I settled into my office chair and began work on the monthly Impact Prayer Ministry newsletter.  While I always pray that the newsletter is useful in keeping people informed about what God is doing through the prayer ministry, the writing of it also serves as a time for me to reflect on what God has done over the past month.  Even as I look back, I look forward in anticipation of what God will do within my life, and in the prayer ministry, next.  Today’s newsletter reported on the incredible work God did with my writings and workshops at the National Student Conference and anticipated the work He will continue to do as I prepare for the International Conference on Missions.

Once the newsletter was done and sent out, it was time to take care of some minor issues in the building and then head home for lunch before getting ready to head back to the church for family pictures for the church directory.  As the day slipped away, I fired up the pellet grill and started on some cheeseburgers for supper.  While they were cooking, I sat on the front porch and took some photos of the flowers, butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds that stopped by to visit.  After supper I shot a few more photos then began writing today’s page.  These daily pages become a journal of sorts as they give me reason to both reflect on and record the things that God brings into my life each day and some of the lessons He teaches me through my daily activities.

As I go through a season of mental fatigue and discouragement, it is good to have a plan in place to reflect each day on how the presence of God continues to be revealed to me and through me.  As God uses my writing to encourage others, He also uses it to remind me that I have value simply because I am His child.  Even as He uses the giftedness He has placed in me to serve others, my worth isn’t based on how well I do that.  He has called me into relationship with Him and desires that I would love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.  I think of the story of Mary and Martha and how easy it is to think that doing is more important than being.  While Jesus doesn’t condemn Martha for all the work she is doing, He does make it clear that Mary has chosen better with her decision to simply be with Him.  Don’t get me wrong, our being with Jesus ought to produce certain actions in our life but pursuing those actions will not necessarily mean we have spent any time with Jesus.  Jesus does say that what we do to serve “the least of these”, we do to serve Him.

I pray that you and I would take time to reflect on the work God has been doing in and through us each day.  I pray that we would make it a priority in our life to focus on being with God as we enjoy His presence.  I pray that we would choose “the better things” and allow God’s love to flow through us in serving others.

Page 236 continued the school year routine of early morning cleaning and building prep.  With some cooler temperatures to start the day, I worked on some outside maintenance around the building after the inside prep was done.  Sometime in the morning my brother called and said he was set up at market for the day and discovered he had a flat tire.  When I completed the outside project I was working on, I stopped by the house to pick up a lug wrench, floor jack, and air compressor.  With what I hoped was the necessary equipment, I headed to market to see what help I could give my brother.  There was no sign of a puncture or current leak, so I plugged in the air compressor and inflated the tire to the pressure it should have.  Once it was full, we checked for leaks as best we could and found no sign of air loss.  After taking a walk around market and talking with my niece, I checked the air pressure in the tire and it had not changed from when I filled it.  With a good deed accomplished, I headed back to work where I did some follow-up in trying to get some of the outside lighting issues taken care of.  By early afternoon my workday was complete and I headed back to the market to take my brother some books that he wanted for a friend.  While there, I made a final check of the tire pressure and it was still the same as it had been earlier, so while that was good news it still didn’t explain the low tire to begin with.

I had made plans to have dinner with my mom and dad so when I got home we headed that direction by way of Potato Creek State Park.  While we didn’t see any of the eagles we were hoping for, I did get some photos of a muskrat, an osprey, and a deer grazing in a swamp area.  The deer fascinated me that it could be knee deep in mud with its tiny feet, wandering about as if on dry land.  When we arrived at the restaurant to have dinner with my mom and dad to celebrate dad’s birthday, my dad’s brothers were there also as well as his older brother’s wife.  It was a good meal and a good evening together with family.  

As I think about the day, family seems to be a theme was woven from beginning to end.  Even the deer in today’s photo appears to  be “with family” — or eats a lot better than the deer I see at work. 🙂  It was good to have the ability and availability to help my brother this morning when he called me about his tire.  It was good to spend some time outside at Potato Creek with my family even without seeing an eagle.  It was good to share a meal together with my parents and be joined by an aunt and two uncles that I don’t see or interact with often. The day also made me think of the family we have been adopted into as children of God.  Am I using my ability and availability to help my brothers and sisters in Christ when they make their needs known?  Do I enjoy spending time with the family I have in Christ even when its not exactly as I had hoped?  Do I value time with Christians who may be separated from me by some type of distance?  God’s family should be a place where each member is valued by one another and where we rejoice when we come together regardless of how much time or distance separates us from one another.

I pray that you and I would be mindful of opportunities to serve one another.  I pray that we would have families that we can value and honor.  I pray that we would be the family of Christ, especially to those who have physical families that do not function as families.  I pray that we would value the time we can spend together with our physical families and with our Christian family.