Page 234 is a Sunday — a day of rest, so they say.  Yesterday’s events made it a late night so, since there was no reason not to be, I was up early today to write yesterday’s page.  With all of the birthday greetings on Facebook yesterday, it would appear that it might have been my birthday even though it didn’t really seem like it.  At Deer Run this morning, David continued a series in Ephesians as he talked about the attitude God expects us to have in relationships with others and with Him — the same attitude that was found in Jesus Christ as He came to serve all mankind through His life, death, and resurrection.  

After the church service, we got lunch and then I spent some time continuing to go through the photos I took yesterday.  I often describe my photography methodology as simply being, “click the shutter a lot and hope for the best”!  Actually, it is more complex and detailed than that and has a lot to do with the gift of perspective God has given me, but that philosophy would better explain the quantity of photos I end up with.  It is fascinating, and frustrating, to have a gift of perspective that very few have any appreciation for outside of the photography realm.  Being able to see from a wide perspective is not appreciated by a large number of people who seem content to push forward with a tunnel vision mentality that refuses to acknowledge their impact in the larger context of life.

As I went through yesterday’s photos, MJ was out mowing the lawn.  When she came in, she was wanting to go take pictures or do something away from the house so we headed down to Potato Creek where the clouds seemed to be begging to have their pictures taken against the background of a bright blue sky.  My photo for today was taken looking down the east fishing pier from ground level.  It made me think of how often I’m encouraged to take a long walk off a short pier — and often I’m the one encouraging it. 🙂  After some time in the park, we returned  home where I began the process of writing today’s page so I can hopefully finish it in a timely fashion and get to the “rest” part of the day of rest.

I’m not sure what the lesson from today that I would normally share in the day’s page is supposed to be other than perhaps I shouldn’t write when I’m tired and discouraged.  I pray that you and I would daily learn from the example of Jesus as we serve one another with the same attitude as shown by Jesus.  I pray that we would consider, and value, the perspectives of others as we pursue God’s direction and timing for the tasks He would have us do.  I pray that nothing would get in the way of our living in complete obedience  to a God who loves us and has called us to Himself. 

Page 233 was another long day so I’m not writing its page until the next morning. 🙂  As I finished up the workday after writing Friday’s page, I discovered that none of the outside lights at the building had come on when it got dark.  As I investigated that, I found that one of the breakers was tripped but when I tried to reset it, it kept tripping immediately.  Given that the lights are wired in different zones, it seemed strange that an issue with one breaker would take out all outside lighting.  After sending a text to an electrician friend who is a part of the church, I continued with my Friday night cleaning figuring it would just have to be really dark outside until he would be able to look at it.  As I cleaned, and prayed, and thought, it dawned on me that the breaker was not just labeled “south parking lot”, but also had two initials following it.  With a theory in mind that the initials had to do with the timer control, I headed back to the mechanical room and disconnected the wire leading to the south lot while leaving the one to the control timer in place.  Sure enough, the breaker held and all the lights came on except the offending south lot ones.

Anyhow, long story to say I arrived home at midnight and began my birthday page in a fitting way with a Klondike bar. 🙂  After finishing up some messages and unwinding with some Wii Fitness, I headed to bed.  While I slept in for a little while longer than usual, Susan was up by 8:30 and wanting to head to the zoo.  We got around and made it to the zoo where Susan enjoyed visiting with her friends and riding the train.  While walking through the zoo, an “animal alphabet poem” began forming in my mind as MJ has been asking me if I could come up with some rhymes for her preschool students using animals and the letters of the alphabet.  After the zoo trip, we headed home where I fired up the grill to start out traditional lunch of mushroom bacon cheeseburgers.  As those were going on the pellet grill, I sat down to work on the rhymes that had begun in my mind.  It wasn’t long before both the cheeseburgers and poem were complete.

After lunch, I was able to relax a while before heading down to my brother’s house for an evening celebrating the life of my niece as well as the 80th birthday of my dad.  On the way down to the farm, we drove through some light rain a few times with a bright sun on one side of the road and a brilliant rainbow on the other.  For me, not only was it a beautiful reminder of God’s promise to never again flood the entire earth with water, it was an overall reminder of a God who keeps His promises.  It is through God’s promises that we could celebrate a life that has left this earth too soon, but a life that lives on in eternity.  As the evening progressed, an incredible sunset began to fill the western sky and then a light drizzle began to fall which filled the eastern sky with  a vibrant rainbow arching over the farm buildings and all the guests who had gathered.  For me, it was as if Bre wanted us to know that she was not only in God’s presence, but that her presence was with us and she wasn’t about to miss the fireworks show planned for later that evening! 🙂  Bre loved fireworks, so the celebration concluded with a great fireworks show and then it was time to head home and call it a day.

And so, in an evening of contrasts where we celebrated both a life that only made it 21 years on earth and one that was embarking on year 81, God reminded us all that He is a God who keeps His promises and calls us to a life of faithfulness regardless of the number of years that life may be.  All of our celebrations here on earth are just small rehearsals for the great celebration in heaven when we gather with God and our loved ones who have gone before us at the great feast celebrating the victorious Lamb of God.

I pray that you and I would step back and learn to draw into God’s presence when we feel “stumped” by life’s circumstances.  I pray that we would notice the many reminders that God gives us, not only of His presence but also of His faithfulness in keeping His promises.  I pray for my brother and his family and for all of Bre’s friends and relatives who will miss her physical presence on earth for the rest of our lives here.  I pray that God’s peace and comfort would assure us of His presence with us, her presence with Him, and her presence in the “great cloud of witnesses” that are watching over us.

Page 232 is turning into a two-shift day.  After helping with a project at the building last night, I did my early morning cleaning  before heading home so I was able to sleep in just a bit this morning.  With the rain this week, the lawn was definitely needing mowed so the sleeping in didn’t last too long.  So, my first shift of the day was spent mowing lawn with a short break in the middle to check messages due to a brief downpour.  I finally finished the lawn around 4 PM so it sounded like a good time for lunch. 🙂  The sky was overcast and very gray as I stopped and picked up a sandwich, but I decided to head down to Potato Creek to sit on the pier overlooking the lake while I ate lunch.  By the time I got there, the clouds were beginning to break apart and patches of bright blue sky were peeking through the gray.  A guy was leaving the lake and said he had seen an eagle about half an hour earlier, but while I could hear them calling to each other, none of them stopped by to see me.  I did manage to photograph an osprey that was perched atop a dead tree in the midst of the water, as well as a heron soaring into a landing along the shore and some great shots of the mix of blues, grays, and whites of the sky and water.  

After I had finished my lunch and was done taking photos, it was back to work for shift number two today — the Friday night cleaning to prep the building for the weekend.  While there is an element of peacefulness working alone in a building, quietness is not part of that.  Each year that the school-year routine returns, it takes some time to get used to the noises of the building that belong without getting freaked out by the various sounds — while it may be peaceful in the building, it is definitely not quiet!  As I clean and pray, I am reminded that this is what God is currently using to provide a way for me to direct the prayer ministry, write prayer guides and books, and teach about pursuing God through prayer in a variety of ways.  Sometimes I wonder if the thought ever crossed Paul’s mind, “Just think what I could do if only I didn’t have to make these tents to provide for the needs of myself and my companions.”  If it did, he never let that thought distract him for long from the ongoing task of sharing the gospel of Jesus wherever he went.  With that thought, my evening break is over and it’s time to finish up the cleaning so I can eventually head home.

I pray that you and I would always find time to rest in God presence, even in the midst of the busiest of days.  I pray that we would experience the beauty of God’s love shining down on us during the days that seem to be overcast with darkness.  I pray that we would learn what Paul called the secret of being content as we trust in God’s faithfulness to see us through all circumstances as we pursue Him with every fiber of our being.  I pray that we would do all things well because we do them for Christ.

Page 231 was a busy day — busy as a bee, if you will. 🙂  After doing the morning cleaning and building prep, it was time to begin some vehicle shuffling as I needed some routine maintenance done on the Jeep and the truck needed work on the tire issues finished today.  I began by taking the Jeep in for an oil change and walked back to work.  On the way, I shot a few photos and stopped by the Farmer’s Market to see my brother and one of my nieces.  One of the photos was a bee that was busy doing its thing on a flower blossom.  Back at work, I took care of some projects in the office and continued some of the writing I’m working on.  Shortly after noon, I got the call that the Jeep was done so I headed out with my family to pick up the Jeep and drop my truck off.  After lunch, we headed to Menard’s and Sam’s Club to pick up some supplies for the preschool and to restock the pop machine at work.  Once home it was time to relax for a short while before heading back to the church to help the Impact Campus Ministries group pack welcome bags to be given out on the area campuses during welcome week activities.  So now I work at writing today’s page as the day comes to a close.

Even with the best scheduling and planning, there are busy days when a lot of tasks need done in a short amount of time.  While it may not be possible to completely avoid the “busy-bee” days of life, there are ways to manage them so that they don’t define us.  Jesus had days when people would be so demanding of His time and presence that His disciples would become concerned for Him.  When word would get out that Jesus was in an area, people would bring their sick to Him at all hours of day and night, hoping that He would have compassion and heal them.  When the crowds would begin to fill His time by bringing children to Him to be blessed, the disciples finally had enough and insisted that Jesus was too busy to be bothered by the presence of children.  Jesus saw it differently.  Instead of being too busy for the children, He rebukes His disciples and welcomes the children to Him — going so far as to tell the crowds, and His disciples, that unless they would change and become like little children they would never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus knew when it was time to be busy and when it was time to rest.  He relied on direction and power from His Father to do each of them only when the time was right.  The many stories of Jesus being busy are balanced by the recurring accounts of Jesus withdrawing to “a lonely place” to spend time with His Father.  As a society, it seems like we are very good at being busy and very good at being busy at recreation which somehow we convince ourselves equals rest.  Yet as much as we attempt to convince ourselves that recreation is rest, we continue on with life completely worn out and not understanding why.  The answer lies not in our activity or lack of it, but in setting aside time when we draw aside to spend time with the Father.

I pray that you and I would follow God’s instruction that whatever we do we would work at it with all our might, as serving Him.  I pray that we would have an understanding of the nature of a busy life and realize that busy days are not always able to be avoided — nor should they be.  I pray that we would find balance as we seek times to draw away into God’s presence in the midst of a busy schedule and life.  I pray that we would know true rest in Christ as we allow Him to empower us for the busy days of life. 

Page 230 began with the usual weekday cleaning and building prep tasks that start most of my mornings.  My truck had picked up a strange shimmy or vibration during my recent trip to share at a student conference, so once the building was ready for the day I took my truck to the shop for some service and “shimmy” diagnostics.  After dropping the truck off, I set out on foot with a loop up and around the East Race as I walked back to work.  One of my stops every time I walk this route is at a memorial set up to remember firefighters who have lost their lives serving their community.  I stop, not because I know any of the names on the memorial, but because I know a current firefighter and this place is a good reminder for me to pray for him and his coworkers.  While there, I do pray for the families of those who died in the line of duty as well as for the friends and family who send a loved one out on a regular basis to protect life and property.

The walk back to work ended up being a little over 5 miles so it felt good to sit at my desk and finish up the missions correspondence work I began yesterday.  I worked through lunch and as the afternoon slipped away, I got a call that the “shimmy” I had been feeling was caused by a broken/separated tread in a front tire.  I had thought it felt like the tire was out of round, so I guess the washout I hit while driving to the conference a couple weeks ago was a little hard on a tire. 🙂  They couldn’t get a matching tire until tomorrow, so they said they would put my spare on and finish up the oil change so I could pick the truck up by late afternoon.  It was still a decent enough weather day outside so once I finished up my work I headed out to walk back to the repair shop.  The afternoon walk definitely worked up a sweat a lot sooner than the early morning one did, but it felt good to stretch some muscles and spend time in prayer as I walked along the river with all of its incredible beauty.

As I think about the day, my mind returns to the photo of the day and its reminder that we need to pray for those who serve.  Serving is rarely popular or easy, but it ought to be the heartbeat of every follower of Jesus.  One of my current writing projects is a devotional series that I’ve called “Devotions for Those Who Serve”.  One of my concerns with the title is that many people will pay no attention to it because they don’t think it is written for them.  In order to address that misconception, I’m giving serious thought to a cover that says, “Devotions for Those Who Serve (Yes, that ought to be you!)”.  When we accept that we are all called to serve, it shouldn’t take long to realize the importance of praying for everyone.  We need men and women who serve as police officers, firefighters, medical workers, teachers, bus drivers, etc. and we need to value the work they do.  But more importantly, we need men and women who serve Jesus in each and every occupation imaginable.  We serve Jesus when we imitate His example and follow His command to serve one another without partiality.  

I pray that you and I would honor those who serve well and pray for those whose service to others puts them in danger on a regular basis.  I pray that we would understand that serving is not optional in the Christian life, but mandatory for all who would claim to follow Jesus.  I pray that we would pay attention to our own life and to those around us for signs that things aren’t what they should be.  I pray that we would seek God’s help when we feel the “shimmy” of a life out of balance.  I pray that we would point people to Jesus when their life seems to be out of line.

Page 229 began as the clock struck midnight in the midst of a record rainfall that was trying to make its way inside the house.  There were a few places where the water was streaming in through the basement wall so I tried to figure out why it was coming in so steadily.  As I tracked down the water source, I discovered that the water was pouring over the top of the guttering just above the main leak into the basement, as well as a few other places.  So I grab a raincoat and ladder and head outside into the rain shortly after midnight to clean the downspout areas of the guttering.  This got a lot of the rain flowing away from the house as it should.  When I came inside, I also discovered that the sump pump wasn’t keeping up with all the water coming in.  Fortunately, cleaning the guttering had slowed the amount of water coming into the house so I pulled the sump pump and discovered that all of the intake area was clogged.  As messy as it was, it was time to put the raincoat back on and head outside to do some cleaning and try to backflush it so it would draw up water and pump it out again.  After some time, I finally got it to where water would flow out the bottom when I ran a hose down from the top so it was time to get out of the rain and see if it would work.  When I connected it back in place and plugged it in, I could hear the water flowing up through the pipe and the water level was slowly dropping instead of rising. 🙂  By now, I had spent an hour and a half between inside and outside working on the water issues that had caused me to wake up from a couple hours of sleep.  The rain had finally slowed as well, so it was back to bed although sleep was rather elusive as my mind and body tried to unwind from the nighttime tasks.

It didn’t seem like it was long before it was time to wake up and head to work to get the morning cleaning and prep work done before the students arrive for school.  Next on my project list for today was the missions accounting for the church.  As I did that, it was also time I could spend praying for the various missions that Deer Run helps support.  The bookkeeping and prayer time took me into the early afternoon hours so I packed everything up and headed to a late lunch with my family.  Once home, the short night had caught up with me so I took a nap before deciding to load up the canoe and visit Potato Creek for the evening.  When we arrived at the park, the lady at the gate wanted to know what we planned on doing as most of the park activities were closed due to the high water and flooding from last night’s rain.  Since we planed on canoeing, I didn’t think that would be a problem — water actually helps 🙂 — but she said all the boat ramps were closed and we weren’t allowed to launch the canoe.  So, a quick change of plans and we drove around the park to the places we could go and got some great photos as the colors of the sky, water, and land were incredible.  With such great photo opportunities, it ended up being the best boat ride never taken.  One of my favorite photos was this flower blooming in the flooded shoreline.  It seemed fitting for the way my day started as I’ve titled it, “Underwater”.

Sometimes life feels like we are “underwater” emotionally, spiritually, financially, or in a countless number of other ways.  The good news when we are underwater is that we have a God who can part the water, calm the water, and even walk on the water.  He creates beautiful masterpieces out of the things that are messes that we would just as soon avoid.

I pray that you and I would turn to God when the storms of life pour down upon us.  I pray that we would look for the comfort of His presence in the midst of difficult times.  I pray that we would find beauty in the way God restores the messes we make of life.

Day 228 was tough to get started and stay focused so it made for a longer than anticipated day at work in order to get my Monday tasks completed.  The workweek began with the usual Monday morning cleaning and building prep with a few unexpected tasks to keep me on my toes. 🙂  Once the building was ready for the day and the trash was taken out, I sat down at my computer where I was greeted by a pleasant surprise.  As I checked email, I found a wonderful note from a participant of the recent National Student Conference.  A big part of the note was a thank you for the books I gave out and the teaching I did, but I was touched more deeply by the testimony of how God has already been using my writings, particularly a couple of the poems, in her life.  After I went through the rest of my emails and responded to the ones that needed a response, I began to settle my mind into God’s presence to begin work on the prayer guide for next week.

As I tried to focus, it seemed like there was one distraction after another and they all appeared to be designed to not only steal my joy but to become a greater discouragement than the encouragement from the morning’s email.  As I fought off the battle through a pursuit of God’s presence, I settled on the topic of inheritance for next week’s prayer guide.  It was a good morning spending time with God in His Word learning more about the inheritance that belongs to me as one of His children.  I suppose it was due to the battle that is raging within me, but the listening for what to write took much longer than it does for most prayer guides.  But I stayed with it and fought through the distractions with a continued pursuit of God.  The prayer guide was finished shortly after noon so I turned my attention to doing some more writing in the “Devotions for Those Who Serve” series while I was in a writing mode.  Today’s writing in that series began a focus on serving with patience.  Some of the topics I wrote about today include patience through wisdom, patience through love, and patience produced by God’s Spirit.  Patience is one of those things that people like to joke about never praying for because the answer usually has to do with experiencing things that stretch our patience so that it grows.  Yet when we serve people, it doesn’t take long before we realize just how much we need God to produce patience within our life in order to serve most effectively for Him.

By late afternoon I glanced at the clock and realized the day had gotten away from me after spending nine hours at work.  By then, it was too late even for a late lunch so I headed home and fired up the pellet grill to cook some chicken to go on a lettuce salad for supper.  While it was cooking I was able to relax a bit and then after supper I began the writing for today’s page so I can hopefully get to bed early to catch up on some needed sleep.  Today’s photo is from last night’s visit to Potato Creek and the haziness reminded me of the feeling in my mind today.

I pray that you and I would always pursue a relationship with God and learn to be even more deliberate about it when we like we are struggling to stay afloat.  I pray that we would understand the great value we have in the inheritance that is ours as children of God.  I pray that we would be help others to understand the inheritance that can be theirs when they turn to God.  I pray that we would learn to serve with a patience that only God can give.  I pray that we would never give up in our desire to be found faithful when Jesus returns.

Page 227 was a Sunday that began with an interruption of sleep as Susan had a seizure in the early morning hours.  Once she was through it, we all went back to sleep and slept in a bit before it was time to get up and ready for church.  After a good worship gathering at Deer Run, it was time for lunch and a little rest before heading down to Bourbon to spend some time visiting with family.  On our way home, we stopped by Potato Creek State Park where I caught sight of an eagle off in the distance.  I managed a few long distance photos before it moved further down the shoreline and out of sight.  

As I write this page and reflect on the lessons of the day, I think of the beauty and majesty of the bald eagle.  Whether perched in a tree or gliding through the sky, the eagle draws the attention of nature lovers everywhere.  It reminded me of the sermon that David shared at Deer Run this morning about our need to love like Jesus loved.  Jesus drew attention to Himself, not through pride and arrogance but through a complete obedience and submission to His Father.  It was His humility in teaching the truth of God in complete love that had crowds listening to Him in amazement.  Just like the eagle, we have the ability to draw the attention of those who are looking.  The big question we must ask ourselves is what are we drawing their attention to?  When we look to Jesus and imitate His life through the power of His Spirit within us, He is what people will notice in us.  When we love like Jesus loved, people notice something in us that is extraordinary — so extraordinary that they instinctively know that what they see has to come from a source beyond our self.  

We can see the impact that loving like Jesus loved when we look at the lives of the disciples as they move from learners at the feet of Jesus to leaders of the early church.  As learners, they made their share of mistakes and had times when “loving like Jesus” would not have been an accurate description of their treatment of people — we can relate, right?  Yet that is what good learners do.  They make mistakes and learn from them.  We see that when we look at their lives as leaders.  When God’s Spirit empowered them to love like Jesus loved, all of a sudden “the world is being turned upside down” and those watching have no explanation other than noting that these men had been with Jesus.  It makes me wonder about my life, and I hope it makes you wonder about yours; do people observe the way we love others and take note that we spend time with Jesus?  When we become consistent in loving people like Jesus loves people, we become the eagles of our culture that draw the attention of many to the source of our beauty and majesty.

I pray that you and I would seek to live in a way that presents the beauty and majesty of God accurately to the world around us.  I pray that we would consistently spend time with God so that our life is lived in a way that people would notice His presence in us.  I pray that we would grow from being learners to leaders as we spend time at the feet of Jesus and allow His Spirit to empower us love like He loved.  I pray that we would soar like eagles as we draw the attention of people to Jesus.