Page 186 was what could be called a tankful of adventure.  I see articles posted online at various times about trips that can be taken on a tankful of gas.  Today I put together one of our own as we spent the holiday hunting lighthouses.  I had done a little research last night and discovered that it was about 3 1/2 hours to the Port Washington lighthouse which is a little north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The lighthouse friends site listed 15 lighthouses from there back down the coastline to Chicago.  So, we were ready and in the truck a little before 9 AM to begin a new family adventure.  We made it to Port Washington a little after noon our time, so we grabbed some lunch at Subway before heading to the lakefront to find the first lighthouse of the day.  From there we worked our way back down the shoreline, stopping to photograph 13 of the listed lighthouses.  The last two on our list were in the Chicago Harbor and best seen from Navy Pier.  As we drove Lake Shore Drive along the Chicago lakefront, we could see the lighthouses but could also see the crowds of people gathering for the evening fireworks show.  It was getting late enough that we were already looking at not getting home until 10:30 PM, so we kept driving and decided we would come back to photograph the Chicago lighthouses at another time.

While the size and design of these lighthouses varied greatly, the created function of each of them was the same — to warn of danger and to help guide those who are out on the waters to safety.  As Christians, we bring our unique characteristics to Christ and instead of making us just like everyone else, He uses us in the way and time that He knows is best.  While we may not look the same, because we’re not the same, we have been given the same responsibility as Christians — to warn others of danger and to help guide those who are outside of a relationship with Christ to safety.  Far too often we spend all of our time comparing ourselves to one another while accomplishing none of the purpose for which we have been made new creations in Christ.  

While it has been a long day, it was a very good day spent together as a family.  As the days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, and years into decades, I have an increased awareness of the importance of spending time together.  Sometimes that time together needs to be planned out well in advance and sometimes it just needs to happen when the opportunity avails itself.

I pray that you and I would value the people God has brought into our lives and that we would consistently make time to spend with them.  I pray that we would understand the work God has created for us to do in representing Him to the world.  I pray that we would be found faithful — not only in living for Christ, but in living like Christ.  I pray that we would only concern ourselves with being who God created us to be, not with how we compare to anyone else.

Page 184 has been a busy day with quite a mix of activities and some rest.  I’m writing today’s page from the office at work as I fit it in between cleaning for Sunday and finishing sermon work for tomorrow.  Being a Saturday, the day had a relaxed start to it and then Susan and I headed to the zoo.  It was rather cool and overcast to begin the day and some of the animals seemed to like that as they were more active than most Saturday mornings.  After seeing the animals and taking photos of some of them, we rode the zoo train and then headed home.  Being a person that is comfortable with good routines and traditions, it was grilled mushroom bacon cheeseburgers for lunch again. 🙂  After lunch I relaxed a bit and took my camera out to the front porch in an attempt to capture some photos of the hummingbirds that like the feeder MJ put out.  I managed a few photos and then some family members stopped by to visit for a while.

By late afternoon, it was time to head to Sam’s Club to pick up some things.  A trip to our usual Sam’s Club now means a trip to The Chief in Goshen for ice cream.  By the time we got home, it was late evening and I headed in to work to finish getting the building ready for tomorrow, put some polish on a sermon for tomorrow, and write today’s page.  As I was at my desk, the woods began to glow with a brilliant red color as the setting sun shone over and through it.  With the building being surrounded by trees to the west, north, and east, I could only capture a glimpse of the sunset as I stepped out the door by my office to take a picture.  As I write, the sounds of fireworks going off are constant yet no fireworks display I have ever seen comes close to reaching the beauty and majesty of the handiwork of God in a simple sunrise or sunset.

As I think about the day, my mind immediately goes to how easily the noise of the world distracts us from noticing and sharing the wonder of God.  It seems I have been distracted a lot this week and as I look back, all of the distractions have simply been noise with very little real substance to them.  The good news is that one of the unexpected benefits of doing these daily written pages is that I stop each day to recognize the distractions and seek God’s help in pressing on with the work He has set before me.  As I think about the distractions of just this week and the things that seemed to be the target of the distractions, I have to wonder if in the times when no distractions are present is it because I’m not making the effort to do the things God created me to do.  Distractions, confusion, and deceit are primary tools of the enemy so if I’m fully engaged in living a life that represents Christ, I should expect these weapons to be used against me.  The wonderful news is that the One who lives within me is greater than the one who is against me.  While the weapons of the enemy may have great effectiveness against me along, there is no weapon formed that can defeat the power of the One that now lives in me.

I pray that you and I would notice the still, small whisper of the work of God in our world and in our lives.  I pray that we would be aware of the noise of distraction that constantly attempts to keep us from being who God created us to be.  I pray that we would press on in the power of God’s Spirit when the weapon of distractions comes against us.  I pray that we would live victoriously in the knowledge that nothing can defeat the power of the One who lives within us and calls us His own.

Page 183 begins the second half of this year of seeing each day of life as a page waiting to be written.  I began the day by doing some proof reading and editing of my current book project and then worked at writing some more of the daily devotions for it.  One of today’s topics was about heaven being a home of restoration.  The Bible, and experience, tells us that everyone has sinned, causing us to no longer reflect the image of God in the way we were created to do.  The original shine in our soul has been weathered and tarnished not only by sin, but also by a world filled with worry and fear that rob us of the joy of the Spirit that we ought to be filled with.  One of the assured hopes that we live with as children of God is that we will be fully restored when we arrive home in His presence.

After writing for a while, I took a break and fired up the weedeater to do some trimming around the building.  While this needs done on a regular basis, it is also true that we need to do some “spiritual weedeating” on a regular basis.  When I think of spiritual weeds, I think about Paul’s words regarding the “sin that so easily entangles us.”  Spiritual weeds are things that become a hindrance to our life producing the fruit that it ought to.  Some of these spiritual weeds are obvious.  They are the thorny issues that look and feel like weeds as they clearly hinder our walk with Christ.  Other spiritual weeds are a little more difficult to identify.  They look and feel like good things that people would want in their life but upon closer examination, it becomes clear that they are taking up the good soil and nutrients that our life needs to produce godly fruit.  It is through time spent with God in prayer and His Word that we can identify the weeds that exist in our life.  When we become aware of the things that keep us from being productive, we can turn to God for His help in removing them from our life.

After finishing the trimming, it was back inside for some more writing.  While the plan was to do some cleaning and prep this afternoon to get the building ready for Sunday but by mid-afternoon I was tired and hungry so I called it a day and headed to lunch.  The cleaning and prep will wait until Saturday night.  While the temperature wasn’t feeling exactly like summer, the beautiful weather was perfect for a late afternoon hike at Potato Creek.  Today’s page photo comes from the east end of the lake at Potato Creek and shows the beauty of the lake, sky, and wetland areas of the park.  When I consider the incredible beauty of God’s creation, I can think of no suitable response but to worship Him.

I pray that you and I would seek the restoring power of God’s Spirit in our life.  I pray that we would live with a confidence that God has the desire and ability to restore us to Himself.  I pray that we would pay attention to, and remove, the things which are taking away from our ability to bear much fruit for Christ.  I pray that we would constantly worship God as we consider the majesty of His creation.

Page 182 began early as I caught up on messages and emails from yesterday and spent some prayer time following up on yesterday’s prayer walk at camp.  After a morning meeting/tech support/discussion, I settled in to do some more writing on my current devotional book project.  I managed to write a few more of the daily devotions before heading out for a mid-afternoon lunch and then a trip to Dowagiac for a funeral visitation.  After visiting with some of the Bontrager family and some members of the North Wayne congregation, we headed to Bremen for the Fireman’s Festival to take Susan on a couple rides.  She loves the Ferris Wheel and Carousel and it is fun to see the joy she is filled with on these rides.  After the fair rides and a quick stop at Subway for supper, we rounded out the day with a family walk along the Mishawaka Riverwalk.

By evening, the clouds had begun to gather and ranged from a collection of fluffy cotton ball clouds to a dense blanket of gray.  Some days have an overcast feel to them that require us to press on in faith that Son continues to shine in our lives.  One of the topics I wrote about today for the devotional book about our journey home, was about heaven being a home of rejoicing.  It was a fitting devotion to write on a day that I visited with a family that was saying goodbye to a 94 year-old mother, grandmother, and friend.  This dear lady has been ready to finish her journey home and has eagerly anticipated it over the past few weeks as her body weakened.  At the church there was laughter and smiles from a family confident that the grave would not hold their loved one any more than it held Jesus.  The knew that the weakness and frailty that had taken over the body has been replaced with a wholeness that is rejoicing around the throne of God.  Yes, she will be missed by family and loved ones.  I will miss her encouraging smile and words that thanked me for coming to preach every time I would share at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.  Yet even while being missed, it will be with a confidence that we too can rejoice with her not only when we complete our journey, but also as we continue the journey.

I pray that you and I would daily spend time with God, listening and obeying.  I pray that we would find comfort in knowing that those who are in Christ enter a home of rejoicing when they leave this world.  I pray that we would make the most of each day that God gives us as an opportunity to encourage the people around us.  I pray that we would learn to rejoice always even as we journey to our home with Christ.

Page 181 was a prayer walk day at the camp that almost didn’t happen.  After spending the entire day yesterday with the service techs at the building, I was tempted to skip this week’s visit to the camp and spend the day in the office catching up on what I had hoped to accomplish yesterday.  As I contemplated that option, I had to ask myself if I believed in the importance of prayer or just talk about it being important.  Well, I do believe in the importance of prayer, and in what God is able to do in a camp setting, so I followed through with my commitment to pray on-site for the camp each week this summer.  

The day began early as I went in to work and printed off what I have written so far in my current book project so the proof-reading can begin.  Before I could get sidetracked by anything else, I headed up to camp to spend the day praying for the staff, faculty, and campers as well as for the ongoing ministry of the camp.  While I have usually begun the prayer days by walking the perimeter of the property, today the campers were out when I arrived so I sat at a picnic table where I could watch and pray.  It wasn’t long before the bell rang and they lined up and went inside for a time of worship.  I moved to the outside play area where I could hear their songs of worship and spent time praying about the worship and the lessons they would hear.  As their time inside was drawing to an end, I began the perimeter walk, praying that God would place a hedge of protection around all that takes place on the camp property.  I was able to help serve lunch then spent the afternoon praying at various places on the property before doing another perimeter prayer walk to finish my day at camp.

As I walk and pray, I carry my cameras in order to use them as part of my prayer and worship as well as have photos to share so others can see some of the things that serve as prayer prompts during my walks.  The photo on today’s page is one that I took early in the day as the sun rose over the camp property.  Unseen in the photograph is the sound of the songs of worship being sung by the campers.  As I listened to their worship, the sight in front of me made me think of God’s smile beaming down upon what He was hearing.  I also believe it could represent God smiling upon my decision to make prayer a priority, as well as my keeping my commitment when it would have been tempting to take care of tasks that were more demanding but less important.

I pray that you and I would understand our need to live a life of prayer.  I pray that we would not only learn to “pray without ceasing”, but we would devote times to pray for specific purposes.  I pray that we would learn from Jesus the importance of spending time with our Heavenly Father.  I pray that we would never become slaves to the urgent at the expense of the important.

Sometimes you look back and wonder what happened to the day and how it seemed to slip away without getting much on the day’s list accomplished.  Page 180 was one of those days. 🙂  The day began well enough as I headed to work early and took care of some tasks left over from last night’s meeting.  I caught up on messages and put together a prayer ministry slide for the National Student Conference and sent it off to where it needed to go.  As I settled in to do some more writing on my current book project, I received a call that the service tech had arrived to straighten out our HVAC system control issues.  The power fluctuations from last week’s storms caused several of the system controllers to become confused.  One of the minor controllers had claimed address number one which created a conflict that kept me from accessing the primary controller which also had address number one — as it should have.  In addition to tracking down the source of this address conflict, there were several controllers not communicating with the system.  By keeping at it, we found the controller conflict and was able to reassign the rogue number one controller to the address it was supposed to have.  Several of the other controllers needed reloaded with the information they were supposed to have and one of them needed its proper address restored after finding out it had reset itself to an address number far out of the range that is usable by our system.  By the time all of this was done, I had regained access to the system, we had found 3 components that need parts to be replaced, and the workday had slipped away.  

After cleaning up the trail we had left behind us during the day, I headed home and then took an evening walk with the family at Potato Creek.  One of the bald eagles was waiting for us when we arrived at the park and the nest of osprey we walked past were active with one of the young stretching its wings.  As we came off the trail at the end of our walk, the sun was breaking through the clouds and reflecting off the lake.  It was a beautiful scene to try to capture even though I knew a photograph wouldn’t do it justice.  For me, the beauty that saturates all of creation continually points to the One who called everything into being and sustains it by His will.

As I think about the day, I wonder how often our lives experience a similar problem that the building’s HVAC system had — we lose function because we give the number one address spot to something other than the One who ought to be our primary controller.  When we put anything or anyone in a position equal to or greater than God, our life is no longer in balance as it was created to be.  When we try to follow instructions from multiple sources, we end up confused and ineffective.  When we try to live life outside of the boundaries that God has communicated through His Word, we find ourselves disconnected from the only source of life and power that can sustain us into eternity.  It is through time alone with God in prayer and His Word that we allow Him to reset our priorities so that He returns to the number one position in our life.  Our time spent listening to God helps us to know His will and His voice so that we’re able to distinguish good from evil and right from wrong.  Pursuing God with complete obedience keeps us within the parameters of life that He has set for our good and for our benefit.

I pray that you and I would always keep God as the first priority in our life.  I pray that we would pursue and love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  I pray that we would spend so much time with God that we not only recognize His voice, but that it becomes the only one we listen to.  I pray that we would not become so full of ourselves that we leave the fold of God’s presence, believing that we somehow know better than Him what is best for us.

Page 179 has been a busy day even with doing part of my normal Monday work yesterday.  I started the workday freshening up bathrooms and collecting trash from throughout the building so nothing was setting around all week that would collect bugs or start to smell bad.  As I went through the building, part of the A/C units were working and part of them still required a manual restart before they would run.  After I was done with straightening things up from Sunday, I called the service company for our HVAC control system and then began to do some writing while I waited for their return call.  With having written the next prayer guide yesterday, I was able to finish several more days in the 31-day devotional journal I am writing.

One of the topics I wrote about today focused on heaven being a home of obedience.  Jesus said that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of His Father.  Our obedience to the Father shows not only that we belong, but that we want to belong.  One of the most difficult things to do can be to remain faithful in our obedience when the streams of the world want to carry us into areas of disobedience.  I can’t tell you how often I become discouraged when I don’t see the results I would like from the work I do.  When I believe God has gifted me to write a resource that I think would benefit others and then work up the courage to offer it to them, I begin to question why I even write when the offers are met with complete silence.  And then as I fight off the seeds of discouragement, God brings reminders from unexpected sources that He is using this gifting in my life according to His purposes which are higher and more noble than mine.

By mid-afternoon I was ready for a break from the building as I anticipated a long day with an evening meeting in the schedule as well.  So, by 3 PM, I grabbed my camera and stopped to get a sandwich on my way to the river to enjoy some time surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation.  The floral beauty drew a lot of my attention but as I thought about the day so far, it was a photo of a duck standing on the edge of a waterfall which made today’s page.  Even with the water rushing by and swirling around her feet, this duck stood her ground.  It didn’t matter that she was standing alone and she wasn’t about to be moved from her position by the flow of the water.  I’m one who has a natural tendency to “go with the flow” in a lot of things, although I do have a stubborn side of me that can dig in my heels and stand firm concerning certain things.  While that’s not a bad mix, the important thing is to stand firm in obedience to God while being flexible in the things that are not important.  Too often I find myself standing firm in my will while allowing the flow of the world to carry me along in ways that distract me further from the will of God.  That is not only the lesson from the duck today, but I believe that is the lesson God wants me to learn with my writing — how it gets used is up to Him, my responsibility is to be faithful in writing and sharing what He gives me as I trust Him to use it or not use it according to what He knows is best.

I pray that you and I would daily seek to know and do the will of the Father.  I pray that we would have the wisdom to know when to stand firm and when to be flexible.  I pray that we would choose faithfulness and obedience regardless of how easy or difficult it is.  I pray that we would not allow the flow of the world to carry us away from the stand we take in Christ.