Today’s page was a good balance of adventure and rest.  I finally made it up for another sunrise and it was a beautiful one to photograph.  As has been the case each morning I’ve made it up for the sunrise, a dolphin made its way up the intercoastal waterway during the sunrise.  After a relaxed morning of everyone getting up and around, we headed back to Fort DeSoto to see if the dolphins could be seen at the park today.  It ended up being a good day as we saw at least three different dolphin playing in the water as they enjoyed a meal of the small fish that were thick in the water.  After we photographed the dolphin, we stopped by another park where we took a very hot walk on a trail that was much less desirable than described.  After lunch we headed to the beach to enjoy the warm, clear water of the gulf.  While there Susan had another seizure but it was milder than the one early in the vacation so she rested a bit on the beach chair then we went back to the room where she could cool down and nap.  I eventually grilled hamburgers for supper then took our evening walk to get ice cream as the sun began to set.  When we arrived back to the hotel, a large thunderhead was visible beyond the building with frequent lightning flashing through the clouds.  

Many times we go through life enjoying the good times and living as if they will never end.  We enjoy the blessings that God showers upon us without ever considering that there will be times when we need pruning and/or discipline.  Sometimes in our walk with God, the storm clouds will gather simply as a reminder to be watchful.  Other times they gather with a warning to be prepared.  Not all of life’s storms are the same and they’re not all for the same purpose.  At times, the storm we see building isn’t even ours to deal with!  Scripture talks a little about the gathering storm clouds that will continually grow as the return of Jesus nears.  Jesus also assures us that those who belong to Him need not be anxious or fearful when they see the end approaching.  God wants us to be watchful and ready, but more importantly He wants us to encourage one another as we see that day coming.  We live during a time, as has every generation since the ascension of Jesus, that grow increasingly nearer to the return of Jesus than any time before.  Some become unnecessarily worried when the storm clouds of war and rumors of war begin to gather.  Some focus on a storm cloud of an anti-christ, and trying to figure out who that is.  Others look at a storm cloud of people calling good evil and evil good.  Still others recognize a storm cloud of those who gather to themselves teachers that reject the Word of God as having any application or authority in life.  Mankind has always worked hard to explain away scripture when it doesn’t suit their particular needs, desires, or way of life.  While all of these, and other storm clouds, are present and attention should be paid to them, the main emphasis they should cause in our life is that we would be more intentional about being ready — being faithful in representing Christ accurately in all we say and do.  

The cloud in the picture likely won’t affect the area that I am in.  It developed beyond where I am at and is headed away from me.  But we’ve been caught in two different downpours when we’ve been inland this week, so I’m watchful and I’m ready.  

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the storm clouds which gather around us, but that we would do so with confidence in whose we are not in fear of what they are.  I pray that we would take to heart the instruction of scripture to be faithful in gathering together with other believers to encourage one another.  I pray that we would understand the storm clouds of the end that the Bible talks about — not to cause us to be fearful, but to prepare us to be faithful.

Page 153 took us past buildings of all sizes and shapes, from very low cost to very expensive.  One community of very high-end island homes had a row of very well maintained church buildings of a variety of denominations.  Then near the end of the day we were at a beach where someone had left their version of a sand castle.  As I went through all 334 photos from the day, the sand castle one seemed to stand out as I thought about the various foundations that are built on.  Some of the structures we saw have been around for many years, having endured hurricanes and anything else that sought to bring them down.  The sand castle, on the other hand, will probably not be standing tomorrow after the tide rises and washes it all away.

Jesus taught that the foundation we choose to build on will indicate whether we are wise or foolish.  A foolish person pours all of their energy and resources into developing what is seen.  Their concern is about image, so everything gets spent in building a showplace without any thought to what it is being built on.  A wise person does whatever it takes to put a solid foundation in place before any work is done on that which will be visible.  While these truths apply in the construction industry, they are even more applicable to our spiritual walk — which is why Jesus told the story to begin with.  The comparison of real meaning is between the one who hears the words of Jesus and does what He says and the one who hears the same words and does nothing about them.  If we are not putting God’s Word into practice in our daily life, we are simply building a life on sand with no foundation to anchor to when the storms of life come.  When we put God’s Word  into practice in everything we do, we invest our time and energy into the foundation that cannot be shaken so that when the storms of life beat against us we remain steadfast because of our faith in Christ.

I pray that you and I would examine daily our faithfulness, not only to hearing God’s Word, but more importantly, to doing what it says.  I pray that we would be growing in faith — the assurance of things unseen.  I pray that the results of building upon a foundation of “unseen faith” would carry us through whatever storms we face.  I pray that we would help those who are building on sand without a foundation to discover the value of putting the Word of God into practice.

Page 152 has been another relaxing day surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation!  After sleeping in and missing the sunrise once again (I was doing really well to be up for it several days in a row!), we eventually got up and headed to Fort DeSoto County Park on the south end of Saint Petersburg.  The park is in view of the Sunshine Skyway bridge and is situated where Tampa Bay (the body of water, not the city) flows into the Gulf of Mexico.  The park is home to an incredible assortment of wildlife on land, in the air and in the water.  I managed to photograph some osprey, a variety of shore birds, a few dolphin playing and some manatee swimming through the shallow waters.  Two different groups of fishermen in boats were throwing nets out to catch “bait fish”, only to have a dolphin decide trapped fish would make a good snack.  A dolphin had latched onto each of their nets and wouldn’t let go.  As they pulled the net to the surface, the dolphin came with it, tearing the net in the process.  Needless to say, the fishermen weren’t too happy and didn’t have anything nice to say about the dolphins “stealing” their fish and ruining their nets.  In my mind, I was trying to figure out whose fish they really were and if maybe the dolphins should have been the most upset.  🙂

After lunch, we came back to our room and then spent the afternoon at the beach.  The water was warm and a beautiful clear, sparkling blue.  We finished up the day with a walk to get ice cream then I grilled chicken for supper before settling in for the night to go through the pictures of the day.  There are so many photos that I really like so it was difficult to pick one for today’s page, but I settled on one of the sparkling clear water of the Gulf of Mexico.  

As I sat down to write today’s page and thought about the day, I was again reminded of the creativity of God and the incredible beauty He shares with us through creation.  I also thought about the anger of the fishermen who seemed to believe they had more right to the fish than the dolphin did.  Their anger reminded me of Jonah who sat under the shade of a vine one day and then became angry when a worm ate through the vine so that it shriveled up, as did Jonah’s shade.  God instructed Jonah that he should be more concerned about the people of Ninevah than he was about a vine that he neither planted or cared for.  Sometimes we become so accustomed to certain things taking place, or even to great blessings from God, then when those things no longer exist in the same way we are used to, we become angry with God for taking away something that was His to begin with.  I think that is one of the reasons that Jesus tells us to be on our guard against all kinds of greed.  Greed isn’t always about money, or even possessions.  Sometimes it is wanting more notice, more popularity, more credit, honor, or whatever else that isn’t really ours to claim.  We become angry when we don’t get what we want, or even angrier when someone else gets what we wanted.  I’m pretty confident that these fisherman have come up empty before — if not, they may be the only fishermen in history that has always caught what they’re after.  But I’m also fairly confident that, while disappointed, the response to coming up empty wasn’t the same anger as having something else get what they wanted.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the things that make us angry.  I pray that we would examine our lives for the “all kinds of greed” that Jesus warned us about.  I pray that we would recognize our anger at someone else getting what we wanted as being a form of greed that needs removed from our life.  I pray that we would make the most of every opportunity we have to share with others about the wonderfully creative God that we serve.

After a busy day yesterday, page 151 was a day of relaxing and I even slept in and missed the sunrise this morning. 🙂  There are two osprey nests near where we are staying on vacation — one of them is on a communications tower that is visible from the property that we are staying at and the other is on the corner of a rooftop on a hotel overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.  I went out for a little while this morning to photograph the closest nest of them and when I got back, Susan was up and ready for the day so we headed to the beach for the rest of the morning.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do on a vacation is rest, but we worked hard on making that happen today.  The water was warm and the breeze pleasant.  Susan even went out in the water several times and eventually was comfortable enough to stretch out and “swim”.  We eventually left the beach to get some lunch then spent the afternoon at the pool before heading out for a walk to get ice cream.  The ice cream held us over until I could grill hamburgers for supper, then we headed back to the beach to watch/photograph the sunset.  Not a bad vacation day at all if relaxation is the desired result.

Today’s photo is a beach scene from this morning with a couple beach chairs just waiting to be sat in.  As Jesus walked the earth, we read of times when He would withdraw to lonely places.  He also would take His disciples away from the crowds at times so they could all rest.  I suspect that sometimes our times of rest aren’t as restful as they should be.  Our rest isn’t really rest but simply a change in the type of activity that fills our life.  Vacations tend to wear us out because we fill them with great recreational activities but often fail to include the rest we need.  Jesus and His disciples didn’t withdraw from the public aspects of ministry simply so they could wear themselves out with fun activity, they withdrew so the could spend time resting and spending time with their source of strength — the disciples with Jesus and Jesus with His Father.  When I plan a vacation that includes both fun activities and times when I can simply rest in the presence of God’s Spirit, I find that I return home more fully refreshed than if I simply go away with the sole purpose of having a good time.

I pray that you and I would recognize the difference between rest and recreation.  I know that may sound strange but many times we find ourselves worn out and can’t quite figure out why because we think that because we’re not working, we’re resting.  I pray that we would live life to the full because of our relationship with Jesus.  I pray that we would enjoy the times we are able to add fun activities to our life.  I pray that we would not so overfill our lives that we find we have not time to actually rest in the presence of God’s Spirit.

Page 150 has been a long, but good day as we traveled to attend church with an aunt and uncle from MJ’s side of the family and then had a cookout with their family members who were able to come for the afternoon.  This is an aunt and uncle who always gave us a place to stay when we would vacation to Florida at a time in our lives when paying for hotel lodging would have made the trip impossible.  Twelve of us gathered and had a great time telling stories and laughing together.  Today’s page is a lot about family, but it is also about acting when an inner voice or nudge tells you to do something good.  The photo with today’s page was taken at the house today of a piece of art hanging on the wall.  Not just any art, but a mounted print of photos I’ve taken that I had done and sent sight unseen.  Today was the first I I was able to see the finished product and it was already up and hanging on the wall.  While it was fun to hear my aunt’s excitement about this work, it was also a reminder of how God desires to use each of us to encourage one another.  

This photo collage didn’t have to be — in fact, it almost wasn’t.  A few weeks ago, my wife’s cousin, this aunt’s daughter, died following a lengthy battle with cancer.  As I sat at home a thousand miles away, a thought crossed my mind that I should put together a collection of lighthouse photos and send to my aunt and uncle as a “thinking of you” gift.  While my heart kept telling me to do it, my mind kept coming up with reasons not to.  I went back and forth for several days, designing it online several times yet never sending the project to the photo printer to finish it.  Finally one day as I had put together this assortment of photos and was praying for the family, I  hit the “checkout now” button on the website and the project was soon in process and would be sent from the photo printing company directly to my aunt and uncle.  Even after the order was submitted, the second-guessing continued.  Would the finished project look anything like it did on the website?  Would they like it?  Would they have somewhere to hang it?  Would they even want to hang it?  Yet, even as those questions continued, I knew that I had done what I could and what I felt called to do to offer encouragement.

God calls us to encourage one another yet many times we neglect that simply because we lack confidence in having anything useful to anyone else.  Sometimes we’ve become so accustomed to ignoring the nudges from God and the work of His Spirit in our lives that we fail to use what He’s given us to encourage others.  I believe that most, if not all, of what God gives us has a primary purpose of meeting some kind of need present in the life of someone else.  Yet far too often, our first thought when we consider God’s gifting in our life is about how it is useful to us.  Yes, God’s gifts generally do have a usefulness to us but they have a greater usefulness when we share them with others.

I pray that you and I would listen faithfully to the nudging of God’s Word and His Spirit as we pray for the people around us.  I pray that we would examine everything we do, and particularly everything we are good at, and how God would desire to use those things to encourage others for His glory.  I pray that we would deliberately focus on others and how we can serve them rather than focusing on ourselves and who will serve us.  I pray that we would value family and the preciousness of life.  I pray that we would make the most of every opportunity we have to encourage others, but especially to encourage those that God has given to us as family.

Page 149 came with an uncertainty of how any of us would be doing following Susan’s seizure yesterday.  Susan was definitely the worst off as she had fought hard coming out of this one.  MJ and I had our share of aches and bruises from trying to protect Susan and keep her from seriously injuring herself or us, but we all seemed to have slept well.  I was awake early enough to catch the sunrise again and it was beautiful.  While I was along the seawall early, a dolphin swam by and eventually joined a small pod of them that I could see playing in the distance.  While we were all up early, we decided to visit a nearby county park before the holiday weekend traffic got too bad.  Our first stop had me pulling out the 600 mm lens I had rented for my camera as an osprey was perched near where we had parked.  We spent the rest of the morning visiting 4 different county parks, including a botanical garden, where we took quite a few pictures of birds and flowers.  At one of our stops, as I was photographing some water lilies, I noticed a dragonfly near me so I took the photo that made today’s page.  After the parks we had lunch then came back to our room and headed to the beach for the afternoon.  The beach time was followed by a walk to the ice cream shop and then I grilled chicken and mushrooms for supper.  By then, it was nearly time for the sun to set so we headed back to the beach to see that.

As I reflect on the day, the dragonfly photo seems to say a lot to me.  So much of what I photograph are things that are in plain sight — I don’t often go far out of my way or off the beaten path, so to speak, to find subjects that I find interesting, beautiful, or majestic.  I have seen dragonflies all my life but this is the first I have ever photographed one and I was amazed at the incredible detail that was captured.  We have become a culture of people who long for the big show.  We want something remarkable that will get our attention and keep it.  We become so focused on ourselves and our own agenda that we have little interest in observing the majesty of God which surrounds us.  As sad as that is when it comes to things and the details of nature, it is even more heartbreaking when we begin to believe that some people are “too little” to be noticed.  We tend to set arbitrary standards that have no resemblance to any standards God has set, and we demand that people measure up to our list of qualifications before they can be noticed and eventually be useful in the work God created them to do.  As I look back on my life, and particularly on my life in ministry, I have had people who have believed I was “little” and even got me to believe it at times simply because I didn’t have the formal education they decided was mandatory.  I’ve had a preacher, elders, and board members tell me directly that I had no business being in ministry if I didn’t have the all-important college degree.  To them, I was too “little” to be noticed or useful.  The good news is that God has put people in my life who are preachers, elders, and board members that value the giftedness God has put within me and the consistently affirm my usefulness to them and to the work of the kingdom as I put into practice the things God has called me to do.  I share that not to point to myself, but to point to the dragonflies in our churches and in our lives.  We see them constantly but we’ve probably not paid attention to the beautiful detail God has created in their life to accomplish an important work in His kingdom.

I pray that you and I would value the “little” people even while realizing the truth that there really aren’t any from God’s perspective.  I pray that we would pay attention to the lessons God attempt to teach us each day from sources that often come as a surprise.  I pray that we would not dwell on the times we have been viewed as “little”, but use those as learning experiences in the way we see others.

For some reason I had a restless night leading into page 148 but I did manage to get some sleep before getting up to snap some sunrise photos.  As I was taking photos, I heard a loud snort and splash against the seawall near my feet.  As I looked to see what had caused the noise, I saw a dolphin swimming away from me along the length of the seawall — I think we had startled each other.  It was beautiful to watch him as he played in the clear morning water before leaving the area.  After my morning photos, MJ and Susan got up and we headed to a park along the bay to walk the boardwalks and try out the camera lens I rented for this trip.  At one point there were fish that were flying out of the water.  I didn’t have much success photographing them but did find a couple different birds that were a little more willing to pose.  One of them did a lot of posing but eventually used its wings to shield itself from having to see us. 🙂  

After the walk, we stopped by Walmart to finish stocking up on the food and supplies we need for our vacation.  After we brought those back to the room and put things away that needed to be in the refrigerator, we headed to Crabby Bill’s for lunch.  The three of us shared a couple platters of fried shrimp, fried fish, fried scallops, fried crab cakes, french fries, and hush puppies!  It was all very good and filling so we rolled out of there in need of a nap.  Instead of an actual nap, we headed to the beach where we relaxed in the beach chairs and walked in the water.  After some time at the beach we headed back to the room to rest a bit before an evening walk.  As we relaxed, Susan had a seizure that ended up being one of her big ones that left her bruised and worn out before finally coming out of it.  It is always difficult to watch her go through these and do our best to protect her from serious injury but there is not much we can do as she goes through a violent stage on her way out of the seizure.  That took our evening walk out of the plans so I fired up the grill and fixed some bacon cheeseburgers for supper.  We finished out the day by a quick walk to the beach to take some sunset photos then returned to the room to call it a day.

As I thought about the day, my mind went back to that bird we encountered on our walk.  Because of that, he became the photo for today’s page.  Sometimes the wisest thing we can do is to close our mouth and cover up our face, so to speak.  Because writing is such a big part of my life and God has given me a gift that He is using in incredible ways, I am often tempted to write responses to things that don’t need my response and would not be helped by my response.  Particularly on social media, I often find myself needing to cover up my eyes and avoid conflict that has no way of being healthy or beneficial to anyone.  It is one thing to state truth, it is another thing to state opinion, and still another to endlessly argue opinion with people who have no desire, interest, or openness to listening.  We live in a time where truth is being discarded and exchanged for lies that make people feel good for a time.  Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified by the truth but before people randomly defined what that was, He made it clear that God’s Word is the truth He was talking about.  Holding on to God’s Word as truth is not popular in very many places any more.  Doing so may cause people to suggest you are simple, but not doing so would lead God to suggest that you are foolish.  I don’t know about you, but I know I would rather have people think I am simple than have God think I am foolish!

I pray that you and I would protect our eyes and ears from situations that would be harmful to ourselves and to others.  I pray that we would hold fast to God’s Word as truth.  I pray that we would be more concerned with God’s evaluation of our life than we are with what people may think.

Page 147 began my extended holiday weekend and family vacation time.  I never realize how tired I am becoming until I have the opportunity to stop the busy-ness of life and all the missed rest catches up with me.  I slept in until 7 this morning, which probably says a lot that I now consider that sleeping in. 🙂  All the packing was done last night so once we were all up and around, it was off to the airport for the hurry up and wait routine.  We made it through check-in and security, then waited for the plane to arrive which would fly us to our destination.  The process went smoothly today and we eventually got the right bounce off the runway to get us airborne.  The 2 hour flight was beautiful as we flew over a variety of cloud types and sizes before finding clear skies as we began our descent into Clearwater.  Once on the ground we headed to the north side of Tampa to pick up a camera lens I have rented for the week in the hopes of getting some good bird shots.  Once we had the lens in hand we headed for lunch, stopping at a Skyline Chili location to fuel up for the week. 🙂  After lunch we stopped at Sam’s Club to get some of the groceries we will need, then headed to our hotel to check in and start to get settled.  Once we unpacked we headed out for an evening walk down to the ice cream shop and then stopped to get some pictures on the way back.  It was still an hour or so before sunset so we went back to the room then returned to the beach for some sunset photos.  It was a beautiful sunset and even one of the herons got into watching the sun as it went down.

As I thought about the day, I was reminded of how easy it is for the cares of the world to wear a person down without them even realizing it is happening.  It is important that we pay attention to that as the cares of the world can rob of not only of our joy, but more importantly of our effectiveness in being witnesses for Jesus.  When the cares of the world have gotten a hold of me, I find myself not responding to people with the love of Christ that I ought to have.  I think I write about rest a lot because it is one thing that I often struggle with.  I want people to be happy with me and pleased with the things I do, so I often keep going beyond what is reasonable or even appropriate trying my best to meet expectations whether reasonable or not.  It doesn’t take very long when life is lived that way to find yourself frazzled and overwhelmed, all  while not even accomplishing the pleasing of others that had been so important.  I am still learning and thus I continue to share this lesson with you.  Rest is not wasted time when it is a part of God’s plan and design for your life.  As I was photographing the sunset tonight, I looked behind me and there was a heron standing in the water gazing out at the setting sun . . . at least that is the way it appeared.  I moved around behind it so I could take its picture as a reminder that even the birds take the time to recognize the beauty of God’s handiwork in creation.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the warning signs that signify rest is needed.  I pray that we would make the most of the restful opportunities that we have.  I pray that we would pay attention to the wonder that God surrounds us with on a daily basis.