Prayer

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2016: Page 11

Not much to clear off the walks this morning but with a temp of 4 degrees and wind chills well into the negative numbers it was nice not to  have to spend too much time outdoors.  I write a weekly prayer guide that I publish online each Sunday and Monday is usually the day I write the prayer guide for the next week so that I’m not rushed and can spend adequate time in prayer putting it together.  Today I was drawn to a passage from 2 Corinthians which lists six things the Christian should excel in.  So, the next prayer guide published will focus on praying about the things we ought to excel in.

Sometimes I settle for “good enough” and lose sight of the fact that God wants me to not just get by, but to excel!  To do something with excellence is not an easy thing.  To be someone who excels in godly character qualities is much more difficult.  Just as excelling in a sport or activity takes work and practice, excelling in the qualities that God wants in our life requires that we work at it with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

With the bitter cold, the birds would still visit outside my office window but stayed a little inside the tree line so as not to be fully exposed to the wind.  It was still beautiful to watch the cardinals play and to even have a pair of bluebirds stop back by.  I knew that today would be a busy day from start to finish so I called my mom last night to wish her a happy birthday.  She and dad were enjoying a warm evening in sunny Florida.

As I thought about my parents vacationing in Florida, I carved an hour out of my schedule to head down to Potato Creek State Park to take some pictures and enjoy a short hike.  Even in the cold of winter, God provided great beauty and peaceful surroundings to remind me of His presence.  Winter hiking is tough because it is difficult to know exactly how to dress and how many layers are really  needed.  I found myself adjusting layers as I did the two miles so that I wasn’t cold, but so I wasn’t overly warm either.  Once I found a good balance, my hike was enjoyable and the crispness of the air was refreshing.  The beauty of the ice crystals and snowflakes against the  backdrop of an ice-covered lake was amazing.

As I closed out the day at a church leadership meeting, I was reminded of how God uses such a diverse collection of gifts and abilities in a diverse group of people to accomplish His great purposes.  Just as they say the snowflakes are each unique and special, so are you and I.

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2016: Page 9

Sometimes I am asked where I find the time to go to Potato Creek, the Riverwalk, or anywhere else and take pictures.  Today was a good example of my typical response.  I began the day early cleaning the building to help get it ready for Sunday, knowing that I would only get it partially done before the first “BAM: Be A Man” meeting of guys at the church that would take place.  It was a good group of guys out for the breakfast, fellowship, and study.  I followed the meeting with more cleaning to finish the weekend prep before heading home.  If you’ve followed these daily pages, you may notice that each one this week started early at the building.  My focus point today was flexibility.  That is what allows me to do the work that needs done when it needs done and also to get away for times with God in the beauty of His creation.

As I do maintenance and janitorial work to provide a living for my family and I while pursuing Him and directing a prayer ministry, I recognize God’s hand in taking care of my needs while giving great flexibility to do the ministry He has called me to.  Sometimes I forget, but God has surrounded me with people who are willing to  cover various tasks for me when I get to travel on behalf of the prayer ministry.  They do it because they believe in me and the work God has called me to.  While rarely noticed, they are a big part of the Impact Prayer Ministry team.  I thank God that He has surrounded me with such people who give me the flexibility to maintain a job and a ministry.

The weatherman is calling for a winter storm.  So, after a trip with the family to Sam’s Club for a few things, I spent time during the afternoon putting together the snowblower I bought a couple weeks ago to replace the one that had been stolen.  As I put it together and realized how nice it was, as long as I was inside out of the rain, I decided to pull out the  pellet grill and have some smoked chicken for dinner — not bad when the weather allows for grilling on January 9 in northern Indiana!  As the day came to a close they downgraded the forecast to less likelihood of a significant snow, but I still have to be up early in the morning to clear walks of whatever snow and/or ice may come.  So my flexibility says it is time to call it a day and be as prepared as possible for what the next one may bring.

When the mighty oak waves its branches and shows its flexibility, it can stand a great amount of wind.  When it dies and loses its flexibility, it can be brought down by what would seem to be a small gust.  I pray that God keeps you and I growing and flexible.

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2016: Page 8

A week has gone by and so far I’ve managed to write on each page of my Book of 2016!  I guess it is kind of like a “Dear Diary” kind of thing but it has been fun to spend time each morning looking back at what stood out about the previous day.  Much of my life I’ve lived day to day and have often praised God in the moment for the things that are noticeable.  But I’ve not been consistent on looking back and praising Him for the things that were often too small to be noticed until they added up through the day.  It is amazing what each day holds and how much God wants to make His presence known through His still, gentle whisper when I’m quiet enough to hear it.

My work day began at the usual 6 AM.  It is strange for me to even be able to write the word “usual” with 6 AM.  I spent some time reflecting the day’s prayer focus of “Pleasing Sacrifice”, then I did the normal building maintenance and cleaning that each morning calls for and then sat down to check messages.  As I followed up on different messages and finished writing the “2016 page” about the previous day it seemed God was prompting me to keep writing.  So I picked up the outline that I had already written for my next 31-day devotional journal and began to spend time with God working on the content.  The book title will be, “Watch Your Mouth: Choosing Words Which Honor Christ”.  It was fun to once again watch the words flow as God and I worked on the first few daily topics.  I suspect that He is leading me to finish this for a purpose, so I anticipate we’ll keep working at it in the days to come.  As I worked on that, the first of the printed copies of my second poetic devotional book arrived!  It was as if God was reminding me in very clear ways that He is producing good things that are being used throughout His kingdom.  As the morning drew to a close, I had lunch with a good friend.  When he arrived he told me he had read my book, “In Christ Alone”, last night.  Being that reading is hard for him, this too was a great blessing to me to hear how it had encouraged him.

After lunch I finished up some projects and decided I would come back the next morning to do my normal late Friday night cleaning.  I pray that I will continue to pay attention to the work God is doing in me, through me, and around me.  I pray that you would be encouraged by God to remain faithful in being who He created you to be.

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2016: Page 7

I was thankful for no frost to scrape off the windshield as I headed to work early.  When I arrived at work there were no water puddles on the floor.  While that is good in most ways, it still means I haven’t discovered the source of the earlier leak.  With the arrival of snow, and students playing outside during the day, the floors require more attention in my morning routine.  With each round I made through the hallways, the amount of floor with shine began to overtake the dull-looking tiles.  When I am finished, the floors look nice and shiny but I know they won’t  have the same appearance by the next morning.

Most days I am a lot like those floor tiles and I suspect that so are you.  The traffic of life wears me down and takes off some of the shine that God’s Spirit has put within me.  It’s not that the surface is ruined, nor has it lost its usefulness.  No, it just needs a little time spent being refreshed and restored to its original beauty.  I find that the more often I take care of that, the easier it is to end up with the look that it’s supposed to have.  That is true about the floor and about your life and mine.  The more frequently we spend time with God in prayer and His Word, the less the “dirtiness” of the world has a chance to settle into our being making it much more difficult to remove.  I pray that each of us on a daily basis can say along with David the psalmist, “He restores my soul”.

Much of the rest of the work day was spent up and down ladders, trying to figure out some glitches in the building’s heating systems.  I’m not sure I accomplished a whole lot short term, but I continue to learn more about a complex and finicky system.  We all know some complex and finicky people, right?  How much time do you spend simply trying to get to know them?  Perhaps if you have a better understanding of who they are and how they work, you would have a greater opportunity to be an agent of change in their life.  And perhaps your understanding of them will be the method of bringing change to your life.

Each day seems to bring both challenge and opportunity.  I’m discovering that life works best when I go to God for wisdom in using both of these elements together.  It seems that opportunity with no challenge leads to complacency and challenge with no opportunity leads to frustration.  However, with God’s help, facing the challenge within you opportunity leads to fruitfulness.

The clouds may come and seem to overtake your life but often the recipe for beauty requires both sun and clouds.

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2016: Page 6

I keep thinking that I’m going to write these pages at the end of each day instead of waiting until the next morning.  I mean, what can happen in the few hours between when I go to bed and midnight?  Sleep!  Sleep is what can happen in those few  hours.   By the time I think about writing a recap of the day, I’m already tired and the idea of paying attention to what I’m writing is not appealing.  Plus, the night’s sleep often helps me to see the events of the previous day from a better perspective.

Another winter morning, anther heavy frost to scrape off the windshield.  The day began spending some time centering on the day’s prayer focus of being, and giving, an acceptable sacrifice to God.  Once that was set in my mind, I could begin the daily cleaning that needs done at the building.  I like days with no surprises — unless they are good surprises.  Today’s surprise was a puddle of water on the floor with a wet ceiling tile above it.  After examining the piping in the ceiling above the wet area, I could find nothing that was currently leaking or even wet.  I put a metal tray above the ceiling at the spot with the hope that I will be able to hear the dripping if, and when, it decides to leak again.

Once the building was ready for the school day, it was time to address some of the other tasks of the day.  But first a few quick  photos of another glorious sunrise coming up to greet the day.  It seemed to be a day to do, or arrange for, some of the building’s inspections and testing.  Being a building that is open to the public, there are a variety of systems that require recurring inspections and safety testings in order to do due diligence in keeping those who would enter the building safe.

It made me wonder about myself and about people in general.  What are some of the inspections that I should be doing in my own life?  Are they being done on a regular basis?  In Psalm 139, David writes of a need for a searching and testing in our life.  A search and test that we open ourselves up for God to do.  I need to daily ask God to inspect my heart because it is out of the overflow of the heart that I speak.  I need God to continually test my thoughts so that he can expose the anxiety (which at the moment is huge) so that it is identified and can be cast upon Him.  He must examine each part to reveal any offensive ways so they can be dealt with in order to walk in the way that leads to everlasting life.

The day also saw its share of deer coming by the office window to visit as well as a variety of birds.  I was able to photograph some birds that were familiar visitors and one that I had not seen before which people tell me was an Eastern Bluebird.  The blue caught my eye while I was on the phone and it was gracious enough to wait for me to take its picture before flying off.

Are you overdue for a spiritual tune-up?  When was the last time you payed attention to God’s inspection of your life?  What did you do about it?

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2016: Page 5

The day began with a heavy frost on the windshield and a crispness to the air that made the moon and stars appear especially bright.  As I cleaned the building for the day, I could see some deer outside along the edge of the woods grazing in the underbrush.  They didn’t seem to mind my working inside the building as long as they were free to enjoy their breakfast.  As the night turned into a bright sunrise crawling over the tree line on the back edge of the property, the deer made their way deeper into the woods and out of sight.

Part of the morning was spent catching up on missions correspondence and bookkeeping for the church missions and for Impact Prayer Ministry.  It was good to see how God has provided and to seek Him for what the next step should look like.  As last year came to a close, I had added up the quantity of books I had ordered and was amazed that God had given me opportunities to give away nearly 2000 total copies of the books I have written.  Even knowing that, for some reason the numbers on the financial report for the year caught me by surprise.  It shouldn’t have because I know the printing costs for my books range from $2.30 – $2.90 each.  But there it was in black and white, nearly fifty-five hundred dollars in printing costs all covered by the financial support God has provided for Impact Prayer Ministry!

There were other tasks throughout the day that kept me at work longer than I had planned.  As I got in my truck late in the afternoon to leave work, directly in front of my along the edge of the woods were two deer laying out in the bright afternoon sun!  The deer on the property are my friends and they will often show up outside my office window and not seem too frightened by me.  They often serve as a reminder to me from God to not let fear dominate my thoughts and life.  I pray each day that I would fear no evil because God is with me.

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2016: Page 4

The snow arrived overnight as predicted so it was an early start to the day as there were walks to be cleared and a building to get ready for the school day.  I’ve never been much of a morning person but the routine of being at work by six, or earlier on snow days, has grown on me.  There is something special that takes place as I go about my tasks during the stillness of the day.  The morning quietness helps me to quiet my spirit and listen more closely to God’s Spirit within me.  Even the lake effect snow that fell throughout the morning brought a fresh appearance to everything it touched.

Eventually the snow gave way to clear skies and bright sunshine!  As I finished up some office work, a wide variety of birds gathered in the trees and brush outside my window.  They were each laying claim to the berries and seed heads that stood out through the snow covered branches.  There were even a couple squirrels that joined in the party to see how much of the food supply they could claim as theirs.  It reminded me of the teaching of Jesus not to worry about tomorrow and the things the world chases after.  God provides for the birds and He not only has the ability to provide what I need, He knows exactly what that is even when I don’t.

One of the advantages I have learned about the early morning start to the work day is an early finish to the work day.  I took advantage of the first snow of 2016 to take a quiet nature walk at Potato Creek State Park late in the afternoon.  As I was taking photos across the lake and looking for one of the eagles that live there, I heard the whooshing sound of air movement as an eagle took off from behind me and flew over my head, disappearing into the distance before I could get my camera set and focused.  I left the lake side and took hike of about 3 miles, enjoying the blanket of snow and the sounds of the forest.  When I returned to my starting point, the eagle had also returned to his starting point but his location was surrounded on three sides by brush and one side by the lake so the few pictures I took were not the best.  That is okay because the pictures are really a bonus that allows me to share my experience with others.  The experience of being that close and feeling the wind from the wings of such a majestic bird is incredible.

I pray that God continues to keep me in tune with Him as I allow the quiet times of the day to refresh my spirit.

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2016: Page 3

Another day, another page.  Page three could best be described as restful.  Even with snow in the forecast and preaching a sermon in the morning, most things that I could have worked on got set aside so I could relax.  On the first Sunday of each month, I typically preach at the North Wayne Mennonite Church in the morning.  I had chosen to share a message, “A Gift that is WISE”, based out of Matthew 2.  The concept was to look at the wise gift of the Magi, the wise gift of God to us, and consider what a wise gift to God from us would look like.  As the service began, I noticed in the bulletin that the church would be spending time the rest of the month focused on learning about spiritual gifts with an emphasis on everyone using God’s gifting in their life to serve the body.  As this was highlighted during the announcement time, I marveled at how appropriate the message God had given me to share — not just for that morning, but to help prepare a thought process regarding God’s gifting to us and our appropriate response.

For several years now, my sermon style is based around using a word from the title as an acrostic that becomes the sermon’s outline.  For this one, the word was “WISE”.  We spent time considering a gift that is Wanted, a gift that is Intentional, a gift that is Sacrificial, and a gift that is Enough.  Each of these elements were a part of what the Magi gave when they encountered Christ.  The are at the core of the gift that God has given to us through His Son, Jesus.  How do I make these things central to the gifts I give to God, and to others, is the question that we should continually ask of ourselves.

While preaching probably doesn’t sound like the most restful thing to most people, and would have been completely stressful to me not that many years ago, I tend to draw energy from God when I have opportunities to preach.  Even in the midst of great weariness, this energy brings a spirit of refreshment to my body and soul.  The hours put into planning, leading, and overseeing the 30 Hours of Prayer focus at Deer Run had left me tired and in need of a refreshing that could only come from God.  Being able to preach helped begin that process.  Then a quiet afternoon of rest prepared me for an early bedtime so I would be able to start the workweek early the next morning and face whatever snow and work might come.