Page 270 was a somewhat usual start to the work week other than I woke up at 5 AM and decided I could get a little more sleep then didn’t wake back up until 6:30, missing the scheduled pest control service.  Fortunately, David was at the building and was able to let the service tech in to do his work before I got there.  As one who has never been a “morning person”, it is a sad day when arriving to work by 7 AM is starting the day late.  I started the workday cleaning bathrooms, taking out trash, and sweeping floors before settling in for my Monday morning writing routine.  As I spent time with God, first on this week’s prayer focus of perfection and then considering a topic for next week, the idea of endurance seemed to settle into my spirit.  When it comes to living with endurance, we have no greater example than Jesus.  The opposition faced by Jesus pursued Him all the way to the cross yet He endured even that, knowing that a greater joy was before Him.  Jesus knew that through faithful obedience and patient endurance, He would again be seated at the right hand of the Father.  It is when our faith wavers that endurance becomes especially difficult because we lose sight of the eternal reward that awaits us.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that we are able to run the race set before us with endurance when we keep out eyes fixed on Jesus.

By late morning, the prayer guide was written and I turned my attention to writing the monthly Impact Prayer Ministry newsletter.  The newsletter writing is always a joy because it gives me reason to intentionally look  back at what God has been doing and look ahead to where He is leading.  Once the newsletter was written and sent out, I finished the formatting and layout of what looks to be my next completed book.  The working title for this book has been “Devotions For Those Who Serve”, but in my initial proof copies I changed that to the subtitle with the title “Active Worship”.  Before the day was finished, I had changed the title a second time.  When I first began writing, I had laid out a series of four titles that I believed God was giving me to write.  Two of those four, “Seeking God” and “Knowing God” are poetical devotionals I have written.  The third, “Pursuing God”, is a collection of fifty-two weekly prayer guides.  The fourth title, which I had not yet used, is “Serving God”.  While I had initially thought that title would be a book based on a sermon series I have preached through the book of Acts, this current book of thirteen weeks of daily devotions focused on serving seems like the perfect fit for the title and to complement the series I had called “The God Series”.  So, at least at the moment, this next book will be titled, “Serving God: Devotions For Those Who Serve”.

After settling on the title and printing out a proof copy of the book so I can proofread it before final publishing, I headed out for a mid-afternoon lunch.  After lunch, I picked up some needed supplies for work and then called it a day and headed home.  Today’s photo was taken during an evening walk with my family along the St Joseph River in Mishawaka.  As the sun began to drop toward the western horizon, the shadows began to lengthen.  As I gazed at this scene, and then the photo, I thought about the importance of keeping the Son at the center of my life, rather than somewhere along the horizon, in order to keep the shadows of doubt from lengthening and taking over.  The further the Son drops from the center, the closer to darkness we become.  While the shadows from the trees make for an interesting and beautiful photo, allowing the shadows of doubt to fill our lives makes for a tragic and ugly ending to a life God wants to fill with His light.

I pray that you and I would run the race set before us with endurance.  I pray that we would keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as we seek to understand how to have the endurance we need.  I pray that we would be aware of the continual presence of opposition and choose to remain steadfast in our pursuit of God.  I pray that we would set aside time on a regular basis to consider how God has been working in our life and where He is leading us.  I pray that we would see all of the shadows of doubt dissolved by keeping the Son at the center of our life.

Page 269 was a Sunday with Bible study and worship at Deer Run.  Our Bible study class was in the fifth chapter of Esther today as we continue our way through that story.  When Esther first goes to the king and he invites her in as he is pleased with her, he offers to give her whatever she asks for, up to half the kingdom.  While it may have been tempting to take the king up on his offer right then and there, she and all the Jewish people had been fasting for three days as they sought God’s solution to the edict that would wipe them from the face of the earth if carried out.  Half the kingdom may have seemed like a workable solution to have the resources necessary to survive — but it would have been a shortcut to what God was going to do.  I’m afraid that far too often we are willing to take the shortcuts offered by satan rather than live with an integrity that stays committed to God’s plan no matter what.  Much of the time we willingly take the shortcut because we know it is our own plan we are pursuing and satan’s shortcuts are enticing because somewhere within us we know that our plan isn’t God’s plan and there is not way it will happen on our own.  We plan and then we pray as a polite thing to do in asking God to bless our plans.  What we ought to be doing is praying, and calling others to pray with us, so that we know we are pursuing God’s plan in all things before we take any action.

Following the Bible study class, our morning worship gathering included another sermon from Nehemiah as David continues his series out of that book.  Today’s message found Nehemiah arriving in Jerusalem to a scene that had to be at least a little disheartening.  We’ve all been there, right?  We may have even been warned, Nehemiah was, but we walk into a situation that simply takes our breath away — and not in a good way.  What we do next will often determine if the situation gets the best of us or if God gets the best of us.  One of the things we learn from Nehemiah is not only the importance of getting on God’s page to begin with, but the critical nature of staying on God’s page through everything.  From the moment Nehemiah heard reports that Jerusalem was in distress, he earnestly sought God in prayer and continued to do so throughout every step of obedience to God’s plan.  Even as he evaluated in person the problems that existed in Jerusalem, he did so not to determine if the work could be done, but to determine the scope of the work God had already called him to.  His commitment to hearing and doing God’s plan led the way through all of survey work he did in evaluating the actual condition of the city and its walls.  When it came time to recruit workers who would help with the rebuilding, he spoke with integrity — both about the amount of work that needed done and the hand of God that had been with him through every step of the journey to this point.  He didn’t soft sell the project or sugar coat it with empty promises and commitments he had no intention of keeping.  His integrity made it clear that this was God’s project and he was simply the on-site manager.  It was a big project, but one that God could handle.  It was through his integrity in keeping with God’s plan and explaining it as such to the people, that he was able to address fully the opposition that arose.  Without integrity in all aspects of his seeking God, of his careful evaluation of the walls, and of his explanation to the people, there would have been multiple footholds for the opposition to gain leverage and have some measure of success against the plan.  Through integrity in all phases, the opposition was silenced (at least for the time being) and the work would soon begin.

After the worship gathering at church, we had lunch and rested a short time before heading down to Potato Creek for a family walk.  We manged to walk, feed the mosquitoes, cross paths with some friends from church, and even shoot a few photos before the day was done.  The photo on today’s page is one of those from the afternoon.  As I saw it through the lens of my camera, it made me think of Nehemiah and how sometimes we just have to wade into the mess as we listen to God’s instructions on how to clean it up.

I pray that you and I would hold fast to God and His will even as the enemy works to convince us that his shortcuts are a better plan.  I pray that we would be in constant pursuit of God as we seek to live His plans and not our own.  I pray that we would reject any notion to use prayer as a means of pronouncing God’s blessing on anything that is not of Him.  I pray that we would learn, and put into practice, the lessons from Nehemiah in everything that God calls us to do.

Page 268 has been a decent start to the weekend, all things considered.  With the official arrival of Fall this week, the roller-coaster of temperature and various weather fronts has had Susan on her own roller-coaster of sorts.  Between seizures, a panda obsession, and nighttime fear, she ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor beside our bed last night. It is always a little uncertain what the morning will be like after this type of night, but she woke up at 8 this morning ready to get the day started.  While she had breakfast, I gave myself a much needed haircut.  We then spent some time together looking at pictures from this past week before heading to WalMart to get some photos printed for my dad and his brothers.  Once they were finished, we stopped by my office to pick up a copy of one of my books I didn’t have at home and then headed to the zoo.  This was the first Saturday in a very long time that Susan was awake before noon and wanted to go visit her zoo friends.  She saw the animals she wanted to visit, then we stopped by the market to drop off the book and photos I had picked up earlier.  One of my uncles had asked for a couple of my books to put in their church library and since I wasn’t sure which ones he was actually wanting, I sent along the entire set of seven books.  🙂

After the trip to market it was time to head home and get the pellet grill going for our Saturday bacon cheeseburgers — no mushrooms in the house today. 😦  The afternoon has been spent relaxing, playing computer games and some Wii games, and taking a nap.  I have been using photos I have taken to make promo pieces for my latest book and today I pulled up an old photo I took 10+ years ago of the sun setting over my parents’ farm to highlight the “Heaven is a Home with Family” devotional page.  I suppose that statement means different things to different people, and to some it probably needs to be clarified that heaven is a home with a loving family.  It is a loving family because God is love and He is the head of this family.  As Christians, I believe God desires for our families on earth to better reflect His family of love than what they often do.  And sometimes our families are filled with a love we don’t know exists until we are put to the test.  As I think about this particular devotional topic from my book, I can look back over this past summer and realize that the family I am a part of is filled with more love than we had probably ever noticed before.  It has been in the hardest of times and in the best of times that the family has come together.  When my brother’s daughter died in a car accident, we mourned together and the community mourned with us.  When we gathered to remember my dad’s 80th birthday and the life of my niece, we celebrated together and the community celebrated with us.  When another niece was married, we rejoiced together and the community rejoiced with us.  Through all of these events, and so much more, it is easy to see the love of God reflected in our family, through our family, and to our family.  While we’re not perfect, we do get to see a glimpse of the family that God has called us to in His heavenly home.

As I wind down the day and write today’s page, Susan is having more seizures so I’ll finish the writing and see what the night will bring us.  I pray that you and I would hold fast to God at all times, especially when it feels like things are going out of control.  I pray that we would look to God for the wisdom and courage to allow Him to transform our families to be more like His family.  I pray that we would value the family God has given us and that we would be the family to those who feel they have no one.

Page 267 began early as I headed into work to get the cleaning and building prep done so I could begin mowing around the building before school began for the day.  I do my best to not be a distraction to the students who are in the building as I remember a long time ago watching the maintenance staff mow lawns as I sat in an early elementary classroom.  I suppose the teacher had other things she expected me to be doing, but none of it was as fascinating as watching the tractor pulling a multi-gang reel mower across the lawn.  So I start mowing before the sun is up, and in doing so I deprive these young students from watching the grass clippings fly as I go by their classroom window. 🙂  When I think about how easy it can be to distract young students, my mind took me to the warning of Jesus that we should not cause one of these “little ones” to stumble.

Once the school day began I headed away from the building and finished the mowing for the week.  As I mowed, my mind reflected on the allegiance I have to Christ.  It seems like every time I look through my social media sites, I can’t avoid new commentary about sports figures who choose not to stand for the national anthem at the beginning of their sporting event.  While I believe that we ought to show respect for what the anthem represents within our nation and that we ought to honor those who defend, and have defended with their lives, the way of life we enjoy as Americans, I become appalled at the tone of the verbal attacks against individuals by those claiming to be Christian.  So I began to wonder as I mowed, “What if every Christian had a greater passion for pledging, and living, an allegiance to God than they do for anything else?”.  If my true allegiance is to God, it will show in the way I respond to things I agree with and things I disagree with.  The respect I have for God ought to be visible in the respect I show to others.  If Christians cannot be respectful in our conversations with people and about people, how can we expect any level of respect to be present in our society?  We have become such an angry society and while we express it in different ways, our anger often keeps us from even attempting to understand the anger of others.  “They” do something we find disrespectful and somehow we believe that gives us permission to have no respect for them.  Our lack of respect makes them even more disrespectful and on and on the cycle goes — at least until the faithful people of God stand up and say with their actions that their respect for God will compel them to have respect for others.

After finishing the mowing, I headed inside and took a first look at the lesson material for next week’s 1st through 3rd grade class I teach.  I always like to go through the material early enough to let the lesson theme and scripture soak into my mind so God can bring out what He wants shared.  By mid-afternoon it was time for a late lunch so I stopped by KFC and then took a quick walk along the river in Mishawaka.  It wouldn’t be much of a productive walk without taking my camera and as I did so today I got a few shots I liked.  One of those photos was of a leaf floating down the river.  If I were to title the picture which made today’s page, I would call it “The Heart of Fall”.  After my walk, I headed back to work and began the Friday evening cleaning to get the building ready for Sunday.  When I collected trash from throughout the building and took it out, there were deer playing on the back lawn.  I enjoy seeing them out and for the most part, they seem to be somewhat used to seeing me.  

I pray that you and I would seek to live life in a way that isn’t a distraction to others as they pursue God.  I pray that we would guard our mouth and our keyboard when others don’t act in the way we think they ought to.  I pray that we would live in a way that gives respect and honor to God.  I pray that our respect of God would be seen in the way we treat others with respect.  I pray that we would learn to listen with understanding  when we, and the people around us, are filled with anger.  I pray that our allegiance to God would be seen in the way we deal with anger — both ours and that of others.

After a long day yesterday, I slept well once I made it to bed but the alarm on my internal clock still went off at the usual time this morning.  I had thought about setting an actual alarm clock, but decided to let my body decide when page 266 would start. Starting at its normal time wasn’t a bad thing as I was hoping to get my kayak on the lake before sunrise in an attempt to catch some good photos.  I was out the door and headed down the road while it was still dark and did manage to get the kayak on the lake just as the first glimmers of light were crawling over the eastern horizon.  There were just enough clouds in the sky to catch the light from the sun and expand it into a brilliant display of color.  The air was calm to start the day which made the lake surface as smooth as glass and as reflective as a mirror.  The conditions were near perfect and I found myself snapping photo after photo in the stillness of the morning.

Today’s photo is from this morning’s sunrise but it doesn’t show a completely smooth lake surface.  The reason being is that I began my journey on the eastern shore where the sun was soon to rise and paddled out into the lake to get the vantage point I wanted for the photos.  As I shot back across where I had just been, the ripples of my presence were still noticeable.  As I paddled forward and gazed across the smooth lake surface in front of me, the ripples weren’t noticeable and it would have been easy to assume they didn’t exist.  It wasn’t until I turned around and began to look at where I had been that I could notice the “tracks” left behind.  It is easy, especially when life is smooth, to gaze ahead and see no evidence that our presence in this life makes any kind of a difference.  As bad as that conclusion is, there are many who look at the waters ahead of them and wrongly conclude that there is not evidence that God is making any difference in this world.  

One of the enormous benefits of journaling in some form or fashion, is that it provides a record of the “ripples” that have touched our life because of the working of God.  Throughout the Bible, God has called His followers to practice using various forms of reminders so they wouldn’t forget who He is nor what He has done.  When we are able to look back and see how God has touched our life in the past, it should give us great courage as we move forward regardless of how smooth or turbulent the waters ahead happen to be.  By journaling about the work of God in our life, we are also able to make note of how God has been using us to accomplish His good will and purpose in the lives of others.  We rarely see immediate results when we are faithful in being who God has called and created us to be.  God does His best work in us when it is done in a way that He alone gets the credit and we become somewhat invisible.  But even as we look back on that type of work in our life, we are able to see glimpses of how He has used it for the benefit of others and of His kingdom.  It is so easy to get discouraged when it seems we don’t make a difference — believe me, I know.  Yet how often during those times of discouragement do we just need to stop and turn around so we can see the reminders of what God has been doing all along?

I pray that you and I would listen to God when He calls us to times of rest with Him.  I pray that we would find times to enjoy the stillness of God’s presence with us.  I pray that we would listen to God as He calls us to remember Him and His work in us.  I pray that we would establish ways and means of remembrance that will also serve as reminders to others.  I pray that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus even as we look back to recognize the work He has been doing.

Page 265 was the 37th anniversary of my first official date.  At that time, you could get your driver’s license a month and a day after your sixteenth birthday so on September 21, 1979, as I was beginning my junior year in high school, I got my driver’s license in the afternoon and asked the prettiest girl in the school to go out with me for pizza that evening.  She said yes and two years later we said “I do” which also made page 265 the 35th anniversary of our wedding. 🙂  

Being a Wednesday, page 265 was a long, full day so the writing of it isn’t taking place until the next day.  The day began with the posting of a poem I had written for our anniversary and then it was the usual cleaning, building prep, and taking out trash from the day before.  Once the building was ready, I headed out to do part of the mowing for the week while the weather was cooperative.  On my first pass down the playground field, I noticed a deer peering out from the woods at the far corner of the lawn.  By the time I had made it 3/4 of the way down the field, she had stepped fully out of the woods to see what I was doing.  Before long, another deer had joined her and pretty soon a small flock of geese showed up as well.  As I kept mowing, they kept working their way along the edge of the lawn eating grass and leaves from the trees.  After a few rounds and it became apparent they weren’t planning to leave, I stopped and got may camera so I could take a few photos while I mowed.  

When I had finished the mowing I wanted to get done for the day, I headed inside and did some follow-up on some messages that had been left for me.  While I was working on that, my wife came in to say her workday was done and to see if I wanted to get lunch.  So even in the midst of a busy day, we did manage to go out to lunch together for our anniversary.  While we were out, I bought her a flash for her camera and we picked up a few things at Sam’s Club before I headed back to work to get ready for the Wednesday evening class I teach.  I’m still nervous about teaching 1st through 3rd graders, so I spent time not only planning out the lesson I wanted to teach, but also preparing a variety of options for communicating the lesson and involving the students in learning it.

Our topic for the evening was thankfulness.  While God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances, that can be difficult for most adults to put into practice let alone trying to help children look for ways to be thankful in all things.  Probably one of the best exercises in thankfulness for any age person is to start making a list of things we are thankful for.  What will generally happen, is one thing on your list will remind you of something else then that thing will make you think of another and before you know it, your list is much longer than you ever would have thought.  

Once the class time was over, I did my Thursday morning cleaning on Wednesday night so page 266 could begin on the lake watching the sunrise — but that’s information for its page.  By 10:00 PM I had the cleaning done and it was time to head home and call it a day — a day in which there was much to be thankful for.

I pray that you and I would hold onto whatever good memories we have from the past.  I pray that we would be diligent about celebrating the goodness of God.  I pray that we would live a life free from fear.  I pray that we would notice, and learn from, the lessons God places in front of us each day.  I pray that we would grow in our thankfulness.

Page 264 seemed to pass by quickly as I look back and wonder where the day went.  As fall quickly approaches, the daylight hours visibly shrink each day.  It is dark when I get to work and the sun doesn’t crest the horizon until after the morning cleaning is done.  This morning as I took the trash out in the pre-dawn light, there were turkeys, geese, and deer gathered around the playground area.  The low light combined with the distance I had to shoot from made for photos that weren’t as sharp as I would have liked but it also made the deer more curious than fearful.  As the deer watched me closely, I wondered how much attention we pay to the sources of potential danger that surround us each day.  I suspect that many times we are oblivious even to the physical dangers we face while the spiritual dangers never cross our mind.  God not only warns us of the spiritual battle that takes place, He also provides spiritual armor to protect us in the midst of this battle — but it is up to us to put it on each day.

After taking some photos of the morning wildlife visitors, I spent some time with a sign company tech as he worked on the lighting of our sign.  I’m not sure how productive that was as he said it was working even though the top part wasn’t lit when I arrived in the morning.  His only suggestion was that perhaps the bulbs weren’t putting out enough light and needed to be replaced — but he didn’t have any to replace them with and wasn’t sure if it was something they stocked.  While I didn’t say it, my immediate thought was, “so the lights are on but no one is home?”.  As he left without confirming a real solution, I thought about how often the light of Jesus, which dwells within us through His Spirit, isn’t visible from the outside.  While I suppose it is possible the bulbs in the sign aren’t putting out the light that they are supposed to, it is never the source of light which is the problem when we fail to shine as we ought.   

When the service tech left, I spent some time in prayer as I went over the lesson I plan to share tomorrow evening in the 1st through 3rd grade Bible class I teach.  The rest of my workday was a combination of prayer, writing, and lesson development.  It has been a long time since I taught early elementary students so I continue to prepare the only way I know how — with much prayer and an open mind that considers creative ways to teach the core truths of God’s Word.  

I pray that you and I would daily put on the full armor of God so that after we have done everything, we can stand.  I pray that we would be alert at all times, recognizing that our enemy is always on the prowl seeking ways to devour us.  I pray that we would let the light of Christ shine brightly through us.  I pray that we would give careful examination of ourselves when we notice the light isn’t as bright as it ought to be.  I pray that we would seek God for the wisdom needed to teach others.  I pray that would have the desire both to learn and to teach.

After enjoying the sunset over Lake Michigan last night with my family, it was very early this morning before I finished writing yesterday’s page and went to bed for the night.  After a night that was short, but restful, I was up early to begin page 263 with the usual morning tasks of cleaning and building prep to get ready for the school day.  Once the bathrooms were cleaned, floors swept, and trash taken out, it was time to shift the morning prayers to a listening mode for next week’s prayer guide.  As I spent time praying and listening while I considered several topics, I finally settled on the topic of perfection.  Paul writes to the Corinthians, and to us, and says to “aim for perfection”.  I believe most of us have concluded that perfection is unattainable, so we settle for something far below perfection when God has better things in mind for us.  When we allow the world to define perfection for us, it actually makes sense that we would decide a life-long pursuit of it is a waste of time.  However, when we look to God to define perfection for us as being transformed into the image of Christ, a life-long pursuit of that becomes a noble task and worthwhile endeavor.  When we set our eyes on things above and not on the things of the earth, we find that Godly perfection is more attainable than we likely imagined.  God gives us His perfect law and a perfect example to follow as we learn to give up self and take on the image of Christ in all we do and say.  In God’s view, our perfection is not an accomplishment of ours but rather a journey that “leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”  

As I finished up the prayer guide and got it formatted and scheduled to send out on Sunday, it was time to shift my prayer focus to the missions that Deer Run helps to support.  As I put on the “missions committee treasurer” hat, I spent time praying for a variety of mission endeavors as I took care of the monthly correspondence and accounting that goes with that role.  Because of the diversity in the types and sizes of the mission works that we help to support, it becomes obvious to me that the only measure of success that can be universally applied is their faithfulness in doing what they have been called to do.  The same is true for each of us as we live out the mission God has given us of making disciples — yes, that’s a task for every believer not just those involved in “official” ministry and mission work.  When we try to measure our perfection against the results of someone else, we will rarely measure us, or them, accurately.  It is only when we use faithfulness to God as the standard of our life that we will learn to shine as we were meant to.  While that is an easy statement to type, it is often difficult to live when our culture puts so much emphasis on measurable accomplishments that may not always align with living a life of faithfulness.

By mid-afternoon I had finished the day’s work and it was time to get some lunch and head home.  At home, I did some more writing  then took a nap until time for supper.  Once I had eaten, it was time to sit down and write today’s page before heading to bed to get some sleep in preparation for whatever tomorrow’s page may bring.  While there are many days that I seriously question if I’ve accomplished anything useful with my life, God continues to ask me the same question each night — “Have you been faithful today?”.  

I pray that you and I would pursue God through a life of faithfulness above all else.  I pray that we would seek to be perfect, just as our Father in heaven is perfect.  I pray that we would allow God to define the perfection we seek rather than adopt the world’s definition.  I pray that we would practice our faithfulness in living out God’s command that we make disciples.

“Let your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16