I began the day thinking that page 239 would be a very long workday, but it didn’t turn out that way.  It did begin early with the usual morning cleaning.  As I was picking up trash that had been left in the hallways, I noticed an incredible orange glow as I would glance out the windows.  It was so vibrant that I took my camera with me as I took the trash out to the dumpster.  I was glad I did as it appeared as if the entire eastern horizon was on fire as the sun began to crawl its way out of someone else’s daytime and into mine.  As I took a few photos of the sunrise, I noticed a couple deer at the top of the hill who were more interested in watching me than they were in the sunrise.

After taking some photos, I went back inside and finished the morning cleaning before checking messages and doing some follow-up with them.  With the sun finally up and the school day soon to begin, it was time to start mowing.  For me, mowing is a peaceful time when I can think and pray while the usual distractions are drowned out by the hum of the mower engine behind me.  At least the praying part is peaceful and the thinking part often leads to more of the praying.  On this particular day, much of my thinking and praying had to to with the subject of integrity.  It seems that many times we put much more effort into justifying our lack of integrity than we do in pursuing a lifestyle of integrity.  It is one thing for the unchurched to label Christians as hypocrites but it is often our integrity, or lack of it, that determines whether that label sticks or not.  I think one of the reasons I’ve had elders in the past tell me I’m too honest is that I try to do things with full disclosure — a level of integrity that attempts to let people see both the good and bad of an idea rather than simply telling half the story so that what I want gets done.  When it comes to promoting our ideas and plans, we have become effective salesmen even if that means we promise things we can’t deliver on.  While that may present an illusion of success, it eventually catches up with us.  Years ago, in the early days of satellite TV, I worked for an antenna company and we had a salesman that was very effective in making sales.  The boss was happy, the salesman was happy, the customers were happy — in fact, everyone was happy . . . at least until I went out to do the installation.  It was when it became time to put the salesman’s words into action that truth and reality overcame empty promises.  In those days, we were installing 10 foot dishes that needed a large clear line of sight to the southwest.  I was constantly having to explain to customers why the dish couldn’t go where the salesman had promised them it could.  Or why putting it directly behind a 10 foot privacy fence wouldn’t work.  Or why I had to drill a hole somewhere in their house to get our 1 inch cable through when the salesman promised we wouldn’t drill any holes.  The list goes on, but the point is that it wasn’t long before the company’s reputation began to suffer — not because we didn’t do good work, we did very good work, but because we weren’t able to keep our word as represented to the public by one of us.  Never mind that they were words that never should have been spoken, promises that never should have been made.  They were spoken and they were made and when we had to go back on our word, our reputation suffered as a company having no integrity.  Anyhow, a lot of thought and prayer takes place from the seat of a mower and today it was about integrity. 🙂

By the time I finished mowing, it was mid-afternoon.  I anticipated coming back for a late night of work as well, so I went out to pick up some lunch and sit by the lake at Potato Creek for a while before returning for my next shift of the day.  As I sat at the lake, I began to realize all of the things I wouldn’t be able to finish when I went back to work later.  We are in the midst of having photos taken for a church directory and where they are set up would make it impossible for me to vacuum the auditorium without greatly disturbing them.  With a group in the building for the evening and people coming and going all day Saturday as they get their pictures taken, there was no way any cleaning I would do would still give the impression of clean bathrooms, floors, and glass doors by Sunday morning.  As I sat and thought about all this, and realized I had already put in an 8 hour workday and was tired, I decided my Friday night cleaning would have to take place on Saturday night this week.  And so, I headed home and spent my evening relaxing.  I was so tired that I didn’t even get around to writing Friday’s page until Saturday morning after I woke up.

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the beauty that God surrounds us with.   I pray that we would find times and places that help us to put aside distractions so we can think and pray as we ought.  I pray that we would put so much effort into living a lifestyle of integrity that we would have no need to make excuses for why we don’t.  I pray that we would realize when we’ve done enough before we reach the point of exhaustion and ineffectiveness.  

Page 238 was a half day of work as I took time to get some rest before the Friday double-shift that comes tomorrow.  The day began with the usual cleaning and building prep as I got things ready for the start of another school day.  As I swept and took out trash, I thought about the continual nature of these tasks.  With school in session, every morning there are bathrooms to clean, floors to sweep, and trash to take out.  I suppose some might say those things aren’t necessary every day, but it is in doing these tasks every day that they remain manageable.  In our lives, when we deal with the cleaning, sweeping, and removal of trash on a daily basis, or even more often, we find the problems we face are not as likely to get out of hand.  At least in my experience, most of the temptation we face starts out as small amounts of “dirt” and “trash”,  What we do, or don’t do, with it immediately determines how much it “grows”.  Most mornings, taking the trash out requires two trips to the dumpster.  Multiply that times five and you can begin to see how quickly the trash would accumulate if it wasn’t taken care of on a regular basis.  

We would do well to spend time each day examining the words we have spoken, the words we have listened to, the things we have shared on social media, the things on social media we have allowed our eyes and thoughts to dwell on, the anger and pride that has crept into our heart and mind, the selfish thoughts and desires that seek to exclude the needs of others, and so many other temptations that come our way every day.  As we spend time with God examining such details, it should become apparent the cleaning that needs done and the trash that needs removed.  I have learned that in keeping the trash out of my life, it is best to not even view anything that is shared on social media with the disclaimer, “this is great, but excuse the language”.  If there is a thought that the language is not appropriate, then it is not great — it is trash!  Somehow we think that because it is such a small bag of trash that it is okay to not only leave it in our life, but we begin to see no problem in sharing it with others.  Satan is an expert in taking whatever small foothold we allow him to have in our life and stretching it into more and more control over us the longer we allow that foothold to exist.  If we don’t mind a “small bag of trash” spread out in our life, each day he will add a little more to it until our life is so covered in filth that we begin to believe cleaning up is impossible.  Fortunately, there is power through the blood of Jesus to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  When we cling to that promise each day, we find that the dirt of this world is swept away before it can create an ugly stain in our life.

Later in the day, as I worked on grilling supper, I shot some more photos of birds and butterflies that stopped by my front yard for a visit.  Today’s photo is a finch helping herself to some sunflower seeds.  They are fun to watch as they keep a tight grip on the plant and appear to pluck the seeds one by one from the sunflower head.  I rarely see a seed drop to the ground as their focus is not only on getting the good seed, but on keeping it.

I pray that you and I would examine our lives on a regular basis for any trash that we may have allowed to linger.  I pray that we would allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us as we seek the help of His Spirit in cleaning and purifying our hearts and minds.  I pray that we would pay attention not only to the trash that tries to creep into our lives, but also to the ways in which we might be spreading trash into the lives of others.  I pray that we would keep focused, with the power of God’s Spirit, on maintaining a life of purity in our thoughts, words, and actions.

Page 237 started with the usual cleaning and building prep for the day.  Once the building was ready and the trash was taken out, I settled into my office chair and began work on the monthly Impact Prayer Ministry newsletter.  While I always pray that the newsletter is useful in keeping people informed about what God is doing through the prayer ministry, the writing of it also serves as a time for me to reflect on what God has done over the past month.  Even as I look back, I look forward in anticipation of what God will do within my life, and in the prayer ministry, next.  Today’s newsletter reported on the incredible work God did with my writings and workshops at the National Student Conference and anticipated the work He will continue to do as I prepare for the International Conference on Missions.

Once the newsletter was done and sent out, it was time to take care of some minor issues in the building and then head home for lunch before getting ready to head back to the church for family pictures for the church directory.  As the day slipped away, I fired up the pellet grill and started on some cheeseburgers for supper.  While they were cooking, I sat on the front porch and took some photos of the flowers, butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds that stopped by to visit.  After supper I shot a few more photos then began writing today’s page.  These daily pages become a journal of sorts as they give me reason to both reflect on and record the things that God brings into my life each day and some of the lessons He teaches me through my daily activities.

As I go through a season of mental fatigue and discouragement, it is good to have a plan in place to reflect each day on how the presence of God continues to be revealed to me and through me.  As God uses my writing to encourage others, He also uses it to remind me that I have value simply because I am His child.  Even as He uses the giftedness He has placed in me to serve others, my worth isn’t based on how well I do that.  He has called me into relationship with Him and desires that I would love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.  I think of the story of Mary and Martha and how easy it is to think that doing is more important than being.  While Jesus doesn’t condemn Martha for all the work she is doing, He does make it clear that Mary has chosen better with her decision to simply be with Him.  Don’t get me wrong, our being with Jesus ought to produce certain actions in our life but pursuing those actions will not necessarily mean we have spent any time with Jesus.  Jesus does say that what we do to serve “the least of these”, we do to serve Him.

I pray that you and I would take time to reflect on the work God has been doing in and through us each day.  I pray that we would make it a priority in our life to focus on being with God as we enjoy His presence.  I pray that we would choose “the better things” and allow God’s love to flow through us in serving others.

Page 236 continued the school year routine of early morning cleaning and building prep.  With some cooler temperatures to start the day, I worked on some outside maintenance around the building after the inside prep was done.  Sometime in the morning my brother called and said he was set up at market for the day and discovered he had a flat tire.  When I completed the outside project I was working on, I stopped by the house to pick up a lug wrench, floor jack, and air compressor.  With what I hoped was the necessary equipment, I headed to market to see what help I could give my brother.  There was no sign of a puncture or current leak, so I plugged in the air compressor and inflated the tire to the pressure it should have.  Once it was full, we checked for leaks as best we could and found no sign of air loss.  After taking a walk around market and talking with my niece, I checked the air pressure in the tire and it had not changed from when I filled it.  With a good deed accomplished, I headed back to work where I did some follow-up in trying to get some of the outside lighting issues taken care of.  By early afternoon my workday was complete and I headed back to the market to take my brother some books that he wanted for a friend.  While there, I made a final check of the tire pressure and it was still the same as it had been earlier, so while that was good news it still didn’t explain the low tire to begin with.

I had made plans to have dinner with my mom and dad so when I got home we headed that direction by way of Potato Creek State Park.  While we didn’t see any of the eagles we were hoping for, I did get some photos of a muskrat, an osprey, and a deer grazing in a swamp area.  The deer fascinated me that it could be knee deep in mud with its tiny feet, wandering about as if on dry land.  When we arrived at the restaurant to have dinner with my mom and dad to celebrate dad’s birthday, my dad’s brothers were there also as well as his older brother’s wife.  It was a good meal and a good evening together with family.  

As I think about the day, family seems to be a theme was woven from beginning to end.  Even the deer in today’s photo appears to  be “with family” — or eats a lot better than the deer I see at work. 🙂  It was good to have the ability and availability to help my brother this morning when he called me about his tire.  It was good to spend some time outside at Potato Creek with my family even without seeing an eagle.  It was good to share a meal together with my parents and be joined by an aunt and two uncles that I don’t see or interact with often. The day also made me think of the family we have been adopted into as children of God.  Am I using my ability and availability to help my brothers and sisters in Christ when they make their needs known?  Do I enjoy spending time with the family I have in Christ even when its not exactly as I had hoped?  Do I value time with Christians who may be separated from me by some type of distance?  God’s family should be a place where each member is valued by one another and where we rejoice when we come together regardless of how much time or distance separates us from one another.

I pray that you and I would be mindful of opportunities to serve one another.  I pray that we would have families that we can value and honor.  I pray that we would be the family of Christ, especially to those who have physical families that do not function as families.  I pray that we would value the time we can spend together with our physical families and with our Christian family.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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