“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2 (NASB)

As page 134 came to a close, I gathered my chain saws and supplies in anticipation of doing some outside work during the church work day after the rain moved through overnight.  Page 135 was ushered in with a fierce storm as I could hear the wind howling and the sound of heavy rain and/or hail pounding the bedroom window overnight.  When I woke up, it seemed like the weather front had moved through so I got dressed and ready to load what I needed in the truck only to walk out of the house and into a steady rain.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not desperate enough to cut wood in the rain so I headed back inside.  Knowing there would likely be a group working on inside projects, I decided to go in later in the day to get the building cleaned and ready for Sunday after they were done.

Most of the day was spent doing nothing and eventually led to a nap on the couch before heading to work to get things done.  With temperatures heading into the 30’s overnight, my first order of business at work was to restart the boilers that I had shut down last week.  It didn’t feel bad inside when I arrived this evening, but without some heat going it would likely be a different story in the morning.  As I cleaned and thought about the day, I began to think that today’s page wouldn’t have much written on it.  Even as I took a break from the cleaning to try to write while my mind was still awake, I didn’t think I would have much to write.  Usually I write the day’s page and then realize I have a picture that I took that day that compliments what I had written.  Today was different.  As I thought about a day with some long elements of rest in it, the passage of scripture at the top of this page came to mind.  At a time when many seek help from every source imaginable, how refreshing it is to know that my help comes from the Lord — the maker of heaven and earth.  As I meditated on this and started through the photos on my computer, I came across a folder from a prayer journey to Salt Lake City in July of 2004 and the picture that ended up on this page seemed to ask to be shared.

Looking to God for help in our time of need is a lot easier to talk and write about when things are going well, or when we are comfortably surrounded by Christian friends and family.  It is when our life is in turmoil and we feel all alone that it can become very tempting to listen to the many voices calling for us to look elsewhere for help — or we listen to the voices saying there is no help.  Unfortunately, if we are not accustomed to knowing God as our help in the good times of life, we will often not feel comfortable looking to Him for help in our times of need.  I don’t know the troubles you face today, but why not look to God for help first?  And if you’re not experiencing troubles, why not look to God first for wisdom in how He can help others through you?  You have probably noticed that we are living in a world full of troubles.  And in this troubled world, many are seeking political solutions to spiritual problems.  Politics will never solve the sin problem that plagues this world, only Jesus has the power to do that.  While I do pray for godly leaders who would exalt God with their decisions, my help in times of trouble does not depend on that.  

I pray that you and I would fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, so that He is the One we would go to in times of need.  I pray that we would learn to show His love to all people, especially in their times of need.  I pray that we would seek wisdom in honoring our leaders and pray that God would raise up godly leaders that would turn their hearts toward Him.  As you look toward the mountains of refreshing or the mountains of trouble, I pray that you would know with confidence that your help comes from the Lord.  

Page 134 started extra early as there was a lot to get done on what was forecasted to be a dry and pleasant day.  The plan was to have the bathrooms cleaned, hallways swept, trash taken out, and all the inside prep work done for the day by the time there was enough daylight to be able to mow.  When I took the trash out at 6:30 AM, the color from the sunrise was just beginning to show on the eastern horizon so I fueled up the mower and began the task that I usually divide over two days.  There was still a slight chill in the air but I was ready for it today with a windbreaker and lightweight gloves.  It was a beautiful morning to be on the mower watching the grass clippings fly and the sun come up and crawl across the sky.  

The mowing took the rest of the morning so, with a work day scheduled at the church tomorrow, by noon it was time to call it a day and head for home.  At home I fired up the pellet grill and put a rack of ribs on it to start slow-cooking for supper.  Once it was going, we headed down to Potato Creek as a family to enjoy the beautiful afternoon and get some walking in.  We ended up enjoying a hike that was a little over 4 miles with an occasional stop along the way to take some pictures.  The sky was an incredible blue with a variety of white clouds scattered over the blue water of the lake and various shades of green from the tree and plant growth.  The songbirds were out in full force throughout the walk and their music simply added a beautiful soundtrack to all of the visual beauty.  After the walk at Potato Creek we headed home where I push mowed the front lawn while the ribs finished cooking.  It seemed fitting that my day would begin wrapping up in a similar manner that much of it was spent in — enjoying the look of a freshly cut lawn.

As I thought about the enjoyment I receive from both the process and the result of lawn and grounds maintenance, my mind turned toward the process and results that ought to be present in maintaining a life.  Without the regular maintenance of prayer and God’s Word, our life can start looking rather unkempt in a hurry.  We use our time with God to trim back unwanted and unnecessary growth so the beauty of God’s Spirit within us can be seen.  

I pray that you and I would spend time maintaining the life God has given us.  I pray that we would keep the overgrowth cut back so that the light of Jesus can be seen clearly in us.  I pray that we would find enjoyment in the process of maintaining a godly life.  I pray that the result of living a godly life would be a beauty to the people around us.

Another early start to a day that seemed to just rush right by.  I started the day with the routine morning cleaning and the toilet plunging which has become as necessary as the daily cleaning.  As I thought about how easy it is to get my head fully immersed in the routines of life that are rushing by, this photo I took a few days ago came to mind.  The problem of being completely immersed in the routines of life is that we lose the ability to actually notice what is going on around us.  It is so easy to feel isolated when all you are able to focus on is what you are doing and your immediate surroundings.  I have those times when I pull my head out of the current of life and there seems to be no one around.  It is in those times that I am more likely to seek, and notice, God’s presence with me.  And in His presence He shows me the benefit I am to others and that others are to me.  When I go to do things that I noticed days earlier that needed done and find they are already taken care of, God reminds me that I’m not alone.  When I set aside my schedule for a moment to help a stranger who is out of gas, God reminds me that they are not alone.

In addition to the usual building prep and cleaning for the day, I spent time with the state boiler inspector this morning as our heating systems were due for an inspection.  Inspectors tend to make me nervous but this one liked what he saw and both of our boiler systems passed with no issues needing addressed.  Once that was done, I checked messages and found that the president of the student conference I am working with this summer liked my current book project so I decided I better get busy at writing the pages beyond the table of contents and outline. 🙂  As I worked on writing, some friends stopped by to see if I wanted to go to lunch with them.  By then it was already one o’clock  and lunch sounded like a good plan so off we went.  It was a good meal and a good time of fellowship together before I headed back to the office to work on another day or two in the devotional journal I’m writing.  As I was writing, a red fox trotted past my office window and quickly disappeared before I could get any of my cameras out to snap a photo.  Years ago we had found a fox den with young pups around it in the woods on the church property but I hadn’t seen any evidence that they were still in the area until today.

I pray that you and I would use our alone times as opportunities to seek God and spend time with Him.  I pray that we would pay attention when God reminds us of the people He has put into our life for our benefit and encouragement.  I pray that we would make the most of every opportunity when God reveals to us the people He has put into our life for us to be a benefit to and encourage.  I pray that we would learn to trust God more fully each day.

Page 132 began with a widespread hazy fog that did its best to hang around as long as possible.  I’ve found that the “early to bed” part of the old adage makes the “early to rise” part much easier as I began my work day at 6 AM.  While the early morning work is often rather routine, and I prefer it that way, it does give me good quiet time to spend with God as I clean bathrooms, hallways, floors, and whatever else needs done to have the building ready for the day.  With a cool dampness hanging in the air, I decided not to start the mowing after the morning prep was done.  The forecast is a little more hopeful for drier weather the next two days so I’ll wait and mow on one of those.  So instead of mowing, I decided it was time to clean my office.  Well, that job looked too big so I decided cleaning off my desk would be a good start. 🙂  With all of the writing projects God has been giving me, MJ thinks I ought to clean off my desk every time I start a new book — I think that would be overdoing the whole thing.

The cleaning process is difficult for me because I typically know what is on my desk and an approximate location in the pile to find it.  Cleaning means that I have to figure out where to file each item in a manner that I can retrieve it when needed.  In addition to the cleaning, I worked on more writing as well as sent titles and descriptions in for the workshops I will lead this summer at the National Student Conference of the Association of College Ministries.  I will have the privilege of presenting two workshops; “Developing a Lifestyle of Prayer through Listening” and “Developing a Lifestyle of Prayer in the Real World”.  In addition to the workshops, one of my current writing projects is a 31-day devotional journal that God put in my mind based on the theme of the conference, “Not Home Yet”.  I appreciate all prayers offered on behalf of the conference and for my work in preparing the workshop and devotional material that I will share.

As I worked at cleaning and putting together info for the conference, a beautiful bird flew by my window and landed in the brush nearby.  When it first flew by I thought it was a cardinal, which are plentiful, but then I noticed it had black wings.  After doing an online search for red birds with black wings, I’ve concluded that it was a scarlet tanager.  While its color made it difficult to hide completely, it seemed to do its best to avoid being out in the open long enough for a good clear photo.  I don’t know if it was deliberately hiding or had simply found a food source in the brush that it was enjoying, but even surrounded by the green foliage I couldn’t help but notice it.

As I thought about this bird and my current writing projects, I began to consider how impossible it should be to hide the presence of God’s Spirit within us.  We ought to stand out as a bright light in a very dark world.  Wherever we go, whether trying to be unseen or simply surrounded by the foliage of the world, the essence of Jesus ought to be so vibrant within us that it remains visible at all times.

I pray that you and I would always let our light shine in such a way that people see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  I pray that we would realize that we represent Jesus wherever we are and that His light within us cannot be hidden.  I pray that we would have a desire to make Christ known with our entire being through all that we do.

After a good night’s sleep I felt a little more rested when I went to work to start page 131 with cleaning and building prep.  It was another rainy day so there wasn’t any outside work getting done and no Waist Management walk taking place.  After the building was ready for the day and the students began arriving I spent most of the morning working in my role as the missions’ treasurer for the church.  Doing so is always a fun time for me as I go through recent correspondence from missionaries and pray for them and the work God is doing through them.  As I finished up my work and prayer time with the missions focus, it was time for a weekly mentoring/discipleship lunch with a friend.

When I returned from lunch it was still raining steadily so I settled in my office chair to work on some writing in the daily devotions series that I have in process.  Today’s devotional writing was about various aspects of serving with integrity.  While it can be a very complex topic, one of the simplest approaches to laying a foundation for a lifestyle of integrity is to follow the teaching of Jesus to let your yes be yes and your no be no.  Many times we struggle with being a person of our word because we are too quick to speak and too slow to listen.  We commit to things only to change our mind when we have more information.  We want to sound confident so we agree, or disagree, before we even know what doing so will cost us.  We are so accustomed to a lack of commitment in our culture that we think nothing of “changing our mind” when it comes to broken promises and disregarded vows.  Not that there isn’t a time and place for changing our mind — that’s the very heart of repentance.  

James says that everyone should be quick to listen, slow to become angry, and slow to speak.  That instruction makes for great building material to go with the foundation of keeping our word.  Our integrity is strengthened when we make an effort to listen — both to God and to the people around us.  Sometimes we destroy our reputation, and our integrity, by not being quick to listen so our response is more of a quick to become angry that does much harm to our witness for Christ.  For most people, when they are easily angered they are also quick to speak.  That combination gets people in trouble faster than almost anything else.  To be a person of integrity means that we keep our word and that we listen to others so when appropriate to respond, we sound like Jesus.

As I worked at writing the devotional pages, a woodpecker flew by my window and landed in a tree nearby.  As he made his way up and down and around the tree, he kept pecking away at the bark in search of his “daily bread”.  Integrity in his life could be defined by being, and doing, what God created woodpeckers to be and do.  In a culture that is so rapidly trying to redefine everything according to our own wishes and desires, perhaps the greatest representation of integrity in our life would be for us to simply be and do what God has created us to be and do.

I pray that you and I would be involved in the work of global missions with our prayers, our resources, and our life.  I pray that we would seek to live a life of integrity.  I pray that we would grow to be people of our word in all circumstances.  I pray that we would learn to listen first to avoid speaking in haste or becoming unnecessarily angry.  I pray that we would be content with being who God created us to be.

I’m getting a little earlier start than usual in writing out today’s page.  While the cool, drizzly day doesn’t seem to be helping any, I don’t think the weekend fully caught me up from the extra long day last Friday.  If I get this written early then perhaps I will head to bed early and get some extra sleep.  Anyhow, page 130 began early with the Monday morning cleaning and the prep to get the building ready for the school week.  Once the building was ready, I settled in to my Monday morning writing routine.  A big part of the morning was spent with God writing next week’s prayer guide as it just didn’t seem to come together as quickly or smoothly as most weeks.  I suppose it is fitting that it took more time than usual as I eventually settled with the topic of waiting.  🙂  Waiting can be a difficult thing for most of us — particularly when the time of waiting goes beyond an acceptable length of time that seems to vary greatly from person to person.  Whether we measure our time of waiting in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, or lifetimes, we all reach a point when we are tempted to say, “That’s long enough!  I’m done waiting!”

I have people ask me from time to time about my process of writing.  I’m not sure that I have a process but I do have some routines that I like to follow once God has put a book concept in my mind for me to write.  To begin with, all of the ideas for the books I have written and published came out of my prayer time.  Many times the seeds were planted by an individual or group and as I would pray about a conversation or topic, the idea to write about it would fill my mind.  One of my current projects is a good example of that.  I connected with the Association of College Ministries last year and provided one of my devotional journals to each person attending their National Student Conference.  As I worked with them to plan of this years conference, I found out that the theme for the student conference this year is “Not Home Yet”.  As I prayed about the conference and the potential for my leading a workshop, this theme began to resonate in my mind.  As I prayed the words of Jesus in the model prayer came to mind, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Then the title, “Almost Heaven: Devotions For The Journey Home”, filled my mind.  From there, I spent time searching the scripture for characteristics that the Bible uses to describe heaven and/or the kingdom of God.  From that list I narrowed down 32 topics to use for the daily devotional thoughts in the book.  After the outline was complete I began to work on the cover.  As I went through my photos, one of the shots I took in the mountains of Virginia last fall jumped out at me and seemed to beg to be the cover photo.  Once I have the cover designed and the interior outline laid out I order a couple printed copies that I call layout proofs.  This gives me a physical book so I can make sure the look and feel is what I want.  After that come the actual writing.  With this devotional journal style that I am currently working on, I look up the scripture reference from the outline and spend time with God praying about what that verse says within the context it is written.  As I pray, I jot down questions that come to my mind and then write out some corresponding devotional thoughts and prayer points.

Anyhow, the way that all fits into today’s page is that the layout proofs for the “Almost Heaven” project arrived over the weekend and I was able to see and feel what it will be like when completed.  As I looked over it and started with a reminder overview of the daily topics, I was reminded of how God wants us to live as kingdom citizens on this earth to prepare ourselves, and those around us, for the heavenly home we are headed toward.

I pray that you and I would learn to trust God fully in the times when He calls for us to wait.  I also pray that we would respond with appropriate actions when He says the waiting is over.  I pray that we would listen to God for direction and timing in all we do.  I pray that our listening would produce complete obedience.

Page 129 was a beautiful Sunday to spend time with the church family in worship of God.  It was also Mother’s Day here in the U.S. as we celebrate the people in our lives that we call Mom.  After the morning at church, we headed to Subway for lunch and then headed down to spend some time with my mom and dad and eventually my sister and her family as they also came to wish mom a happy Mother’s Day.  After an afternoon at the farm, we came home and I put some pork chops on the pellet grill to smoke while we headed to the river for a quick late evening walk while supper cooked.  Throughout the walk we would cross paths with different families of geese.  Geese aren’t the friendliest creatures to begin with but when they have young ones with them they become an incredible force to be reckoned with.  It is always fascinating to watch various “moms” in what we call the wildlife world watch over and protect their “children”.  Even when the young ones are curious, the mama goose will only let them investigate to a certain point of safety before she steps in and puts an end to the curiosity.

I had a mom that both gave freedom and set boundaries.  My mom wanted me to learn new things and grow but she also wanted me to learn to be aware of dangerous situations and know how to avoid them and/or handle them.  God calls all parents to “train up” their children but before you start thinking that lets you off the hook because you don’t have children or they are already “trained”, He also calls every Christian to make disciples — “train up” the next generation of believers.  The lessons we learn from godly moms, and dads, can be applied in our obedience to God’s command to “make disciples of all nations”.  

As I finish up the written part of today’s “page”, I conclude with a Mother’s Day poem I wrote two years ago.

Today is a day,
     we honor our mother.
But how is that different,
     from any other?
While it is nice
     to set aside a day.
Honoring our parents
     is really God’s way!

You may not be one,
but surely you’ve had.
Your very own mom,
I pray good and not bad.
The lessons we learn
from a mom who is good.
Are things we should hear,
to do what we should.

To Plead for her children,
this mom always will.
She lifts them to God,
praying that He will fill.
She Respects those around her,
even God when she prays.
She wants Him to guide her,
each of her days.

When things take a wrong turn,
she Adapts with the best.
She still has a focus
that her children can rest.
As she talks with God,
her spirit does Yield.
She may not understand
but she trusts in His shield.

These are some lessons,
a godly mom can teach.
They’re also the same ones
that I plan to preach!
I pray that you listen,
to God’s Spirit in me.
And He shows you clearly,
what He wants you to see.

© 2014 by Tom Lemler

I didn’t end up getting to bed until after page 128 had technically begun.  My work hours on  page 127 kept me at the church until nearly midnight, so page 128 began with BBQ chips and a Klondike bar for dinner before heading to bed.  🙂  What it did mean was that I was able to sleep in a bit this morning.  Once I was up, I spent time going through the photos I took yesterday at Potato Creek and of the sunset at work.  The photo on this page is one that caught my eye.  It reminded me of the song which says, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens.  Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.”  There were several times during yesterday’s hike that I found myself looking up through the treetops to the cloud dotted sky.

After going through photos my family and I headed to Bass Pro Shops and then stopped along Lake Michigan to do some walking and take pictures.  The wind was blowing steadily and the waves were rolling in against the shoreline with great force and beauty.  One of our stops was at Washington Park in Michigan City where we photographed the lighthouse and Chicago skyline.  It was such a beautiful afternoon so it wasn’t too surprising to discover when I got home that I had taken over 300 pictures.  It was fun to realize that whether it was a long, busy day like yesterday or a relaxed, restful day like today, God found ways to remind me of his love and faithfulness.  Perhaps the song only has it partially right — God’s love also reaches from the heavens and His faithfulness stretches forth from the sky!  

I pray that you and I would pay attention to the presence of God with us at all times.  I pray that we would recognize His love reaching toward us and filling us with a love that is able to reach back to Him.  I pray that we would know His great faithfulness in a way that empowers us to live faithfully for Him.  I pray that we would enjoy the beauty that God surrounds us with as we acknowledge Him as the source of creativity and wonder.