Tom’s Book of 2016

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2016: Page 87

Page 87 was Resurrection Sunday and it finished off a great Easter weekend.  The morning was spent at the church building in worship and celebration of Jesus.  Our Sunday School class has been examining God’s view of wisdom as we go through the book of Proverbs.  The warnings given about the enticement of evil and the allure of sin is just as applicable today as when it was written thousands of years ago.  It is in the context of seeking God’s goodness and truth that the resurrection of Jesus makes the most sense.  While the resurrection of Jesus was a great work of God, I believe that an even greater work was accomplished through that event as it allows for a resurrection of your life and mine.  The Bible makes it clear that those who have died to sin and have been buried with Christ can have the confidence of being raised with Christ through the power of the resurrection.

Following the church service, we drove down to Subway to see if it was open for lunch.  While it would have been convenient to grab a sandwich (and cookie) for lunch, I was pleased to see it was closed for Easter Sunday.  We had prepared for the likelihood that Sunday dinner would be at home, so I went home and fired up the wood pellet grill to cook some chicken tenderloins.  There is something special about the smoky sweet taste of food prepared on the pellet grill with a maple mesquite seasoning.  After dinner we took advantage of the warm weather to do some hiking and photo taking at Potato Creek State Park again.  With being able to get from our front door to the park in under 15 minutes, it has become our go-t0 waist management walking place.  Susan’s all-terrain wheelchair has been a great blessing in allowing us to enjoy the trails as a family again.  Even though it rolls along the trails very well, it is still an extra workout for me to push it.

As we prepared to begin our hike, one of the eagles glided to a landing in the tree next to where we were standing.  He stayed around long enough for us to get a few photos then took off to have some conversations about air space rights with a few gulls and osprey.  Even thought it had only been a couple of days since we were last out, the changes in the spring growth along the trails was obvious.  More of the spring flower plants have come up through the ground and there was more in bloom to serve as reminders that spring is definitely here.  I love the early spring flowers because they serve as good reminders of living a resurrected life.  So much of the woodland floor is covered with the brown of dead leaves and fallen twigs, yet out of that appearance of no life comes the flowering plants and blossoms of spring!  

So often, we look at our circumstances or the situations that others find themselves in and we conclude that there is no hope.  All we see is dry, lifeless surroundings so we lose sight of the power of God that resides within us through His Spirit.  God wants us to live a resurrected life now, not just when life on earth is over and He calls us home.  We need to allow His spirit to push through the barrenness of our flesh so that His beauty can be seen.

I pray that you and I would celebrate the resurrection of Jesus each day that we live on earth, and then celebrate it with Him throughout eternity.  I pray that we would not miss the reminders of the power of the resurrection that God surrounds us with each day.  I pray that we would live a resurrected life in such a way that Christ is seen in us and through us by all we interact with.

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2016: Page 86

Page 86 followed a late night of work so it was an opportunity to sleep in a bit and have a relaxing start to the day.  Once we were all up, we ran some errands together as a family and then got ready to head to Hammond, Indiana for a birthday open house for one of MJ’s cousins.  While the birthday celebration gave MJ a chance to visit with some of her Neyhart cousins that we don’t see often, we were more focused on helping Gene spend some time with his two remaining brothers.  On the way up to Hammond, we stopped at the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Lake Michigan National Lakeshore park to take some pictures as well as at Bass Pro Shop and Cabela’s to sight-see in a different way.  🙂  

As I thought about the day, I thought about the picture I attached to this post of a tree on the beach standing tall.  I thought about the wall of photos at the Hessville Christian Church where the birthday celebration was held today — photos representing those who were sent out from the church to stand tall in full-time ministry.  I thought about the prayer offered by the son of the 70 year old “birthday boy” thanking God for a dad who stood tall and set the moral direction for the family.  I thought about my father-in-law and his two brothers that sat at our table this afternoon — how they’ve stood tall in faith and family. 

As I thought about each of these “snapshots”, and so many more, I was reminded of the strength of character and endurance necessary to stand tall in this life.  From there, my mind wandered to the love required for Jesus to stand tall and endure the mistreatment, the mocking, the complete disgrace and dis-figuration that was a part of the path to the cross.  Sometimes standing tall means standing our ground, but more often it means laying down on our cross and surrendering our will to the will of our Father.  As we seek to stand tall in meaningful ways, we must find ourselves hidden in Christ and filled with His Spirit.  We must be willing to be bent and shaped by His wind and waves in our life as we’re molded by His hand.  

I pray that you and I would be “pliable putty” in the hands of God.  I pray that our desire to stand tall is not about our posture but about our being found in Christ.  I pray that as we allow Christ to shape us, we would be the representatives of Jesus to our families, our neighbors, our communities, and our world that God desires for us to be.  I pray that our standing tall in this world would begin with the foundation of being found on our knees in prayer.

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2016: Page 85

Earthdate: 20160325 — These are the ramblings of one traveler’s journey on earth as he makes his way toward a heavenly home.

Page 85 is a Friday, but it is Good Friday so it was able to become a family day for the most part.  We were all able to sleep in and start catching up on some of the rest we missed out on through the week.  Once we were up and I had finished my coffee, we went out to eat and then headed down to Potato Creek for a 5.66 mile hike.  It was fairly cloudy and overcast when we began, but the clouds began to break apart and it was soon mostly sunny with puffy white clouds dotting a beautiful blue sky.  About a mile into our walk, we passed one of the osprey nests where a pair of osprey were defending their territory against those who were wanting to move in.  It was beautiful to watch them soar overhead and then eventually see one dive into the lake and come up with a fish.

After the hike, we headed home to get ready for the Good Friday service at church.  I headed to the church early to do some cleaning touch-ups at the building and spend time with God going over a communion meditation I would share at the service.  When I got to the building, the touch-ups I had planned on doing had already been completed by my coworkers so I spent the whole time focused on what I would share later.  As I prayed about this throughout the week, I had already settled on John 6 where Jesus tells the crowd that it is by eating His flesh and drinking His blood that they will have eternal life.  This was a teaching so difficult that many quit following Him from then on.  Part of the difficulty was that this teaching followed soon after the feeding of the 5000 and many of the crowd only wanted Jesus to supply more bread to fill their stomachs.  

But it was also a difficult teaching because it called for the eating and drinking of flesh and blood — something that sounds repulsive to us even today, at least without the explanation Jesus gives as He shares His final Passover meal with His disciples.  Every time I join with other believers in taking communion, my mind paints a picture of the broken body of Jesus hanging on a cross with His blood being poured out and I get a cold shiver running up and down my spine.  My mind doesn’t dwell there forever though, because Jesus said this was to be a reminder that proclaims His death until He comes.  When you add the “until He comes” part in, it becomes a proclamation not only of His death but also of His burial, resurrection, ascension, and His promised return!  That is what turns that cold shiver into a warm presence of God’s Spirit within us.  

After the Good Friday service, I began working on my Friday night cleaning to get the building ready for Sunday.  With the touch-ups that were done before the service, there isn’t quite as much to do but I still find myself waiting on the floor scrubber to recharge so I come to the office and write today’s page while I wait.  Waiting always reminds me of the verse in Isaiah where we’re told that those who wait on the Lord will rise up on wings like eagles.  While I didn’t see any eagles today, the osprey have a similar flight.  They seem to have a patience about them that waits on the wind and what we know as thermal updrafts so they can soar high above with what appears to be little effort.  I think that is at least part of what God is talking about.  When we have the patience to wait upon the “wind” and “thermal updrafts” of the Holy Spirit, we too can soar high with little effort as we submit ourselves to being carried along in the will of God.

I pray that you and I would understand the life that we gain as we eat and drink the flesh and blood of Jesus.  I pray that we would wait upon the Lord for His renewal in our life so that we would soar on the winds of the Spirit.  I pray that we would live a life that proclaims the Lord’s death until He comes. 

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2016: Page 84

Sometimes I think it takes MJ and I longer to recover from Susan’s rough nights than it does for her.  Page 84 was going to be a day to catch up from some long days and short nights but that didn’t take place as I had to eat some German Chocolate cake, so to speak — more about that later. 🙂  The day began early with the regular cleaning and prep work for the day.   I found out mid-day yesterday that I would have 30 students helping me this morning to serve and be a blessing to me and the church.  With rain in the forecast for all day, that meant I was scrambling to find indoor things for them to do that would not be disruptive to the other 20 students and the 30 preschoolers who would still be having classes.  I did manage to find enough supplies to keep them busy wiping down walls and baseboards with damp cloths for most of the time allotted.  

As the students went back to class and I spent the rest of the morning cleaning up after them, I thought about the German Chocolate cake I would eat each year for my birthday when I was young.  My older brother loves German Chocolate cake and, from what I’m told, my mom makes one of the best.  I say “from what I’m told” because I don’t like German Chocolate cake.  Yet because it became the traditional family birthday cake, every year I would eat as small a piece as possible accompanied by as much ice cream as possible.  I knew mom had spent a lot of time and effort in making it — there were no box mixes of any kind in the house when I grew up.  I knew better than to complain about the cake, or any of the food mom made for us each day.  In just trying to figure out life I knew I did enough things to disappoint my mom that I couldn’t imagine doing so intentionally.  She wanted to bless me with a birthday cake, the least I could do was to bless her by eating it.

All of this made me think about they ways I try to bless others.  Do I try to be a blessing according to my need or in ways that benefit those I wish to bless?  How do I know the difference?  How do I know what others would consider to be a blessing to them?  Each of us have people in our life that when special occasions roll around we know exactly what to give them.  Yet there are others in our life that if we wanted to give them something meaningful we would have no idea what it would be.  The difference is usually related to how much time we spend listening and observing compared to talking and doing.  The Bible says we should speak to people in ways that benefit them “according to their needs” which may be different from ours.  We have a responsibility to serve others in ways that consider their needs above our own.  

Whether recognized or not, the greatest need any of us have is the need for a growing relationship with Jesus.  It is this need that should determine not only how we serve and bless others, but how we respond to the serving and blessing that is done by others.  While we would like others to understand our needs, we must realize that won’t always happen anymore than we will always understand the needs of others.  Sometimes they just aren’t paying attention and sometimes we don’t know how to communicate what our needs really are.  Sometimes we just have to eat cake so that we are a blessing to those serving it even when it is not what we really wanted.  While that may be difficult, it is a sign of growth and maturity. One of the things I like most about spring is the visible signs of growth that appear all through creation.  As I’m out hiking this time of year, the flowers begin to appear and the trees begin to bud and leaf out.  The signs of growth are hard to miss.  I wonder if the signs of growth in your life and mine are just as obvious.

I pray that you and I would truly be a blessing to others according to their needs.  I pray that we would take the time to understand the needs of others and what things would be a true blessing to them.  I pray that we would value the attempts of others to serve and bless us.  I pray that we would not be guilty of robbing others of a blessing that we are able to facilitate.  I pray that our growth in Christ would be visible to those who are watching us.

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2016: Page 83

While they all cover the same amount of time, some pages feel much longer than others.  Page 83 began at midnight, not sleeping as I usually would be but with a rush of adrenaline as the sounds of Susan having a major seizure woke us up.  Once she was finally through the seizure and her needs were taken care of, it felt like I had just fallen back asleep when the alarm went off signaling a need to wake up and head to work.  At work, I took care of the cleaning that needed done and took out the trash all the while praying that Susan would have a good day after such a rough night.  When she arrived in the office a little after 8, she was happy and content to rest in her chair for much of the morning.  

I needed to run some errands so I took Susan with me.  When we got back to the building we drove out to check on the timber harvesting process that we’re having done.  As I watched them skid the logs out of the woods and load them on semi trailers, I marveled at the equipment being used that we would have only dreamed of back in the days of my childhood as my dad an uncle ran a sawmill together.  I was also reminded of the incredible goodness of God who arranged this timber sale at the exact time we were needing to replace one of the major air conditioning units at the church.  The initial estimate of the value of timber to be harvested was about four thousand dollars short of what the air conditioner was going to cost.  However when the trees were marked and the final estimate given, the down payment made to the church was just enough to cover the air conditioner replacement!  God had been growing the trees that would be needed to meet the need that existed.

Trusting God can be a very difficult thing.  Often times we believe God can supply all our needs but our mind begins to doubt if He will or if He would even want to.  Many times we think we can do pretty well with meeting our own needs so we don’t even attempt to trust God.  It is as if we are convinced there is a limit to how frequently God is willing to act on our behalf so we “save up” our requests for things that are catastrophic or beyond hope.  Far too often though, when those catastrophic times come we wallow in hopelessness and despair because we have not learned to trust God with the “little” things so we have no clue how to trust Him with the “big” things.  When we’ve not learned to trust God, we often find ourselves trying to “fix” our problems with man’s strength and wisdom and not with God’s.  

I pray that you and I would daily make the decision to trust God in all things.  I pray that we would go to Him first for direction and wisdom in how He wants to meet our needs.  I pray that we would recognize when God uses ordinary things to accomplish extraordinary tasks.  I pray that recognition would cause us to always give God the glory and credit rather than pat ourselves on the back and take the credit for ourselves.

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2016: Page 82

After a late night of cleaning on page 81, I slept in a little bit but still made it to work by 8 AM to meet the crew that started harvesting timber on the property today.  During the day I took care of needs in the building while also working on the monthly Impact Prayer Ministry newsletter and getting it sent out.  As I was getting ready to leave work, our pest control person showed up so I stayed around while he did his work.  

As I took some time to unwind this evening, I started going through some photos that I had taken over the past few days.  There were quite a few pictures of the osprey that have returned to Potato Creek State Park, including one that at first glance appears to be an osprey with two heads.  While it is obviously just an illusion caused by two osprey sitting close together, it still made me think of the phrase “two heads are better than one.”  While this is a true, and even Biblical, statement in the context of seeking advice and mutual encouragement, the phrase falls completely apart when talking about the church.

The thought of an osprey with two heads soaring in the sky, building a nest, plucking fish from the lake, or accomplishing any other useful task seems rather far-fetched.  Yet how often do we expect a multi-headed church to grow and prosper, giving no thought to who it receives its instructions from?  God describes the church as His body with the head being Jesus Christ.  While most churches that I’m familiar with would claim that Jesus is the head of the church, many operate on a day-to-day basis as if a preacher, an elder, a charismatic personality, an influential group, or some other person or entity is really its head.  Jesus is still given the title but is easily relegated to the role of figurehead as others determine all the decisions while spending little or no time listening to God.

Before we come down too harshly on the church, what about you and I?  Jesus is not only set apart by God to be the head of the church which He bought with His own blood, as individuals we are members of that body still accountable to the same head that the body as a whole must submit to.  The Bible teaches that God has not only knit our physical bodies together, He has carefully fashioned the church out of the individual members that make up the body.  For our physical body to be considered responsive to the head, each part must take its direction from the head.  When a part of the body does its own thing without responding to and submitting to the head, we rightly determine something is not right.  When the individual parts that make up the body of Christ do their own thing without responding to or submitting to Christ, the problem should be just as obvious.  The church is only submissive to Christ as the head to the degree that the individuals within the body are submissive.  When I am more concerned about what people might say or think than I am about what God has said, I am acting as if the body has two heads.  When I start doing that, it isn’t long before I simply choose which head I listen to based on what I want to hear.  

I pray that you and I understand, and live under, the headship of Christ in all things.  I pray that we would listen to the head as we live the part of the church body He has created us to be.  I pray that we would reject the temptation to look to ourselves or others as the head of anything we do.  I pray that our focus on Christ as head of all things would keep His body from appearing to be double-headed and keep us from living as double-minded.

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2016: Page 81

The written part of page 81 is being typed from my office before I head home for the day.  The day started early and is ending late, but I did manage a short break in the middle.  After the morning cleaning and prep for the day, I settled into my Monday morning routine and spent time with God putting together the prayer guide for next week.  This week is focused on praying about the need to guard our steps.  Next week will be focused on praying about the life we have in Christ.  It is always fun when I think I have an idea for one of the weekly prayer guides and when I sit down with God and my Bible, something different ends up being written.  Today was one of those days and the funny part is, I don’t even remember now what my idea was before God brought the life in Christ theme into my mind.

Once the prayer guide was written, I needed to pick up some cleaning supplies and some items for a meal I was preparing for our leadership board meeting.  So Susan and I spent some time together and went out to Gordon’s Food Service and Sam’s Club to get what was needed.  By the time we got what was needed and arrived back at the church, I had a discipleship/mentoring lunch appointment with a good friend.  We had lunch and a great discussion about faith and how it should guide our decisions and steps each day.  After lunch I finished up some work at the church building and then, knowing it would be a late night, I headed down to Potato Creek to spend about an hour hiking and taking pictures.  On my way back from there, I stopped by the house and  picked up the crock pot of pulled pork that I had spent Saturday cooking on the wood pellet grill.  Back at the office I caught up on some correspondence regarding the prayer ministry and some potential uses of the writing God has allowed me to publish.  It wasn’t long before it was time to get ready for the board meeting, so I set out the food on the conference table and gathered the needed plates, napkins, and plastic ware.

The meeting went well enough . . . as meetings go.  🙂  This is a great group of guys to work and serve with.  Once the meeting was over, I decided it was late enough that I may as well do my Tuesday morning cleaning tonight so that my arrival time tomorrow isn’t nearly as important.  As I cleaned, I thought about all the work that goes into what happens at 2730 South Ironwood each day.  I thought about our desire to do everything with excellence and considered how often we (I) don’t quite reach that standard.  So often it is “almost perfect”, or “that’s almost what I wanted”.  I see that a lot in my photography as well.  Occasionally I will take a picture that when I view it I say, “That’s exactly what I had in mind when I shot that photo!”  More often than not the reaction leans more toward, “That is almost what I thought it would look like.”  The photo I share on today’s page is an example of that.  I was shooting with two cameras and as I was adjusting one, I looked up and an osprey was coming into the nest with a fish clutched in its claws.  I’m shooting with an extended zoom which is difficult to keep steady but I go ahead and take the shot only to see after the fact that I almost got the shot I wanted, but not quite.  I know it’s a fish in its claws because I was there,  but most of the fish didn’t make it into the photo.  I could have deleted the photo but decided that even though it isn’t perfect, it still captures a great deal of the detail I wanted.

Sometimes it is easy for us to get into a perfectionist mode with not only our self, but with other people as well.  None of us are perfect (I know, big surprise.), but often we act like the people around us ought to be.  Sometimes all we seem to be able to see are the imperfections in people when God wants us to look at the whole person and see the beauty and detail He has created.  When the picture of our life is flawed it doesn’t mean we’ve failed, it only means we’re human.  God is very good at taking flawed lives and using them for incredible good.  

I pray that you and I would consider the excellent nature of God within us the next time we look at ourselves or others and think, “That’s not what I wanted.”  I pray that when our eyes drift toward the imperfections, we would look carefully at the beauty God has put within each person.  I pray that we would be filled with the grace and mercy that comes from God, even as we seek to do all things with excellence.

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2016: Page 80

Simple beauty.  Page 80 was a day of worship and simple beauty.  Page 79 ended with great frustration and discouragement but by applying the lessons God taught me yesterday, I was prepared to worship God and enjoy His beauty today.  One of the reasons I enjoy being part of a church where we take communion together every week is really quite practical.  It reminds me every week of the price that was paid to free me from the penalty of death earned by my sins.  As I take the bread and cup each week, I’m filled with an attitude of worship as I reflect on the great love God demonstrated toward me in sending His Son to pay my debt.  If that doesn’t draw you to a place and attitude of worship, I have no idea if anything will.  

After a time of worship with the church family, I was part of a brief missions committee meeting and then headed to lunch with my family.  After a stop at home to change clothes and get our hiking shoes on, we headed down to Potato Creek to continue our worship of God as we took in a piece of His creativity and beauty.  After dropping a waist size in my pants since beginning a somewhat regular hiking/walking schedule, I’ve begun calling these walks our “Family Waist Management” program. 🙂  While the fitness and weight loss are great benefits, the real benefit is found in deliberately spending time with God in the midst of His beautiful creation.  I am always amazed at the simple beauty that is often overlooked, but surrounds us all the time.  

Most of us notice the big things when they become so obvious or spectacular that they can’t be missed.  At the park it is the eagles, the osprey, even the lake itself that draws the most attention.  Yet by walking through the park in an attitude of worship and an eye toward God’s creativity, each step becomes filled with a simple beauty that fills my heart with worship.  Today included some incredible views of osprey, ducks, the beautiful sky and lake, leaves starting to open on the raspberry vines, and some of the early wildflowers beginning to open.  Photography has become a means that God has used to help me pay closer attention to my surroundings to see His handiwork.

As I thought about the contrast between the majesty of the bald eagle and the intricate beauty of the tiny crocus, I wondered how often we miss the simple beauty of the people around us because we are so focused on the glitz and glamour of those in the limelight.  James tells us that we must put away all forms of partiality and treat one another as brothers and sister in Christ regardless of where they stand in any system that our world uses to divide people.  God would want us to notice every person we meet as His child and see the beauty and potential He has put within them.  When we notice those who feel small and insignificant, we are able to see God at work in big ways.

I pray that you and I always have our eyes opened to the simple beauty God has placed around us.  I pray that we would not only notice this beauty in the creation of nature, but more importantly in the creation of the people around us.  I pray that we would live without partiality in the way we see and treat others.  I pray that our recognition of simple beauty would fill us with a greater desire to worship God at all times.

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