Page 55 began with an unsettled night for some reason.  Fortunately, part of the cleaning had been done yesterday afternoon so I caught an extra half-hour of sleep before heading in to finish the building prep for the day and check on some door security issues.  The weather guys had been calling for a winter storm so I wasn’t real sure what I would wake up to.  The storm hadn’t arrived yet and the light of the moon filled the sky with a hazy glow behind a light cloud cover.  After I picked up the trash to take out, I was told the school was on a two-hour delay with the potential of being closed for the day.  I was already at work and mid-way through my early morning tasks, so I kept at it.  After the normal tasks of my morning routine, I went out to service the snowblower and make sure it was ready should it be needed.  When I came out of the garage, the snow had begun falling lightly.  Throughout the day it has kept coming and by late evening added up to around six inches of snowfall with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

While an accumulating snowfall creates additional work, the sheer beauty of it is hard to miss.  When my primary tasks were done, I spent some time in the office confirming my registration for next week’s CCCA conference vendor fair and doing some writing in preparation for that.  At first the snow was melting as it hit the ground and the only evidence of it was the coating it left on the trees.  As it kept falling, it slowly began to accumulate on the ground, first with a frosty coating and then eventually covering up all traces of the dormant grass.  The scene reminded me of the hymn which states, “Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”  As the day progressed the dull, drab look of the ground and woods was transformed into a gleaming white snow globe scene.  God has the ability and desire to change the dull, drab, sin-stained existence of my life into a life of sparkling purity as His child.  God did the work through the blood of His Son, Jesus, to make me whiter than snow and He does the work to keep me whiter than snow.  But that doesn’t mean there is no effort required on my part.  I continue to “work out my salvation” with a full commitment to living a life of obedient faithfulness.  I take a stand to resist the devil and throw off the temptations and sins that seek to entrap me.  Yet even the work I do is not of myself, rather it is accomplished through the power of God’s Spirit living in me.

I pray that you and I would live daily in the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus.  I pray that we would make every effort to be found faithful when Jesus returns.  I pray that we would appreciate the beauty that God surrounds us with in creation and in the people around us.

I find myself often waking up just before the alarm would go off to start the day.  Sometimes I look at the clock and think I’ll get another 10 – 15 minutes of sleep and other times I get right up and get ready for work.  Most of the time I find that I am more alert through the day if I don’t try to get those few extra minutes of sleep after I’m already awake.  Today I got right up and went in to work where I could spend time with God in prayer as I cleaned the building for the day.  When I took the trash out, the full moon was beginning to set in the west as the sun was making its way up over the eastern horizon.  So back inside to grab my camera to capture and share some of the beauty God was allowing me to see.

As I watched the moon settling into the tree line on the west edge of the property, it reminded me of a ball stuck in the branches.  There is something comforting about the routines that are found in life and creation.  From one night to the next, it is difficult to see much difference in the moon and stars yet compare pictures taken a week or two apart and the changes are easy to see.  Sometimes I think we expect overnight changes in other people rather than accepting the slow and steady progress that we accept in ourselves.  God wants the transformation that He does in people to take hold and be permanent.  When we live each day a step and a time and make sure each step is in line with God’s Word, we build the patterns and habits of a godly life.  God’s Word teaches us that when we are convicted of the need to remove bad habits and sin from our life, we must replace it with things that are good and just.  When I put the effort into establishing a consistent lifestyle of prayer and worship, I find that they become natural parts of my daily life.  My interest in photography has helped me to not only capture, but to pay greater attention to the creative handiwork of God.  Keeping my eye open for a great photo helps me to see details of God’s work around me that I have spent a lot of years not noticing.

I pray that you and I would constantly evaluate our routines of life to see if they are drawing us closer to God or creating greater distance from Him.  I pray that we would deliberately add the things in our life that bear good fruit as we remove those things that destroy our witness.  I pray that we never lose sight of God’s presence and handiwork all around us each day.

Today was pest control day at work so it began a little earlier than what has become my “normal” early mornings.  After cleaning the building in preparation for the school day, I settled in to my usual Monday morning writing routine.  It is a routine that is filled with prayer and God’s Word as I work on the weekly prayer guide for the following week.  Depending on how much of the morning that takes, and if other needs come up, I also try to do some work on whatever current writing projects God has put in my mind to do.  Today was fun as I worked on a prayer guide with the focus of being redeemed and continued some work on the “Devotions For Those Who Serve” series.

As I worked, I could hear the birds singing their songs of worship outside my window.  Although today was seasonably cool, the warm temperatures over the weekend seemed to have brought with it an increase of birds wanting to sing their songs.  As I listened to them, I began to think about my worship of God.  Do I worship God because of His worth regardless of my circumstances or does my worship tend to reflect my perception of God’s goodness to me?  Am I content with the actual necessities of life when combined with God’s presence or do I complain when God doesn’t give me the things I think I need?  My interest in photography and nature constantly reminds me of God’s creativity and care for the things that are His.  This reminder is extremely useful as I realize that it is not just the birds and the flowers that belong to God and are cared for by Him, I belong to God and am cared for by Him.

Following work I stopped by Walmart to pick up two high gloss mounted photo art prints that I had done for the door prize drawings at the CCCA conference I will have an Impact Prayer Ministry display at next week.  These are photos of mine that were taken as part of my personal worship times over the past year.  I chose them for the conference because of the meaning they have to me as well as the appropriateness I feel they have for those involved in camp ministry.  The first is from an early morning kayak outing where I spent time with God watching the sunrise.  The scripture I put with it is a reminder that rest is God’s idea and plan for each of us.  The second is a close-up of a day lily and the tag on the back will reveal my title for the artwork to be, “Consider the Lily”.  The label will include the scripture reminder that we should consider the lily and how God’s clothing it with such beauty should serve as a reminder to us of His care for us as His children.  He says that we should not worry because He knows what we need.

I pray that  you and I would worship God with our songs and our life simply because He is worthy of all our worship.  I pray that we would rest securely in God’s love each day that we live, knowing that He is fully aware of our needs and He has the resources to meet them.

Page 49 of this year of life has been a full one.  The day started in the usual way with the cleaning and disinfecting of bathrooms and common areas at work.  I didn’t see any deer today but as I took the trash out, God had woven together quite a tapestry in the sky.  After grabbing my camera and taking some pictures of the morning beauty, I followed up with some email and phone messages from the day before.  

One of the emails and phone messages went together about a Facebook ad I was running to promote a post I had made to announce the release of my latest book, “Watch Your Mouth: Choosing Words Which Honor Christ”.  I had submitted a customer support request yesterday because the ad had used all of the funds I had budgeted for it in a very short amount of time.  This morning I had both an email and a phone message waiting for me to explain why that had happened.  As it turned out, my post was so attractive that it reached its advertising goal in less than an hour!  I sent an email reply back stating that I understood the explanation given and that their response was satisfactory to me.  A little while later I received a phone call from Facebook customer support and the lady I talked to said the ad was so well laid out that when she was looking at my account to understand the issue, she wanted to click on it!  She was impressed not only with the images I used but also the title and subject matter of the book.  I was greatly encouraged by our conversation and invited her to go ahead and click on the link, that she was just as welcome to the free Kindle book as everyone else.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to let God work the details out in situations that we don’t fully understand.  When I sent in the customer support request yesterday, I was frustrated that the ad quit running in less than an hour when other posts I had promoted had run for the full 2 or 3 days that I had scheduled.  By taking the time to listen, I realized that the response to this ad was greater in less than an hour than the other attempts had been during their entire multi-day runs.  Not only that, but God was able to encourage me through a source I hadn’t anticipated and I believe He brightened the day of a stranger through the writing assignments He has given me to do.

The work day was rounded out with overseeing some maintenance tasks being done at the building and tracking down some information about some network issues that we continue to have in the building.  When I eventually made it home, I was able to sit down and reflect on the beauty of the day God has given me.  I think the sunrise was just the warm-up to prepare me for the beauty of God’s encouragement as He gave me a glimpse of how He is using the gift of writing He has given me to share.

I pray that you and I would always be aware of God’s ability to not only use us to encourage others, but also use others to encourage us.