Some days I look back and try to remember if I did anything worth writing about at all.  Page 213 is one of those days.  I guess that is part of the benefit of writing these daily pages — they often serve to remind me not only of what I was doing throughout the day, but more importantly, some of what God was teaching me through those moments.

My day began with a stop to put some fuel in my truck as the low fuel warning light has been on for a couple days.  On my way into the building at work, I stopped and took care of a wasp nest that I had been told about Sunday.  They were not very active in the cool air of the early morning, so I was able to remove and destroy the nest without too much trouble.  Once inside the building I checked to make sure the bathrooms and the rest of the building were ready for the day.  As I turned on my office computer to check messages, I noticed a baby deer out munching on the brush at the edge of the woods.  As I got my camera out, it was soon joined by its mother so I was able to get a few photos of both of them before they wandered into the woods.

Most of the rest of my workday was spent working on a combination of a sermon for Sunday, the Growing Strong prayer retreat concept, and started the monthly record keeping for the Deer Run missions.  I suppose working on each of those projects without finishing any of them contributed to my feelings of not accomplishing anything.  It is in the looking back that I can see I made progress on each of them that moved me nearer to readiness and completion.  It is a good reminder that God judges my life according to faithfulness and not according to a checklist of tasks completed.  Sometimes it is not my job to complete a task today but to just move it further along.  Or as the Bible teaches, some planted, some watered, but God gives the increase.  

By mid-afternoon, my workday was done and I stopped for a late lunch on my way home.  At home, I put a little more work into the Growing Strong retreat material and then did a little unwinding with some computer games.  By early evening I thought about going for a family walk, but ended up in a nap instead.  After I got up we did go out for a walk, but it was cut short by a steady rain that fell even with a large proportion of blue sky overhead.  We still managed to get some walking in and took some photos while we were out.  With the rain and sun combination, I kept looking for a rainbow but none was found.  On our drive home, a short piece of a rainbow began to appear and when we got home it was still present in the sky.  Today’s photo is of that visible portion of the rainbow.  It was a good finish to the day as it serves not only as a reminder of God’s specific promise to never again flood the entire earth with water, but it also serves to remind me that God always keeps His promises.  That is a comforting reminder to know that my relationship with God is secure because of His promise, not because of my accomplishments.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• When you’re near empty, it is a good idea to refill before you can’t go any further.
• Just because it feels like you didn’t accomplish anything, it doesn’t mean you haven’t.
• Dealing with problems in an environment that is calm is easier than waiting until the situation is agitated.
• When people or things are agitated, sometime it is better to wait until calm prevails, if possible, to deal with problems.
• Sometimes my task is only to complete a task that is part of a bigger picture.  The finishing of the bigger picture may be mine for another day, or it may not even be mine to complete.
• Faithfulness in keeping at what God wants is better than accomplishing and finishing what I want.
• Even when the rains come, it is good to get outside and spend an evening with my family.
• God always keeps His promises.  He even reminds us not only of His promises, but of His faithfulness in keeping them.

Page 212 was a Monday, so it began with a building walk-through to make sure it was ready for the day.  I straightened up some things from yesterday then restocked the toilet paper and paper towel in the bathrooms before settling in with God for my Monday morning prayer guide writing routine.  This morning was a good example of why it is important to spend time with God in prayer and listening — especially when I direct a prayer-based ministry.  Throughout the weekend, the idea of affirmation had been on my mind and I thought that is the direction I would take in the prayer guide I would write this morning.  However, as I spent time in prayer and study, it became clear that affirmation was a word meant for me but was not the direction for this prayer guide.

What did eventually settle in my mind was the topic of living with patience.  I know, we often talk about how dangerous it is to pray for patience because it is through the testing of our patience that it grows.  But the good news is that not only does God instruct us to live with patience, He equips us to do so by the power of His Spirit within us.  As I spent the morning with God writing the prayer guide, I realized that even the most patient of us often struggle with the practice of waiting.  I often tell people that if they want to see just how impatient we are as a culture, just wait one second at a traffic light after it turns from red to green and see, or hear, what happens.  But I think the real test is when the person in front of you doesn’t move immediately when the light changes to green — how do you feel and respond?

Once the prayer guide was written, I took the time to format and schedule it to be sent out Sunday in both my weekly email and on my web site.  I’ve had several weeks when I’ve run out of time on Monday and then forgot about it until late in the week and found myself finishing it up on Saturday morning so it was good to get it done today.  While I was in the writing/study mode, I turned my attention to considering what God would have me preach at the North Wayne Mennonite Church on Sunday.  I thought that my last time there was the end of a “Living as the Lord’s Servant” series I had been preaching, but in my prayer and listening time this morning I think I’ve settled on at least a couple more sermons that will be in the series.

I finished out the workday putting together some ideas, promotional material, and a tentative schedule for what I am calling Growing Strong Retreats.  These will be prayer-based retreats filled with teaching and practice designed to help us grow strong in the Lord.  I am currently working on dates and locations for Fall 2017 and Spring and Fall 2018 retreats which will be weekend retreats that include housing, meals, materials, and a strong dose of teaching and practice of prayer principles.  The Growing Strong Retreats will also be designed so that churches, camps, campus ministry groups, and other interested groups could host it at a their location according to their need and schedule with Impact Prayer Ministry providing the teaching and materials for the retreat.  For more information, check out the Growing Strong Retreats page on my website: https://impactprayerministry.wordpress.com/growing-strong-retreats/.

By late afternoon it was time to finish up the workday and stop for a late lunch on my way home.  At home I did some more work on the retreat plans, spent some time resting, and went outside to take some photos before dinner.  Today’s photo is one I took as I was waiting on the hummingbirds to show up at the feeder.  If I had to title it, I would call it “Living in the Shadows”.  From where I was standing, the rose blossoms were beautiful but partially hidden by the leaves of the rosebush.  With the hummingbird feeder above them, it is easy to completely miss the fact that the roses are beginning to blossom.  But even in the shadows of the leaves and feeder, they bloom and share their great beauty because that is what they are created to do.  That is a difficult lesson for many humans, including myself, to learn.  Even when it feels like we are living in the shadows; if we’re where we’re supposed to be, God has created us to blossom and share His beauty right where we are.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Many “small” tasks only seem small until they aren’t done.  You probably don’t give a lot of thought about who stocks the toilet paper in a publicly used bathroom unless you go into a stall that doesn’t have any when you need it.
• Even when you practice listening to God, it is important to understand through your prayer time the purpose of what you hear.
• Many times God communicates through His Word and His Spirit things which are meant to be shared to encourage others but sometimes His primary purpose is to encourage us.
• Even when you think you know what God wants you to do, it is a good and important idea to continue listening.
• Being patient is difficult but it is also part of the fruit of God’s Spirit so we don’t have to be patient in our own strength and ability.
• Just because we think something is finished doesn’t mean God thinks it is.  And just because we think something should continue doesn’t mean God thinks it should.
• God wants us to grow strong as we learn to more fully rely on Him through a lifestyle of prayer.
• Living in the shadows can be comforting for some of us but we are still expected to shine and bloom if that is where we find ourselves.

Page 211 began early as I made my way to work so I could clean bathrooms and make sure the building was ready for the Sunday worship gatherings.  Once the building was ready, I headed home and spent some time writing yesterday’s page before getting myself cleaned up and ready for church.  It was a good morning to spend in worship of God with fellow believers and David shared a great message on earnest prayer from Acts 12.  The first century believers knew what it was like to face persecution and trouble from all sides, including from corrupt government and religious entities.  Their solution caused the church to grow at such a pace that it was said they were “turning the world upside down”.  It is a solution we would do well to put into practice concerning every area of our life, but unfortunately we have often become too educated, too self-important, too self-reliant, and too proud to earnestly go to God in prayer about everything.  We invest too much time and effort into coming up with our own answers that we cannot risk going to God to learn His ways are not our ways.  But many times it is in the deepest of trouble, when all else has failed, that we are willing to humble ourselves enough to earnestly pray.

This morning David shared three characteristics of the earnest prayer taking place within the first-century church that we would do well to put into practice.  I’m writing today’s page early enough that I don’t yet have the video of the service to refresh my memory as to David’s wording of the three points, but here is my take on them: 🙂

• Earnest prayer is often revealed during times of trouble.  In the text, James had been put to death by Herod and because doing so had pleased the people so much, Herod had Peter arrested with the plan to put him to death as well.  While Peter was in prison awaiting a trial that likely had a predetermined outcome, the believers had gathered and were praying earnestly.  While the trouble seems to have intensified their prayers, the previous chapters of Acts leading up to this moment make it clear that earnest prayer was nothing new to this group of believers.  If we want to have effective and earnest prayer in times of trouble, it is important that we have developed a lifestyle of prayer so we know exactly what to do when trouble comes.
• Earnest prayer often precedes deliverance — even unexpected deliverance.  The deliverance of Peter is an interesting story.  We find that Peter is sleeping the night before his trial.  Given what had been done to James, Peter had to have had a pretty good idea what the outcome of the next day would be — yet he slept.  Chained between two guards with other guards at the door and in the midst of a secure complex, Peter is awakened by and angel who lead him out of the prison.  Peter’s first thought as this is taking place seems to be that this deliverance is just a vision — a picture from God to let him know that everything is under control no matter the outcome.  Yet once Peter is away from the prison and the angel disappears, he realizes this deliverance was a real, physical deliverance from a real, physical prison and the likelihood of impending death.  And when he appears at the house where the believers were engaged in earnest prayer, they don’t appear to be expecting this type of deliverance at all.  God is a God of deliverance and it is through earnest prayer that we connect with the deliverance that He knows is best for us and for His kingdom purposes.  Sometimes that means we are delivered from troubles and hardship and sometimes we are delivered through troubles and hardship.  Either way, it is our earnest prayer that recognizes God’s hand at work in delivering us in just the right way, at just the right time, and for just the right purpose.
• Earnest prayer calls us to give testimony to the work of God in answering our prayers.  When you find yourself delivered from certain death — and honestly, all those who are in Christ have been delivered from such — it can be very tempting to run as far away from the surroundings you were in when trouble first came your way.  In fact, before the chapter ends, Peter does leave for another place — but first there was something that needed done.  Because earnest prayer was the lifestyle of the believers in the first century church, Peter could be confident that this is what was taking place on his behalf.  His deliverance wasn’t only about him temporarily escaping death, it was also about strengthening the faith of the early church.  The story of his deliverance needed to be told and it needed to be told to those who were earnestly praying.  Once the testimony was given and the strengthening of faith accomplished, Peter could then go on to another place.  It is often the testimony of God working in our life in response to the earnest prayers of our self and others that God uses to strengthen not only our own faith, but the faith of others.  God’s desire is that we tell our story and give Him the credit as we give testimony to the work of God that takes place through a lifestyle of earnest prayer.

After the church service, we went to lunch then I spent the early part of the afternoon relaxing and checking on my online notifications.  Two things stood out while I was doing that.  One, I had a number of friend requests from high school classmates that apparently found me online through other classmates sharing about the children’s book I just published.  It is exciting to me to see people responding so favorably to the work God gave me to do.  And two, I had a request from someone I had never heard of so I went to their page and found that they live in Kenya.  The first thing posted on their page was a thank you to another person, whom I don’t think I know, that sent him a copy of my book, “Pursuing God”, as a resource and encouragement.  As I saw a photo posted of a book I have written that made its way to Kenya, God encouraged me to keep being faithful in what He has me doing and that as I wait upon Him, He will renew my strength and give me rest.

Eventually I headed out to the porch to photograph some of our resident hummingbirds.  Today there were at least four different hummingbirds that wanted to claim the feeder as their own.  Some days as I have watched, the birds have been pretty casual about spending time at the feeder but today they seemed to always be looking over their shoulder, or wing, and with good reason — if they spent very long at the feeder, they were soon “buzzed” by another hummingbird that would chase them away from the feeder.  They are fun to watch because even as they are hovering, my camera shutter isn’t fast enough to fully capture their wings.  Today’s photo is of one of the birds coming in for a drink and while I captured the body of the bird in a “stop-motion” photo, the wings are just outlines captured as they were flapping.  As I’m still feeling the effects of not enough rest over the past week, this photo made me think of the phrase about not letting the grass grow under your feet.  Even while seemingly paused in mid-air, these wings were flapping so fast that they could barely be seen.  I know the feeling, don’t you?  It feels as if you would simply fall to the ground if you didn’t keep going, and so we keep on flapping at whatever it is we’re doing.  Perhaps sometimes God would rather we stop flapping and fall to the ground so that He can pick us up.

After spending some time photographing and then going through the photos I took so I could share a few online, I decided to start the writing of today’s page rather early with the plan to perhaps head to bed early to get some extra sleep before the start of the work week tomorrow.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• There are many ways to respond to trouble, but none more powerful and effective than earnest prayer.
• Pride is one of the biggest hindrances to having a lifestyle of earnest prayer.
• God knows how to encourage me when I am discouraged — I just need to pay attention and continually draw near to Him.
• God can use our work in ways that we cannot think or imagine if we are willing to turn it all over to Him.
• The applause of people is a poor substitute when it leads us away from hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant”, from our Lord.
• The applause of people can, however, be an encouragement when that applause is given in recognition of a life of faithfulness to God.
• Sometimes it is difficult to truly be still when we think we are in competition with others for what we need.

Page 210 was a Saturday but I was awake in the early morning hours so I started the day by writing Friday’s page.  After the page was written, I went back to sleep for a little while and then spent much of the morning going through photos from my recent conference trip and working at increasing my book’s online presence.  It was fun to look through the photos, both of the walks I would take during the breaks and of the conference sessions themselves, and notice the variety of ways God chooses to reveal Himself to those who would seek Him.

I had been checking on her all morning, and by noon I was able to persuade Susan that it was time to wake up.  After getting her started for the day, I fired up the pellet grill and got the bacon cheeseburgers started for lunch.  I also put on water to boil sweet corn that I anticipated MJ bringing home from market.  My brother grows some of the best sweet corn and what I ended up having for lunch was no exception to that.  Once I had finished off the corn and lunch was over, I spent some time relaxing before we decided to head out to see what we could photograph.

The afternoon/evening took us along the shoreline of Lake Michigan as various news sources were reporting “wild water” that was too dangerous to swim in.  The view across the lake was beautiful and the waves were steadily rolling onto the shore, but they weren’t really all that impressive to me.  I think the bigger issue is that they were creating rip currents that could easily pull those in the water off their feet and under the water’s surface on the way out to deeper water.  Even with the warnings, most of the shoreline areas with beach access were packed with cars and the line getting into the Indiana Dunes State Park was so long we turned around and didn’t enter.  We eventually made it to a small, out of the way park that wasn’t crowded and spent some time photographing the scenes there.  Today’s photo comes from that park as we saw this butterfly clinging to this flowering plant in the midst of a wind that was blowing both back and forth quite vigorously.  It reminded me of God’s instruction to resist that which is evil and cling to that which is good.  Sometimes we are quick to compromise truth and sound doctrine simply because we are not really clinging to either and it seems expedient at the time to let go of what we ought to hold onto.

After photographing the lake scenes and Chicago skyline from the park, we made a quick stop at a nearby Bass Pro Shops where we walked around for a while and left with no new belongings. 🙂  A stop to eat after our store wandering had us back through Michigan City for the sunset at Washington Park.  While the daylight hours are decreasing each day as we head toward fall, the sun still sets late enough that it makes for a long day to photograph it, drive home, and then spend time going through the photos taken because you’re anxious to see how they turned out. 🙂  But that’s what we did and even knowing I needed to be up early to finish cleaning bathrooms and getting the church building ready for the Sunday morning gatherings, I found myself working on photos until after midnight — thus today’s page being written the next morning after I had gone in and gotten my work done.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• I find that when I can’t sleep, there are usually plenty of productive things I can do until I can sleep.
• They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I suppose the 500+ photos I took at the recent student conference are immensely more valuable than the 6 “pages” I wrote during my conference trip.
• Being able to “re-see” things through photograph not only reminds me of what I experienced, it usually reveals things I didn’t notice the first time.
• Tradition and routine are neutral elements on their own — their usefulness depends on whether they serve us or we serve them.
• Many of the dangers of life can be predicted and warned about but because they don’t always look “that dangerous”, we tend to ignore godly warnings.
• When the storms of life begin to surround us, it is important that we cling to what is good no matter how intently the winds of the storm try to blow us off our foundation.
• I never get tired of watching the beauty of the sun setting across a body of water.
• Sometimes we are driven to finish a task and stay up as long as it takes to do so.  God wants us to be that focused in pursuing Him and finishing that task with faithfulness no matter how long it takes until we can fully rest in His presence.

Page 209 was an exciting and productive day.  I began the day checking messages before heading out into the early morning coolness to begin mowing.  I enjoy mowing, at least the large area mowing with the rider, as I find it relaxing and it is easy to look back and see what was accomplished.  Some tasks in a ministry of service are difficult to measure in terms of accomplishment — the only true measure for those is often faithfulness.  

By mid-morning I took a break from the mowing to get a snack and a drink.  While I was in the office the proof copies of my illustrated children’s book came in, so I eagerly went through them to make sure everything was correct.  After checking out the printed book, I gave approval to shift the process from “in process” to “completed” so I could order copies and begin the process of making them available on Amazon.  As I approved them for publication, all of the information stated that it is typically three to five days before they become visible and available on Amazon — so, back to the hurry up and wait routine.  After doing what I could with the book for now, I headed back out to continue the mowing.

By early afternoon I made it to the back field and there was a deer standing along the edge of the lawn watching me mow.  After I had mowed awhile and she kept watching, I went inside to get my camera so I could get a few photos.  The pictures weren’t horrible, but I don’t think taking photos while sitting on a running mower is a good way to get clear, sharp images.  I suspect the vibration of the engine running was enough to put just enough of an element of movement in the process to make the photos less than I had hoped.  I think a similar outcome is the reason God says we should be still and know that He is God.  It doesn’t seem to take a lot of movement in my life to cause my image of God to blur just a bit.  The more hectic and chaotic life becomes, the less in focus God becomes to us — we usually get that.  It is usually the times when we think we have stopped to gaze into the beauty of God and His Word but we keep our engine of life running at full speed during a momentary wait, that the blurriness  of the image catches us by surprise. 

After finishing the mowing, I was ready to call it a day and head out for a late afternoon lunch.  As I stopped by the office, I discovered that Amazon’s three to five days had been accomplished in three to five hours as my book was being listed for sale on Amazon’s site.  So instead of going to lunch, I spent some time sharing the link to the book page — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1946319015 — and then working with Amazon to link the paperback and Kindle editions on the same online listing.  By then, the afternoon was turning into evening and I was tired and hungry and people were coming into the building, so I decided to head home and finish up the inside cleaning and building prep early Sunday morning before the Sunday School and Worship gatherings.

At home I spent a little time unwinding before heading out for a lunch/dinner combination with my family.  After eating, we headed down to Potato Creek to enjoy the evening and see what we could find to photograph.  Today’s photo was a good scene to begin wrapping up the day’s excitement with.  While we didn’t stay long enough for the actual sunset, watching the sun as it sat low in the sky and reflected off the water, was a relaxing reminder of God’s glory being present throughout creation.  With no eagle present at their usual locations, we drove through the park to enjoy the scenery.  As we were about ready to leave, a deer walked across the road in front of us.  I stopped to see if there would be another one coming, and sure enough, it wasn’t long before a second deer bounded across the road in front of us.  They didn’t go very far, but the prairie grasses were tall in the meadow along the road and they were difficult to see as they kept watching to see what we were doing.  I did manage a few photos of them through the grass as I climbed up on the bed of my truck to get a better view.  

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• It is pretty exciting to finally finish a project that has had numerous delays, obstacles, and multiple times of “hurry up and wait”.
• Each day holds a variety of opportunity.  Some that we anticipate, some that we must plan for, and some that will catch us by surprise but the only way to experience any of it is to live out the fullness of the day.
• Not every task that we need to do is enjoyable and relaxing but it is good to have some that are in order to balance the necessary tasks that drain us.
• Serving doesn’t always produce immediately visible results, but it should always produce a growing faithfulness.
• Some work that God calls us to takes time for it to unfold — often more time than we would like.  We honor God as we learn to have the patience to allow each step of the process bring the next step into being.
• Sometimes our periods of waiting are times when we are simply supposed to wait.  More often, they are times when we are supposed to be doing something else while we wait.
• It is difficult to get a clear picture of what God is doing in your life, and in the lives of others, if you are never still long enough to see clearly.
• Many times we settle for a blurry picture of what God wants us to see, simply because we simply aren’t willing to shut down even for a moment in order to gaze intently.
• Serving requires flexibility and when I lose sight of that principle, I easily become irritated.
• Glimpses of God’s glory are often revealed through His creation to all who would stop long enough to gaze upon it.
• Did I say how excited I am to finally have “A is For Animals” in print? 🙂

After six days away from home keeping up with travel and a conference schedule, page 208 began slowly.  I was awake early but went back to sleep and managed to sleep in for a little while before heading to work.  My plan was to unload my truck, which still contained my display and conference materials, and then get started on the mowing.  I managed to get the truck unloaded and began to go through my mail, email, and messages to see if there were things I needed to respond to or take care of.  There were a few things to take note of, but nothing pressing, so I continued putting away and reorganizing the materials I had brought back from the conference.  

As I worked, I noticed a cardinal posing in the brush outside my window.  As I got my camera out to photograph him, I noticed that everything outside was wet and a light rain was falling.  I’m not a big fan of mowing wet grass, or especially not in the rain if I can avoid it, so I continued to put away the things I had unloaded from my truck.  Once I had found a somewhat out of the way place in my office for everything, I turned my attention to drawing into a quiet time with God to consider the if and what He might have me focus on for my next writing assignment.  The seeds for another devotional journal book had been planted in my mind at the conference, so I spent some time dwelling on those thoughts to see if greater clarity would come to them.  I eventually came up with a potential title, subtitle, and a short description.  As I allowed my mind to dwell on those things, it wasn’t long before a cover idea filled my mind . . . and as it turned out, I have a recent photo that fits that idea.  

If I were to listen to professional advice and opinions on how to write, I would discover that I pretty much do it all backwards and wrong.  The idea generally comes first, but a close second is the book’s cover.  Most of what I read tells me that the cover, and even the title, is the last thing to do — you have to finish the writing of the book and then let the cover and title develop out of what has been written.   For me, the title is usually first and sometimes I take a photo that I almost instantly know will be a book cover so the title and content eventually follow.  After I finished the first draft of the book’s cover, I sat down with God and His Word and began to work on the skeleton of the book so the devotional pages will have a structure to hang on.

It didn’t seem long until I looked up and realized it was mid-afternoon and I was hungry.  The rain had stopped, but it was late enough that I began packing up for the day so I could go get lunch.  As I was ready to shut down my computer, I noticed a mama and baby deer in the woods outside my office window.  It didn’t take long to decide lunch could wait a few more minutes as I took some photographs.  After lunch I headed home to rest a while and sat on the porch with my camera waiting and watching for the hummingbirds to show up.  I eventually had a few stop by and today’s photo is one of them drinking deeply from the feeder.  How often do you and I so long to be filled that we bury our head in the pages and drink deeply from God’s Word?  Eventually I took a break from photographing hummingbirds to get the pellet grill started and make some bacon cheeseburgers for dinner.  After dinner I began work on writing today’s page which I will soon finish so I can head to bed earlier than I have for quite some time.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Rest is not just a good idea, it is God’s idea.
• It is important to know the difference between when we have to keep going with perseverance, and when we need to step back and rest.
• Just because we’re tired doesn’t mean it is time to rest.  Sometimes God calls us to press on through the weariness and allow Him to provide the necessary rest in due season.
• Sometimes it is necessary to work through adverse conditions and sometimes it is more beneficial to wait.  Knowing which time it is that you face requires wisdom.
• We can learn much from others in regard to how to do things most effectively and efficiently.
• Imitating what works for someone else may work for us, and it may not.
• We are each unique creations of God and recognizing that my mind captures and processes things differently, helps me to be okay with doing things in a different manner than most others.
• The more fully we rest in God’s presence, the more deeply we are able to drink from His Word.

Page 207 was another long day as the National Student Conference came to an end and I made my way home.  So long, in fact, that this page is being written the next morning after I slept in. 🙂  The day began early as I was up and started packing before breakfast.  Since it would take two trips anyhow, I dropped a load of stuff off at my truck on my way to breakfast and then finished the packing and moving out after breakfast.  Once I was checked out of the dorm, it was time to start packing up the display and getting it loaded into the truck also.  My plan was to make a stop or two on the way home, so I sat in for the first part of the closing worship session and then loaded up all of my packed up display and began the journey home.

One of the stops that I had tentatively planned on making was at the Pioneer Village in Spring Mill State Park.  This would take me within five miles of a friend whom I believed could use a visit and some on-site prayer for he and his family.  As I worked out arrangements to do that, the Spring Mill stop kind of became secondary as the encouragement stop unfolded.  This friend manages a Christian camp property that was empty of campers when I arrived, as the board had made a decision last year to seek a buyer for the property and no longer operate a camp.  Mark continues to maintain and manage the property and would love to continue doing that should God allow it under the next owner.  Ideally, the buyer would be a ministry that would use, and even further develop, the property and its incredible natural features to equip, train, and serve people in the name of Jesus.  One of the rather unique features of the property is that there are three known caves on the property.  Today’s photo is a beautiful scene of a stream which flows from the mouth of one of the caves.  It made me think of David writing of a river whose streams make the city of God happy.  On a hot and humid day, the cool air flowing from the cave and the clear, cold water flowing down the stream were refreshing and brought about a relief from the day and a gladness of heart.  God’s Word flowing from His mountain into us and through us ought to be a stream which makes glad the hearts of those it flows into.

I did manage to make both stops, although the state park stop was very brief as I wanted to spend adequate time with my friend and also didn’t want it to be horribly late when I got home.  Looking back, I probably could have stayed at the park a little longer without much impact on my arrival time at home as I ended up in rush hour traffic all the way from Bloomington through Indianapolis.  The state park stop was just a quick walk through the Pioneer Village taking some photos and then a walk up the stream, which provides the water to power the mill in the village, to photograph a waterfall scene as this stream also flows from the mouth of a cave.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Plans can be good, but God’s plans are the ones that matter most.
• Many times we need to adjust our plans to accommodate the opportunities provided by God.
• Waiting is difficult for most people, especially if we don’t know the specifics of what we’re waiting on.
• Sometimes the opportunities God provides seems so clear you would think they would be impossible to miss, and other times it takes deliberate effort to notice an opportunity in the midst of the day’s chaos.
• It is nearly impossible to begin the next chapter of life until we’ve brought the previous chapter to an end.  It’s those moments between chapters that can be filled with great uncertainty.
• Closing a ministry so that something new can begin is a difficult decision to make . . . especially when you don’t know what the new beginning looks like.
• New always follows old.  God says, “Behold!  I am making all things new.”
• Praying for a friend, or having a friend pray for us, can be the refreshing stream of water that makes our heart be at peace with God.
• Sometimes when we do what we know we ought to do, God also allows us to do the extras that we want to do.

Page 206 was another National Student Conference day, which meant early to rise and late to bed. 🙂  The day began with a breakfast conversation about the prayer ministry, but mostly just about prayer.  After breakfast was a time of worship before I tracked down my workshop room so I could get my computer hooked up to the projector in the room and make sure everything was working as it should.  As I did the last minute preparation to teach the workshop on developing a lifestyle of prayer, construction was taking place in the room next door.  To be more accurate, I think it was deconstruction that was taking place as it sounded like a magnified, out of control dentist’s drill being used.  By the time the students began arriving, the noise had quieted down quite a bit but about midway through the workshop it started back up abruptly enough to startle just about everyone.  

As I suspected, while it had the same title as the earlier workshop I taught, and a common theme woven through it, this was a very different presentation.  I focused a lot of the teaching today on some material I have developed on talking first to God, and how to do that in all situations.  While I’m never real sure how God intends to use the teaching that I do, and at times finish teaching with a question in my mind of whether I communicated the things I needed to, I once again received a good amount of positive feedback both after the workshop and throughout the day from those who had attended.  While the compliments aren’t why I teach, they do help me to refine both the content and methods of teaching based on what is reaching people.

By the time the workshop was over, I had received an email that the printing company had accepted my most recent book file submission and was waiting for me to order and review and actual proof copy of the book.  So, after putting my material away from the workshop and checking on the display, I headed back to the dorm to get the proof copies ordered.  The online digital proof looks good but I still need to wait until I have a physical copy of the book in hand before I am willing to finish the publishing process and have a book ready to make available — but, I do believe I am closer to that happening than before. 🙂

Next up for the day was lunch.  Meals have been good times to have conversations with individuals about the ministry and to help them evaluate areas where they can grow in a lifestyle of prayer.  Lunch time included some very good conversations and after lunch was an afternoon break built into the schedule, so I went back to the dorm to work on the conference photos I had taken the day before.  After going through and sharing some of those, I rested for a while before deciding to take a walk before dinner.  As I headed out on my walk, the butterflies were very active among the wildflowers growing alongside the path.  Further along the path I saw a deer out in the soybean field enjoying an afternoon snack.  Today’s photo is one I took as the deer looked up from his eating to see what the sound was behind him.  I managed to take several photos of him as he was grazing before he snorted loudly and took off across the field.  I continued my walk down the path for about a mile and a half before turning around and heading back to the dorm.  On my way back, I saw three bucks further out in a different field as they too were enjoying a late afternoon snack.  It seems that most of the time I can snap a few photos before they decide I really am watching them.  When they look up, it’s as if they realize they can see me but aren’t sure if I see them.  I suspect they have many people go by on a daily basis that never realize what all they are walking past.

After my walk I cleaned up for dinner and then had some more good conversations before, during, and after dinner.  Dinner was followed by an evening worship time before I headed back the dorm to write today’s page and then get some sleep so I’m ready for tomorrow.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• One of the things I like most about representing Impact Prayer Ministry at conferences and conventions is that people want to talk about prayer.
• Another thing I like about the conferences and conventions that I go to, is they usually have a lot of planned worship times for the group to participate in.
• Even when you plan ahead for the things that you have some degree of control over, there are often things that come up that you have no control of.  How you respond to those things usually says a lot about you.
• Teaching for the applause of people is a dangerous thing, but so is ignoring feedback from those you teach.
• Some things in life are complicated and difficult but you will never complete them unless you keep at it until they are finished.
• We would do well to live with a watchful eye at all times because the enemy is constantly watching us for an opportunity to catch us unaware of his traps.
• I greatly enjoy unstructured worship times when I can just spend time with God wherever I am.
• Did I say how much I enjoy the planned corporate worship times at the conferences and conventions I attend? 🙂