Page 205 found me awake early and staying up late as I’m trying to keep up with the conference schedule.  After breakfast and a few early morning conversations, I had nothing scheduled for the morning so I returned to the dorm and settled into my usual Monday morning routine — writing the prayer guide for next week.  My first thought was to do something related to responding to God’s calling.  It was an interesting thought for a reason I’ll get to later, but it didn’t seem to want to come together so I turned back to God in prayer.  As I prayed about the topic God would have me write, the idea of living with peace came to mind.  After checking, I found that I have done a prayer guide focused on peace three years ago but rather than even looking at it, I started fresh with a look at some scriptures that talk about the peace we ought to live with as God’s children.

By the time I had the prayer guide written, the morning was nearly gone and it was time for lunch.  I was supposed to meet an individual for lunch to discuss some prayer topics but it wasn’t until we were wrapping up the meeting that I found out he will be the conference president next year.  As we shared about prayer needs each of us have, one of my requests was about the writing that I do as I don’t currently have anything in the works once the illustrated children’s book gets printed.  I questioned out loud whether the conference would be interested in my writing another devotional journal for next year and what direction it would head if I did.  The response was not only very positive in wanting me to continue partnering with the conference and providing the prayer-based resource, but that is when I found out he was going to be the next president and the main theme for next year will be something about living out our sacred calling no matter what that calling is.  It seems that each year in which I have provided a devotional journal for the conference, I began the prayer foundation for the book before I even knew what the conference theme would be and if the current project would complement the program.  While this one has had the least amount of work put into it by me prior to knowing the next theme, it is still fascinating to me that my first prayer guide thought this morning was about responding to God’s calling in our life.

After lunch, the afternoon was a  huge block of free time in the schedule, so I used it to do some follow-up work on the illustrated children’s book that I’m still having difficulty getting printed.  I had finally received an answer that I think I understood from the printing company explaining why they wouldn’t print the book.  I forwarded that response to the illustrator for the book and she was able to address those concerns and get a new file to me.  The initial automatic review was good and now the book sets in limbo waiting for an actual review from the printing company to make sure it all meets the necessary requirements to be printed.  

Once all the files were submitted and I was back in the waiting process, I headed out to do some exploring to finish out the afternoon.  I tracked down a covered bridge in the area to take some photos and then went to a couple different parks to see what I could photograph.  As I walked a trail in one of the parks, today’s photo scene caught my eye.  Two spider webs were strung up between some trees and the sunlight was being filtered through the treetop canopy and onto the webs.  While they each have some holes in them, it was the intricate nature of their design that caught my eye.  And once they caught my eye, I couldn’t help but think of the old rhyming saying, “O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”  One of the reasons that a life of integrity is so important is that any deceptive practice that we participate in has a way of eventually entangling and entrapping us.

After the late afternoon exploring adventure, it was back to the dorm to clean up and get ready for the evening conference session which was a concert of prayer.  The prayer time was organized and led well and was even followed by ice cream!  After the ice cream break, a Christian comedian finished out the late night programming.  It was late enough that I only stayed for about half of his routine before coming back to the dorm so I could write today’s page and get some sleep before another long day tomorrow.

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

• Flexibility is important, but it is nice when the day’s schedule allows me to maintain a somewhat normal routine.
• When you devote yourself to prayer, you should pray with an expectation of listening to God.
• Even when I listen intently to God, I don’t always know His full purpose for what I am hearing.
• Sometimes my prayer time gives me direction for right now and sometimes it is just planting seeds for future activity or response.
• Pursuing God as we ought, should result in a greater peace than those who are not pursuing God.
• Sometimes God has more to say to us in the “by the way” comments than in the entire rest of the conversation if we continue listening all the way to the end.
• Some things have a timing that is well outside of our control and we need to learn to trust the One who does control the timing of it.
• While it may not look or sound like that big of a deal, practicing deception will not only entangle us it will never go unnoticed by God.

Although a long day, page 204 has been a very good day.  Breakfast at the conference was at 7:30 so it was an early start to the day following an even earlier thunderstorm that got my attention during the night.  After breakfast, I spent some time at my display putting together the resources I wanted to the workshop I would be teaching.  I then went to find the room I would be in so I could try to get my projector set up.  The room had a projector mounted to the ceiling and a remote for it on the desk, so I plugged the loose end of the VGA cord into my laptop and found that I could use their projector and didn’t need to use mine.  I’m pretty sure that worked out much better than trying to get my portable projector set up in a way that would be project a visible image to everyone in the room.  My next workshop is in a different room, so it will be interesting to see if it has a usable projector or if I will need to make mine work.

My workshop title was “Developing a Lifestyle of Prayer”, so we spent time considering each of the three main words in the title, but not quite in the same order — Lifestyle, Prayer, and Developing.  We spent a little time considering who defines our lifestyle and if that definition changes based on our surroundings.  What defines our typical way of life and would different groups of people have different ideas of what is typical for us.  We then looked at prayer and how we need to see it as more than a “heads bowed, hands folded” activity if we desire for prayer to be the ceaseless conversation with God that He desires for us to have.  Much of our time was spent considering the developing part.  When we truly desire to develop a lifestyle of prayer, we find that prayer becomes our lifestyle and our lifestyle becomes prayer.  One of the keys to accomplishing this is to realize that it will likely never be fully accomplished, but that we will need to continually develop both our lifestyle and prayer together.  If we focus on one or the other, we lose the balance that is necessary for prayer to be the typical way of life for us.

After teaching the workshop, I spent the rest of the morning at my display area until it was time for lunch.  Lunch time was spent talking with a student who had been in the workshop who appreciated the information received but also desired to learn more.  It was a good conversation over lunch and as it finished I said that this had been a good example of what prayer can look like when we deliberately seek to have a conversation with God — it doesn’t have to be that much different than our conversations with people.

The conference schedule contains a break each afternoon for recreation and/or rest.  I thought about using my time to get some rest, but ended up taking a 4 mile walk on a path through a mostly wooded area near campus.  The theme for most of the walk seemed to be insects as I was able to photograph a variety of different dragonflies and butterflies.  It was interesting to notice so many different colors and patterns on both the dragonflies and the butterflies.  While those caught most of my attention during the walk, today’s photo is of a lone bird who was perched on an overhead wire and gladly singing its song for all to hear.  For some people, singing praise to God or speaking about His work in our life is difficult to do when we feel we’re all alone.  The good news is that we’re never all alone — even if we’re abandoned by every person, God will never leave us.  When you feel alone, be secure in the knowledge that God is with you, but also use those feelings to motivate you to find someone else who also feels alone.  God’s Word says that He places the lonely in families, and perhaps your loneliness is meant to be cured as you become the cure for the loneliness of someone else.

After the walk, it was time to get cleaned up for dinner and the evening worship session.  It was a great time of worship with songs of praise, an encouraging and convicting message, and time spent around the Lord’s table remembering His death, burial, and resurrection.  By the time the worship gathering was over, it was time to head back to the dorm and spend time relaxing as I worked at writing today’s page.  Tomorrow is another full day and it is already late, so I’ll wrap up the writing and see if I can get some sleep.

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

• Sometimes our schedules and responsibilities require that we press on past the storms of life in order to accomplish what needs done.
• I’m not usually a breakfast person but many people are very diligent about starting their day by feeding their body.  It would be good if we were even more diligent about feeding our soul to start each day.
• Planning and preparing ahead of time is a good thing even when it reveals that you don’t have as much to do as you first thought.
• The people closest to us can usually give us a more accurate view of what our lifestyle actually is than what we can.  Will we listen to them?
• Many times we adopt more ways and means of communicating with one another than we’re willing to consider in our prayer life.  How would our prayer life change if we considered communicating with God to be more important to us than any other communication?
• Developing a lifestyle of prayer means that it is a continual process of growth.  Progress is good as long as we don’t quit growing toward a closer relationship with God.
• Instead of waiting for someone to solve your loneliness, or whatever problem you might face, seek to help solve that problem in someone else’s life and you will likely find it resolved in yours as well.
• Worship with fellow believers is sweet no matter when and where it takes place.

Page 203 began early as I hoped to catch a glimpse of the sun coming up over the trees above the waterfall at McCormick’s Creek State Park.  The morning cloud cover kept that from happening, but I did get a nice walk in during the “cool” of the day.  Even before the sun made much of an appearance for the day, the heat and humidity just hung in the air as seen in today’s photo.  While it was a peaceful morning to spend time with God and photograph the falls — no people  in the pictures 🙂 — I was drenched with sweat by the time I got back to the room.  Before packing up to finish my trip to the conference, I sat down and wrote yesterday’s page as well as did some follow up with the printing company to try to figure out what I still needed to change in my book file in order for them to accept it.  Later in the day it got a reply back from them that I think I understand, but it will have to wait until I am home from the conference.

After yesterday’s page was written, I went through my notes for the workshops I’ll teach and then packed up and continued my journey.  While the southwest corner of the state doesn’t have very many covered bridges on any of the lists or maps I’ve found, I did find two that were mostly on the way to where I was headed.  After quick stops at the two bridges to take some photos, I finished my drive to the University of Southern Indiana in time to set up my display.  Once the display was up, I got my gear set up in the dorm room and cleaned up before it was time for dinner and the opening session.  Not only do I have the opportunity to teach while I am here, each person attending the conference will be given one of my 31-day devotional journals, “Living Free”, that corresponds with the conference theme.  Tonight during the opening session, I had the opportunity to introduce that book to the group and encouraged them to pick up their free copy if they hadn’t already done so.

With the conference in a different time zone that home, my internal clock believes it is an hour later than what the conference activity clock says it is.  While that makes my body think it is going to bed rather late, it will be nice when I teach in the morning at 9:30 and my body thinks I had until 10:30 to be ready.

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

• While the sun may not be visible in the way we would hope, it still comes up each day.
• Sometimes the “coolness” of the morning isn’t that cool, but it can still be a peaceful time to spend with God.
• Even in the midst of busy and popular locations, it is possible to find the time and place to be alone with God if you are willing to be flexible about when and where that takes place.
• Sometimes when people think they are speaking the same language, they really aren’t.  Taking the time to ask questions and to listen will help gain understanding.
• Sometimes we miss things because we don’t think to look for them.
• Learning to adapt can help smooth out some of the rough aspects of life.
• God gives me opportunities I don’t deserve.  Recognizing that helps me to make the most of those opportunities to honor Him.

Page 202 began early as Susan was up with another seizure.  After we all made it back to sleep, it was only a couple hours until I somewhat woke up to get my day actually started.  I don’t know if the seizures wear her out so much that she sleeps more deeply, or what, but she often wakes up bright eyed and ready to go after a seizure even while the rest of us are dragging.  The morning was incredibly gorgeous as the sun began to light up the eastern sky on my way to work.  As I shot a few photos before getting started on the cleaning that still needed done, the disruption in the cleaning the night before was almost worth it. 🙂  Okay, maybe a little more than almost.  While the bright colors of the early sunrise faded into the gathering clouds that soon overtook the sky, I was thankful that I was awake to view the incredible display that God was offering.

After looking at various wide-angle lenses online over a long period of time, I finally ordered one that was supposed to have arrived Thursday.  It didn’t arrive and the online tracking said it was delayed in Indianapolis due to a mechanical failure.  They eventually said it would come today, so I arranged to pick it up at the UPS center so the start of my trip to the student conference wouldn’t be delayed more than it had to be.  As my mind kept thinking about various “mechanical failure” options, I pictured them handing me a sealed bag with the remains of a shredded package.  Fortunately, that wasn’t the case and the package was ready and in good condition.  After picking up the lens and finishing the packing of the truck, I was on the road with a few stops planned at parks along the way so I could stretch my legs and take some photos.  As I had this new lens, I decided that I would only shoot with it of the day so I could get used to it.  For most of what I was shooting in the parks, it was a great lens — that is except for today’s photo and a few like it that I didn’t take because they would have looked much like this.  

Today’s photo is an example of using a good piece of equipment that is the wrong tool for the job.  If you can’t tell, the dark spot near the center of the picture is a butterfly.  If he would set still long enough for me to get within about six inches of him, I could have effective used the lens I had on the camera.  But butterflies rarely do that, which is why I would generally use a long zoom lens when photographing small objects that I have to shoot from a distance so they don’t move to avoid me.  How often do we try to do life with some really good tools that just happen to be the wrong tools for what we really need to accomplish?  Or sometimes they may even be the right tools, we are just using them in the wrong way. 

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

• Love compels us to act when we see someone in trouble.  The action motivated by pure love may not always be what they want, but it will always be our best effort at what they need.
• Sometimes the disappointments of one day turn into an incredible blessing the next.
• Not everything works the way I want it to.  But when I put everything into God’s hands, He makes it work in ways that are better than what I wanted.
• Stuff happens.  Learning to adjust and move forward is a valuable characteristic to develop.
• Walking three miles in a 95 degree temperature with an even higher humidity level has the same result as walking that three miles in the rain — you get drenched either way.
• God has given us many good and useful tools, but that doesn’t mean He has designed them all to be used in the same way for the same purpose.
• The body of Christ works best when each member does its part — the part it was created and gifted by God to do.

Page 201 was a long workday that didn’t accomplish what I had hoped, so I pray that the writing of the page will help me to look back and see if it accomplished anything worthwhile.  The day began with a walk-through of the building to evaluate what would need done before I leave tomorrow for the student conference.  After making my list and setting it aside until the building would be empty of people late in the afternoon, I turned my attention to finishing up some details on the teaching I will do this weekend.  As I worked on the outlines and created powerpoint slides, I also waited for UPS to deliver my children’s book proof copies.

By mid-day, the UPS delivery finally came and I opened the package with great excitement and anticipation.  The book looked great, but upon closer inspection there was one page that had a rather “fuzzy” or out of focus illustration.  It wasn’t horrible, but the image definitely lacked the quality of the rest of the book.  After the issues I had getting the file accepted, my first look was to make sure I had submitted the correct completed file.  I had, but in comparing that file to the earlier one that had not been accepted, it was obvious something had changed on that one page for some reason.  So, after a quick note to the illustrator to see if she had any idea what had happened, I continued to look for a solution on my end.  Because the page looked correct in an earlier file, I decided to download a fresh copy of the current file and see if that helped.  The preview of the new download looked great on all the pages so I uploaded it to the printer and ran it through their online previewer.  It looked good on it too, so I called the illustrator to tell her to never mind my email if she hadn’t seen it yet.  As it turned out, she had seen it and had already gone through the file and uploaded a new version to the shared box I download from — so, the fresh download I did was actually a new file after all.  Anyhow, now I’m back to waiting for the file to go through the printing company’s official review so I can order new proof copies before finishing up the project.  And to think I was very tempted to skip the proof copies and approve the project for actual publishing without seeing how it would print.  I remember writing about how that would be a bad idea no matter how anxious I was, and now I can verify the wisdom of following through all the proper steps regardless of how confident I am in everything being right.  Sometimes we are so sure we are right that we disregard all of the warnings in scripture to closely guard sound doctrine and then we wonder how we ever got into so much trouble.  It always pays to do things right even if it means they aren’t completed according to our timeline.

After I had the book issue squared away, it was back to working on the teaching powerpoint slides until the building cleared out so I could get it cleaned and ready for the weekend.  Midway through my cleaning, as I was preparing to mop floors, some people came in for an unscheduled meeting so extending my workday for the purpose of being able to leave early for the conference tomorrow didn’t work out so well.  Mopping bathrooms and hallways while people are needing to use them doesn’t work out too well, so I put everything away and will now finish it up early in the morning before I begin my trip.  

Today’s photo was taken mid-day as I worked in my office.  As I looked up from my desk and out the window, I noticed this hawk perched on a branch overlooking my office.  It made me think of the common phrase about watching something like a hawk.  As with all birds of prey, hawks are known for their keen eye that can spot movement from a great distance.  The movement that they watch most for is the movement of small critters that will serve as their lunch when caught.  Without a careful eye on their surroundings, they find themselves hungry and even prey to someone else.  It is through our keeping a keen eye directed on the Word of God that we find ourselves both filled with everything good and protected from that which is evil.

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

• Even disappointing days have lessons that ought to be learned.
• Preparing for what needs done later isn’t always the same as being able to do what needs done later.
• Most accomplishments have a natural progression of order in which things need done.  Skipping steps that seem unimportant will usually lead to problems.
• Sometimes when it looks like you have stumbled onto a solution to a problem you are trying to solve, it is because someone else has been working in the background to help resolve the issue.  Never underestimate the help others can give.
• Just because you are sure you are right, doesn’t mean that you are.
• Doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reason, at the right time is always best even when it makes you unpopular. 

Page 200 started early.  I’m not real sure how early as Susan wandered upstairs sometime in the early morning hours and I got up to get her settled in the spare bed in our room.  Even after going back to sleep I was still awake again at 5:30; so I got dressed, loaded my kayak in the truck, and headed down to Potato Creek to catch some sunrise photos before work.  Today’s photo is the first one I took after I got out onto the lake.  There was a mist rising off the water and the sun had begun to light up the edges of the eastern horizon clouds even though it had not yet made an official appearance.  It wasn’t long after this that the sun crested the horizon and appeared in all of its blazing glory, but for this moment there was a subdued calmness that felt like the curtain was about to be pulled back just enough for me to glimpse into the presence of God.

I spent about an hour on the lake enjoying the great beauty God surrounded me with before heading into work.  The sights and sounds of creation in the early morning were very relaxing and a good way to begin the day — even if it was earlier than I would have liked. 🙂  At work, I began with a walk-through of the building and took care of a few minor things before turning my attention to the work I still needed to get done before this weekend’s conference.  It is always exciting to have the opportunity to teach about a lifestyle of prayer and I try to form all of my teaching to fit the setting and audience I will be working with.  This conference is for college students, so I’ve been working on ways to communicate how they can evaluate their current lifestyle and see how to make prayer the hub of all of their life choices and daily decisions.  When prayer becomes a connecting point with God in such a way that it defines our lifestyle, we either gain confidence in our current lifestyle choices or we are convicted of changes God would have us make.

As I worked on the teaching material, I took a few breaks to stretch my legs and rest my mind as I began organizing and repacking the books and display material I will take to the conference.  By late afternoon my workday was nearly done so I closed down my computer and made sure the bathrooms were cleaned and stocked for the evening before heading home.  At home, I fixed a late lunch and spent the early part of the evening relaxing before working on the photos from today and starting the writing of today’s page. 

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

• We all have times when we don’t feel well or are afraid and God is always ready to comfort and encourage us whenever we go to Him.
• If we knew ahead of time the nature and timing of interruptions, they wouldn’t be interruptions.  It is what we do with them that determines how beneficial they can become — or how harmful we allow them to be.
• There is a good reason that God instructs us to be still and know that He is God — stillness helps us to notice His presence.
• I generally end up with more photos than I expect whenever I photograph nature scenes.  It seems that each moment brings a new reminder of God’s creativity.
• Teaching well requires that you not only know what you are teaching, but that you also know who you are teaching.
• When prayer becomes a lifestyle, it permeates and even defines every other aspect of our life.

Page 199 has been a busy day filled with a variety of different tasks.  So busy in fact, that today’s photo is one I took last night as I didn’t take any today.  I chose the photo for the page because it reminds me of the scenes from the movie, Field of Dreams, when the baseball players from a previous generation would come and go through the cornfield surrounding a baseball diamond.  As I watched this deer walk across the recently harvested wheat field, she turned as if to say goodbye just prior to quietly entering the field of corn to slip completely out of sight.  The movie gave us the familiar phrase, “If you build it, they will come.”  If you’ve ever followed the plot of the movie, you discover that it isn’t “they” that the phrase is really about; it is more about the “he” that will come — the main character’s father.  While it has been a long time since I’ve watched the movie, what I still remember is the incredible focus on building this ball field in the middle of a cornfield simply to follow an unrelenting dream.  

As I began my day, this photo was still in my mind as it was the last I had taken last night.  It made me think about how focused I am; not in following a dream, but in following the call of Jesus to take up my cross daily and follow Him.  Living as a follower of Jesus isn’t always easy, but many times the difficulty isn’t as much overcoming hard things as it is not becoming distracted from the pursuit.  Life, and our enemy in particular, has a way of keeping us busy with things that can easily become major distractions even if they aren’t bad things.  So, my day began with a reminder to stay focused and to pursue God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength — and to love others as I love myself.  

After my morning reminder and quiet time with God, I checked messages and found that the proof copy for my “A is For Animals” book is due to arrive on Thursday.  I also had a message with information about the National Student Conference coming up this weekend, so I spent part of the morning taking care of some of the details for my participation and teaching at the conference.  I’ll be driving to the conference, so part of my plan for today was to take my truck in to the service center to see if they could find and take care of an annoying vibration rattle that has appeared in the last week or so.  As I got ready to leave to go do that, I thought I would try once again to narrow down where the sound was coming from so crawled under my truck looking for anything that was loose.  At first nothing was obvious, but after a closer examination I discovered a loose clamp that after tugging on it came off in my hands.  It seems as if it had broken and was no longer holding a small heat shield in place on the exhaust system.  I needed to also pick up some maintenance supplies for work, so instead of the service center I made a trip to Lowe’s where I picked up supplies for work and also bought a stainless steel clamp for two dollars.  Eventually, after letting the exhaust system cool, I put the clamp on and it sounds like the noise that had become irritating is completely gone!

In the meantime, while the truck was cooling down, I spent the rest of the workday taking care of some maintenance issues inside the building.  Part of the supplies I had picked up were for outside projects, but since none of those projects were of immediate need, and it was so hot and humid, I kept busy inside for the afternoon.  After my work was done for the day, I had a very late lunch and then went home and took a nap.  Eventually I got up and spent time working at going through some of the photos I took Sunday during a trip to Lake Michigan.  I came back from the afternoon and evening along the lake with 634 photos!  If I could learn to hold my camera level the going through the photo process wouldn’t take so long, but most of them require that I straighten the photo so the horizon is horizontal in the picture.  Eventually my eyes got tired of going through the photos so I paused that project for another time while I turned my attention to writing today’s page before calling it a day and heading to bed.

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

• Being busy can be good and it doesn’t have to distract us from the things which are important if we keep our eyes fixed beyond the things that make us busy.
• Sometimes, perhaps more often than we think, we experience a scene that can remind us of important lessons if we are paying attention.
• God wants us to be built into a dwelling for His presence.  If we allow Him to build us into that dwelling, He will come and live within us.
• Jesus says that if I pursue Him with my whole heart, He will be found.
• Waiting can be difficult but is often both unavoidable and useful.
• Sometimes a careful examination of a problem helps us find a solution that we hadn’t thought of.
• When we find our life out of level, we need to be willing to put whatever effort is necessary into allowing God to restore the balance we ought to have.

Page 198 began with the writing of page 197 before I turned my attention to the prayer guide for next week.  As I settled in with God to work on the prayer guide, a number of topics came to mind but most of them seemed to be more from my mind than from my prayer time.  Sometimes our mind gives us such a good idea, at least to us, that we can easily short-circuit the listening to God and just go with what we think.  Most of the time that gets me into trouble, so I’ve learned to let my “great ideas” pass and wait on God’s Spirit to fill me with a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Eventually, as I spent time in prayer and scripture, the idea of living with courage kept coming up in my mind and in my reading.  

Throughout scripture God calls His people to live with courage.  For a guy that struggles with anxiety issues and fear-based panic attacks, courage can be a rather elusive commodity.  Yet from the repeated command to Joshua to “be strong and courageous” to the words of Jesus, “Take courage!  It is I.”, spoken to a boat full of frightened disciples, God calls for those who would follow Him to do so with courage.  As I worked on the daily points of the prayer guide, God drew me into many reminders from His Word of not only our need to have courage, but of His willingness to supply it as we surrender fully to Him.

By the time the prayer guide was written and I had formatted and scheduled it for publication, it was time for lunch.  Lunch today turned into an extended time of ministry conversation about work being done around the world and about the prayer ministry God does through me.  It was one of those times that the company I was with made it a great time and a great meal regardless of how the food was. 🙂  The conversation was filled with good reminders of some of what God has done and what He is doing — as well as some potential glimpses into what He will do.

After lunch it was back to work to finish up some things I had begun earlier in the day.  I had plans to spend the evening with my family so I worked with one eye on the clock.  As afternoon slipped away, I wrapped up my work projects for today and headed home.  At home, I took short time to rest and relax before we headed to Argos to go to the Marshall County 4-H fair.  A big reason in going tonight, was not only to see family members and some of the work they’ve done in 4-H, but there was a hot air balloon launch scheduled that we wanted to photograph.  It was beautiful to watch them lay out the balloons and fill them with air before taking off into the clear blue sky.  Today’s photo is of the two balloons as they rose into the air.  While essentially the same size, the further they were lifted away from me, the smaller they appeared.  One had launched shortly before the other which gives it the appearance of being smaller in the photo.  It reminded me that my troubles and cares are a lot like that.  The more I release them into the heavens — to God through prayer — they become lighter and are lifted from me until they no longer seem to be as large as they once were.

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

• Even when I don’t get to it until the next day, writing out the day’s “page” helps to remind me of God’s work and presence in my life.
• There are a lot of reasons that ideas come into my mind.  Not all of them are good reasons.
• Not all ideas that sound good to me are ideas that sound good to God.
• Taking the time to listen isn’t always easy but the results make not taking the time to listen unacceptable.
• Sharing stories of how God has and is working in lives is a refreshing thing.
• I’ve not always valued the opportunities to see and spend time with family as much as I should.  God continues to teach me to be better about that.
• Objects of worry often appear closer, and larger, than what they really are.
• The more I allow prayer to fill the cares and concerns that exist in my mind, the more they are lifted from me and begin to shrink in size.