Page 125 was a Friday so I’m doing the writing part of the page as I take a break during the evening segment of my two-shift day.  I began the day with the cleaning and building prep that I start most days with.  So far, every time I start thinking about shifting my schedule to a later start now that the likelihood of snow is over, I come in and remember how peaceful the building is in the early morning  hours.  The day began cloudy and cool so after the building was ready for the day and I took the trash out, I spent some time reading through the scripture and meditating on the outline for the sermon I’ll share Sunday. 

By mid-morning the sun had broken through the clouds and the temperatures were beginning to rise.  That meant it was time to head outside and work at finishing up the mowing for the week.  The engine struggled to turn over when I tried to start the mower, which I thought was odd as I had just put a new battery on it this spring.  Once it started, I was able to mow for about an hour before it simply died.  Turning the key to restart it did nothing so I got my battery boost pack out of the truck and after hooking it up to the mower’s battery, the mower started right up.  I spent the rest of the morning mowing with the battery booster on my lap as an auxiliary battery so the mower would keep running.  I finally took a break and spent some time online researching some troubleshooting techniques to figure out why the charging system wasn’t working.  I eventually found a web site that I would call a beginners site — at least if felt like they were having me start the troubleshooting at the beginning and only work my way into more complicated areas if the beginning steps didn’t solve the problem.  The second step after the battery itself was to trace out the wiring harness and look for a fuse in the line.  Sure enough, I found not one, but two fuses side by side under the key switch.  Neither of them looked obviously blown, but when I tested them, one of them wasn’t letting current pass through.  By now it was early afternoon, so I headed to lunch with the bad fuse in my pocket and picked up a new one while I was out.  When I returned to work, I replaced the bad fuse and started up the mower, spending the rest of the afternoon finishing up the mowing with no additional mower problems.  By starting at the beginning, a one dollar fuse solved the problem and I was able to complete the task I began.

After the mowing was done, I decided I either needed to take a short walk or a short nap, so I headed down to the river for the walk option.  I still have not gotten tired of walking the river walk and taking pictures of the scenes that I go by.  Today’s photo is of a squirrel that was high up in a tree stretched out on a small limb.  From where I was standing I thought he was sleeping but when I zoomed in for the photo it appears he was just taking it easy at a place where he was unlikely to be bothered.  Rest comes in many forms.  Sometimes it does involve sleep and sometimes it simply involves finding a location where we can relax without being bothered or interrupted.  God’s desire is that we would draw near to Him and find rest for our soul.

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

• Sometimes easier is better and sometimes it isn’t . . . but better is always better.
• My routine needs to be developed around what helps my relationship with God to grow rather than trying to develop my relationship with God around my preferences.
• My routine shouldn’t be my god . . . God should be my God.
• When what we’re doing doesn’t work, it rarely begins working without changing something.
• When the obvious changes don’t help, it is a good idea to seek knowledgeable counsel on what to change next.
• Sometimes we need to make major changes, but sometimes all we need is a “one dollar adjustment” to be back to living as we ought.
• Just as helpful routines vary from person to person, helpful rest doesn’t always look the same for everyone.
• The best rest, regardless of how you get it, is the rest that draws you near to God. 

I’ve been trying to keep a cold/sinus issue from overrunning my head for a while now, so after choosing to work late last night it felt good to sleep in this morning and get some extra rest.  While page 124 has been my “off day” between two long workdays, much of the day was spent reflecting on and letting the sermon for Sunday simmer some more.  I had thawed out some meat last week that would need a full day on the pellet grill to make it the best it could be.  Scheduling and weather kept me from doing anything with it until now, so last night I unwrapped it and did some preseasoning to have it ready to go on first thing this morning.  When I worked on it last night, it just didn’t smell right so by this morning I decided it wasn’t worth the risk to cook it and potentially make all of us sick from spoiled meat.  Instead, by late morning I fired up the pellet grill and made bacon cheeseburgers for lunch.

The afternoon was spent resting, playing computer and Wii games, and continuing to run through the weekend’s sermon in my mind.  As the afternoon was coming to a close I decided that we would meet my parents for dinner so we ventured out into the cool, damp evening and made our way to their favorite restaurant.  It was good, as always, to spend some time with them.  Today’s photo is one I took yesterday and it reminds me of my childhood spent alongside my parents as they worked and lived.  Even when I had no wings, they gave me room to grow while always knowing they were right there to protect and provide.  After dinner we headed home where I began work on writing today’s page so I can get it finished and head to bed.  Tomorrow will be another early and late day so I am thankful for today’s rest.

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

• While not always possible, rest is a good first step when sickness tries to get a foothold in my life.
• Rest rarely happens without preparing and planning for it — or when it does happen without preparation and planning, the reasons are often not pleasant.
• We will rarely spend quiet time resting in the Lord unless we plan to do so.
• God’s Word is alive and active and when we spend time meditating on it, God’s Spirit works within us to instruct and encourage us — and others.
• Sometimes an opportunity has a limited time-frame in which it is useful.  It is important to know when the opportunity is fresh and when it is spoiled so that we don’t sicken ourselves and others by doing something that is no longer good.
• Just because one opportunity has passed, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t another one right around the corner that we should make the most of.
• God strengthens us so that we can nurture others in their growth.
• Good, godly parents are a gift from God.  We should appreciate them if we’ve had them, and even if we haven’t, we should become them in whatever manner we can.

The “light frost” in the forecast to begin page 123 was anything but light as I scraped it off my windshield before heading to work early this morning.  The frost, however, was a sign that the skies had cleared and the day was bringing with it a temporary end to the consecutive days of rain.  After I did the morning cleaning and building prep, I took the trash out and realized the sun had come up while I was cleaning.  While the amount of daylight doesn’t increase significantly each day, from week to week there is a noticeable difference in when the sun comes up during my typical schedule.  The changing daylight reminds me of God’s Word teaching us that “for everything there is a season.”  Sometimes it may not be clear to you or I what our current season is, but God knows and the best way for us to know is to seek Him.

Once the building was ready, I turned my attention to finishing the project I began yesterday of getting online registration for our VBS up and running.  Technically it was up and running last night, so today was a day of tweaking the forms and the process so the information that is entered becomes useful in helping us be prepared.  We live in an age filled with information, but sometimes the information pipeline becomes clogged to the point that what makes it through is not very useful.  When I was mostly satisfied with not only the registration process, but also the information we would receive from it, I turned my attention to the sermon for Sunday.  As I looked a the life of Samuel as being one who shared truth, one of his first tasks was in an area of truth that can be most difficult — sharing the truth about trouble.  No one likes the bearer of bad news even if the bad news is truth from God.  As a servant of the Lord, Samuel did what was needed and told Eli the truth about what God had revealed regarding Eli’s sons.

By early afternoon, the outside temperature had risen and I headed out to begin the mowing for the week.  If nothing else, the cool rainy weather we’ve been having has been good at making the lawn and dandelions grow.  It was a peaceful afternoon as I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and let the sound of the mower engine keep my mind company as I meditated on the points of the sermon I’m working on.  Mowing is one of those tasks that I’ve always enjoyed as the finished product is a thing of beauty and shows a clearly accomplished task.  While I anticipate a late workday and wanted a late lunch because of that, the mowing had distracted me to where lunch was even later than I had planned as I put the mower away around 5 PM.  After lunch I made a quick stop along the river to shoot some photos and take a short walk.  Today’s photo is of a bee busy at his work of collecting nectar and spreading pollen.  As Christians, we ought ought to reflect the beauty of  Christ in such a way that others can collect His sweetness from us and spread the seeds of His love through the contact they have with us.

I had planned on making it to the Bible study class that does a follow up of Sunday’s sermon each week, but as I wound down from the day of work I didn’t make it out of my office.  Instead, I spent some time with Susan and began the writing of today’s page so I will be ready to do tomorrow’s cleaning and building prep as soon as the building clears out tonight.

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

• Perspective determines how we view things that other may see differently.
• Paul says that our afflictions ought to seem “light and momentary” in view of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ.
• Having information isn’t nearly as important as having useful information.  Sometimes we settle for any information rather than seeking useful information.
• Sharing truth may not make you popular with people, but it is a part of being obedient to God.
• Telling someone about trouble that will be found on the path they are following can be one of the most difficult truths to share.
• Some tasks have results which are obvious and some results are not so obvious.  The key is to do the tasks God has created for you to do and trust the results to Him.
• God’s love ought to be spread through us and we ought to live in a way that makes the love He has placed within us attractive to others.

Page 122 found me at work at the usual early hour that I’ve become accustomed to in order to have the building ready for the start of the school day.  I had a few minor maintenance issues to take care of in addition to the morning cleaning, but once the building was ready for the day I set my mind to working on an online registration process for our summer Vacation Bible School.  As I worked on that, I also had my Bible software open to the books of Samuel as he is the next character that I will focus on in my “Living As the Lord’s Servant” sermon series.  I’m not exactly what I would call a “multi-tasker”, but I have learned to have multiple tasks in progress that I take turns working on so when one task feels like a dead-end, I can switch to something different until I can look at the original task with a fresh view.  

There was a point mid-morning when my mind needed a break from both of the current tasks, so I headed out for a walk in the woods to see how much work the trails need.  There is a variety of old junk scattered through the woods from the  years prior to it becoming church property so I’m accustomed to seeing old car hoods or rusted parts peeking up through the blanket of leaves covering the ground.  Someone had even collected the parts of an old rusted out pedestal sink and set it up in the middle of one of the trails.  What I didn’t expect to find was a rather new folding chair set up in the middle of the woods as well.  With children in the building and on the playground, we try to keep unaccounted for people off the property during the day and it is always remarkable to me how belligerent some get when they are asked to not be on the property during the school day.  I guess someone enjoys spending time in the woods and felt that having their own chair would add to their comfort.

Today’s photo is of a May Apple blossom taken during a morning of light rain.  These blossoms are easy to miss as they are found along the plant stem under the canopy of the leafy top of the plant.  Because they are not readily visible, their beauty is often overlooked and goes unnoticed in favor of the more splashy blossoms of early spring.  People are like that too.  Some people have a personality and lifestyle that almost demands that everyone takes notice of them and everything they add to an environment.  Others have at least as much to offer but because their ability and gifting is often expressed behind the scenes and in less noticeable ways, it is easy for them to be ignored and forgotten.  God’s desire, and design, is that every part of the body of Christ that He has created would be given a chance to do its part and to shine with the beauty God put within them.

After my walk I returned to the office where I continued my work tweaking the online registration work and refreshing my mind with the life of Samuel.  By mid-afternoon, it was time to press pause on the work projects so I could get some lunch and go home for the day.  I find it difficult for me to pause projects and return to them another day, but I find that doing so is a benefit to my life outside of the office and work environment.  At home, I played some games and relaxed until it was time for dinner.  Writing today’s page has been my after-dinner task and once finished I will call it a day and get some sleep so I can be up early for another day of work tomorrow.

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

• Small tasks take less time out of a busy schedule than allowing them to become big tasks as you wait for a less busy time.
• It can be more productive to work on something different for a time than to sit in a mental dead end.
• There are times my mind simply needs refreshed and spending time with God outdoors is one of the most effective ways to make that happen for me.
• When we view our actions as being small, it is easy to not see the results of many small actions until they add up to something we never expected.
• Few places, like our woods, become cluttered with trash overnight.  Most often it happens a piece at a time and few think that one piece will make that much difference.
• Our minds rarely become cluttered with trash overnight either.  We usually allow one piece at a time to linger because we don’t think the one piece will make that much difference.  
• God’s work is beautiful in nature and in people.  Some of that beauty is obvious and hard to miss and some of it is subtle and easily overlooked — both have purpose and incredible value to God just as they are created.  

Page 121 began early as I needed to not only do the cleaning and building prep to start the week, but I also needed to take down the prayer ministry display out of the foyer so it wasn’t in the way for the school day.  Once those tasks were taken care of, it was time to settle in for a morning with God as I worked on the prayer guide for next week.  For a few reasons I could think of and probably a few I couldn’t think of, the topic for the next prayer guide seemed to be more difficult to settle on than usual.  As I continued to spend time in prayer and the Word, I finally chose the topic of learning to give.  Because giving is a core characteristic of God’s love for us — “For God so loved the world that He gave . . . ” — giving ought to be a core characteristic of those seeking to be Christ-like.  

When we learn to give as God has given to us, we give of ourselves to the people around us.  Giving becomes a way of life when we begin to recognize that the only things we are able to give are things we have received from God.  Unfortunately, when we hear someone talk about giving, we rarely think of anything beyond money — or at least some form of material thing.  Yet God not only wants us to give generously; He desires that we learn to give thanks, give in a timely manner, give sound answers, give grace, and give attention as well.  When we pray about learning to give, we ask God to help us give in a manner similar to His giving — sacrificially and for the benefit of those who receive.

By the time the prayer guide was written and I had it formatted and scheduled to be published and sent out on Sunday, it was time to wrap up some tasks in the building and finish up the workday.  The sky had been overcast pretty much all day and with cool, rainy conditions I had no visitors come by the office window wanting their pictures taken.  With no fresh photos, I went through some old photos to choose one for today’s page.  Susan was given a photo calendar a week ago and quickly became fixated on needing a tiger.  We tried to resolve the autistic obsession with a stuffed tiger that had been one of her friends in the past, but it didn’t match what was in her mind.  MJ took her to the store today where she found one that made her happy, so all is good for the time being.  Today’s photo is from a few years ago as she was playing patty-cake with the tiger at the zoo.  She loves the zoo tigers and it often appears that the feeling is mutual.  In fact, her preference would have been to bring one of those home with us but we continually convince her that they wouldn’t fit in her room very well.  🙂

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

• What goes up must come down — which makes simplifying display setup a wise move.
• When the mind is having difficulty focusing, it is a good idea to wait upon the Lord to allow Him to refresh it.
• When we read about, and experience, how God treats us, we learn how we ought to treat others.
• Giving includes money and material things, but those things don’t fully define what our giving ought to look like.
• Sometimes our day is overcast and gloomy so we need to rely on memories of the times that God’s light was made known to us.
• Sometimes we need to be reminded that the only thing that can fully satisfy us is God Himself.

Page 120 was a Sunday but it found me awake early as there was a lot I needed to get done before our Bible School and worship gathering times began.  With a group in the building, I had cut my Friday evening cleaning a little short so I began today with finishing up that cleaning and prep before people began arriving.  As I cleaned bathrooms, glass doors, and floors, I kept running through the sermon in my mind as God continued to refine if before my opportunity to share it.  Once the building was cleaned and ready, I turned my attention to setting up the prayer ministry display as I would have the opportunity to share about Impact Prayer Ministry prior to preaching.  As people began arriving, I would answer any questions they had about the prayer ministry and encourage them to take any of the printed material that they would use.  

During the morning worship gathering I was privileged to share a message from the book of James that I titled, “A Prayer of FAITH”.  The initial text was James 5:13-16 where James says that the “prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.”  Considering that I know of no individuals alive today that was living at the time James wrote these instructions, I believe we may need to examine how the sick person becoming well and the Lord raising them up are connected.  In fact, the next verse goes on to say the person will be forgiven if they have sinned.  The Bible teaches that those who have been buried with Christ will be raised with Christ, so I believe that being made well and raised by the Lord in response to the prayer offered in faith is a wellness that goes way beyond our physical infirmities.  But the heart of that discussion may be for another time, today’s focus was on having a lifestyle of prayer that continually prays prayers of faith.  As with most of my preaching, the outline followed a word and today’s word was FAITH.

• A prayer of faith is a prayer of Focus:  The Bible teaches that we should “set our minds on things above, not on things of this earth.”  This is critical in our prayer life as we focus on what God desires rather than on what we want.  A prayer of focus seeks to bring God’s view of everything into clarity and practice.  When we set our mind, and our prayers, on the things of God, we seek to follow a steadfast path that the Bible describes as “straight and narrow”.
• A prayer of faith is a prayer of Acceptance:  James teaches that we should “accept the word [of God]” that is planted within us.  When we apply this to our prayer life, we begin to accept God’s word as authoritative in everything.  We accept that God’s love for us desires only our good, so we pray with a submissive spirit that accepts, and follows, the example of Jesus who prayed, “not my will, but Thine be done.”
• A prayer of faith is a prayer of Insight:  Part of our prayer of faith are prayers that are prayed with insight that can only come from God and His presence revealed to us through His Son and His Word.  James tells us that we should “gaze intently into the perfect law which gives freedom, and then continue to do what it says.”  It is Gods Word that gives us insight into the heart, will, and desires of God so that we can pray according to what He wants.
• A prayer of faith is a prayer of Trust:  One of the great hindrances in the prayer lives of many is the level of trust, or lack of it, when it comes to God coming through for us.  We hear things, like “the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well”, and we interpret them according to what we want.  When we pray and the sickness persists we begin to think God can’t be trusted because our expectation was a physical wellness.  James says that a person should “humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”  A prayer of faith trusts that God will do just that no matter what.
• A prayer of faith is a prayer of Hope:  Hope can be a difficult word in our modern culture because we often dismiss it as simply wishful thinking.  When the Bible talks about the hope we have in Christ, it is a confident expectation that if we “don’t become weary in doing good, that in due season we will reap a harvest.”  When James writes to those who are being persecuted, he tells them to “be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming in near.”  It is the coming of Christ, who promises to raise all those who are in Christ, that gives the Christian great hope in the midst of any and all circumstances.  Our prayers of faith aren’t wishful thinking, rather they are prayers of hope knowing that when Christ returns He will make all things right.

After the worship gathering I spent some more time talking with people about the prayer ministry before going to lunch with my family.  The afternoon has been spent relaxing and unwinding as I get ready for the start of another work week.  As I went through some photos I took on Friday, I chose today’s photo of a pair of osprey on a nesting pole at Potato Creek State Park.  I believe they are working on hatching some eggs as they took turns sitting on the nest and appeared very deliberate in the changing roles from sitting to standing guard.  God has called us into relationship with Him not just to free us from the penalty of sin, but to also equip us to care for one another as we nurture the young and stand guard against anything that may be a source of danger.

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

• God’s desire is that all of His children serve one another.
• Sometimes we like how, and who, God wants us to serve, sometimes we don’t.  Serve anyway!
• Our attitude in serving usually improves when someone appreciates what we do.  Be the one who appreciates the service of others and be sure to tell them so.
• When we surrender to God, He will use our weaknesses for His glory.
• God’s gifts to me are gifts He expects me to share with others.
• “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  That truth explains why faith must be the fuel that powers our prayers.
• Authentic Christianity will lead us to caring for others as we learn to bear one another’s burdens through both prayer and action.

Page 119 was a day to sleep in and allow my mind and body to catch up on some rest.  Once I was awake and had my coffee started, I began the day by doing the writing of yesterday’s page.  There are times lately when I think the writing of these daily pages has run its course and I ought to quit doing them.  I’m not sure where that thought originates, but as I write I continue to be reminded of lessons that God teaches me through each day’s activities so I keep writing.  It is my belief that many of the lessons that we learn from God each day are not just for us, but are designed to help others grow as we share them.  So I will continue to write and share as I pray that God uses my daily lessons to strengthen and encourage others as well as myself.

After yesterday’s page was written, I spent some time meditating and reflecting on the sermon outline and texts for tomorrow.  A part of my sermon preparation process is to be prepared and then let all of the preparation simmer as God refines it in my mind.  Some may say I over-prepare, but I view it as being fully prepared and letting God refine the  preparation until the chaff is blown away and the pure grain is left to feed upon.

The afternoon was spent at a birthday party for a one year old.  Our nephew’s wife had asked MJ to take photos for her son’s first birthday so we took our cameras and teamed up to capture the joy of the day.    One of those photos made today’s page as another nephew came to the table with a plate of cake and cupcakes that made it appear he couldn’t decide what he wanted.  Actually his claim was that it was for his kids, but I never really did see who ate it. 🙂  I appreciated the beauty found in the variety of the colors, but also in the differences in tastes and preference that people have when it comes to cake.  When it came down to it, while the birthday cake appeared to be a central part of the celebration, it really only had a supporting role.  The important part of the day was the gathering of family and the celebration of the life of a one year old.  It made me think about how often we get sidetracked by good things that aren’t really the main thing.  

I’ll finish out the day in a manner similar to how it started — writing a day’s page and allowing the message for tomorrow to simmer longer in my mind.

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

• The mind affects the weariness of the body and the body affects the clarity of the mind.  Many times they both need rest in order to find peace for the soul.
• God teaches us for our benefit and so that we are a benefit to others.  We must learn to share so both of those things can take place.
• If we are faithful in using the gifts God puts in our life, He often uses them in ways we may never see or understand — be faithful anyway.
• Some preparation has immediate purpose, some preparation has future purpose, and some preparation has purpose beyond our time.  Prepare fully and let God use your preparations in His time.
• Celebrations are wonderful things if we stay focused on what we’re celebrating.
• Our worship gatherings ought to be celebrations of Jesus and the relationship we have with Him.
• Too often we allow the “decorations” of our worship gatherings to become more important than the One that ought to be the focus of our worship.
• When our focus is kept on Jesus, a lot of the relational distractions that exist between people no longer have the importance they once had.

Page 118 was a Friday, so I headed into work early to get the day started with the usual cleaning and building prep.  It also made it a perfect week of having lights left on all night somewhere in the building that I turned off as I made my morning rounds each day.  With the sun rising earlier each day, it now comes up in the middle of my morning cleaning time.  So, after turning out lights that didn’t need to be on, I set my camera up outside to do another time-lapse recording of the sunrise while I worked.  There was a good assortment of clouds moving through the sky, so the video turned out quite beautiful.  In addition to the morning cleaning, I also spent time working on the HVAC controls as the outside temperature had dropped enough that I needed to switch the system back to heating mode from the cooling mode it needed just a couple days ago.

Once the building was ready for the day, I turned my attention to my work for Sunday’s sermon.  As I finished up the outline and settled on some of the supporting texts that I will use, I sent the sermon info and a ministry description to the office for Sunday’s bulletin and sent the outline and text references to the worship and tech team to help as they also prepare for Sunday.  By mid-afternoon I reached a point where it felt like progress wasn’t being made on the sermon so I took a break to get lunch and take a walk.  The walk part of the break took me to Potato Creek where I was able to photograph some osprey and herons, as well as a variety of flowers and landscape scenes which show the beauty of the park.  The eagles did not make an appearance while I was there, but it was still a beautiful afternoon.

Once my break was over, it was back to the building to wrap up the sermon work that I left in progress and then work at the cleaning and prep needed to get the building ready for Sunday.  As I finished up the office part of my sermon prep, it was time to start cleaning where I could continue to work on the flow of the outline through my mind.  There was a small group in the building that would be there very late, so after getting the end of the building cleaned that they wouldn’t be using, I decided to call it a day and come back to clean the other end sometime before Sunday School begins on Sunday.  As I walked out of the building, the sun was setting in the west and there was small segment of a rainbow in the east.  By the time I walked to my truck and was able to get my camera out of my bag, the rainbow had disappeared but the sky was still begging to be photographed.  Today’s photo is of the sunset trying to break through a hole in the cloud-covered sky.  The colors  in the sky from one horizon to the other were astounding but impossible for me to catch all of it in a photo.  On the hillside opposite the sunset were my deer friends, grazing on the play field lawn with the sky lit up all around them in a variety of subtle pastel shades.  The scene made me glad I had decided to go home earlier than planned, otherwise I would have completely missed this particular blessing.

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

• Habits are powerful.  We have the choice, though, to develop habits which control us in unhealthy ways or habits which we control for our good.
• As summer approaches, God adds a little more light each day.  How are you and I doing at adding a little more of God’s light each day into a dark world that needs to see His light?
• Some days are a battle between efficiency and comfort.
• Many days, however, are a battle between effectiveness and comfort.  Too often we choose comfort over being effective.
• A prayer of faith is always about God and seeking His will rather than about us and convincing God to endorse our plans.
• God desires that we seek Him with our whole being, not just when it fits our schedule.
• Seeking, and finding, God can be accomplished anywhere as long as we seek Him with our whole heart.
• Sometimes disrupted plans simply feel disruptive.  Other times we see more clearly how God works for our good even when things don’t go as we expected.
• Faith believes not only that God exists, but that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.