Friday night ended up being later night at work than I had anticipated as I went back and forth between cleaning and writing.  I have been having issues with my cell phone where it would shut off when I would answer it, or I couldn’t hear the person calling even though they could hear me.  My mom called this week and the phone wouldn’t let me answer the first time she called, so I decided it was time to get a new phone.  So, after I got home late last night I spent some time trying to get the service transferred from my old phone to a new one.  That meant that page 77 technically began with growing frustration as the transfer process didn’t seem to be going well.  I finally decided it wasn’t going to do what it should and with no way to contact tech support at that hour, it was time for me to get some sleep.  

With page 77 being a Saturday, not only did my schedule allow me to sleep in but my being up so late helped the sleeping in to actually happen.  When I finally woke up, I checked on the phone and even though it said the transfer was in process, more time had passed than what they had estimated on the website.  The good news is that I was within the tech support hours of operation and I could chat with them about what was going on.  It took most of the morning but I finally got a commitment that the transfer would be complete and I could use my new phone by 11:58 my time.  11:58 came and went and my old phone went off-line, which they said would be the sign the new one was ready to use, but the new phone still wasn’t working.  So, it was back to the tech support chat which said there was a 20 minute wait.  Instead of waiting, I called the tech support phone number which had an automated message saying the next available agent would return my call after at least a half hour wait.  So it was back to the online chat which gave the same nice spiel about the transfer being in process and I should wait until my old phone quits working.  I explained my old phone quit over two hours ago at this point and response is that he will have to connect me with a different agent who is a specialist in this area.  After a number of messages to wait, that he is waiting for a response from the other agent, I am told I will have to call their tech support phone number and have them handle the issue.  I make the call and get put on the list for the callback, which they eventually do.  I once again get the same story that the transfer is in process and I need to wait until my old phone no longer has service.  I explain that has been several hours ago now and he finally begins the troubleshooting process on their end to see how to make my new phone work.  After being on the phone with him for half an hour, we finally had success and my phone is working — I think as it should.

It probably would have been easier to start fresh.  To throw out the old phone and activate the new with a fresh number and service.  But that would have come with its own set of problems.  It would have required a new phone number which the people who use the old one wouldn’t know without work on my part.  It would have meant losing all of my minutes and data allowance that I have paid for.  I could have avoided the set of problems I ended up dealing with if I had been willing to accept the known limitations of doing so.  But by facing the unknown and dealing with it, I was able to move forward with an eventual better result all around.  

With another overcast and drizzly day, today’s photo is from a couple days ago.  To me it’s a picture of balance and the work involved in staying in balance.  It was a breezy day and this bird was clutching the twig with one claw while fanning out its tail to provide balance while it reached to reposition its footing while munching on fresh leaf buds that it discovered along the branch.  Sometimes we fall because we think we have used all resources available to us in maintaining balance.  More often we fall because we’ve not used the resources God has promised and provided to us through His Son.

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

• Sometimes we continue doing things that aren’t working simply because we don’t want to make the effort to do what does work.
• Often it is not until something fails at a time we counted on it that we begin to realize it hasn’t been working all along.
• Change takes work no matter how we go about it.  We would do well to work in such a way that the benefit of our effort is greatest for everyone.
• Sometimes we need a fresh start.  Sometimes we choose a fresh start because we don’t want to do the work required to actually change.
• One size fits all rarely fits all.
• Keep doing the same thing while expecting different results may be the definition of insanity, but most of us find it far more comfortable to do that than to admit we are wrong about something.
• Living a balanced life may seem difficult and even impossible, but we’ve not used all of our resources until we’ve trusted God to bring true balance.

Page 76 was another day that I was awake before my alarm went off.  Today was only fifteen to twenty minutes early, so I got up and headed into work since the forecast was calling for sloppy weather through the morning hours.  As I went through the building cleaning and praying, I kept watching out the windows for precipitation that would require me to put down ice melt or clear walks — I guess it was a new take on the instruction to “watch and pray”. 🙂  I got the building ready and took out the trash but the rain/snow/sleet mixture that was in the forecast hadn’t arrived yet.  Sometime after the students had arrived for the day, I noticed that the snow had begun falling with very large flakes that would float slowly to the ground.  Eventually the intensity of the snowfall picked up but it never managed to amount to any accumulation as the air temperature wasn’t cold enough for the snow to stay around.

After working on some projects in the office for part of the morning, I headed out with a “young” friend to visit and “old” friend who is in a residential rehab facility following surgery.  As has been the case through most of our friendship, I was there to pray for her and, more importantly, to give her a hard time about anything and everything as that is what she would expect from me in the way of encouragement.  Sometimes the best thing you can do for a person going through a tough time is to acknowledge the tough time but interact with them as much as possible in the same way you would have before the tough time.  At times they need to know they are still the same person to you as they go through so many changes that are beyond their control.

After our visit, my “young” friend, David, and I went out to lunch before heading back to work.  It was a drizzly, overcast day so I skipped the afternoon walk and photo taking and just continued the work I had begun in the morning.  Once the school and after-school care was finished, I began round two of cleaning for the day as I worked to get the building ready for Sunday.  The evening has been a combination of cleaning and writing as I would work on cleaning specific areas of the building and then take a break to write a little bit of today’s page before going to the next area of the building.  With no photos taken today, I went back and chose a photo from a couple mornings ago as the sun made its way up for the day while the lake effect snow moved in from the other direction.  Especially when the day has a gloomy feel to it, I always enjoy seeing the sun break through the layers of clouds and brighten the horizon.

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

• Watching and praying is always a good thing.
• We need to watch out for temptation even, and perhaps especially, as we pray.
• We need to watch for opportunity to do good as we pray.
• We need to watch for the working of God in our life and in the lives of others as we pray.
• It can be very difficult for an extreme introvert to understand how much a visit can mean to a person until you see it in their face.
• Sometimes we must step out of our comfort zone and into someone else’s comfort zone in order to encourage them.  
• “In the same way, let your light so shine that people would see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

One of the good things about writing out these pages each day is that I can look back and review the lessons I should have been learning.  While there are cleaning and prep tasks that I need to have done before the start of each school day, I am thankful for the great flexibility I have in my daily schedule that allows me to not only maintain the building and direct the prayer ministry, but also allows me to maintain a balance of life, ministry, work, and rest.  Wednesday’s are typically long work days for me by my choice because if I stay after the mid-week Bible studies and get the building cleaned and ready for the next day, I end up with a day that I can sleep in.  Sometimes after a long day, I find myself in the midst of an internal discussion about whether to stay and clean or head home and have to wake up early to come back.  Last night was one in which the day had been long and I gave serious thought to putting off the cleaning until this morning.  It didn’t take very long as I looked back on the benefit of being able to sleep in on Thursday mornings, that I decided to do the cleaning and prep last night before going home.

I did wake up while it was still dark this morning and gave thought to heading out somewhere to photograph the sunrise, but decided the rest was more useful and I laid down and went back to sleep.  When I did finally wake up for the day, the sun was shining brightly and was melting away yesterday’s snow.  Susan was still sleeping soundly so I fixed some coffee before checking email and messages while catching up on social media postings.  By late morning Susan was ready to get up, so I got her meds and breakfast out and made sure she had what she needed to get the day started.  When MJ came home from work, we went out to lunch then headed down to Potato Creek to enjoy the sunshine with a walk in the park.  

When we arrived at the park, one of the bald eagles was there to greet us but greeting was the only interaction on his agenda.  As we got out of the truck and grabbed cameras, we watched as the eagle left his perch high in the tree and headed out across the lake and out of view.  As we drove through the park before walking, I saw one of the juvenile bald eagles in a tree but he was directly between me and the sun so I couldn’t get any of the photo attempts to turn out.  As I tried to move to a better vantage point, he took off and was joined by a second juvenile eagle as they soared back toward the lake and out of sight.  Even though I ended up with no good eagle photos today, it was good to see them and to watch them soar — even if they were soaring away.  During our walk we passed by one of the wetland areas which ended up being the photo for today’s page.  It represented such a mix of the seasons as the ice and snow encrusted edges gave way to clear water and reflected tree lines.  

After our walk, we headed home and spent a relaxing evening as I began to work on today’s page.  I was thankful that I had chosen to work late last night and was able to rest today and have a relaxing time with my family.  Tomorrow will be another long day as I will need to get the building ready early for the start of the school day, and then get it ready for the weekend once all the activity in the building is done for the day.  Remembering what is coming just adds to the value of learning to rest and relax when the opportunity is available.

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

• I usually have a reason for dong what I do . . . sometimes I need to remind even myself about what those reasons are.
• It can be tempting to take the path that is easiest right now and lose sight of the bigger picture.
• Sometimes a little extra effort now can make for an easier time later.
• Writing each day’s page, or journaling, helps me to understand better approaches to life — especially in the repetitive routines I face.
• It is easy to fill up a day of rest with good things that are not that restful.  Knowing I need rest helps me to say “no” or “later” to the good things so I can get the rest that I know I need.
• My life isn’t all about me.  My choosing to work late one day so I can have a day of rest, also benefits my daughter who needs the rest even more than I do.
• Sometimes the experience of what God shows us is enough even if aren’t able to share it — maybe this moment was meant to be just between us.
• Even on days that appear “plain”, God will reveal His creativity and beauty if we pay attention and take the time to notice.
• Sometimes a day of rest is catching up from the past and sometimes it is preparing for the future — often times it is both.

Page 74 found me awake half an hour before the alarm was to go off, which left me with a dilemma of whether to get up or try to go back to sleep.  I ended up laying in bed resting a while before finally getting up and heading in to work.  A light snow had fallen during that extra half hour and continued to fall as I began the morning cleaning and building prep.  As I worked, the snow quit falling and I took the leaf blower out to clear the walks before coming back inside to finish the cleaning that needed done for the day.  After the students arrived for the day, the snow intensity picked up again as the sun began its crawl up over the eastern horizon.  While there was significant cloud cover, the sunrise was beautiful as the snow fell with a backdrop of a glowing sky.  As I headed out to take some photos, I discovered someone had driven up on the ball field and tore it up sometime over the past few days.  

This caused a change in my planned schedule as I spent a good part of the morning going through surveillance video trying to narrow down when it happened and see if the vehicle involved could be identified.  I finally tracked it down to taking place sometime around 7:30 Monday evening as a black (or dark) Ford Ranger pickup did some donuts in the parking lot before heading up onto our back lawn and doing donuts there to tear up the lawn.  As the guy that mows and maintains the lawn and property, it frustrates me that a person would have absolutely no respect for property that isn’t theirs.  As I worked on the video to save the clips showing the damage being done, the snow began to fall with some serious intensity.  It finally let up again a little before preschool pick-up time, so I started up the leaf blower and went back out to clear sidewalks again.  This time there wasn’t just a dusting of snow, but several inches to remove — but fortunately it was “lake effect” snow which is typically light weight and fluffy so it was easy to blow away.

When I came in from clearing the walks, I got word that the school was still having computer issues related to the standardized testing that they need to do this week.  So, I headed down to the school office and joined in on a conversation with the testing company tech person and ended up spending much of the afternoon trying to figure out together what was causing the problem.  I did everything I could, and everything he suggested, on my end with nothing seeming to make positive progress.  I backtracked the entire network and reset every piece of hardware I could find but even that didn’t seem to make a difference.  When we finally reached the end of things I could try on my end, it was time to step away and suggest that someone with more experience on both sides of the issue take a look at it.  As I went back to my office, the trees and brush were once again filled with birds — even one that I don’t see outside my window very often.  As I read about birds and listen to people talk who are into birding, a general consensus seems to be that blue jays are not very friendly.  They have a reputation for being loud and obnoxious and chasing off any other bird that it considers to be in its territory.  Yet today’s photo is of one of those blue jays perched outside my office window while the brush and ground surrounding him is filled with a variety of other birds including cardinals and finches.  It made me think about how God has the ability to make us better than our reputation.  As I made my rounds to collect trash before tonight’s Bible studies, I stopped by the school office to see if there had been any progress with the network issues.  As it turned out, the person overseeing the testing had come in and everything was miraculously working.  It seems that the resetting of the hardware that I had done may have done some good, but it required time for it to actually take effect.

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

• The way things are, are not necessarily the way things will be half an hour from now.  That is true of so much more than just the weather in Michiana.
• When we are able to recognize the beauty of a situation, the work involved in that situation doesn’t seem so great.
• Perhaps if we would recognize the beauty of people as God sees them, we wouldn’t think the work to reach them was too great to do.
• There are times that I appreciate what God does through the way my mind is formed — other times, I wish it was “normal”.  While I know the people are different and the response would never be the same, today when I saw the damage that had been done to the lawn, my mind immediately transported me back to my previous job where I was somehow the one in trouble for a similar incident that I had nothing to do with other than an expectation that I make it appear as if it had never happened — immediately!  
• There are times when we have to realize we’ve done the best we can with what we’ve been given by God, and then trust Him to take care of the next step.
• There is great beauty to be found in seeing God transform people who have reputations for not getting along with others into those who learn to share both space and life.
• Sometimes we need a reset in our life that also includes down time that allows the reset to work its way through every fiber of our being.  

Winter has maintained its hold on the weather for now, so I dusted a fresh layer of snow off my truck before I headed into work early this morning.  As I arrived at work, it appeared either the ice melt that was put down yesterday continued to work or the wind had selectively cleared the snow from the walks.  Regardless of why, the good news was that I didn’t have to be out in the cold clearing snow this morning.  Instead of facing the cold wind, page 73 began with the cleaning and building prep.  I took the trash out under the light of a nearly full moon set in a crisp star-filled sky.  There were hints of the sun dancing on some of the puffs of clouds in the eastern sky, but the actual sunrise didn’t take place until after the building was ready for the day and the students had begun to arrive.  

I had just sat down to go through messages and follow-up on some information I was seeking when I got word that the school was having computer network issues.  So, the next while was spent trying to figure out a system that no one knew anything about and had been changed to something I was no longer familiar with.  It didn’t take too long for me to see what the conflict was in the network, but because there was no information on how it had been set up to work, I needed to be cautious so as not to cause bigger problems while I resolved the current problem.  I eventually created a workaround for the issues that got the network up and running for the day and it seemed to be functioning according to the needs of the users.

The rest of the morning was back to the messages and trying to track down the information I was working on earlier.  Throughout the morning the birds filled the trees outside my office window and I was blessed by their songs of praise.  As I would stop and photograph them from time to time, I noticed that some of them seemed to be watching me as much as I was watching them.  Today’s photo is of what I think is a finch that appears to be staring me down as I took its picture.  I was fascinated by its coloring — the same colors that can be seen in the brush surrounding where it is perched.  In fact, there are times when I glance out the window and think that the birds have all left for the day and then I begin to notice movement.  Some would say they adapted well, I say God has done an incredible job of creating the right things for the right settings.

By early afternoon, my workday was complete and I headed to lunch before going home to spend an afternoon filled with quiet and rest.  I still haven’t fully kicked the cold/sinus crud, so it feels like I’m always worn down and needing rest.  I suspect that the time change has confused my body clock as well, so perhaps I’ll feel more energetic once spring weather actually arrives.

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

• Preparation is better than being unprepared.
• Asking people to join you in praying about something when you have no intention of listening, really isn’t prayer — it’s just a show.
• Choosing our own path of connection with God will generally leave us feeling disconnected.
• Instead of trying to restore a connection path of our own making, it is usually more productive to return to God’s design for how we should connect with Him through His Son.
• God has designed His children to walk in such a way that we become invisible while Christ becomes magnified in us.
• When people pay attention, even when they don’t see us they ought to see the movement of God in our life.
• Sometimes we must be deliberate about drawing near to God to find rest for our soul. 

With today being the first workday following the weekend’s “spring forward” time change, it felt like I was up even earlier than what the clock said.  It had snowed overnight, so there was no hitting the snooze as there was a lot to get done before the start of the school day.  While the snow didn’t add up in depth, it was a wet snow so the leaf blower didn’t do any good today — it was old school shoveling and then putting down some ice melt to help keep the walks clear.  After the outside was ready, I turned my attention to the inside cleaning and building prep.  

Once the building was ready, I turned my attention to settling in with God to work on the prayer guide for next week.  I don’t know if it was tiredness or an accumulation of situations around me, or probably a combination of both, but today was tough coming up with a topic as I seemed to constantly be fighting off topics I knew were only from my mind.  Sometimes there are things going on around me that I am tempted to address in a prayer guide, but I know that wouldn’t be right so I’m thankful that I’ve developed a habit and process that commits to listening to God until I’m confident it’s His topic that I’m covering and not my own.  As I drew in nearer to God to be more deliberate about listening, a variety of birds gathered in the brush outside my office window.  Among them were several pair of bluebirds, including the one in today’s photo that had just plucked a seed out of the sumac head she was perched on.  

I suppose for some people they could be a distraction, but watching the birds always helps me to recognize the presence and goodness of God.  As I watched and photographed the birds, I spent time in God’s Word drawing into His presence.  As I prayed about what God would have me share, the word “saved” kept showing up in my scripture reading and in my mind.  Sometimes I think we, or at least I, take being saved for granted.  Or we struggle with how we’re saved, what we’re saved from, what we’re saved to do, how we remain saved, and probably other questions depending on our background and upbringing.  Once that word was settled in my mind, the prayer guide flowed together as I could feel God’s presence flow into the daily prayer points.  

After the prayer guide was written, I did the formatting and scheduling so it would be ready to go out early Sunday morning.  Because the prayer guide had taken a lot longer today than most weeks, I ended up working a long day as I spent all afternoon working through some additional writing and ideas for some prayer-based teaching.  

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

• Always be ready is a good plan for the uncertain Michiana weather, but it is also what God expects of us when it comes to sharing about the hope that we have in Christ.
• While it can be tempting to use God’s gifting to promote a personal agenda, that is not what God gives it for.
• When it is difficult to hear God, it is important to pursue an even greater commitment to listening.
• If God’s presence seems to be distant, it is good to spend time noticing how His presence constantly surrounds us.
• While it may be easy to carry a verse or two with us that we think define specific theology points, most of the time doing so will cause us to miss the full depth of God’s teaching in that area.
• Sometimes the best thing we can do is to keep at it until God gives the result that He desires we have.

I’m not sure which hour of daylight I was supposed to have saved, nor how to withdraw any of this daylight from my savings, but page 71 began with a missing hour of sleep as the clocks jumped forward an hour overnight as part of the Daylight Savings Time ruse.  I use the term, “ruse”, because it is a sleight of hand that has no real ability to add, or subtract, a single moment of light to or from a day.  You might say I have an opinion about this whole “time change” thing and that opinion isn’t too favorable. 🙂

Once the day got started, it was off to the church building for Sunday school and worship.  Our Bible study class is in 1 Thessalonians and today we looked at Paul’s reminder to the Christians of the message of the gospel that they believed.  While there were individuals attempting to bring confusion into the church, Paul affirmed that the teaching He had shared with them about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was not only true but shared with pure motives and love for them.

In our morning worship gathering, David continued his series from the gospel of Luke with the message, “What Is Better?”.  The primary text was the story of Mary and Martha where Martha was busy doing tasks that needed done and wanted Jesus to tell Mary to help her.  In the ensuing dialogue, Jesus not only addressed Martha’s attitude, He also made it clear that Mary had chosen what was better by her listening to Him.  But it’s not just a story — it is an example for us to learn from and act upon.  Here are some lessons from each of these sisters that we should learn from and examine our lives for which traits we need to surrender to Jesus and which we need to cultivate.

• Martha:
  • Distracted – Life is full of distractions.  For most Christians, the distractions are not necessarily bad or sinful, they’re just good things that keep us from choosing what is best.  Martha was so busy taking care of things that needed done in opening up here home to guests, including Jesus, that she seems to have missed the advantage of Jesus actually being in her home.  How often do you and I become so distracted by the tasks of life that we forget the very presence of Jesus dwelling within us.
  • Worried – If the distractions don’t get us, worry is often close on its heels to keep us from trusting God.  Jesus said that Martha was worried about many things — likely about how everything was going to get done that was on her list.  Worry puts a barrier between us and God because it plants doubts in our mind about God’s trustworthiness.  I know we often have a tough time when it comes to distinguishing between genuine concern and worry, but perhaps a good measurement would involve determining if we are being drawn to God or feel blocked from God.  Concern should draw us to seeking God for wisdom and His solution.  Worry puts up a wall between us and God as we begin to doubt we can trust Him.  
  • Upset – Being upset has a way of isolating our mind from any good thoughts and positive direction.  When we are upset, our entire view of who or what we are upset at changes.  Being upset keeps us from having an accurate view of a situation as our mind focuses solely on the cause of being upset rather than on a solution.  Martha was upset.  She was upset with her sister.  She was upset by thinking she had to do all the work.  Perhaps she was even upset with Jesus for not noticing all that she was doing and send Mary to help  her.  Jesus said she was upset about many things and it was keeping her from noticing the better things.
• Mary: 
  • Sitting – Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus.  Sitting is a good counter-measure to distractions.  Life has a way of presenting too many good options to us all at once.  When we choose to sit with Jesus, we show that He is better than all the other things we could be doing.  Yes, our times of sitting should lead us to doing the things we learn from Jesus, but sitting helps us to overcome the distractions and hear what Jesus is saying.
  • Listening – Mary wasn’t sitting in order to avoid the work her sister was doing, she was intent on listening to what Jesus had to say.  Deliberately listening helps us to overcome worry because in our times of listening we learn that God can be trusted.  God continues to desire to communicate with us through prayer and His Word, but to do so effectively, we must listen.  Our listening needs to be done in a manner that is causes us to respond appropriately to what God is saying.
  • Choosing – While it is easy to make excuses for our Martha-like behavior, God says that Mary’s response to Jesus was a choice she made.  Yes, distractions, worry, and being upset can be more natural to us than the alternatives, but we have the option to choose what is better.  Choosing the better combats being upset because in doing so, we decide that the things or people who have made us upset do not have mastery over us.  For most people, sitting and listening to Jesus requires that we choose to do so — it doesn’t just happen.  

Following the worship gathering, I spent a lazy afternoon doing as little as possible.  Susan was not feeling well and had seizures throughout the afternoon, so I provided some comfort to her and eventually took a nap.  With no photos being taken today, I chose one from Friday morning for today’s page.  I had set my camera up to time-lapse photograph the sunrise while I worked in the building and when I came outside there were two deer that seemed to have an interest in my camera.  They saw me and headed to the end of the field, but stopped there to pose while they continued to keep an eye on me.

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

• Change is difficult — especially when the change makes no logical sense.
• It is good to be reminded not only of the purity of the gospel message you have responded to, but to examine the purity of the gospel message you are sharing.
• We all make choices multiple times each day.
• It is good to have the wisdom to choose good over evil, but how often do we consider choosing what is better over what is simply good?
• Distractions can be reduced by learning to deliberately sit at the feet of Jesus.
• Worry can be reduced by learning to deliberately listen to the words of Jesus.
• Being upset at things and people can be lessened by learning to choose the better for our self and valuing the better choices of others.

I finally had a morning when I slept in well past sunrise.  I’ve had mornings recently when my schedule would have allowed for it, but I still found myself awake before dawn.  That wasn’t all bad as it allowed for some great sunrise photos, but I think I reached the point where sleep was more useful to me than some more photos. 🙂  When I did wake up, I came downstairs to pour my usual morning glass of ruby red grapefruit juice.  As I looked at the drink I had just poured, I couldn’t figure out what was so different about it this morning until I realized it was coffee creamer and not grapefruit juice!  After laughing at myself, I set the creamer aside and got the juice I wanted to start my day with.  

I eventually used the creamer in my coffee after I finished my juice, then spent time checking email and catching up on social media posts.  With a discipleship discussion scheduled for the afternoon in Dowagiac at the church I preach at once a month, I headed out late in the morning to stop by Lake Michigan on my way.  Today’s photo was taken during that stop from under a shelter at Silver Beach in St Joseph, Michigan.  It is hard to imagine that it won’t be long before it will be nearly impossible to get this shot without it being filled with people.  Today’s below-freezing temperature and cold wind coming off the lake made it feel like spring and summer are a long way off, but the calendar says otherwise.  

After the brief stop at the lake, I headed over to the North Wayne Mennonite Church where a wonderful couple led a discussion on the cycle of making disciples.  Disciple making begins with understanding and accepting God’s call for all believers to make disciples.  Most of us can quote what we call the “Great Commission”from Matthew 28, but what are we actually doing about it?  Even when we understand our responsibility to make disciples, we have difficulty in crossing over the threshold of comfort and familiarity to help someone else be a follower of Jesus.  The moment we step out of our comfort zone, we open ourselves up to difficulties and temptations that we may have never had to deal with before.  It is in the midst of those challenges that we find ourselves with a choice to make.  Most of us can only hold up under them for a limited amount of time, so we either have to run back to a place of safety and comfort or die to self and move forward.  Being a disciple means that we are learning from and following Jesus, who left the ultimate comfort of heaven to consider our need and the will of His Father to be more important than life itself.  

There is good news in this death to self, though.  When we die to self, the gospel that is planted within us can be brought to life and bear much fruit.  In the end, we make disciples not because we have the most skill or the catchiest slogan or the best marketing strategy; no, we make disciples because we choose to be crucified with Christ so that we no longer live but Christ lives in us and the power of the resurrected Christ draws those around us to Himself.  At the end of the afternoon, I headed home and thought about how willing I am to be like Jesus, who described Himself as a kernel of wheat which must fall to the ground and be buried in order to be raised up and bear much fruit.  Disciple making at its core is to be buried with Christ so that we are raised up with Him to produce much fruit within the kingdom of God.  

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

• Sometimes the body wakes up before the mind does.  It’s okay to laugh at yourself when that happens, but also remember that it can happen to others as well.
• When we are weary, the things we do aren’t always the things we want to do or even the things we should do.
• Understanding the reason for something not being right isn’t the same thing as accepting it.  Understanding leads to change, acceptance leads to excuses.
• Appearances can be deceiving.  Just because something looks or sounds nice, doesn’t mean that it is.
• If you are a disciple of Jesus, you will be making disciples.
• My obedience to God is the disciple-making standard I must live by.  I don’t win by making more disciples than someone else, I win by being faithful to God’s calling.
• Jesus and His grace are the only standards I need measure myself by.
• If I’ve truly died to self, then it is Christ in me that completes any accomplishment of His will.