Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• This morning began with a double layer of work — the snow arrived after the frost had already covered my truck windows, so I had to brush the snow off and then scrape the frost off.
• As I pulled into the driveway at work, I noticed tracks up the embankment beside the drive — as if someone had tried to stop their vehicle and slid off the road and up the hill.  Otherwise, it was a strange place to park even temporarily. 🙂
• I suspect the same conditions that caused frost on my truck underneath the fresh snow made for some treacherous driving conditions until the salt and warmer temperatures began to do their thing.
• My first task at work was to clear the sidewalks while I was still dressed for the outside weather.  It had been warm enough when the snow began falling that the sidewalks were wet and icy under the snow so I put down some ice melt after removing the snow.
• Sometimes when we remove the things from our life that don’t belong, there is still some “residue” that needs taken care of before we can say the task is finished.
• When I finished the outside work I started a cup of coffee and then began the inside cleaning and building prep for the day.
• Even when things “look okay”, I still do the regular cleaning routine so that they don’t just look clean, they are clean.
• It can be easy to slide into a “good enough” way of life that can allow the “dirt” to contaminate us so gradually that we don’t even notice.  God wants us to experience the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus on a continual basis — not just after things get really bad in our life.
• Once the building was ready for the day, I began the search for a photo or two to use as prints for the prize drawing at next week’s camp conference.
• When it was finally time for the sun to come up, I noticed a good mix of clouds and clear sky so I set up my camera to do a time-lapse recording and let it run while I went back inside.
• The sunrise was indeed incredible and was a good reminder to worship God for His creativity and beauty.
• It seems the entire day was a combination of periods of intense snowfall and times of bright sunshine.  The birds would come out with the sun and then disappear out of sight when the snow would intensify.
• As I went about my tasks for the day, I also worked on my current devotional book project which will be a second volume of thirteen weeks of daily devotions focused on how we ought to be serving.
• Today’s writing was focused around different aspects of how we ought to serve with generosity.  
• Generosity, especially from God’s perspective, is not based on what we have, and not even so much on what we give, but rather on our attitude regarding the sharing of our self.
• By mid-afternoon my tasks that needed done had been accomplished and I had completed the writing of the devotions for all seven days of the generosity focus.  After posting the “week four” file on the prayer ministry website, I headed out for a late lunch and then headed home to relax.
• Today’s photo is one I call “Bundled Up For the Cold”.  This female cardinal sat about one layer into the brush and seemed to keep her feathers fluffed out to get the maximum insulation benefit.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Every time we set our clocks forward or back, I wonder where all of this daylight we’re supposed to be saving goes and how I can withdraw some on a cloudy day.
• As I try to adjust to the time change, I set my alarm to split the difference of the lost hour that my body thinks is missing if I wake up at the same time on the clock today as last week.
• With daylight arriving an hour later, at least by the clock, I suppose it was fitting that my morning worship song as I went about the cleaning and building prep tasks included the lines, “When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord!  Blessed be His name!'”
• It was still quite dark when I took the trash out but I could make out the silhouettes of several deer standing at the top of the hill near the dumpster.  Once my eyes got used to the darkness it was easier to see them so I stopped and chatted with them for a little while.
• As I finished getting the building ready for the day and shifted my attention to the prayer guide writing process, I could tell the darkness wasn’t just outside but was also a battle in my mind.
• It seemed that God and I wrestled for quite some time before coming up with the next prayer guide topic.  Sometimes there are topics that I want to write about and God’s Spirit convinces me that the result would be from me and not from Him.
• I finally settled with the topic of faithful and then worked on the daily topics of some areas in which God calls us to faithfulness.
•  As I prayed and wrote, I was reminded of numerous scriptures where God calls us to be faithful — not just for a period of time, but for all time.
• When I think of being faithful, there is no greater encouragement to me than the message of Matthew 25 where the servants are welcomed by the Master with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
• With the struggle of getting started, it was after noon when I finally had the prayer guide written and mid-afternoon until it was formatted and scheduled to be published on Sunday.
• After unloading the prayer ministry display materials from my truck, it was time for a late lunch with my family followed by a trip through Menard’s with my daughter — she likes Menard’s because “they sing the money song”.
• They’re calling for more snow overnight, so I’m writing today’s page early so I can try to get to sleep early enough to be better rested by the time I need to wake up tomorrow.
• It snowed off and on throughout the morning as I was writing.  At one point I had a cardinal walk past my office window with a look that seemed to ask what all the white stuff was doing on the ground again.  Today’s photo is one I took of that cardinal. 🙂

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• With a busy weekend both in my schedule and the building, I was up early this morning to get the building cleaned and prepped for the day.
• The “springing forward” of the daylight savings time change didn’t help any when it came to getting up and going to start the day.
• There was a light frost on the truck, but the crisp night air meant the moon was visible in all of its beauty as I headed to work.
• Sometimes the minor inconveniences, such as scraping frost from the windshield, are what helps to create the things we enjoy . . . such as the clarity of the night sky.  The question becomes, “which do I focus on — the inconvenience or the beauty?”
• As I went about my cleaning tasks this morning, I prayed for those who soon have to decide if they were getting up and making their way to the church worship gathering.
• Once the building was ready for the day, I sat down and wrote yesterday’s page as I hadn’t gotten to it last night.
• During our worship gathering, David continued his series through the book of Acts with a message from the first part of Acts 28, “God’s Survival Plan”.  Here is my take on the main points:
  • Don’t sweat the small stuff:  I enjoy walking and hiking on nature trails that range from paved paths to rugged ruts.  It is rarely the large obstacles on any of these trails that trip me up.  Rather it is often the small, almost unnoticeable, things that I find myself tripping over with little clue as to why I have stumbled.  At least one of two things happen to cause that.  One, the obstacle that caused me to stumble is so minor that it is not even noticed until after it has done its damage.  Or two, the obstacle is noticed but not taken seriously.  But there is an even bigger problem with the small stuff, and that is when we make it out to be larger than it is and we allow it to sidetrack, or even completely derail, our journey.  While each person’s view differs as to what “small stuff” looks like to them, the important thing is to keep walking life’s path with God in a way that doesn’t allow the stumbling through the small stuff make you quit your walk.
  • Let God use even the bad stuff:  I suspect you’ve already noticed that life isn’t always fair — at least not from our perspective.  Bad things happen to people no matter how good we think we are or how little we think we deserve them.  It is interesting how quick we can be to judge a person’s life based on the severity of the misfortunes they encounter, but should the same things happen to us, it all of a sudden becomes a much different story.  We live in a world of imperfect people (and we ourselves are one of them) filled with imperfect things that in combination creates some very bad situations.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with acknowledging, or even pointing out, the wrong that has been done to us but only if we are willing to point out how God has used it for His purposes and His glory.  When Joseph is reunited with his brothers who had sold him into slavery, he not only points out how God has used this very bad thing to accomplish something good, he makes sure it is clear that the intent and actions of the brothers were indeed evil.  Just because God will use even the bad stuff to accomplish something for His glory, doesn’t mean we should wink at evil actions in the lives of others or of our own.
  • Keep everything in perspective:  One of the keys to surviving both the small stuff and the bad stuff is to keep all of it in perspective with a view toward the eternal stuff!  When you consider all of the small stuff and the bad stuff that Paul encountered leading up to being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, most of us would probably understand if he had just decided to quit at any point on this journey and call his accomplishments “good enough”.  Yet whether faced with small stuff, bad stuff, or even good stuff, Paul kept pressing on to a life of faithfulness according to the calling he had in Christ Jesus.  Our survival doesn’t depend on us completing our journey on this earth alive, rather it depends on us completing it in Christ.  When it came to keeping everything in perspective, Paul could count all of his accomplishments in life as “rubbish” and all of his hardships in life as “light and momentary” because he viewed each and every circumstance through the perspective of an eternity with his Lord and Savior.
• After lunch with my family, I spent some time relaxing before heading down to Potato Creek for a family walk.
• A bald eagle was soaring in beautiful circles overhead as we arrived at the park, but that was the most we would see of it.
• During our walk, I noticed a few trees that appeared to be full of buds on their upper branches . . . could spring be on the way?
• A photo of the top of one of those trees is one of the few photos I took today, so it makes today’s page. 🙂

Could spring be on the way?

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• I was up early and on the road toward  Warsaw, Indiana to share at a prayer breakfast.
• It was a beautiful drive as the sun rose over the horizon along the way.  There were many times I was tempted to stop and take some photos, but I knew I needed to arrive at my destination on time.
• Even good things can distract us from the necessary things if we don’t keep our mind focused on our upward calling in Christ Jesus.
• After a good breakfast, I shared some thoughts on developing a lifestyle of prayer in everyday life.
• The first part of my teaching wrapped around three words:
  • Developing:  The developing part means that it is a process.  It requires that we begin with where we are at in our prayer life and follow a path that leads us to where we want to be.  Developing takes intentional time and effort to produce results.
  • Lifestyle:  When I consider lifestyle, I think about the things that have become natural in a life through repeated practice of them.  For most of us, our lifestyle changes at various points in our life — sometimes by our choosing and sometimes by circumstances we have little control over.  When it comes to prayer, we must choose to make it our lifestyle or it will soon be set aside for “a more convenient time”.
  • Prayer:  I tend to define prayer to include the complete process of communication with God whether through talking, asking, listening, singing, responding to His work, or any other way we would approach Him.  While many of us were taught to pray by bowing our head, closing our eyes, and folding our hands, that method is good at times but is not very sustainable as a lifestyle.  For prayer to be developed as a lifestyle, we must find ways to make it as present in our life as breathing.
• The second part of my teaching looked specifically at the act of listening as a part of developing a lifestyle of prayer in everyday life.  The teaching was about “full-involvement” listening which uses all of our senses to pay attention both to the work God is doing and to the needs of the people around us.  I believe we begin to pray more effectively when we’re paying attention.
• After the teaching time, I spent the rest of the morning talking with people and sharing about the prayer ministry.
• After lunch I stopped to visit my mom and dad on the way home.  Once home it was time to unwind and relax for a little while.
• With being away from home for a good part of my Saturday, we decided to head out on an evening family adventure in search of photo opportunities.
• Our first option didn’t yield anything to photograph, so we headed to Lake Michigan where the sun was shining brightly which made the brisk wind somewhat bearable.
• After a couple stops along the lake and an incredible sunset view, we headed toward home hoping to find a snowy owl or two to photograph.
• We finally found one as the sun disappeared over the horizon, so while the photographs were a little more challenging, it was still beautiful to sit and watch for a while.
• Today’s photos include the beauty of the sun setting over Lake Michigan and a snowy owl perched high atop what I believe is an emergency warning siren tower.

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• My morning wake-up today was courtesy of the sounds of a seizure rather than the sound of my alarm clock.  My alarm would have gone off eventually, so while I was up I got dressed and headed to work.
• As I went outside, I noticed the moon dancing among the clouds with such beauty that I attempted a few photos.  None of them turned out in they way I had hoped as the lighting and appearance of the moon was constantly changing, but it was fun to watch and attempt the shots.
• Some days I think I can picture clearly in my mind how God would want me to live that day.  While the complexities of life generally keep it from happening quite as pictured in my mind, I still seek His help in making the day as close to what He wants it to be as possible.
• My morning tasks didn’t have much music in my mind but they were accompanied by much prayer for my daughter, that she would rest well following the seizure and would have a good day.
• With a funeral dinner scheduled to take place at the building later in the day, I turned my attention to getting that area cleaned and set up once my regular morning tasks were done.
• With the building as ready as possible for the day, it was time to add the contacts from Tuesday’s camp conference to my mailing list so the new prayer guide would go out to them Sunday morning.
• As the sun came and went among the scattered cloud cover, the birds seemed to be quite joyful as they feasted among the sumac heads outside my office window.
• I had to cut a lock off of a locker today as the key managed to get locked inside.  It made me think of all the things we try to protect, and that sometimes in doing so we lose the benefit we could have had from them.
• It also made me think of junior high, where it seemed like every Monday my first stop in school was at the office to have them look up my locker combination — I couldn’t seem to remember it over the weekend for anything. 🙂
• In between tasks that needed done, I finished printing and putting together material for the prayer breakfast I will teach at tomorrow morning.  
• With activity in the building throughout the afternoon and again this evening, my Friday cleaning and building prep for Sunday will have to wait until either Saturday night or early Sunday morning so by mid-afternoon I called it a day and stopped for a late lunch on my way home.
• Today’s photo is of one of the Eastern Bluebirds that stopped by to sing for me this morning. 🙂

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Another day, another fresh coating of snow on the ground to start the day.
• My first task at work was to clear the walks.  The clean snow covering everything was beautiful even if it did create a little extra work.
• I don’t remember any songs running through my mind as I did my morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep tasks.  Songs are good, but quietness can be good too.
• When I took the trash out after the inside of the building was ready for the day, I discovered that my cleared walks were once again covered with snow . . . it must have snowed rather intensely while I was inside cleaning.
• As I cleared the walks a second time, I thought about the ongoing need for cleansing in my life.  Sure, it would be nice to experience the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus once and never need it again, but life doesn’t work that way . . . at least not for anyone I know.
• Today was a day to work on missions accounting and correspondence, so I turned my attention to that once the walks were cleared again.
• Once the sun came up, it warmed up the sidewalks enough that what little snow fell throughout the day melted as it landed so I didn’t have to keep going out.
• Between my work with the missions ministry and continued preparation for Saturday’s prayer breakfast in Warsaw, my morning was gone before I knew it.
• They say time flies when your having fun . . . I guess that is even true of work if you enjoy what you are working on.
• Lunch was spent with a friend but we were both in pretty quiet moods for some reason.  As I dropped him off after lunch he said, “I guess that says a lot about how comfortable we are with each other that we can both be quiet during the entire lunch time and each be okay with that.”
• I think most people are afraid of quietness and it was interesting to me that my day began with a reminder of the benefit of times of quietness and then at lunch had another reminder of the same thing.
• After lunch I took care of some errands to finish up the work I had begun in the morning, and then headed home to unwind.
• As evening came, we headed down to Potato Creek to see if the bald eagles were out and wanting photographed.  We saw them chasing each other through the sky and shot what photos we could, but they were too far away to get the shots we really wanted.
• Even if we don’t find what we’re looking for to photograph, a visit to the park is never wasted.  The sunset view over the lake was incredible tonight and was a good way to rest in God’s presence.
• Today’s photo is one of the sunset photos I took tonight.  It seemed to fit with the lesson from earlier in the day on cleansing.  I would do well to clean my camera lens more often than I do if I want to avoid the spots showing up on my photos. 🙂

Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• Winter does not seem quite ready to let go as I woke up to another round of snow covering the ground and coming down rather steadily.
• The early snow had melted and then froze to the truck, so the doors weren’t excited about opening and the windows and windshield required some effort to scrape them clear.
• It had been cold long enough that today’s snow accumulated on the sidewalks, so my first task at work was to clear the snow and put down some ice melt to take care of the iced over parts of the walks.
• With the outside ready, I turned my attention to getting the inside of the building ready for the day.
• My morning soundtrack was courtesy of an exhibitor next to me at yesterday’s camp conference.  He was representing a ministry that used to have a children’s radio program that I loved listening to as a child.  The theme song included the following lines: “Boys and girls for Jesus! This my earnest prayer!  Boys and girls for Jesus — at home, at school, at play and everywhere!”
• As I went about cleaning and preparing the building for a school day, it was a good song to fill my mind.
• As the snow fell off and on throughout the morning, I made sure the sidewalks stayed clear and enjoyed a variety of birds that stopped by in the brush outside my office window.
• I checked in with the coordinator for the prayer breakfast I will be speaking at this weekend and was excited to hear they have had a good response from people planning on attending.
• By mid-afternoon the snow had quit falling and the sun finally broke through the clouds so the walks were finally staying clear.
• I stopped for a late lunch on the way home and then spent some time doing some basic editing of the bird photos I took today.
• Today’s photo is of on of the cardinals that stopped by in this morning’s snow.

Page 65 was such a good day that it lasted all of the way until bedtime, so I’m writing the day’s page the next morning.  Some thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections from the day:

• It was beautiful outside as I began my day.  A fresh coating of snow had fallen overnight and the moon was shining brightly in the night sky as I left the house and headed to work.
• It had been warm enough prior to the snow that the sidewalks were mostly clear and just needed a little touch-up in a few areas.
• It made me think about how the warmth of God’s presence living within us can keep much of that which falls all around us, and on us, from sticking to us.
• Once the outside was ready for the day, I began my morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep routine.  My internal soundtrack was from a hymn I haven’t heard for quite some time as I found myself singing the words, “Make me a blessing, make me a blessing!  Out of my life, may Jesus shine.  Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.  Make me a blessing to someone today!”
• I suspect that life would be different for me, and for each of us, if we were to pray those words each day . . . and then look for the opportunities that God will give to bless someone.
• Once the building was ready for the day, I loaded up books and display material then hit the road for a 2+ hour drive to set up the prayer ministry display for a camp conference.
• I made a couple stops along the way to take a few photos and pick up “convention bait” (chocolate) for the display.
• Once at the conference location, I set up my display and then had lunch with one of the vendors I had met last week.
• The afternoon was filled with great conversations and many prayer-based devotional books were put into the hands of camp staff.
• It always does my spirit good to hear the positive feedback from individuals who had picked up some of the resources last year.  Perhaps one of the greatest encouragements to me was the number of people who brought others by the display and highly recommended the resources to their friends.
• Hearing that the resources were being used made me realize I need to remain diligent in the work on the current writing projects I have in process.
• After a very good afternoon, it was time to pack up the display and begin my journey home.
• As I would be driving near it, my plan was to stop by Lake Michigan to take some photos on my way home.  I was beginning to think that wasn’t such a good idea as the first hour of my drive included a mix of snow, rain, and slush falling from the sky.
• As I approached the highway exit that would take me to the lake, there was still some form of precipitation falling but it looked like there was some clearing to the west so I took the exit.
• Sometimes it is easy to think our current situation is permanent, or all there is.  While our current situation my be very real and we need to pay attention to what is going on in it, God also wants us to look to the horizon ahead and realize a better day is coming.
• When I arrived at the beach, the clouds had lifted from over the lake and the sun was shining brightly upon the water.  Even as I photographed the surrounding scenes, ducks, and lighthouse, the clouds began to build again on the western horizon.
• The scenes were beautiful and the approaching clouds made for an incredible sunset view . . . about an hour or so ahead of the official “sunset time”.
• After leaving the lake, I drove through the area where we have seen a snowy owl a few times.  She wasn’t in any of the areas where I have seen her before, but as I drove around the country block I saw on on top of a pole watching the setting sun.
• I stopped along the road and took a number of photos of the owl before heading for home.  It was dark by now, but a few miles down the road I saw another snowy owl sitting on another pole along the road as I went past.  I turned around and took a few photos in the darkness and was surprised that some of them turned out okay even with the lack of light.
• Once home, it was time to get something to eat and relax as I reflected on the day.  My remembrances of the morning thoughts and the afternoon conversations caused me to believe that God had indeed made me a blessing to someone today.
• It was late enough after looking at the photos I had taken that I decided to call it a day and write the page the next morning.
• Today’s photo is actually a few photos from the day.  One from a quick stop on my way to the conference, one of a group of ducks that were enjoying the evening sun, and one of the sun setting over the lake.

Morning view of St Joseph lighthouses

Happy Ducks

Evening view of lighthouses.