After a long and productive Friday, today was a day of rest and adventure with my family.  We all slept in, I wrote yesterday’s page, and then we headed north in search of snowy owls and Lake Michigan beauty.  I’m sure there were lessons to be had from the day, but in the spirit of a restful day I will settle for simply sharing a few of the photos from our adventure. 🙂

Grand Haven Lighthouse

Holland Lighthouse (Big Red)

Snowy Owl “Iceberg” along Lake Michigan

Napping?

Ready to Dive

Snowy Owl on Rooftop

Goodnight Sun

South Haven Sunset

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

• Page 61 ended up being a longer workday than I anticipated, but it was a very productive day, so I’m writing the page the next morning.
• As I worked, I kept hearing bits and pieces of a song in my mind.  It’s an old song that I have on a CD done by Scott Wesley Brown and the words go something like this: “In church it’s often easy to wear the servant’s mask, while driving home I push and shove to keep from being last.”  While that can, and should, be very convicting, I think the greater good of the song can be found in the next line that goes something like this: “Pray for me, that I’ll be who I should be.  That I’ll learn to love and that Christ will be seen in me!”
• In a culture that often celebrate the “pushing and shoving” to keep from being last, God says that whoever will be greatest must become servant of all.
• Does my “in church” persona match my “driving home” actions and attitudes?
• The service tech for our fire alarm system finally came and while I’m not sure what he actually did, the system seemed to be functioning correctly when he left.
• After spending the morning with the tech and squeezing in some sermon prep time, I finally got away from the building mid-afternoon to get some lunch and pick up some maintenance and cleaning supplies I needed for work.
• On Fridays I would usually take an extended break in the afternoon knowing that I still have a lot of work to get done once all the school activity is complete for the day.  Today I decided to skip the break and get started on the areas I could work on early and hopefully have an earlier finish to the day.
• I guess that plan kind of backfired, because instead of finishing earlier I kept finding things I could do since I had “extra time” and before I knew it, it was 10 PM as I was heading out the door at work.  
• I included two photos on today’s page.  My first round of taking the trash out from my evening cleaning found some deer standing in the back field watching the sunset.  Later, after getting sidetracked by what I thought would be “little” projects, my next trip outside found the full moon rising up over the eastern horizon beyond the tree line.

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

• There was a light rain falling as I headed into work early this morning.  While the outside temperature was cooler than it has been, it was still well above freezing.
• While I enjoy the days which are warm and sunny, I realize that growth doesn’t happen without the rain.
• As I went about my morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep routines I kept praying about faithfulness.
• The song lyrics, “My house is full, but my fields are empty.  Who will go and work for me today?” kept running through my mind as I worked this morning.
• My mind and body are usually tired of winter about a month before it ends.  So, I guess this is like the groundhog prediction . . . one more month before spring takes over from winter.  🙂
• Once the building was ready for the day, I sat down to respond to an email that came from the “contact me” section of the prayer ministry website.  Sometimes the faithfulness of doing what I’m convicted of needing to do wears thin and the doubts creep in . . . then God sends reminders that He is using the work He has called me to do in ways that I will rarely see.  Today was one of those glimpses.
• After writing out some ideas and suggestions for helping children grow in their practice of prayer, I sent it off with a prayer that it would be useful material in the hands that would receive it.
• The morning was spent in a combination of some maintenance tasks, scheduling some service that needs done, and working on the sermon for Sunday.
• The sermon is still at the point that I have two options I’m working on . . . though the title of each is similar.  The direction will depend on which word I end up using for the outline but the title will likely either be “A NOBLE Calling” or “A Noble CALL”.  Right now I’m leaning for the first, but for some reason God seems to have me working on both approaches.
• My afternoon was filled with a variety of tasks and some time spent in a “guest services” role.
• By late afternoon it was time to call it a day and head home for a quiet and restful evening.
• Today’s photo is one I took as I worked today.  It is easy to miss this bird as it lacks the size and bright colors of many of the others which visit outside my office window.  Yet today its movement caught my eye and I was happy to photograph it in all of its amazing detail and beauty.

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

• My morning song was one whose words are true all the time but seem most meaningful in times of weariness . . . “I need Thee!  O, I need Thee!  Every hour I need Thee!  O, bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.”
• I suppose it is because when things are going well I know I need God, but when life is a struggle the need moves from an intellectual knowledge to an urgent necessity.
• I suspect that most of us have voices from our past that encourage us and voices that continue to put us down.  For me, it seems that whenever God increases the opportunities I have to share about the prayer ministry, the enemy hits me hard with doubt fueled by negative voices from my past.
• I find that if I acknowledge what they are, I am better equipped to turn them back over to God to deal with.
• These times also serve as reminders to guard my words because of the damage they could do to others.  My worst battles are with words spoken by preachers and leaders that spoke criticism into my life in ways that were not helpful but carried weight because of their positions.
• As I prayed, cleaned, and sang, God gave me a peace that comes from His strength within me.
• Once the building was ready for the day, my morning was a mix of maintenance details, sermon prep, and work on what I’ll share at an upcoming prayer breakfast I’ve been invited to speak at.
• I had my daughter with me for the afternoon so I tried to get work things taken care of for a more normal lunch time but it still ended up being mid-afternoon until we left work and headed to lunch.
• After lunch we headed to Potato Creek to walk and look for the bald eagles.  We had a good walk and found the two adult eagles so we sat and watched them for a while.
• Before leaving the park, we drove around the lake to see what I could find to photograph.  Today’s photo is from that drive as the lake was completely smooth and did a great job reflecting the tree line and old barn on the opposite shore.

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

• It was a long day, so I’m not sure if I’ll have very many “thoughts, lessons, and/or reflections” but I guess I’ll start writing and see what comes out. 🙂
• My day began with the usual early morning prayer, cleaning and building prep before loading the truck and heading out for a 4+ hour drive to a camp conference.
• This morning’s work song was the classic “Open the Eyes of My Heart”.  
• There are times when so much is going on in my mind that I know something has to give . . . usually it’s my sanity. 🙂
• As I drove out of town, the sunrise caught my eye to such an extent that I had to stop along the road and take a few photos.
• I made it to the conference by noon and got the prayer ministry display set up in time to get some lunch before and afternoon of conversations with camp leaders.
• This afternoon was the only time displays were set up during the conference, so by late afternoon it was time to pack the display and begin the journey back home.
• These conversations about prayer ministry are exciting, but they also serve as a reminder of the balancing and juggling act I often find myself in.
• It is fun to find people who currently operate their camp ministry out of a foundation of prayer and people who want to get their ministry to that place.
• On the way home the sky was lit up beautifully early, but well before what should have been sunset time the sun dropped out of sight behind a heavy layer of clouds.
• I should have stopped and taken some photos of the sunset early but I thought I had more time and the sky would light up even with the sun behind the clouds — it didn’t.
• Life is like that.  If we don’t make the most of the opportunities that we ought to while we can, we often miss them.
• Today’s photo is one I took this morning of the sun rising behind a farmstead.

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

• Today was our monthly pest control service at work, so I was up early to make sure our pests were under control. 🙂
• I did my morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep routine with the words of several Rich Mullins songs playing in my head.  Rich had a way of using music to capture the struggle that exists between struggle of living life and wanting to be home.
• As I prepared to settle in with God to prepare the next prayer guide, I decided my office felt colder than usual.  As it turns out, that’s because it was.  The boiler for that end of the building wasn’t working.
• Fortunately, the sun was working its way up over the horizon and the outside temp was rising so it wasn’t too bad inside.
• Sometimes when things don’t feel quite right, even within our spirit, it is far too easy to dismiss that feeling when perhaps we need to figure out what it wrong.
• As I reached the end of the troubleshooting I can do and prepared to call the service tech, I had a detour to see if I could help address some computer issues the school was having.
• With the computer issues taken care of, at least for the moment, and the service tech called for the boiler, I finally settled in to work on the prayer guide for next week.
• I eventually settled on the word “Called” with a focus both on what God calls us and what He has called us to.
• The subject had me reminiscing about elementary school days when it was a big thing to hear your name called by a “team captain” in the choosing of sides for just about any game that was to be played.
• Knowing that God has called me to Himself is an even greater thing.
• Today was one of those days when it felt difficult to find the intersecting points of the expectations that I, others, and God have for me.
• I find that when I put my primary focus on the work God has for me to do, I don’t get distracted nearly as much by the expectations of myself or others.
• It was a long day, but the boiler was working again and the prayer guide was written before I left work.
• Even though it was 5 PM when I left work and I hadn’t had lunch yet, I stopped at home to pick up my family and we made a quick trip to Potato Creek.
• We found one of the bald eagles right away and then drove around the lake to get some sunset photos while we were there.
• Today’s photo is one of the last one’s I took tonight as the sunset afterglow reflected across the lake.

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

• The wind seemed to have been howling all night long, so I got up early to see if there was any snow or ice that needed taken care of before church . . . there wasn’t.
• I think my mind and body are still trying to recover from the “all-nighter” spent babysitting the alarm system, so I was glad I didn’t have work that needed done before people began showing up for church.
• Sometimes it is difficult not to worry about things that aren’t mine to worry about.
• I suppose that is at least related to Jesus telling us not to worry about tomorrow, that each day has enough worry, or cares, of its own.  
• During our worship time, David shared a sermon from the book of Acts about Paul’s testimony — particularly his testimony to King Agrippa, although it was really the same testimony he shared every opportunity he had.
• During the sermon we were asked to consider two parts of Paul’s testimony that should be foundational in what we also share about our relationship with Jesus.
  • “I once was just like you.” — There are at least two dangers to this part of our testimony.  One, we leave it out because we would rather not bring up the common ground we have with those that are outside of a relationship with Jesus.  Or, two, we can get caught up in glorifying our past way of life so that it becomes a greater focus of our testimony than the change that Jesus has brought.  Paul made it clear that he could identify fully with the decisions and life choices of those who would listen to his testimony.  When we let people know that we were once fully on the same path they are on, and mean it, they should be able to see that there is hope for them that can be found in Jesus.
  • “But, then I met Jesus.”  — The other thing the first part of our testimony does, is that it provides a lead-in to how we met Jesus and how He has changed us.  If we’re not able to tell someone how we met Jesus and how He has changed our life, we might want to seriously examine the credibility of our relationship with Him.  This is where we add value to the “what we once were” part of our life story because we can proclaim what Jesus had done to transform us.  Granted, we each have a unique story with different beginnings and processes to get us where we are, but we each should recognize the change, whether gradual or abrupt, that Jesus has made in our life.
• After the church service and lunch, I spent some time relaxing before heading out with my family in search of some snowy owls to photograph.  These beauties of creation are somewhat elusive but the reward of finding one keeps drawing us into the search.
• After spending time in two locations where the snowy owls have been seen the last few days and finding none, we headed to the beach at New Buffalo, Michigan to photograph the sunset.
• On our way home from the beach, I saw a snowy owl sitting on top of a telephone pole along the road.  I managed to stop the truck near the pole with the hope we could get a photo or two even in the low light conditions.  Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera out of the bag and started to roll down my window, he flew off.
• While I enjoy photographing and being able to share the beauty of creation, there is still great wonder simply in being able to see it even if I end up with no photos to share.
• Today’s photo seemed like a fitting one for “Sun”-day.  🙂  

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

• The day wrapped up a quick 30 hour family adventure that took the place of a planned President’s Day outing.  For me, sometimes it is more about taking the time to do things as a family than it is about making the time — the time is often able to be found if I really want to do it.
• We stayed in a hotel room that had a heating unit with a thermostat issue.  We started with the temperature set at 68 degrees but the heat kept running and the room kept getting warmer. 
• By setting the thermostat as low as we could, which was 60 degrees, the room was comfortable all night long.
• Reading reports, figures, and “objective” information is good, but sometimes you don’t really know how something is until you are physically present in the midst of it — the interpretation of the numbers don’t always tell an accurate story.
• People are a lot like that too.  You learn more if you actually spend time with them. 🙂
• We began the day driving around looking for snowy owls in an area where they have been seen much of the winter.  We didn’t see any and our primary objective of the trip was to enjoy the beauty of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area, so as the sun broke through the clouds we headed to the lake.
• It can be easy to get sidetracked by interesting things and completely miss your intended destination if you’re not careful — I guess in some circumstances there is nothing wrong with that if you don’t care where you’re going.
• Unfortunately, the same is true in our walk with God.  The temptations to stray from the path are often things that appear quite interesting and attractive.
• While the trail we wanted to take was too steep and icy to get Susan’s wheelchair up it and the scenic drive with multiple lake overlooks was closed for the season, we still found some great places to take in the beauty of the day.
• If we become too set on seeing things in the manner we want to without considering other viewpoint opportunities, it can be easy to think what we’re looking for can’t be seen.
• I think people need to get out and enjoy nature more.  Most people we encounter on hiking trails in the parks we visit are generally more friendly than the people I cross paths with in other places.
• The conditions were near perfect for long distance views.  The sky was clear but the sun hadn’t been out from behind the clouds long enough to create the haze that often appears over the water on a sunny day.
• I find that I get the most accurate view of my life when I spend time with God early in the day before any of the haze of the day has time to accumulate.
• After enjoying the beauty of the Sleeping Bear area, we made our way down the coastline toward home with stops at various lighthouses along the way.
• It was a lot of miles packed into a short amount of time, but it was time well spent with my family enjoying life together.  Once we arrived home, I spent some time going through the photos from the day and then headed to bed, leaving the writing of today’s page until the next morning.
• Today’s photo was taken of the South Manitou Island Lighthouse from the shoreline of the “mainland”.  From what I’ve read, the channel that runs between the island and where I was at is about 6 or 7 miles wide . . . this is what I call a long distance shot!