Page 322 was another full day of prayer conversations at the International Conference on Missions.  I slept in a little bit this morning and by the time I got to the exhibit hall it had been open for an hour and my display tables were pretty bare.  All of the printed resources I take to conventions are given away free to people who will use them, so it was good to see people were willing to put them to use even if I didn’t get a chance to talk with them.

One of the fun parts of this conference is talking to people from all over the world and seeing them excited about taking the prayer-based books back to their home country where it will enrich not only their life, but countless others as they share and serve from an encouraged spirit.  Another fun part of ICOM is the service that takes place that will reach well beyond the conference.  Throughout the conference, there have been groups packing meal kits to share with people who are in need.  There have also been groups building wall sections to provide housing for people who would often be homeless or living in makeshift shacks in Mexico and Central America.  Today’s photo was taken as some of these wall sections were being moved to a loading dock to be put on semi trailers to begin the next leg of their journey.

Throughout the conference, the theme of “Together” has been both heard and acted upon in many ways.  The wall building, the meal packing, the mission displays, the people attending, the conference staff, and even the event center personnel have all worked together to make the conference a success.  Kingdom success takes place when each person not only recognizes their part, but when their part is both done by them and valued by others.

The exhibit hall will not be open tomorrow, so I’m taking a break to write today’s page before the final exhibit hall hours this evening.  After the hall closes, I will pack up the display and materials so I don’t have to do that after the morning main session tomorrow.  It has been a good conference so far and it is yet to be seen what God will do with the prayer ministry display in this final hour and a half that people will be coming through.  Out of nine book titles that I brought with me, I am already out of two of them with a couple other titles running low.  While I don’t want to run out too early in the conference, I am always glad to see the books I bring with me go home with others rather than my having to pack them up and take them with me.

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

• Sometimes people are hesitant to take something while I am watching even when I tell them it is free and the signs say the same thing.
• I don’t necessarily do things the way others do, but they don’t do things the way I do either — and that’s okay as long as we are each doing them the way God has called us to as individuals and as ministries.
• Some cultures seem to be better at sharing than others.  There should be no culture better at sharing than the Christian culture.
• When you are faithful in using the gifts God has given you, He is free to spread the results wherever He chooses.
• Serving others comes in many forms.
• Our service ought to result in thanksgiving to God by people we may never even meet.

Page 321 has been a day filled with conversations about prayer, about listening to God, about being the person God intended, and about using God’s gifting as effectively as possible.  One of the things about representing the prayer ministry at a conference such as the one I am at, is that I tend to use up my word allotment for at least a month all in a day’s time.  Multiply that times several days of the conference and I will have talked more in a few days that I usually do over a long period of time. 🙂

No new photos taken today, so the photo on today’s page is one from my walk yesterday morning.  As I walked along the river, I loved the view of the riverboat with the twin steeples in the background.  It made me think of how we often look back on time periods that have passed, particularly time periods we didn’t live in, and view them in a more positive light than those living in them probably did.  It is easy to long for the “good old days” when our only memory is stories of a simpler life with less complications rather than stories of hardship and the incredible amount of work required to do just about anything.  The fun part of having conversations at a missionary convention is that I get to hear stories of struggles that God lifted people through in order to accomplish His work through them.  Sometimes we are afraid to tell of the hardship we experience or we don’t know how to tell it without sounding very negative, so we inadvertently give the impression that the journey of our life with Christ has been smooth sailing.  While Christ does smooth out the rough patches of life, to act like they don’t exist can end up causing a crisis of faith in the lives of people who experience tough times and think their must be something wrong with them because everyone else’s life is great.  The solution is what I call, “Tell your story and give God the credit”.  When you are able to share your story in a way that gives God the credit for carrying you through the hardships of life, you are able to encourage others who need to know that hardships are not unique to them and God has the power, ability, and willingness to carry them as well.

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

• When I am able to do what God has called me, gifted me, and created me to do, it brings me great peace even when it carries me far outside my comfort zone.
• Given the right subject and setting, I talk a lot for someone who walked away from a speech class because I couldn’t imagine having to give multiple speeches in front of a class during the semester.
• The “good old days” are often only “good old days” in our mind.  
• When we talk about the negative parts of life in the right context and for the right reason, the conversation becomes positive rather than negative.
• Most of the difference between a positive conversation and a negative one has to do with our attitude and motives rather than the actual subject.
• Hearing stories of hardship that include “but God was with me”, helps me to know that God can be with me in the midst of hardship also.
• Each of us have a life story that I’m guessing includes good things, not so good things, and even bad things.  When we tell our story including all of those things but also make it clear how God was or is using each of them, we encourage others to consider how God uses all things to create a beautiful story in their life.
• Standing and walking on concrete all day makes for some tired feet and knees.

Page 320 has been a long day so that may mean the written page may be shorter so I can get some sleep — although I did just make a cup of coffee, so we’ll see about the page length and the sleep. 🙂

The day began by actually sleeping in compared to my usual wake-up time and then I made my way to the exhibit hall to do some minor tweaking on my display.  After the stop at the convention center, I decided to make the mile and a half walk to Walmart to pick up a few supplies that I needed.  I took my camera with me and photographed some Illinois River scenes as I took the bridge over it.  The scene that made the cut as the photo for today’s page, however, was not the scenic river but a restaurant sign.  When it is a restaurant that serves chicken for people to eat, I wouldn’t think you would want to advertise your chickens as “slim”. 🙂  Seriously though, it did make me think about the way we present ourselves to others — whether intentionally or not.  I talked to a gentleman this evening that had been away from church most of his life because as a child he heard his preacher say one thing and live in a different manner than what he preached.  It has only been within the last year that he returned to church, and that was at his daughter’s request.  In doing so, he discovered that not all preachers and not all churches are like the one that he knew as a child.  When we represent Jesus by calling our self a Christian, there are people who get the impression that all Christians are like us.  Granted, many of those should know better than to lump all people of any group into the same pile, but especially children may get their idea of God and Christianity from the way you represent it.  Will they think your relationship with God is full, or will they walk away thinking there must not be any substance to it?

The afternoon and evening were full of conversations with people about the prayer ministry and about God’s gifting that He gives to benefit others.  It has been an encouraging day as many came up to the prayer ministry display to tell me how much they appreciate the weekly prayer guides I send out.  Some of them talked about how God has used the prayer ministry resources to help them grow and others spoke of how they have spread the printed material to the far reaches of the world.  A number of people brought specific prayer requests and several sought prayer requests for me and the ministry.  As the day came to a close, it is good to write even this brief page as a reminder of God’s work and as an expectation of what He will continue to do through this conference.

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

• I find that being able to “sleep on” thoughts, ideas, or plans often leads to a refining.
• While there are some things that need immediate action, many things would be improved if we would “wait upon the Lord” for clarity, direction, and timing.
• Words matter but so do actions.  It is best when they match.
• Judging a group by the actions of one person is not wise, but it happens by people who should know better as well as by those who don’t.
• Being genuine with God and yourself helps you to be genuine with others.
• If you want to be blessed, try blessing others with the gifts and abilities God has given you.
• If I don’t write things down, I often forget them.
• The lessons God teaches me today are most useful if I remember them tomorrow.

Page 319 began with the early morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep routine before loading the truck with all the prayer ministry display material for the missions conference.  After the building was ready for the day and the truck was loaded, I headed home to clean up and finish packing some things from home.  By the time I left home, it was raining steadily so I ignored my GPS directions that wanted to take me through Chicago and instead headed south before making my way west.  There is something about rain that makes bad traffic areas even worse and I didn’t want the frustration of sitting in traffic when there were other options.  It took almost two hours before my GPS quit trying to route me back through Chicago, even though it kept telling me there were longer and longer delays on that route.  Finally after about the fifth delay update, it told me it had a quicker route and when I selected it; it was the route I was intending to take that kept me well south of any Chicago traffic mess.

My chosen route did take me past a Sam’s Club, so I stopped for “convention bait” and took the opportunity to stretch my legs a bit.  Sometimes the secret to getting people to even stop at the display and see what I have, is the right combination of chocolate. 🙂  After the stop, it was back on the road driving through more steady rain.  The rain kept up until I was almost to my destination.  As I stopped for lunch on the edge of town, the rain had quit and the sun was trying to break through the cloud cover.  By the time I came out from lunch, the clouds were gone and the sun was shining brightly in the afternoon sky.

My first stop was at the convention center to unload all the display material and begin the initial setup.  It usually takes a few attempts before I get it to look like I want.  It seems like each convention I set up at includes something new in my display, so I can’t just “do it like the last one”.  Today’s photo is of my first attempt as I set the banners up for the backdrop and then set the display tables at an angle with a small round table front and center.  After I took this photo, I made my way to the hotel to check in and used the time to let the image of this particular setup simmer in my mind.  I say “first attempt”, because I didn’t like it.  The extra height of the round table made it seem out of place to me, so I eventually took it down and set up the display table along the front of the exhibit space where they allow for a greater visibility of all the banners.

There will probably be some minor tweaking tomorrow morning before the exhibit hall opens, but I have the display all set up and the current version will simmer in my mind tonight as I relax and consider possible changes.  With a early afternoon lunch that was filling, I’ve been trying to decide if I’m going to get anything for dinner.  While I’m trying to make up my mind, I decided to sit down and write today’s page so I’ll be ready for bed early in preparation for some long days ahead.  I am excited to see what God will do through this conference and the connections and people He will arrange for me to talk with.  I already had one of those connections as I was setting up this afternoon.  One of the convention center workers stopped to see what I had and asked about materials to use in working with recovery ministries.  I recommended a couple of the 31-day devotional journals, and after looking through them she took one with her.

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

• Preparation may not be all that exciting, but it is very necessary.
• Sometimes the “fastest” route isn’t the quickest way to get somewhere — there are a lot of real world variables that a normal GPS can’t account for.
• They say you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  I really don’t know why you would want more flies, but chocolate seems to be fairly effective with most people.
• Seeing something isn’t always the same as imagining it — sometimes the real thing is better than you imagined and sometimes it doesn’t live up to your imagination.
• While first impressions mean a lot, I have to let the visual image of things simmer in my mind to get a full impression of what I like and don’t like.
• I think one of the reasons I’m exhausted by the end of a conference like this is because I work hard at deliberately talking with people.  Today included conversations with convention center workers and two elevator conversations with hotel staff — I know, some people find that easy and relaxing but I’m not one of those. 🙂
• I believe my lack of an outgoing nature is part of the reason God has called me into this particular ministry as it becomes very obvious that His hand is what is at work in all I do that amounts to much.
• God wants to work in each of us in ways that He will be the one who receives the credit and glory.

Page 318 began with fog and freezing temperatures so the ice scraper was put to use on my truck windows before I could go anywhere.  Even through the light fog, the moon was visible in the early morning sky and its sliver of light reminded me of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.  When I arrived at work I took a few photos of the moon before heading inside.  I suppose the beauty of the night sky had at least some influence on the morning soundtrack in my mind as I found myself singing, “Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made.”  This soundtrack in my mind brought back some memories as it was one of the songs that I would actually sing at the top of my lungs when I was a child and had to do early morning chores of livestock feeding on the farm.  As I headed into the darkness of the barn it was not only full of livestock, it also contained a great variety of critters that I felt were less likely to frighten me if I frightened them first with my singing. 🙂 

After finishing the work necessary to get the building ready for the day, I turned my attention to getting some display material printed and ready for the prayer ministry display.  While I worked, the sun burned through the fog and the trees and brush outside my office window were once again filled with birds.  As the birds quietly flew out of sight, I realized that I wasn’t the only one watching them.  Today’s photo is of my fellow bird-watcher, but I suspect his watching was being done with an entirely different motive than mine.  It made me think about how often people do similar looking things but because their motives are different, the expected results are different.  While we may work hard at times to disguise the reasons for our actions, we can be sure that God always sees beyond the surface and into the very heart of our motives.

After working through the morning, I took a break to have lunch with a friend and pick up a few supplies for the missions conference before heading back to work for the afternoon to finish organizing everything I need to take with me.  

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

• Moisture in the air and freezing temperature can make for a beautiful scene, but they also make extra work if you need to drive.
• The cold nights seem to add a level of clarity to the moon.
• I enjoy seeing and photographing the moon in its various phases, but I think my favorite is when the sliver of reflected light is positioned in a way to look like a smile in the nighttime sky.
• While there is much to be learned through a daily walk with God and time spent allowing His Word to change us, there is a level at which nature itself leaves us with no excuse for not believing in God.
• Even all these years removed from my childhood, there is still something about those old words that has the ability to chase away fear — “Then sings my soul; my savior, God, to thee!  How great Thou art!  How great Thou art!”
• “While man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart.”
• The cat and I both watch the birds very closely, but I’m pretty sure our reasons are very different.
• Motives matter.  What you hope your actions to accomplish makes at least as much difference as the actions themselves.
• Even in the midst of busyness, it is always good to take time for lunch with a friend.

There was a dampness in the air as I headed into work early this morning, but the temperature was above freezing so there was no frost or ice to deal with.  Page 317 had no specific soundtrack to start the day, but I did find myself singing lines from a variety of hymns as I went about my morning tasks.  After making some small adjustments last week to try to bring balance to some of the room temperatures, including my office, I walked into a very cold office this morning.  My first thought was that the changes I had made actually backfired, but as I checked some other rooms and investigated further I discovered that one of the boilers in the building wasn’t heating.  After I finished getting the building ready for the day I turned my attention to doing what troubleshooting I could on the boiler.  My efforts brought no improvement so I called a service tech and he said he could be out sometime during the day.

With that project on hold, I turned my attention to working on the prayer guide for next week.  With the Thanksgiving holiday taking place next week in the United States, I was pretty sure I wanted to do something based the idea of thankfulness.  As I looked back in my records, it appears that I have used the same prayer guide for Thanksgiving week each year with only minor adjustments.  While I could have done that again, I felt that I needed to take a fresh look at the topic this year as I spent time with God on this prayer guide.  Rather than use the old one, or even deliberately not use topics from the old one, I decided to simply approach the topic of giving thanks from a blank slate as I would with any other topic on any other week — if the daily topics overlapped ones from previous years, that would be okay and if not, that would be okay too.  As I spent time in prayer and Bible study, the prayer guide came together and I haven’t even looked to see how different or similar it is to the one from the past years.  🙂

By the time the prayer guide was written, the morning was nearly over.  The service tech had not arrived yet, so I turned my attention to formatting and scheduling the prayer guide to be published on Sunday.  As I worked, the sun kept coming out from behind the clouds from time to time and the birds began to fill the brush in search of food.  Today’s photo is of one of the cardinals as she sat in the midst of a group of berries.  Once the prayer guide was done and it was scheduled for the weekend, I turned my attention to getting some tasks done in preparation for the International Conference on Missions later this week.  As I worked, the service tech came to work on the boiler issue.  After doing some testing, he discovered the electronic gas valve was bad which meant it wasn’t letting gas through in order for the boiler to fire and provide heat.  After replacing the valve, the boiler fired right up and should eventually provide the desired heat.  I had checked everything I could, and even tried to manually light the burner, but without fuel there would be no flame no matter how hard I tried.

Once the boiler was running it was late afternoon and I had put in a long day, so I put my work on pause and headed home.  The evening has been spent relaxing and working at the writing of today’s page.  With a long week ahead of me, I will try to get this written early and see if I can get to sleep early.

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

• If you don’t think small changes can make much difference, try driving in light rain when it is 30 degrees out compared to the same drive when it is 34 degrees.
• Sometimes the problems you face are of your own doing and sometimes they are not.
• It is good to know what you can actually do and when it is time to call someone who knows how to do what you can’t.
• Sometimes the easy path is the right one to take.  Other times it is not.  Wisdom is spending time with God to see which one He would have you take.
• Giving thanks is a topic that probably cannot be stressed enough.
• While Thanksgiving may be an annual holiday, it ought to be a daily way of life for God’s children.
• Sometimes avoiding something because you’ve already done it can cause you to miss what you ought to be doing.  Repeating a good thing isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
• Starting fresh with an open mind, a blank page, and an open Bible seems to be my best recipe for a useful prayer guide.
• Growing up on the farm, I used to often hear, and live by, the saying, “you have to make hay while the sun shines.”  It seems like the birds understand that concept in their terms.

Page 316 was a Sunday and I had the privilege of preaching at the North Wayne Mennonite Church in Dowagiac, Michigan.  When I woke up, I spent some time with God going through my sermon outline as I sought His refining guidance.  There was a light rain falling for most of our drive to the church building, but the temperature as just above freezing so the travel was much nicer than it would have been if the temperature was a few degrees colder.  About half way along our route, the road was closed and we had to take a detour.  About midway through our detour there were signs that a bridge was out ahead, but fortunately I turned off to resume our normal route before we reached the bridge.  Life tends to be a lot like that at times.  We get comfortable in our usual routes and routines and then we inevitably hit an unexpected detour.  And sometimes we even have a secondary detour in the midst of the main detour.  When we came to the first road closed sign, I jokingly asked my wife if she thought we could go fast enough to jump the missing section of road.  We both knew I wasn’t about to try it, but how often do we take that exact approach when we hit a roadblock in life?  We don’t like the idea of a detour in life and we don’t like our plans and routines to be interrupted, so we barrel full-speed ahead thinking we can just plow through the reasons for the detour.  The result is usually not pretty and then we blame God or others or anything we can think of rather than admit we alone were at fault for not heeding the warning.

We did make it to church on time and enjoyed a wonderful time of worship that included a hymn or two that I hadn’t sung for a lot of years.  They brought back good memories and may even show up as one of my morning soundtracks some day soon.  The sermon that I had spent a good amount of time on over the past couple of weeks, thinking it would be what I would share this morning, was based on the opening session of the Growing Strong teaching that I have developed for retreat and conference use.  Late in the week God shifted the direction of the sermon to back up a step to the “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” passage from which the Growing Strong concept developed.  Today’s sermon, however, focused on “Being STRONG” in the Lord with the growing part likely to be shared at a later date.  Anyhow, with the text from Ephesians 6:10-20 setting the background, here are the main points I shared about “Being STRONG” in the Lord.

• Be Secure:  As we put on the armor of God, God tells us to stand firm with the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness.  We are able to be secure in the Lord when we base that security on God’s truth and His righteousness.  Being strong in the Lord doesn’t come by our being able to stand on our own two feet and face down the enemy, no it comes because we can stand secure because of the truth of God’s Word.  It is God’s truth that keeps us from being tossed about by every wind of false doctrine that the enemy tries to get us to believe.  As we stand secure, God never asks us to compromise on the truth of His Word nor on its righteousness — in fact it is often the very act of compromise in those two areas that causes many to lose their footing and fall.
• Be Teachable:  Another part of being strong in the Lord is the need to be teachable.  As Paul outlines the various components of the armor of God, he says our feet should be “fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”  As I read that I automatically think of the many walks I have taken over the years without the proper footwear.  I can be strong in every aspect of my being but if I’ve not put on the proper shoes, I just my find that my walk doesn’t reach its destination.  God says that the proper footwear for being strong in the Lord comes from the gospel of peace.  To me, at the heart of the gospel of peace is the need to be teachable.  No, this isn’t about compromising truth or righteousness, it is about learning to see things from God’s perspective.  Much of the conflict that exists in the world, and in churches in particular, comes because we are unteachable and hold fast to our opinions rather than submit those opinions to the gospel of peace.  We become teachable when we learn to listen and filter everything we hear through God’s Word rather than through our own opinions.
• Be Ready:  As we seek to be strong in the Lord, it is also important that we be ready at all times.  God instructs us to take up the shield of faith so that we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Unless you are a whole lot better at seeing those arrows coming than I am, it is important that you have that shield around you at all times so that you are ready for the relentless attacks of the evil one.  After Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness being tempted by the devil, and overcame those temptations, scripture tells us that satan left him for “a more opportune time.”  Just because you have survived skirmishes and battles, don’t think that the devil has given up on his desire to destroy you.  It is our faith in God and the work Jesus has done on the cross that makes us ready to extinguish any dart of accusation or doubt that the enemy hurls at us.  We can be strong when we are ready to use faith to shield us from whatever the enemy tries to destroy us with.
• Be Observant:  We can also be strong in the Lord when we seek to be observant to all that He would have us to see.  As Paul calls for his readers to pray, he calls for us to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”  Sometimes it is far too easy to just pray generically, if we pray at all.  God wants to be alert, or be observant, to the things we can see around us as well as to the things we can’t see with our eyes.  We are strengthened when our prayer life is transformed by observing people and situations through the eyes of Jesus.  Being alert isn’t just an add-on once Paul has finished describing the armor of God — it is a necessary part of living on a battlefield.  Because of the need for each of us to “put on the full armor of God”, it is imperative that we remain observant as we “keep on praying for all the saints” — “saints” being the term Paul often uses for all those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus.  We make great progress in being strong in the Lord when we learn to be observant — both to the work God is doing around us and to the dangers that would seek to destroy us.
• Be New:  As we set out to be strong in the Lord, we should soon discover that  we must be new, and have a new way of thinking, in order for that to take place.  The reason for the armor of God rather than traditional military armor is because the battles we face that are most important are not battles against flesh and blood.  When God says, “if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation”, He sets forth the means by which we can be new as we face a battle that requires a new approach.  Because this battle is taking place on a spiritual level in heavenly realms, the localized skirmishes tend to take place in our mind.  I don’t think any of us would be too thrilled to have every detail of our entire life put on display for all to see.  Yet many times it is those hidden secret things, that should often remain that way, that satan uses in his accusations and attacks against us.  When we live as one who has been made new in Christ, we can be strong in the knowledge that the old is gone and no longer has power over us.  
• Be Guarded:  Being strong in the Lord, and the purpose of the entire armor of God, means that we can be guarded against the attacks of the enemy.  As Paul wrote to the Ephesians and gave them many instructions about their life in Christ and how it should influence how they interact with fellow believers as well as those who don’t believe, he wraps up his letter with the instructions to be strong and put on the full armor of God.  So often, we begin to think that becoming strong means that I can now do things on my own.  If I’m strong, I no longer need the protection of someone else.  Yet nothing could be further from the truth.  Being strong in the Lord means that we recognize our weaknesses and trust in God for His protection and help.  We are strongest when we seek out, and put to use, the protections God has promised to those who are His — when we realize we don’t have to go it alone, we can be guarded by the promises and presence of God through His Spirit.

It was an interesting message for God to put together in my mind because the message I had been working on earlier also used the word “STRONG” as the outline word but none of the points spelling out the word strong were the same.  I don’t think I have ever had two sermons in my mind at the same time which used the same word for the outline.

After church, we ate lunch then headed home for a relaxing afternoon.  The light rain from the morning drive has gone back and forth a few times between light rain and snow so it will be interesting to see what happens overnight now that the sun has set and the air temperature is likely to drop.  Since the weather wasn’t all that inviting for outdoor photo opportunities, today’s photo is one from yesterday’s trip to Lake Michigan.  With the leaves all fallen, I couldn’t tell if the tree in the photo is alive or dead, but it was interesting to see it jutting out of the side of the sand dune, not willing to give up completely.  Sometimes being strong in the Lord is just a matter of holding on and letting Him be victorious on our behalf.

As I reflect on the day and think about the lessons it contained, I think most of them are covered in the sermon points above so instead of adding to the length of today’s page, I will let those stand as is.