Page 265 was a Friday which means my work responsibilities began early in the morning and ended late at night.  As I went about my usual early morning tasks, I thought about our anniversary trip the day before.  It reminded me of a truth that has been said by a number of people in a variety of ways — your real priorities are not reflected in what you say is important but rather in what you actually do.  Many times our priorities are put to the test because the important things that we want to do are not always easy and may require us to sacrifice something else — something that may also be good.  

I feel fortunate to have grown up in a family that did life together.  Mom and dad worked the farm together, which they continue to do, and everyone was not only part of the family, we were all a part of the work and enjoyment that filled the family.  Yes, I remember the hard work, but I also remember doing it together.  I also remember the trips.  Whether Christmas vacations to Florida, or even California one year, or simply day or afternoon trips to regional and local parks, the trips were always about being together and about exploring — at least that’s the way I remember it.  Looking back, I can see that a common denominator in the things we did was that they were either free or very inexpensive — but they were also the things I learned to enjoy.  

Anyhow, fast forward some forty to fifty years and I find myself applying a lot of those lessons I learned in my childhood.  Working together to provide for a family and finding time to discover the beauty of creation is not always an easy combination.  Add to the mix a daughter who, because of a variety of neurological conditions, is in many ways a perpetual eight year old with limited mobility, and the task of spending time together exploring natural settings becomes even more complicated.  But that’s the lesson of priority that I learned from my parents . . . and from God.  It isn’t always easy, in fact it rarely is, but we find ways to make it not only work, but to be enjoyable by all.  We adjust work schedules.  We take advantage of even small windows of opportunity — you can see a lot in just an hour or two if you find a local park and start walking and looking.  We stay and watch a sunset, knowing we still have a 3+ hour drive home with work in the morning.  We invest in a rugged wheelchair that I can push through many park trails.  When that doesn’t work, we spend more time either going at a much slower pace or taking turns exploring.  We do what it takes because these are things we can do, and enjoy doing, together as a family and that’s a priority to us!

Anyhow, sometimes I can be deep in thought before the day barely begins. 🙂  Once the building was ready, I took the time to write the previous day’s page as we had not gotten home until nearly midnight.  My morning was filled with typical tasks and by early afternoon I took a break for lunch.  After lunch I drove to the park, but it was too hot to spend much time outside so I headed back to work and began to clean and get the building ready for Sunday.  As I worked, I would take “mini-breaks” to share some of the photos from the previous day’s adventure.  It seems that about the time I begin to start thinking that I post too many photos that nobody but me even cares about, God will use a few people to remind me that they are also able to explore and discover the beauty of creation through the photos I take and share.  There are very few things, if any, that God gives us that are only for us — most, if not all thing, are meant to be shared.  During one of those little breaks, as the sun was beginning to set, this flicker on a tree outside my window caught my attention.  Every time I see them clinging to the side of a tree as they search for a meal within the tree’s bark, I am amazed at the handiwork of God.  

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

• We either intentionally set priorities or we allow them to occur by default.
• Intentional priorities are almost always more beneficial and productive.
• Most of what you wish you could do will likely not happen until you make it a true priority.
• Even the the things you know God wants you to do will often go undone until you choose to give them the importance they deserve.
• Making something a priority does not mean it will be easy.  Often priorities will require a tremendous amount of hard work and sacrifice — it is the priority status that keeps us pursuing it.
• God has created us to be people who share and who benefit from the sharing of others.
• Watching the things God has created helps me to see a God who specializes in uniqueness and in the equipping of everything, and everyone, for the work He created them to do. 

Page 264 was a long, busy, great day so I’m writing the page in the middle of the next morning after I’ve done my morning work and am ready for a break before the evening shift to get the building ready for the weekend.  As I drove to work, I thought back to 36 years ago when I woke up in the morning as a single guy and was married before the day was over.  As I look back, I hope I’ve learned some things over the years that have made our marriage stronger now than it has ever been.  But whether it is in marriage, our relationships with others, or even our relationship with God — the secret isn’t so much in what we learn, but in what we put into practice.

At work I was greeted by six deer who were waiting for me in the parking lot when I arrived.  It was too dark to get any photos, so after I said hello I went about my usual prayer, cleaning, and building prep tasks.  Once the building was ready for the day, I took care of some maintenance issues and followed up on some correspondence.  By the time the morning was over, I had arranged a date and location for a spring Growing Strong retreat — as soon as I get the contract filled out and sent in with the down payment to finalize the retreat center booking, I will share more details.  I’ll say this for now, the dates will be March 16-18, 2018 and the location is in southern Indiana.

Being our anniversary, I finished up my work at noon so I could spend the afternoon with my wife and daughter.  We headed north to Ludington, Michigan with the hope of getting there in time to climb the lighthouse in addition to taking photos in the area.  It was a beautiful afternoon for a drive and by the time we finished the nearly two mile walk from the parking area to the lighthouse, we had half an hour to go up the lighthouse before it closed.  Susan’s been having a lot of seizure activity lately, so MJ and I took turns going up while the other watched Susan so she didn’t have to climb the 118 foot tower.

After taking a lot of photos around the lighthouse area, we made our way back down the trail to the truck.  As we walked, a couple deer joined us just off the trail in the edge of the woods.  They were curious for a while and let us take some photos before they decided to move deeper into the woods where they couldn’t be seen.  A little further down the trail, Susan pointed out a deer ahead of us even before MJ or I had seen it.  I guess we are training our photography assistant well. 🙂  As we left Ludington State Park, where the Big Sable Point Lighthouse is, we stopped in Ludington to photograph the lighthouse on the pier there.  While we were there, God began to paint the sky in such an incredible way that we stayed until after the sun had set before beginning our journey home.

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

• Some things are worth celebrating — and having someone stay with me for 36 years is one of those things. 🙂
• Learning is a good thing.  Applying what you learn is what makes the learning valuable.
• Most people move a little more quickly with the right motivation.
• For as long as mankind has used boats and ships to transport people and goods, they have understood the importance of warning others of dangerous waters.
• Even with lighthouses and warning beacons, there are still shipwrecks and ships still run aground — not everyone pays attention to the warnings.
• God has provided the Light of the World to us, and through us, to warn of the dangerous waters in life.
• Even with adequate warning, there are times we still find ourselves shipwrecked and run aground simply because we failed to heed the warnings.
• God is the Master ____________ . . . tonight it was Master Painter in addition to everything else.

Too much goodness in the day for one photo, so here are a few from the day’s celebration.  Wow God!!

One of the advantages of pursuing a lifestyle of prayer is that you become more aware of the continual presence of God in the midst of any and all circumstances.  Page 263 was a reminder of that truth as I set about taking care of my usual early morning tasks.  While I believe God has confirmed within me a life calling to preach and teach a lifestyle of prayer through the work of Impact Prayer Ministry, for now He has chosen to supply the needs of my family and prayer ministry through a staff position of maintenance director at a church.  With a preschool and K-8 school in the building, my weekday mornings usually consist of cleaning and daily prep of the building.  I write that as an introduction to my prayer and worship time this morning — you see, as I was cleaning toilets this morning, I was talking to God as I usually do and found myself singing the song which has the line, “Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place.  I can feel His mighty power and His grace.”  In that moment, with toilet brush in hand, God quietly whispered, “You’re not alone.”  We talk, and I teach, a lot about God always being present, but I must admit that sometimes in the mundane tasks of life it is easy to forget that.  Because I practice a lifestyle of prayer, which includes praying as I clean, God was able to remind me of His presence in a time and place where it would be easy to not notice it.

As I took the trash out, a morning mist was rising off the grass and the sun was cresting the horizon and sparkling through the dew-covered trees.  I grabbed a camera and took a few photos as I rejoiced in the beauty of God’s presence.  Overall, it was a rather quiet day as I followed up on some maintenance issues and continued some work on the Growing Strong retreats and on a couple of sermons for October.  As I worked at my desk, out of the corner of my eye I noticed the movement of a bird.  By the time I got my camera out, I got one shot before she flew off to search for her meal in another location.  As I thought about the birds in the woodpecker family, I thought about all the times throughout my life when it’s felt like I’ve been banging my head against a wall — and here’s a family of birds that basically do just that as a way of God providing the food for them that they need.  I wonder if some of my “head banging” was God’s way of providing for me at the time.  I know that in the midst of those moments, I rarely have paid attention to what God was trying to do in the situation.

Before I headed home from work, another poem made its way out of my head and into my blog.  After wrapping up the workday I headed home for a late lunch, then spent some time relaxing and eventually took a short nap before sitting down to write today’s page.

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

• God’s presence isn’t dependent on our recognizing it.
• When we draw near to God, He draws near to us regardless of where we may be.
• When you are confident of what God has called and equipped you to do, you will find a way to allow Him to accomplish that work through you.
• If you find yourself someplace where you don’t feel you can worship, you may want to examine why.
• Just because you have not yet reached the place in life where you want to be, it doesn’t mean that you’re not where you are supposed to be.  Life’s a journey.
• God’s provision may not always look like you expect it to, but it is always for your good.
• God expects us to share what He gives us.  If you’re not sharing, you probably shouldn’t expect to receive much.

Page 262 began with thunder storms rolling through the area during the early morning hours.  With comfortable temperatures, there is a pleasant freshness that these summer rains bring with them.  While I thoroughly enjoy the dry, sunny days for outdoor activities, they do have a tendency to allow unseen dust and pollen to float through the air in addition to settling on any available surface.  A good rain from time to time helps to not only refresh the ground, but cleanse the air in the process.  So often, when we think about God showering us with blessings, we think about the good things we want and not necessarily about the cleansing we need.  Just as the rain provides both a nourishment and a cleansing, God wants to shower us with all that is needed to both sustain us and purify us.

One of the things about working in a metal building is that a moderate rain falling on the steel roof causes a sound that is peaceful to me.  As I went about my morning prayer, cleaning, and building prep process, the sound of the rain was a comforting mask to the normal sounds of an empty building.  The rain stuck around for most of my workday as I got caught up on some tasks in the office.  During that time, a poem began to solidify in my mind about the journey of life we all travel so I eventually typed it out and shared it earlier today.  By the time I finished up my work and headed to a late lunch, the rain had stopped but the sky was still filled with very dark clouds.

After lunch I spent some time at home relaxing and checking on some of the retreat option progress.  By early evening it looked like the clouds were beginning to break up, so we took a family trip down to Potato Creek State Park to see if we could find any of the eagles wanting photographed.  The eagles weren’t waiting for us at any of their usual spots, and never did show up, but the lake itself was smooth and reflecting the sun and sky like a well polished mirror.  Today’s photo is one of many I took this evening as I just kept clicking the shutter because the beauty was so great.  As my eyes took it all in, I wanted to capture as much of the detail and nuances of the moments as I could.  

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

• I’ve always enjoyed thunder storms even when they wake me up.
• Rain is rarely a welcomed event until we’ve gone so long without it that we recognize its necessity.
• The blessings that God chooses to shower us with may not always match our definition of blessings until we understand the necessity of what God gives.
• We all need times in our life when the showers of blessings from God serve to refresh our dry and thirsty soul.
• We also need times in our life when the showers of blessings from God serve to cleanse us from the residue of filth which has, perhaps unknowingly, covered us.
• Sometimes the showers that God sends our way serve to comfort us as they cover the sounds than can frighten us.
• When God puts words in my mind, particularly as poems, I must either type them out right away or risk losing them.
• My life’s journey has been greatly improved by the wife and daughter that God has blessed me with.
• Sometimes there is greater blessing to be had in what we find than in what we were looking for.

Page 261 began with the usual morning tasks as well as some leftover work from Friday as a maintenance task took more time than expected then.  There have been times when I would have kept working even later when a needed project took up my time, but I am learning to recognize the difference between what needs done now and what can wait if my normal work time is used up with more important tasks.  

Once the building was ready for the day, I was able to settle into my Monday morning prayer guide writing routine.  I don’t know if it was the slight change-up in the morning routine, or what, but it seemed to be a struggle to settle on a topic for the next prayer guide.  As I prayed and spent time in scripture there were plenty of topics that came to mind, but as I would consider them either they just didn’t feel right or I found that I had recently used the topic.  While it took much of the morning, the topic arrived at is an important one — serving others.  Once I had a peace and confidence about the topic, it was time to pray about the daily breakdown of it for the prayer guide.  By early afternoon the prayer guide was written and I turned my attention to formatting and scheduling it to go on my website and be sent out via email on Sunday morning.  

By then the workday was nearly over, so I did some checking on some retreat location possibilities for next year and sent out some inquiries for available dates at a few conference centers that I think would best suit the needs of the Growing Strong retreats.  After finishing up my work for the day, I headed home for a late lunch then spent more time at home working on retreat location options.  By evening, I had received a reply from what I felt was my first choice in location with some date options that, while not my first choice, I felt I could make work.  I turned around and sent in a request for a proposal to cover the dates available and now I wait to see more of the details to make sure the location is both suitable and in a price range that I believe will keep the retreats as affordable as possible.  Hopefully I will know in the next few days so I can add a spring 2018 retreat to the schedule in addition to the fall 2017 one already scheduled for this November 3 -5.

I wrapped up my day with bacon cheeseburgers done on the pellet grill, then spent the evening relaxing with my family before sitting down to write today’s page.  Once again it was a full day with no new photos, so today’s photo is another one from Saturday’s trip to Lake Michigan.  The photo is one of a series I called “The Dog Days of Summer”, as it contains a man and his dog enjoying the waters of Lake Michigan in the late summer sun.  The man and dog are on the shoreline right in the reflection of the sun.  They spent a good amount of time playing together as the dog would fetch a ball thrown out into the water.  Sometimes we just need to step back and learn to enjoy the simple things of life.

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

• I can’t do everything and the good news is that God doesn’t expect me to.
• Since I can’t do everything, prioritizing is my friend.
• Putting off doing something simply because you don’t want to do it is not wise.  Putting it off because there is something more important that needs done is wise.
• Sometimes things are important but they are not urgent and other times things seem urgent but not important.  Wisdom helps you to find the important urgent things and start with them.
• Just because something is both important and urgent, doesn’t mean doing it will be easy or even natural — it will often require commitment and perseverance.
• Sometimes the prayer guide topics that seem the most difficult for me to decide on end up being ones that I wonder what took me so long.
• The how and why of serving others ought to be a part of our prayer life all the time.
• Sometimes I take work home with me and I have to be careful not to let it consume me.
• Some of the simplest things in life can be the most enjoyable when they help us to relax in the presence of God.

Page 260 started with what has become an all too familiar beginning lately as Susan had another seizure in the wee hours of the morning.  After she was through the seizure and calmed down, we all went back to sleep for a while.  I was awake early, so I spent some time writing yesterday’s page before getting ready for Sunday School and church.  Our Sunday School class continued our study from John 13 but didn’t get past the opening verses as we looked back to where we’ve been in the study.  It is a fun class with a lot of good discussion and depth as we seek together to better understand the application of scripture in our lives.

After the Sunday School class we had a great time of worship as David continued a sermon series on what we believe as a church.  Today’s message was about leadership from a Biblical perspective and covered the following main points:

• We believe all leaders are under one head, Jesus Christ.  Throughout the New Testament God leaves no doubt that all authority has been given to Jesus.  The absolute authority of Jesus leaves no room for anyone to be in legitimate authority except under Him.  No where should this be more obvious than in the church.  While that should seem like a given, it is far too easy for any of us to get caught up in our own plans, desires, and dreams to the extent that pride keeps us pursuing them instead of submitting everything to the lordship of Christ.  Whether you are a leader in a church, in your workplace, in your home, or within a group of any size, chances are good that you are a leader to someone as you live your life.  Godly leadership is delegated by God with the expectation that all of our decisions are made in complete submission to Him.
• We believe all leaders are to serve according to the gifts they’ve been given by God.  Just as our physical body functions best when each of its unique parts does the work it was created to do, Christ’s body, the church, functions best when its leaders serve according to the gifts God has given them.  Leadership within the church is not meant to be a popularity contest nor an honorary title given to recognize long-term members.  If a person isn’t serving with the gifts God has given them to lead in whatever realm of influence they have, calling them a leader won’t help and is a bad idea.  It is far too easy to select church leaders based on the world’s standards of getting things done rather than on God’s standard of serving faithfully with the gifts He has given.  God gifts each member of the body of Christ uniquely because we each have a part that makes the body complete.  A leader serving according to God’s gifting in their life recognizes that they and their ideas are not more important than those they lead — submission to God by all parties is the key.
• We believe all leaders must be guided by the servant-model exemplified by Jesus.  It doesn’t require an extensive study of the New Testament to see that Jesus not only taught the importance of serving others, He lived it.  Jesus made it clear by His teaching and by His example, that whoever desired to be great must become servant of all.  Godly leaders must learn a practice a life of service to more than just those who agree with them but serve everyone in ways that build up each individual for the works of service God has called them to.  Serving under the best of circumstances can be difficult, but serving according to the example of Jesus requires an extreme sacrifice that many who desire to be leaders are unwilling to make.  The prayer of Jesus in the garden, “Not my will, but thine.”, is the prayer of One who chose to serve all even when it went against His own will or desires.  That is the type of example that God calls leaders within the church to follow.

After the church service, I had lunch with my family and then spent the afternoon with a mix of relaxing, retreat location research, and even a nap.  By evening I began writing today’s page and doing so has finished out my day.  No new photos taken today, so today’s photo is one from last evening’s sunset trip to Lake Michigan.  

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

• Sometimes you just keep on keeping on because it is the only suitable option.
• The depth of God’s Word is unfathomable, but the wisdom is available to all who would seek it.
• If your style of leadership looks like that of the world, you are probably doing it wrong.
• There is no leadership that supersedes, or is even equal, to the authority of God.
• God has gifted each person in a way that is meant to benefit the body of Christ as a whole.
• Leadership done God’s way requires that each leader use their specific gifts to serve people.
• To know what  leadership ought to look like, we need look no further than the servant leadership lived by Jesus.
• As the sun sets on another day, God continues to reign and showers each of us with His faithfulness.