Page 243 ended up being another good, long workday filled with the planting of some seeds and the watering of others.  While the planting and watering are often not the most glamorous parts of life, they are necessary if a harvest is to be expected.  Today it was shortly after midnight when I woke up to the sounds of Susan resettling herself after what was apparently some light seizure activity.  After checking on and reassuring her, I went back to sleep until the alarm told me it was time to wake up and head to work.  The morning began with the usual prayer, cleaning, and building prep with a little extra attention paid to the preschool rooms as the preschool was having their student orientation/open house today in preparation for classes to begin next week.  

Once the building was ready, I spent my morning back and forth between the sermon I’m working on for Sunday and some more refining of the Growing Strong spiritual growth retreat concept.  This work may even be a step or two before the planting and watering, but it is important work in order to be prepared for the next steps.  As I worked on narrowing down a location for a late October/early November retreat, I received an email requesting information about the process for a church to host a Growing Strong retreat at their location.  The seeds for the retreats have been planted on my website and now it was time to do some watering.  As I worked on a carefully worded response to give necessary information without it becoming overwhelming, I prayed that God would take these seeds and the watering of them and produce a crop at just the right time.  

As I worked in the office, I noticed some movement outside my window and managed to see a woodpecker come in for a landing on the side of a tree.  I got my camera out and managed one photo, which became today’s photo for the page, before he took off for another location.  I was fascinated because he didn’t come in and land on a branch as most birds do.  Instead he glided straight toward the trunk of the tree and when close enough, reached out with his feet to cling to the tree bark.  While this one didn’t stay around long, I’ve seen them cling to the side of a tree for long periods of time while pecking away at the bark, digging out their next meal.  It made me think of God’s instructions for us to reject what is evil and cling to what is good.  Do I tend to cling tightly enough to what is good that I don’t fall?  Does my clinging to the goodness of God provide enough support that I can find within Him the nourishment that I need?  Or have I become too casual in the way I approach both good and evil?

By the time I finished up work for the day, it was too late for lunch so I went home and had a snack to tide me over until dinner.  The evening has been spent relaxing and doing some more retreat location research before settling down at my desk to write today’s page.

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

• Some days are spent harvesting, but more days are spent planting and watering — and even more are spent preparing the soil before the planting and watering can begin to take place.
• Life isn’t about who is better off than me or who is worse off than me — it’s about what am I doing with what God has given me.
• People ask me how I’m able to preach with nothing more than a word for an outline.  The big answer is God and the sub-answers are prayer and preparation.
• There is very little that I can make happen, but I can seek God and work to be prepared as much as possible for what He makes happen.
• My commitment to clinging to what is good often determines if I stay upright or if I fall.
• To adequately cling to what is good requires that I reject evil — I cannot maintain a grasp on both.

Page 242 began extra early as I was awakened by the sound of a thud.  Susan was having a seizure in the early morning hours of the night and had hit something, so I got up to help her find her way — both the way to the bathroom and the way out of her seizure.  This one wasn’t a major seizure, as seizures go, but that doesn’t change the adrenaline surge that messes with my mind and body each time she goes through this.  I think we all made it back to sleep fairly quickly, but if felt like the alarm was going off extra early.  I got up and made my way into work to take care of the morning cleaning and building prep.  

As I went about my morning work and prayer routine, a poem about understanding people began to form in my mind.  It is sad how quickly we tend to get offended and pass judgment on people without ever attempting to understand where they are coming from.  When we “walk a mile in their shoes”, we begin to have a glimpse into a life that is often very different from our own.  By the time the building was ready for the day, the poem “Trading Shoes” was ready as well.  After I typed out the poem and posted it on my blog, I settled in to spend some serious time with God in fleshing out the sermon outline for Sunday.  

By mid-afternoon, the early start to the day was catching up with me so I headed to lunch then made my way to Potato Creek State Park to see what I could find to photograph.  The eagles weren’t out, but the combination of blue water and sky with white clouds was amazing.  Today’s photo is looking across the lake as the clouds appeared like I should have been able to reach up and grab hold of one.  Eventually one of the eagles flew high overhead, as if he too was enjoying the beauty of the sky so much that he wasn’t about to just sit.  After shooting some photos, I headed home to relax before firing up the pellet grill to make some bacon cheeseburgers for dinner.

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

• It’s amazing how certain sounds in your sleep can trigger an immediate awake response.
• My adrenaline response doesn’t seem to have a variable control — it is either off or full on.
• Time is the only way I know of to come down from an adrenaline high — not the best news when I’m trying to get back to sleep.
• Understanding people takes time and effort that many are unwilling to give.
• I don’t like it when people respond negatively to something I’ve said or done when they’ve made no attempt to understand why.
• My shoes feel heavy at times, but I suspect so does the shoes of everyone else.
• After having fresh lake perch and walleye at a restaurant on a little island in Lake Erie, Long John Silver’s probably wasn’t the best lunch choice today. 🙂 
• God wants each of us to work in a way that our labor is not in vain.
• It is easy to become so focused on what I want that I miss what God has provided.
• Sometimes I need to get off my perch and just soar in the presence of God.

Page 241 was another good day with an early start of the usual prayer, cleaning, and building prep.  As I finished up the cleaning and took the trash out, the sky was lit up in a brilliant mix of color.  By the time I went back inside, got my camera, and came back outside, the color had mostly faded to gray.  I did manage a few photos with just a little bit of the sunrise colors, but it wasn’t long before all the color had been replaced by a blanket of gray clouds.  As I looked down the length of the ball field, a momma deer and her baby came out of the woods to see what I was up to.  They didn’t stay around long, but did pose for a few photos before heading back into the woods.  

After checking messages and taking care of a few minor tasks, I put on my accountant’s hat and spent the morning working on the church missions and prayer ministry records.  As I worked, the plans for Sunday’s sermon simmered in my mind as I allow God to boil it down and refine it into the finished product He would want served.  The focus that is simmering at the moment is Paul’s instruction to “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)  It is easy for me to become discouraged and then begin to wonder if anything I do really matters.  Satan wants to convince each of us that following Christ and doing the work He created in advance for us to do is a waste of our time and effort.  Our culture has done remarkably well at convincing us we need instant results or we’re just wasting our time.  God has a different message for us and that message is to keep at it, that we will reap a harvest in due time if we don’t give up.  We tend to plant the seed in the morning and want to harvest the produce by evening.  God’s design is that over the course of time one person plants, another one waters, and He gives the increase.

With a few pauses to take care of some IT work, the accounting was completed for the day and the sermon simmering put on hold by mid-afternoon so I could get some lunch.  I suppose a neat part of the way I work on sermons is that the simmering process never really takes a break — there are just times I’m more aware of it than at other times.  After lunch I headed home to relax a bit and made my way to the porch to take some photographs of the hummingbirds and flowers.  It was a comfortable evening outside and the air was starting to have a feeling of fall to it.  As I was waiting for the hummingbirds to show up, I shot today’s photo of these beautiful flowers blooming at my feet.  It is amazing what a little splash of color and brightness can do to brighten up an area.  And it’s not restricted to plants — you and I can be that splash of color and brightness in the lives of those around us if we choose to be.

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

• Life happens in moments — make the most of them while you can.
• If you gaze too long on a moment that has passed, you may well miss the moment that is now.
• Doing the work of the Lord isn’t limited to preachers, missionaries, or church staff — it is for everyone!
• When you do your work as working for the Lord, you find that whatever you do is not done in vain.
• Having a logical and analytical mind is great for accounting work but not so great for other things — and that’s okay.
• When we “hide God’s Word in our heart” it should never really be hidden, it should take root and blossom into a beautiful thing.
• A harvest takes time but always follows the planting and watering that needs to be done.
• Even a little brightness and beauty can make a big difference in a dark culture — be the light that God has called you to be.

Page 240 was the start of another work week, so it was back to the Monday morning routine.  After the usual prayer-filled bathroom cleaning and building prep, I sat down to write yesterday’s page.  Sometimes the pages are more difficult to write the next day and other times the night’s sleep helps give greater focus and makes the writing easier.  It seems that most of the time I want a routine that operates according to a preset formula — but life doesn’t seem to work that way.  God wants me to not only live life, but to pay attention as I do so.  A mindless routine might be easier, but it would also make it far easier to miss the important lessons and tasks that He has for me.  So, even with something as basic as making a written account of a day of life, I continue to learn to seek and pursue God with a heart that listens and responds to Him.

The rest of the morning was spent on the writing, and the preparing for publishing, of next week’s prayer guide.  I began the day with a pretty good idea of what the topic would be for this next prayer guide as I spent a good part of yesterday’s drive time thinking and praying about it.  With next weekend being Labor Day Weekend, I wanted to do a focus on our work, or labor, from God’s perspective.  As I began to put the prayer guide together, I thought about groups of people that might be tempted to dismiss it as not applicable to them — people who are not “working”, meaning they are not employed for whatever reason.  Some may be retired and believe their working days are over.  Some may be children and think their working days are yet to come.  Some may live with circumstances that make employment impossible.  Some may choose the work of parenting over being employed.  Whatever reasons a person may come up with for thinking a prayer guide about labor is not for them, nothing could be further from the truth.  While the good work that God created in advance for each of us to do may vary greatly, there is a work for each of us to do in His kingdom — the body grows as each part does its work.  My labor that honors God is very different than my daughter’s labor which honors God and both are likely very different from your labor which honors God.  The honoring God part has much more to do with the “how” of our labor than the “what” of our labor.  It was a fun prayer guide to put together and by early afternoon I had it formatted and scheduled to be sent out via email and published on my website this coming Sunday.

Once the work on the prayer guide was finished I turned my attention to more work on the spiritual growth retreat concept I am working on.  I know there will come a time soon when I will need to step out in faith and schedule the first retreat, but that is a somewhat scary thing to do considering the commitment I will have to make up front for a location with no idea who or how many, if anyone, will want to participate.  The content for the retreat idea seems to be coming together well, my biggest struggle seems to be in finding peace in the right combination of location and cost.  Location and cost seem to be related and for someone as “frugal” as me, finding a proper balance in those two elements can be a bit nerve-wracking.  So, I continue to pray and to research as I seek God for the time and courage to set a place and time then to trust Him to provide the people.

When the workday was done, I headed home to relax a bit and work my way through the photos from our mini getaway.  By early evening, I took a camera outside to capture some of the beauty God provides.  Tonight’s feature was a pair of finches who were greatly enjoying both the sun and the sunflowers.  Today’s photo is of one of the finches just after it plucked a sunflower seed loose and looked up to face the camera.  Well, it may have just been eating and not paying any attention to the camera, but I can still tell myself it was posing for me. 🙂  

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

• Prayer can transform mundane tasks into mountain-moving tasks — and sometimes the mountain is the person praying.
• Prayer and faith are so intertwined that the teaching from James that faith without works is dead can also be applied to prayer and God’s desire that it changes us.
• Many times it seems that God forces me out of my comfort zones of routines so that I pay more attention to Him.
• Our work matters to God — even when it isn’t what others call work.
• Every part of the body of Christ has a purpose and a work to do in order for the body to grow in a healthy manner.
• God defines the work each part of the body ought to do and its value comes from Him, not from how others view it.
• Sometimes it is difficult to sort through my own insecurities to determine if God has me waiting or if the waiting is because of my doubt.
• God provides beauty all around me.  It is usually up to me whether I’m paying enough attention to notice.

Page 239 was a great day spent with my family as we finished up an overnight getaway as a reminder that another birthday doesn’t mean I’m old. 🙂  The day was long enough, though, that I’m doing the written part of it the next morning.  Throughout the day we walked a little over 7 miles and I feel okay the next morning, so I must have not gotten older . . . right?

The day began with a walk down to the lakeshore to shoot some sunrise photos.  As I was out, I noticed a momma deer and her baby wandering the lodge property.  They were doing some trimming of the lawn, but the primary task seemed to be removing the ripening apples from the trees before they fell to the ground and made a mess for the guests.  My plan had been to shoot some sunrise photos then head back to the room, so the only camera I had with me was with a wide-angle lens.  My solution was to talk to the deer and thank them for their nice work as part of the grounds crew.  As I talked to them, I kept moving closer so I could get the photos I wanted with the lens I had on the camera.  They were very cooperative and I managed to get some close-up photos I was pleased with.

After the sunrise and early morning deer adventure, we took a 2+ mile walk on a boardwalk trail in the park.  We did not manage to find any owls, which we had been hoping to photograph, but we did have a very peaceful and beautiful walk.  Part of the worship team leading the music for the morning was the little guy in today’s photo.  His song caught my ear long before his movement caught my eye.  I eventually found him at the top of a small maple tree where he had a clear view of the morning sun as he sang his songs of praise.  It is a good lesson for us in that we too need to rise above the distractions of life and gaze with a clear view on the Son in order to amplify our songs of praise.

After our walk we packed up and checked out of the lodge, then made our way to Catawba, Ohio to catch a ferry to the village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island.  There were two lighthouses we wanted to photograph, but they were on opposite ends of the island so we did about 5 miles of walking from one end of the island to the other . . . and then back again.  That much walking requires fuel, so we had an incredible lunch of perch, walleye, and shrimp.  They said the perch and walleye were fresh, local caught fish . . . the shrimp, I suspect not so much. 🙂  There was a vintage car race scheduled on the island and while we were there we were able to enjoy a parade with a mix of great vintage cars and newer models that someone paid a lot of money for and needed to show off. 🙂  After our time on the island we caught the ferry back to Catawba, then made our way down the shoreline to another lighthouse.  After some more lighthouse photographs, it was time for us to begin to wind down this birthday getaway and start our journey home.

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

• As the years go by, I find myself more mindful of the need to spend time with my family — both in the day to day journey of life and also in special times away from the day to day distractions.
• Sometimes you will find that you don’t have what you wished you had.  You can either dwell on what you don’t have, find a way to get what you don’t have, or make the most of what you do have.
• The manner in which we approach and talk to wildlife will greatly impact their reaction to us.  The same is true with people.
• It is okay to look for something specific in life but don’t miss out on what God provides simply because it wasn’t what you were looking for.
• When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, our praise will always be purer and sweeter.
• Sometimes there is a fine line between wanting people to share in your joy and simply wanting people to see what you have.  One of those motivations is good, one not so much.
• Have I already mentioned how important it is to find ways to make time for family?  It doesn’t require huge amounts of time or money to create special moments.  While those things can help, they can also hinder when we put our focus on those instead of on our family.

 Another abbreviated written page as I’m out of town on an overnight birthday trip that was delayed from last week.  I spent a quiet morning around the house and took a few photos.  Today’s photo reminded me of how we carry with us some of what we come in contact with each day.  That is one of the reasons it is important we pay attention to our surroundings and the influence they have on us.

Eventually, I fixed lunch and then we threw some things in the truck and headed to Lake Erie.  We went for a walk when we arrived and managed to see some beautiful wildlife — and even managed to photograph some of it.  

That’s it for today’s written page.  I pray that your day picks up encouragement from those around you and passes it on every chance you get.

Page 237 began early and will likely end late with a whole lot of goodness in between.  I began the day extra early so I could get the building cleaned and ready to go before sunrise.  Being a Friday I knew it would be a late day getting the building cleaned and ready for Sunday, so I wanted to take a little time to relax in between the early and late shifts of work.  I took my kayak down to Potato Creek and was greeted by two baby deer when I first drove onto the property.  When I got to the boat ramp to put my kayak in, there was a horse roaming around the parking lot.  The ramp is somewhat near the horseman’s campground, so I suspect somebody’s horse got tired of the late night campfire talks. 🙂  There was also a bald eagle waiting for me so I took a few photos of him before unloading my kayak.  After parking my truck and putting the kayak on the water, I noticed a second bald eagle had shown up to join the first in watching the sunrise.

It was fun to just float and take pictures of the sunrise and the various wildlife that call the lake area home.  There was one area along the shore where the birds were very plentiful and flying about with a happy song.  Today’s photo is one of them as he posed for me as I floated by.  As the kayak floated into the brush hanging over the lake, I discovered why the birds were so  happy to be there — bugs!  The air was thick with flying insects in the brush and over the water so the birds were happy to have found an all-you-can-eat buffet.  After taking a few hundred photos, I loaded my kayak back on the truck and made my way back to work.

Late morning and early afternoon was spent finishing up the mowing.  Once the mowing was done, I headed out to a late lunch/early dinner to take a break before starting the evening cleaning and building prep.  After eating I went through some of the photos from the day and then cleaned one end of the building before sitting down to write today’s page.  Once the page is written, I will finish up the other end of the building before calling it a day and heading home.

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

• I am thankful to have some flexibility of time when I know I have work that needs done at both ends of the day.
• Being able to relax when needed helps to make a long day not seem so long.
• I never get tired of seeing wildlife in their natural habitat.
• Some things are such a surprise that I don’t even think about how much of a surprise it was until much later — I mean, really, an unattended horse roaming the parking lot?
• God wants me to trust Him to provide for me just as He provides for the birds of the air.
• I still enjoy mowing.  It is easy to see the work that was accomplished.
• Incorporating prayer into my cleaning routine helps the time to seem to pass much more quickly.