Today was our monthly pest control service at work, so I was up at 5 in the morning in order to meet our service tech at the building.  The early start to page 114 allowed me to clean the building in the quietness of the outside darkness.  As I cleaned, I prayed for a stillness of spirit that would match the stillness of the morning.  

Once the building was ready for the school day, I settled into some time with God as I worked on the prayer guide for next week.  This one took a little longer as I wanted it to serve as a follow-up to the sermon I will share at Deer Run on Sunday.  So, not only was I writing the prayer guide this morning, I was also writing the outline for my sermon.  The prayer guide will focus on the subject of a prayer of faith and, unless God changes it before Sunday, my sermon will follow the same focus.  James has a lot to say about faith and about the elements of faith involved in our prayer life.  The writer of Hebrews says that “without faith it is impossible to please God.”  He goes on to say that “anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  Faith is imperative to a lifestyle of prayer because our belief in a God that exists and rewards those who diligently seek Him draws us to praying with expectation and hope.

With the early start to the day, by mid-afternoon my mind was fogging over and it was time to call it a day as far as work was concerned.  At home I spent some time relaxing before heading the the River Walk with my family for a late afternoon stroll.  There were a number of good photo opportunities, including today’s photo of a goose and a few of her goslings taking a nap.  As I took this photograph, I thought about Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and longing to gather the people to Himself as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings — but they were not willing.  God still longs to draw His children to Himself and give them rest — but even today many are not willing.  

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

• The stillness of our surroundings don’t always reflect the stillness of our spirit but it ought to remind us to pray that God would still our spirit before Him.
• Spending time with God ought to allow Him to direct the flow of the time.
• My plans, even when born out of prayer, ought to be subject to God’s authority to change them.
• Not only is it impossible to please God without faith, we are unlikely to pray unless we believe God hears and answers.
• God doesn’t promise that we’ll have a smooth life.  In fact, He says that we will face trouble and even be persecuted for His name’s sake.  But He does promise to gather us under His care and protection if we are willing to accept it.

Page 113 began with the writing of page 112.  Some days it feels as if I don’t write the lessons from that day down before I go to sleep, I will never remember them.  Yet other days my mind is so tired that nothing makes sense until I get some sleep and do the writing the next morning.  For a person who thrives on routine and schedule, learning to be flexible in when the actual writing takes place has been an interesting lesson in itself.  I keep thinking I need to decide when I’m going to do the writing and just about the time I make up my mind one way, it becomes easier to do it the other.  I know that for some of you, that doesn’t sound like a big deal.  For me, it is a bigger deal than it probably should be. 🙂

Once yesterday’s page was written, we headed to the church building for Sunday School class and the morning worship gathering.  The class I attend began a study of 2 Thessalonians today and we began by considering the reputation the Thessalonians had because of their abundant and growing love for one another.  We concluded our class time this morning by beginning to look at the warnings Paul gave concerning those who would attempt to deceive them in an effort to lead them away from Christ.  While there are passages of scripture that would tend to make one believe there is a Antichrist that will appear at the end of times, there are also many warnings of those who live as an antichrist throughout all generations.  These antichrists are dangerous because they often come with an appealing message that, while having an appearance of good, is rotten to the core.

Our morning worship gathering included a message by CJ from Daniel 9.  In the message, CJ looked at the prayer life of Daniel and how that led him to seek God in the midst of desperate times.  Daniel had plenty of desperate times as an individual, but he also lived at a time when the Jewish people faced desperate times as a nation.  Their holy city, Jerusalem, had been destroyed and many of the Jewish people, including Daniel, had been taken captive to serve in Babylon.  God had called His people to repentance for years yet they continually ignored Him.  Eventually God’s discipline involved sending in the Babylonians to rule over the people for a period of time.  Daniel understood through reading the writings of Jeremiah that the time span of captivity was set by God to be seventy years and that time would soon be up.  There was a desperation not only in the circumstances of captivity, but in the need for the people of Israel to repent and turn back to God.

Daniel’s prayer life was built on the foundation of a relationship with God.  His practice of prayer included sacrifice, humility, and a recognition of who he was compared to who God is.  Daniel knew through experience and through a knowledge of God’s love for him, that God would always respond if he did not delay his prayers to Him.  It is important to note that there is a difference between praying in desperate times and prayers of desperation.  When prayer becomes a lifestyle, prayer even in desperate times is not an act of desperation, but an act of hope

The rest of the day has been spent relaxing so today’s photo is one I took yesterday on my way home from the convention.  The setting sun reminds me of God’s presence and warmth.  He lights up the evening sky with His beauty to end the day and again to begin the new one.  Even when we can’t see it because of cloud cover, the beauty still exists and is just waiting for the veil of clouds to be pushed back for the beauty to be seen.  Sometimes, as in the case of the Israelites of Daniel’s day, the cloud cover is of our own making and is torn asunder by our turning back to God in repentance.  

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

• We can often be more productive if we work smarter rather than harder.
• What works well in one place and time may not be the right approach for a different place and time.
• A church congregation will rise and fall based not only on the love we have for God, but also on the love we have for one another.
• It is important to always be on guard as many who are against Christ will try to deceive and offer a cheap imitation.
• Your practice of prayer, or lack of it, during good times will be reflected in how you respond to bad times.
• Prayer should always be the first option for everything so that even in times of desperation, our prayers are not an act of desperation but rather an act of faith. 
• God’s beauty and presence is always nearby.  When it seems less visible, we need only seek Him in repentance for His light to be rekindled in our life.

Page 112 began with my waking up in time to get breakfast at the hotel before heading into the convention for the day.  Many people say that breakfast is the most important meal for the day.  For many of the same reasons, and more, starting the day with some intentional time with God is the most important thing you can do.  It’s not that God’s presence isn’t always available to us, but if we don’t seek and acknowledge it, we can do a pretty good job of hiding from and ignoring it.

My morning was spent at the prayer ministry display as I talked with people about the ministry and shared with them about the work God does within a lifestyle of prayer.  During the lunch break, I had lunch with a young man who was a student in my first youth ministry.  We talked about ministry and family and how each of those change the other.  Sometimes one changes the other in ways that are harmful which ends up hurting both.  But wisdom teaches us how to embrace the changes that are beneficial to each and reject those that would cause harm.

After lunch it was back to the convention for an afternoon of talking with a few more people.  The traffic through the display area didn’t seem to be very good this year, so I pray even more that the conversations that did take place would bear much fruit for God’s glory.  As the convention concluded, it was time to pack up the display and load everything into the truck for the journey home.  The trip home would take me near Lake Michigan shortly before sunset, so I stopped by to spend some time with God and take some photos.  The water was a little bit choppy but the sun was shining brightly when I arrived at the lake.  The wind coming off the lake was filled with moisture and sand which added to the chill in the air.  Today’s photo is of a duck riding the waves.  There were several of these out bobbing on the water as they would rise and fall with each passing wave.  Occasionally they would disappear from view only to be seen a short while later on the back side of a big wave that had crashed over them.  

While most of us would prefer the smooth waters of life, that isn’t what we always experience.  Sometimes we live in the midst of choppy waters and sometimes the waves of life reach massive proportions as they are driven by the winds of this world.  While there are times when we have some choice in the waves we experience, other times we are left riding waves that are not of our choosing.  When we live in Christ, He helps us to stay afloat and endure the waves — perhaps even enjoy them at times.  But there are also those times when we call out to Him to save us and His voice calms the raging sea within us.

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

• A deliberate time with God to start the day helps you to be aware of His presence throughout the day.
• Sometimes God brings many people across our path that He wants us to interact with and sometimes that number is few.  
• God’s not as concerned about the total number of people we share with as He is about out being faithful in sharing with those He gives us opportunity with.
• God’s presence helps us to ride the waves of life with endurance and even enjoyment.
• God’s presence also has the power to calm the storms and the damaging waves which threaten to destroy us.
• Trusting God is the only way to live with peace.

While it has felt like a long day, page 111 will end up being a shorter workday than most Fridays are for me.  I slept in too late to get breakfast, but I did make it to the college in time to get my display set up before the start of the convention.  When I checked the schedule out last night, I noticed a name that was familiar so I wondered if it was the same person I knew.  Sure enough, as I was setting up the display an individual who had been a student in my first youth ministry stopped by to say hello.  He and his wife were leading the opening worship time to get the convention started.  It was good to see him and even better to see him honoring God with his life and abilities.

The day has been a combination of spending time with God, listening to teaching, and talking with people about prayer and the ministry God is doing through me.  In one of those times with God, I took advantage of a break in the schedule to take a short walk along a path that runs between the shopping mall and a housing development.  There were a variety of spring flowers blooming along the path and the birds were continuously singing their songs of praise as I walked.  I was trying to photograph some cardinals who were not being very cooperative, when I noticed movement in the underbrush that was more than just birds flitting around.  As I looked more closely, there were three deer grazing nearby with little concern that I was there.  A short time later, I found a raccoon peeking out of a hollow tree that seemed as interested in me as I was in him.  It made me think about how often I miss things because I’m not looking for anything.  More specifically,  how often do I miss the working of God simply because I’m not looking for Him to be doing anything in my life.  

After an evening spent talking to people about the prayer ministry, I stopped for dinner on the way back to my room.  Now I’m sitting here writing today’s page while eating butter brickle ice cream (technically frozen custard) from Culver’s as it was cheaper to buy a pint and bring back to the room with me than to have a two-scoop sundae while I was there. 🙂

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

• Priorities say that you do what is important to you even if it costs you something you enjoy.
• I get it when John writes that he has no greater joy than to hear that his children walk in the truth.
• Seeing people from a dark time period in my life who are honoring God today, not only reminds me of the pain from that time but also of the good God was doing in spite of the pain.
• There are days that my mind tells me, or at least the enemy whispers quite loudly in my mind, that I do so little good that my breathing is a waste of good air.
• On those days, God uses people, places, and/or things to remind me that He doesn’t love me because of what I do, He loves me because of who I am.
• Many times God’s love and presence seems to be highly elusive but when we seek Him with our whole heart we find He has been near all along.
• The enemy knows how to discourage.  God knows how to encourage.  Which one do you listen to most?

Page 110 was the rest day in between a long workday on Wednesday and long workdays coming on Friday and Saturday.  I was awake and enjoying my morning glass of grapefruit juice by 8 AM, which has become my new definition of sleeping in.  Susan slept in a little longer than I did, which gave me the opportunity to simply enjoy some quiet time with God as I prayed for my friend and coworker who would have knee replacement surgery today.  When Susan was finally ready to wake up, I helped her get ready for the day and then she enjoyed watching me play some Wii games for a while.  Eventually she went out and sat on the porch swing for a while and I fired up the pellet grill to have bacon cheeseburgers once again.  

After lunch I did some work on a few photos I had taken and then started putting things together for my trip to the Michigan Christian Convention.  On one trip up from the basement, we found Susan in an unresponsive seizure on the couch.  It went on for a while and required extra meds to bring her out of it which generally means a chaotic scene as her brain wiring fights to reconnect.  Sure enough, it wasn’t long after the additional medication that she fought her way out of the seizure — with fought being the key word.  The process requires some degree of restraint to keep her from seriously injuring herself, but it leaves all of us with bruises and scrapes that I’m sure is just a fraction of the discomfort she ends up enduring.

While it was good that I was there to help with the process of getting through the seizure, I did need to get my Friday morning work done tonight so I could hit the road before it got too late.  Susan was resting peacefully on the couch as I said goodbye and went in to do the cleaning and prep to have the building ready for tomorrow.  Once it was ready, I headed out for Lansing, Michigan where I will set up the prayer ministry display first thing tomorrow morning.  As I drove to the east, I could see the sun and clouds setting up behind me for what had the potential to be a decent looking sunset.  As I eventually turned to head north, the clouds had begun to build up to the point where I knew I would have a small window of opportunity to capture the scene that would present itself.  I took the first exit off the highway and stopped at the top of the interchange to shoot some photos as the sun streamed through the clouds with golden beams of light touching the earth.  As I continued my trip, it wasn’t long before the entire sky was overcast and the visible traces of the sunset were gone.  

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

• Each of us have work that is ours to do.  God’s desire is that we would do it as if we were working for Him — because we are.
• Sometimes God gives us times of quietness for the purpose of our spending time with Him.
• Planned quiet times are good and necessary, but unplanned ones usually have a reason that becomes obvious if we are still enough to listen.
• Praying for one another ought to be a joy and not a burden.
• Enjoy the times of peace God brings into your life because we often have no idea what is coming next.
• Keeping someone from seriously hurting themselves can be painful but we do it anyhow when we love someone.
• The scrapes and bruises of life really are “light and momentary afflictions” when compared to the surpassing greatness of God’s love.
• As in photos, some opportunities with people are open-ended while others only exist for a limited amount of time.  Since we rarely know which we currently face, it is best to make the most of every opportunity by doing good when it is within our means to do so.

It is a Wednesday which means there is a lot to be done before the day comes to an end.  Page 109 began with the early day cleaning as I made sure the building was ready for the school day.  Once the cleaning was done I finished up the writing of yesterday’s page and then headed out to mow as the sun was trying to make its way up over the eastern horizon.  By late morning I had mowed most of the back lawn and needed to get more fuel for the mower so Susan and I made a quick stop at the zoo while we were out.  When we got back, I refueled the mower and set out for round two to try to get the mowing done.  By mid-afternoon I was finishing up the next to last section of lawn and the mower quit.  As it seems is often the case, I was about as far away from the garage as possible.  After walking to the garage to get some tools and then back down to the mower, I got it started again just in time for the sky to open up and let loose with a steady rain.  I was still as far away from the garage as possible, and already wet, so I finished up the few passes in the section of lawn I was mowing before putting the mower away.

I had a dry shirt in the office so I was able to change shirts and start to dry out as I checked messages and finished putting together the things I will need for the prayer ministry display this weekend.  Once the after-school program was done I picked up trash and made sure the building was ready for Wednesday evening Bible studies before heading out to get a lunch/dinner combination.  When I got back to the office I posted some of the zoo pictures and began writing today’s page as I wait for the building to clear out so I can get it ready for tomorrow.  With long days coming up on Friday and Saturday as I represent the prayer ministry, my plan is to work late tonight so I can try to rest up tomorrow.  

Today’s photo is one that I took at the zoo this morning.  As we went past the alpaca enclosure, one of the alpacas had its face buried in the hay feeder.  I thought it was funny enough to take a picture but as I went through my photos later, I thought about the lesson this has for all of us.  How often are you and I so hungry for the Word of God that we bury our faces in it because we simply can’t get enough?  Yes, we can nibble around the edges and reach some degree of satisfaction, but it would be so much better to dive into the depth of scripture and consume the meat of the Word that can fully satisfy.  

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

• Finishing begins with starting.
• While there are things that I have started that I have not finished, there is nothing that I have finished that I have not first started.
• What opportunities would you have taken today if you knew that you would never get those same opportunities again?  How will that change the opportunities you take tomorrow?
• Problems are rarely convenient and often seem to happen in the most inconvenient ways possible.  
• Sometimes it is easier to finish a task, even in the midst of a mess, than to quit while knowing you still have to go back to it later.
• God’s desire is that we would hunger and thirst for righteousness to the extent that we would bury our face in Him as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Page 108 was another good day filled with a balance of work and family time.  I’m doing the writing of the page the next morning as I’m finding the longer amounts of daylight keep me busy later into the evening and I’m tired by the time I sit down.  Writing in the mornings may become a new “normal” for a time — at least when the day provides good weather to be outside with my family in the evening.  

The day began with the usual cleaning and building prep tasks with a break in the middle to catch some sunrise photos and some building photos for our social media presence.  My workday was filled with a combination of sermon prep, prayer ministry display prep, and minor maintenance tasks.  At one point as I worked in my office, I noticed a large bird gliding in circles overhead.  I have a pair of hawks that are frequent visitors, so I thought it may be one of them and I went outside to try to get a few pictures.  It ended up being a group of six of these birds gliding with ease on the rising air currents.  With that many of them together, I doubted they were hawks and after looking at the photos I discovered I was correct — they were vultures, buzzards, turkey vultures, or whatever the going name is for this large carnivorous bird that looks for dead things to eat.  While seeing them tear apart roadkill can be an unpleasant sight, watching them glide in circles high up in the sky was actually a beautiful thing.  It is God who made them with the ability, and desire, to clean up a dead carcass that would otherwise likely spread disease and it was God who gave them the ability to fly with such beauty.  It made me wonder about how often we judge a person by what they do rather than notice who they are and the purpose God has designed just for them.

After the workday, I had a late lunch and a little bit of rest before going to Potato Creek State Park for a walk with my family in the midst of a beautiful spring setting.  Early in our walk, we passed by the nesting pole for a pair of Osprey.  As has been the case much of the time, you could see the head of one of the osprey peeking out of the top of the nest while the other stood guard on a cross-member further down the pole.  Occasionally you will find them both in the nest, but more often one of them will be in a nearby tree or out where there is a more complete view of the surroundings.  Today’s photo is of that lookout osprey sounding the warning that a potential threat was nearby.  It made me think of God calling the watchmen of Israel, and us, to account.  The responsibility lies in sounding the warning when danger approaches.  There may be no control over how anyone responds to that warning, but if the warning isn’t given then the responsibility for loss lies directly on the watchman who failed to give warning.  That is an important lesson, at least for me, because I know I get tired of warning people about the consequences of their decisions or actions only to have them pay no attention to the warnings.  It is easy to think, “why bother?”, but God reminds me that my responsibility isn’t their response to the warning.  No, my responsibility is to speak up and be free from the guilt of the destruction that is to come.

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

• Just because something has always been done a certain way, it doesn’t mean that it necessarily always has to be done that way.
• I love routine and an illusion of “normalcy” but also realize that growth doesn’t happen without change.
• When something becomes a burden, it is wise to figure out why.  And, if it’s important, figure out if there are ways to make it less of a burden.
• Things, and people, aren’t always what they appear to be.
• Our job, or the tasks that we find ourselves doing, is not the full measure of who we are.
• There are a lot of unpleasant tasks in this world that are done by very pleasant people — and there are a lot of pleasant tasks that are being done by very unpleasant people.  Being pleasant or unpleasant is our choice — choose wisely.
• The task of a watchman is difficult, but even more so when his warnings are not heeded.
• The response of people, or the lack of response, shouldn’t change the content or urgency of our message even if it changes the style.

Page 107 was the official work start of what will be a long week.  Not that the week has more than the usual seven days, but I have a lot to get done through the first part of the week so I am ready for the upcoming weekend when I’ll have an Impact Prayer Ministry display at the Michigan Christian Convention.  My day began as a typical Monday often does, up early and headed into work to get the daily cleaning and building prep done before the start of the school day.  It was a busy morning as I not only did the necessary cleaning, I also finished the writing of yesterday’s page before settling into the Monday morning routine of spending time with God putting together the next weekly prayer guide.

As I was cleaning, the view out of a couple different windows made it look like the sunrise would be worth setting up my camera to time-lapse record it.  As I set my camera up, a deer was standing along the edge of the woods watching what I was doing.  It was still in the twilight time between dark and light and she kept an eye on me to see if I was one she could trust.  Today’s photo was taken as my deer friend watched me and before she moseyed down to the far end of the lawn where she continued to observe my movements.  Trust is a tough thing to build whether it is with animals or people.  It is even more difficult to regain it once something has been done that breaks that trust.

Once the building was ready for the day, it was time to see what God would put into my mind for next week’s prayer guide.  As I spent time in prayer, two things seemed to stick in my mind — the second primarily the result of the first.  I had been told last week that CJ would likely be preaching from the book of Daniel this next Sunday.  That information likely led to the old Sunday School song, “Dare To Be a Daniel”, being stuck in my head.  As I prayed with those two pieces of information rolling around in my head, the idea of a “Dare To Be a Daniel” focus began to form in my mind.  As I spent time in the word, I found that there are six characteristics that Nebuchadnezzar looked for in bringing back young Hebrew men to Babylon after he had laid siege against Jerusalem.  Given that I always encourage people to pray on Sundays for the preaching and teaching that takes place within the local church, the six characteristics fit well into the remaining days of the week for the prayer guide.

The morning was gone by the time I finished the prayer guide and had it formatted and scheduled to go out next Sunday.  My early afternoon hours were spent working on some things for the prayer ministry display and starting to get things put together for the convention.  By mid-afternoon it was time to head home and get some lunch before back-filling the trench I had dug on Saturday.  It seemed like filling the trench in was almost as much work as digging it was.  It was a beautiful afternoon to work on some outside projects at home as well as eventually fire up the pellet grill to fix some bacon cheeseburgers for dinner.  As I finish up the writing of today’s page, it will soon be time to call it a day and get some rest to prepare for another day tomorrow.

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

• While some days or weeks seem longer than others, they all have the same amount of time in them.  How we use that time determines how long, or short, it feels.
• Finishing a task makes the rest of the tasks on the “to-do” list seem more manageable.
• Careful, and even casual, observation goes a long way in helping us see the wonder that God creates and puts on display every day.
• Doing the right thing depends more on the commitment to do so than on the circumstances we find ourselves in.
• If you’re going to take a dare, why not make it a dare to represent God in all you do.
• Finishing a project can be as difficult as beginning and while both stages bring their own form of satisfaction, it is the satisfaction of finishing that lasts.
• Beginning a walk with God is a very satisfying thing but finishing life still walking with God will bring the greatest satisfaction imaginable.