Page 83 was a Friday which I planned to be a short workday after working all day Thursday which I normally have off.  I headed to work at my usual early hour to get the cleaning and building prep done for the day.  When I took the first round of trash out, it was still dark with a fairly heavy cloud cover.  As I finished up the cleaning and the students began arriving for school, I noticed that there was a small break in the clouds where the sun was trying to shine through.  It caught my attention enough that I went out and shot a few photos before taking care of some work in the office for the day.  As I was wrapping up my tasks for the day, I received a message that the service company wanted to do our fire alarm system inspection and testing today.  I called them to see if there was another day that would work only to find out they were on their way.  🙂

To keep the fire department from responding to this test, I called our security company to let them know we would be having work done on the system.  My first couple attempts didn’t reach anyone, so I tracked down a direct number to the monitoring company and asked them not to send anyone in response to alarms that may go off this morning.  The rest of the morning was spent with the inspection crew in the building and making sure everything was in working order.  When they finished up their work I received a printed report which I quickly read through looking for one thing — confirmation that we had passed and the system was working properly.  Sure enough, it stated the one thing I like to hear — everything was as it should be.

By the time that was finished and I had taken care of some other issues that had come up, it was early afternoon and I had put in a full day of work in spite of my plans to not do that today.  While I’m not a fan of Daylight Savings Time because of the difficulty in getting used to the time change twice a year, I do enjoy when it stays light later in the day.  After a late lunch, we took advantage of the daylight to do some walking as a family and spend some time along Lake Michigan taking some photographs.  As we walked out on the pier in St Joseph, Michigan, it was lined with people fishing.  Today’s photo shows a portion a portion of the pier with a lot of lines in the water.  In case you’re wondering, I didn’t catch anything.  There may be a number of reasons for that, but the most basic reason is that I wasn’t fishing.  There did appear to be a good number of fish being caught, and while I don’t know if everyone with a pole caught something, I do know they had a better chance of doing so than I did.  

The time on the pier made me wonder about the fishing we’re doing — or not doing.  As Jesus called His disciples away from their nets and boats, He told them they would become fishers of men.  This is the same task that Jesus calls each of us to as His disciples.  Just like fishing for fish, fishing for people requires that we be intentional about our efforts to catch someone.  We must not only be prepared, we must go to where the people are and actively engage them with the same thing that attracted you and I to Jesus — His love which calls for each of us to repent of our sin and find forgiveness.  I don’t think there is anything more powerful than for a person to know they are loved and to know that God has made a way for them to be forgiven.

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

• Sometimes it is hard to allow God to direct my steps when I already have a way planned out.
• It becomes even more difficult when I continually pursue the way I have planned when God is directing my steps elsewhere.
• When I hold my way loosely and seek God’s direction for my steps, I find I live with much greater peace.
• Sometimes God does more through things we don’t expect anything out of than what we could think or imagine.
• To catch fish, I have to do more than just show up — I have to be prepared and equipped, and I actually have to fish.  The same applies to being a “fisher of men”.

The building was taking longer than usual to clear out last night and I was tired so I decided I would head home before cleaning and then go in early this morning to do the building prep for the day.  Coming home early last night and going into work early this morning sounded like a better plan last night than it did when my alarm went off this morning.  Page 82 began with frost on the truck under a clear sky as I headed into work early.  Once there I went about my cleaning and building prep tasks.  When I took the first load of trash out I took my camera with me to shoot a few photos of the moon which had been bright in the sky on my drive in.  When I got outside, the sky was full of clouds and the eastern horizon was glowing with a brilliant selection of colors.  It looked like it was setting up to be a pretty spectacular sunrise so I went in to get my tripod so I could set my camera up to time-lapse the next fifty minutes.  If this works, today’s photo is actually the ten second video of those fifty minutes of this morning’s sunrise.

As I was shooting some photos of the sunrise and then watching this time-lapse video, I kept thinking about what an incredible view I would have missed had I followed my normal routine and cleaned last night so I could sleep in this morning.  It made me think of God’s faithfulness as the sun rises each morning whether I am awake to see when it happens, or not.  As much as I enjoy sleep and benefit from it, I receive greater joy from watching God’s handiwork as He puts it on full display to be seen by all who would care to look.  

One of the factors that went into my decision to rearrange my schedule to go into work on a morning that I would normally have off was to get some outside work done while the forecast was calling for favorable weather.  After the cleaning was done and the building ready for the day I followed up on some correspondence and then headed outside to grade the trails and do some work on the church property.  While it was dry, the temperature was much colder than I had expected so by the time my morning was finished I was feeling rather chilled.  I finished the workday taking care of some tasks in the office while I enjoyed a cup of hot coffee to warm up.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home before firing up the pellet grill to cook some chicken for dinner.  With an event in the building tomorrow evening, my Friday won’t be a normal  late night schedule for me so I’ll do the early morning tasks and whatever else may need done before calling it a day.  

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

• God’s mercies are new every morning.  I pray that you and I are observant enough to notice them and willing enough to receive them.
• Trusting God means that I seek Him for direction in every decision and believe He will work each decision together for good as I move forward in faith.
• God delights in His children and goes to great lengths to let them know that.
• Sometimes our expectations keep us from paying attention to the things God wants us to see and know.
• Routine is important to me but watching God work when my routine gets rearranged is even more valuable.
• An awareness of God’s presence ought to never leave us regardless of what we are doing.
• We have many ways to warm ourselves physically, do we make use of the ways God has given us to warm ourselves spiritually?

Page 81 is a Wednesday which means it will likely be a long workday.  I began the day early with the usual cleaning and building prep.  It was cold outside this morning but that just added a crispness to the air that made the moon and stars seem extra bright in the early morning sky.  As I took out some of the trash, there was a faint glow on the eastern horizon but without a cloud in the sky I didn’t anticipate much in the way of a colorful sunrise — at least not one that photographs well.  When I finished the morning prep the sun was beginning to crawl over the tree line to the east and appeared to be a perfect ball of fire making its way into the sky.  While beautiful to see, I haven’t figured out how to photograph that scene well without the clouds to diffuse some of the brightness and catch the various colors of light.

After the building was ready for the day, I settled into my office to spend the morning finishing up the missions record-keeping and accounting work that I had begun yesterday.  I always enjoy this task because it involves things I am good at — numbers, math, and accounting principles — but I enjoy it more so because it involves mission work in various parts of the world.  As it ought to be with all tasks that I do, this one is easy to include prayer as a key part of the work I do.  The correspondence and financial contributions which go to the missions Deer Run helps to support are useful to them, I’m sure.  But even more useful are the prayers that take place and go with every letter and check sent out.  

By early afternoon I had my office work done and headed to the post office to send out some mail.  After getting lunch I headed down to Potato Creek to spend some time with God, do some walking, and take some photos.  While I didn’t see any of the eagles today, there was a good variety of birds willing to have their photo taken. 🙂  The first part of my walk took me to an area of the park where there were swans, geese, ducks, heron, and osprey.  I sat out with this group quite a while as I took photos, watched, and listened to them interact with each other.  When I left that area of the park, I headed over to the other osprey nest where I took the photo which made today’s page.  It is rare that my photo-of-the-day is of the same subject two days in a row, but this photo of the two osprey working together to build their nest seemed like the right fit for today.  This pair of osprey seemed to be doing a good job of working together as they build their nest.  When one would arrive with a stick or branch, it would work at finding just the right placement for it while the other would take off in search of more nesting material.  By the time I left the park, they had taken a break from nest building and each of them could be seen atop their platform with a fish in their claws enjoying an evening meal together.

I headed back to the building to take out trash and make sure it was ready for the mid-week Bible study classes.  I’m writing today’s page as I wait for the building to clear out after the classes, but I’m considering heading home and coming in early in the morning rather than work late tonight.  I guess I’ll finish out the page and see how I feel when it’s done.

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

• The moon has no light of its own but many songs, poems, and stories have been written about the light of the moon.
• You and I have no light of our own but Jesus declared that His followers are the light of the world.
• Since we are to be the light of the world and we have no light of our own, it is critical that we become effective in reflecting the true light — Jesus.
• Gazing into the presence of God can be blinding and uncomfortable but when we reflect God’s glory, the people around us are able to see Him without becoming completely overwhelmed.
• Money by itself isn’t the answer to any problem.  It may be part of the answer but if God is not being listened to, having all the money you think you need will actually be part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
• People can accomplish great things when working together.  They can accomplish impossible things when working together with God.

Page 80 felt like a multi-season day.  As I headed out the door early, the moon was shining brightly but it was shrouded in a haze of high altitude moisture.  It looked and felt like the early spring morning that it was as I drove to work.  As I cleaned the building and took the trash out, the fog was rising off the ground in the pre-dawn darkness.  With the haze floating across the ground and a scattering of clouds in the sky, I set up my camera to record the sunrise as I went back inside to finish the building prep for the day.  Once the building was ready, I went back outside to shoot a few still photos and collect the time-lapse video that covered fifty minutes of the rising sun.  

Back inside, I spent the morning taking care of some missions tasks and beginning the monthly accounting and record-keeping for the missions work of the church.  As I worked, the sun continued to rise so I headed outside to take care of some tasks on the preschool playground.  A few weeks ago, a wind storm had rearranged some of the safety surface tiles and I have been waiting for a sunny, summer-like day to warm the tiles up enough that they would go back together easily.  They snap together like puzzle pieces and working on the black rubberized surface with the sun shining brightly on my back made it feel like summer.

By early afternoon I finished up the work on the playground and left to take care of some off-site tasks and get a late lunch.  After lunch I picked up my family and we headed down to Potato Creek to do some walking and take photos.  The park has a number of pair of Osprey that live there during spring, summer, and fall and today we saw the first pair that have returned from their winter away.  Today’s photo is one of the Osprey in the midst of a work in progress.  Every spring when they arrive, they build a huge nest where they will raise their young.  By late summer they begin to tear apart the nest until there is essentially nothing left when they head out for the winter.  Each year this process is repeated as they arrive in the park and start out with a fresh nest.  As we hiked through the park the temperature had dropped, a cold wind was blowing, and the sun was hidden behind some dense cloud cover making it feel more like a late fall day than early spring.  

At the end of our walk, we drove around to where we often see a Bald Eagle or two and I was able to photograph one as it soared overhead.  It wasn’t willing to land while we were there, but it is beautiful to watch as it glides through the sky.  As I unwind this evening and write today’s page, the temperature continues to drop with a forecasted low down into the twenties.  So with a day that began feeling like spring before changing to summer-like weather and then into an autumn feel, it’s going to end up feeling like winter.

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

• Change is inevitable.  Sometimes it’s faster than we would want, sometimes it’s slower than we would want, and often it’s not what we want but it still happens.
• The change that we have the most control over is our choice to change into the likeness of Christ.  He has to make the change in us, but we have to choose it.
• The change that we likely have the least control over is to change someone else to become like us.
• Many things, including the human will, are easier to work with under conditions which make them soft and pliable.
• We often hate the idea of starting over because we don’t do it often enough to realize its benefits.  
• A big part of beginning fresh is to get rid of every part of the old that holds us back.
• Deliberately beginning each day fresh with God helps to free us from the mess of yesterday’s struggles.  
• When it is our ideas that lead us into trouble and failure, it won’t be our ideas that lead us out.

I’m tired.  I have a mind that processes right and wrong in very black and white terms yet I live in a world that operates in various realms of gray.  The old song that says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through” is a constant reminder that I need to figure out how to live as a visitor in a world that I don’t belong to.  I also realize that this is a time of year that I typically come out of a season of weariness.  It is in these times of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual weariness that I must be very careful to remember that I am responsible for my own integrity, not that of others.  

Page 79 began early as I needed to be at work to meet our pest control serviceman shortly before 6 AM.  As he did his work, I began my morning cleaning and building prep routine.  Going through the building in the early morning, I looked at some issues that had been brought to my attention on Sunday but couldn’t duplicate the problem they had described.  I’ll keep an eye on things this week and if nothing becomes apparent I will check with them for further details.  Once the building was ready for the day and the students began arriving, I settled in with God to work on the prayer guide for next week.  As I spent time listening, I settled on the topic of being ready.  The obvious, or hopefully obvious, part of being ready is our need to be ready for the return of Jesus.  But there are other things that the Bible says believers should be ready for, so as the morning progressed the prayer guide took form with a different aspect of being ready to pray about each day next week.

After I had the prayer guide written, formatted, and scheduled to send out Sunday morning, I had a conversation with a friend and coworker before heading to an afternoon lunch followed by a trip to pick up some janitorial supplies.  After picking up the supplies I headed to a park to enjoy a late afternoon walk with my family.  Even though it was an overcast day, the birds were plentiful and they filled the park with their joyous music.  One of them made it as the photo for today’s page.  He had flown into a tree in front of me and it took a long time for me to see where he landed as his coloring, or lack of it, helped him blend into his surroundings.  It was the song that helped me to narrow down the location so I could take the photo.

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

• There are many ways to be weary.  Understanding the ways in which we are weary and some of the why we are weary, should help us to know what is needed to overcome the weariness.
• When we live as a citizen of the kingdom of God, we should expect times when we don’t feel at home in any kingdom of this world.
• Controlling the response of others to the ways of the world is not my responsibility.  Giving control of my response over to God is my responsibility.
• What one person sees as a problem may not be apparent to someone else looking at the same thing.  
• Being ready for the return of Jesus is where our “being ready” needs to begin.
• Sometimes when we can’t see with our eyes, we need to listen.   

Page 78 was a Sunday and the beginning of week 12 in this year’s writing adventure.  Being a Sunday with no snow, I was able to sleep in beyond my normal waking up time and I suspect the extra sleep is helpful as I continue to keep a winter cold/sore throat combination from trying to take over.  I’ve managed to come close to being free from the cold symptoms a few times this winter, but that freedom has seemed short-lived.  

Our Sunday morning Bible class continued a study in 1 Thessalonians as we spent this morning in chapter 3.  Evident in this study, as in all of his writings, is Paul’s intense love for the people who had accepted the message of the good news of Jesus.  His love is really seen for all people, but he has a great concern that believers would understand the temporary nature of hardship compared to the eternal glory of life with Jesus.  It is important that believers everywhere hold fast not only to the teachings of Jesus, but to Jesus Himself as the tempter works hard to draw us away from the faith that saves us.

As we gathered for worship this morning, David continued a sermon series from the gospel of Luke with a message about our life investments based on lessons from a “rich fool”.  Perhaps you are familiar with the parable Jesus told of a man whose land produced such a good crop that he decided to tear down all of his barns and build bigger ones to store all that he had so he could sit back and “eat, drink, and be merry.”  God is the one who calls this man a fool as he had saved up for himself without being “rich toward God.”  This man’s life would be required of him that very night and all of his work to prepare for a life of ease on earth would count for nothing.  As David pointed out, this man made three mistakes that we should pay attention to because they are not mistakes unique to this story — they’re also mistakes we are likely to make if we do not remain on guard.

These are three of the mistakes the “rich fool” made that we must remain aware of in order to remove them from our life.  

• He allowed his possessions to possess him.
  • While not something we would readily admit to, how often is our life direction determined by what we own or what we want to own?  When we fail to recognize God as the provider of every good thing in our life, we begin to fall into the trap of becoming possessed by our things.  Our “stuff” becomes the driving force behind all of our decisions and actions to the point that we believe what we have accumulated defines who we are.  This is extremely tough because our society works hard to make us believe in a “self-made man” scenario that is completely false.  The key to overcoming this mistake is to daily surrender everything to God and acknowledge Him as the giver of everything.
• He assumed there is only one kind of barn to store possessions in.
  • Because “the ground” had produced such an abundance of crops, this man concluded that the only thing that could be done was to build larger physical barns to keep his grain in storage.  How often do we experience the goodness of God and never think beyond who we can preserve it for our future enjoyment?  Jesus taught that there is a better “barn” that the physical storage places we use for our things.  He said we should store up for ourselves treasure in heaven.  We do so by the way we use the things that we treasure on earth to care for people.  When we are “rich toward God”, it is visible by the way we give of our time, our possessions, and our self.
• He thought he had all the time in the world.
  • The man in the parable made a decision that by storing up his possessions and using them wisely, he could live a life of ease for many years.  It never dawned on him, at least not until God showed up with judgment, that his life would not be long and prosperous.  He made plans for the years ahead but didn’t make plans for the eternity ahead.  Many people, perhaps you and I as well, put much greater effort into preparing for retirement than we do in preparing for eternity.  It is easy to think we have all the time in the world, and satan is pleased to keep us thinking that there is no reason to believe the time on earth is short.  God says that no one knows the day or hour of the return of Christ so we must be ready at all times.

After the worship gathering, it was time for lunch and then a little rest before heading out for a family walk.  Today we headed down to the St Joseph River and found a variety of wildlife to photograph, including a number of wood ducks.  Between the beauty of the ducks and the calm water which allowed for reflections in the photos, it was a great day for taking pictures.  Sometimes when we consider the lessons God is teaching us, we need to stop and see what the reflection of our life looks like to the people around us.  Our life ought to be a reflection of Jesus, so if people are seeing something different, we may need to spend some serious time with Him regarding changes we need to make.

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

• Battles often weaken us even when we win.  Win, lose, or draw, we need times of rest to renew our strength for the tasks God is calling us to.
• Studying God’s Word should always teach us something.  If it doesn’t, we may need to examine who we’re listening to.
• Mistakes are easy to make.  The key is to learn from our mistakes, and the mistakes of others, before they become deadly either physically or spiritually.
• Whatever we desire to own will often find a way of owning us.
• When we live as stewards in the kingdom of God, we recognize that God owns everything.
• Storing up treasure in heaven will have results that far outweigh and outlast any retirement plan on earth.
• God wants us to prepare wisely for tomorrow.  That means being ready not only for the work He calls us to, but also being ready should He call us home.
• Our reflection says a lot about us.  Do people see Jesus reflected in your life each day?

Friday night ended up being later night at work than I had anticipated as I went back and forth between cleaning and writing.  I have been having issues with my cell phone where it would shut off when I would answer it, or I couldn’t hear the person calling even though they could hear me.  My mom called this week and the phone wouldn’t let me answer the first time she called, so I decided it was time to get a new phone.  So, after I got home late last night I spent some time trying to get the service transferred from my old phone to a new one.  That meant that page 77 technically began with growing frustration as the transfer process didn’t seem to be going well.  I finally decided it wasn’t going to do what it should and with no way to contact tech support at that hour, it was time for me to get some sleep.  

With page 77 being a Saturday, not only did my schedule allow me to sleep in but my being up so late helped the sleeping in to actually happen.  When I finally woke up, I checked on the phone and even though it said the transfer was in process, more time had passed than what they had estimated on the website.  The good news is that I was within the tech support hours of operation and I could chat with them about what was going on.  It took most of the morning but I finally got a commitment that the transfer would be complete and I could use my new phone by 11:58 my time.  11:58 came and went and my old phone went off-line, which they said would be the sign the new one was ready to use, but the new phone still wasn’t working.  So, it was back to the tech support chat which said there was a 20 minute wait.  Instead of waiting, I called the tech support phone number which had an automated message saying the next available agent would return my call after at least a half hour wait.  So it was back to the online chat which gave the same nice spiel about the transfer being in process and I should wait until my old phone quits working.  I explained my old phone quit over two hours ago at this point and response is that he will have to connect me with a different agent who is a specialist in this area.  After a number of messages to wait, that he is waiting for a response from the other agent, I am told I will have to call their tech support phone number and have them handle the issue.  I make the call and get put on the list for the callback, which they eventually do.  I once again get the same story that the transfer is in process and I need to wait until my old phone no longer has service.  I explain that has been several hours ago now and he finally begins the troubleshooting process on their end to see how to make my new phone work.  After being on the phone with him for half an hour, we finally had success and my phone is working — I think as it should.

It probably would have been easier to start fresh.  To throw out the old phone and activate the new with a fresh number and service.  But that would have come with its own set of problems.  It would have required a new phone number which the people who use the old one wouldn’t know without work on my part.  It would have meant losing all of my minutes and data allowance that I have paid for.  I could have avoided the set of problems I ended up dealing with if I had been willing to accept the known limitations of doing so.  But by facing the unknown and dealing with it, I was able to move forward with an eventual better result all around.  

With another overcast and drizzly day, today’s photo is from a couple days ago.  To me it’s a picture of balance and the work involved in staying in balance.  It was a breezy day and this bird was clutching the twig with one claw while fanning out its tail to provide balance while it reached to reposition its footing while munching on fresh leaf buds that it discovered along the branch.  Sometimes we fall because we think we have used all resources available to us in maintaining balance.  More often we fall because we’ve not used the resources God has promised and provided to us through His Son.

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

• Sometimes we continue doing things that aren’t working simply because we don’t want to make the effort to do what does work.
• Often it is not until something fails at a time we counted on it that we begin to realize it hasn’t been working all along.
• Change takes work no matter how we go about it.  We would do well to work in such a way that the benefit of our effort is greatest for everyone.
• Sometimes we need a fresh start.  Sometimes we choose a fresh start because we don’t want to do the work required to actually change.
• One size fits all rarely fits all.
• Keep doing the same thing while expecting different results may be the definition of insanity, but most of us find it far more comfortable to do that than to admit we are wrong about something.
• Living a balanced life may seem difficult and even impossible, but we’ve not used all of our resources until we’ve trusted God to bring true balance.

Page 76 was another day that I was awake before my alarm went off.  Today was only fifteen to twenty minutes early, so I got up and headed into work since the forecast was calling for sloppy weather through the morning hours.  As I went through the building cleaning and praying, I kept watching out the windows for precipitation that would require me to put down ice melt or clear walks — I guess it was a new take on the instruction to “watch and pray”. 🙂  I got the building ready and took out the trash but the rain/snow/sleet mixture that was in the forecast hadn’t arrived yet.  Sometime after the students had arrived for the day, I noticed that the snow had begun falling with very large flakes that would float slowly to the ground.  Eventually the intensity of the snowfall picked up but it never managed to amount to any accumulation as the air temperature wasn’t cold enough for the snow to stay around.

After working on some projects in the office for part of the morning, I headed out with a “young” friend to visit and “old” friend who is in a residential rehab facility following surgery.  As has been the case through most of our friendship, I was there to pray for her and, more importantly, to give her a hard time about anything and everything as that is what she would expect from me in the way of encouragement.  Sometimes the best thing you can do for a person going through a tough time is to acknowledge the tough time but interact with them as much as possible in the same way you would have before the tough time.  At times they need to know they are still the same person to you as they go through so many changes that are beyond their control.

After our visit, my “young” friend, David, and I went out to lunch before heading back to work.  It was a drizzly, overcast day so I skipped the afternoon walk and photo taking and just continued the work I had begun in the morning.  Once the school and after-school care was finished, I began round two of cleaning for the day as I worked to get the building ready for Sunday.  The evening has been a combination of cleaning and writing as I would work on cleaning specific areas of the building and then take a break to write a little bit of today’s page before going to the next area of the building.  With no photos taken today, I went back and chose a photo from a couple mornings ago as the sun made its way up for the day while the lake effect snow moved in from the other direction.  Especially when the day has a gloomy feel to it, I always enjoy seeing the sun break through the layers of clouds and brighten the horizon.

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

• Watching and praying is always a good thing.
• We need to watch out for temptation even, and perhaps especially, as we pray.
• We need to watch for opportunity to do good as we pray.
• We need to watch for the working of God in our life and in the lives of others as we pray.
• It can be very difficult for an extreme introvert to understand how much a visit can mean to a person until you see it in their face.
• Sometimes we must step out of our comfort zone and into someone else’s comfort zone in order to encourage them.  
• “In the same way, let your light so shine that people would see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”