Page 268 has been a decent start to the weekend, all things considered.  With the official arrival of Fall this week, the roller-coaster of temperature and various weather fronts has had Susan on her own roller-coaster of sorts.  Between seizures, a panda obsession, and nighttime fear, she ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor beside our bed last night. It is always a little uncertain what the morning will be like after this type of night, but she woke up at 8 this morning ready to get the day started.  While she had breakfast, I gave myself a much needed haircut.  We then spent some time together looking at pictures from this past week before heading to WalMart to get some photos printed for my dad and his brothers.  Once they were finished, we stopped by my office to pick up a copy of one of my books I didn’t have at home and then headed to the zoo.  This was the first Saturday in a very long time that Susan was awake before noon and wanted to go visit her zoo friends.  She saw the animals she wanted to visit, then we stopped by the market to drop off the book and photos I had picked up earlier.  One of my uncles had asked for a couple of my books to put in their church library and since I wasn’t sure which ones he was actually wanting, I sent along the entire set of seven books.  🙂

After the trip to market it was time to head home and get the pellet grill going for our Saturday bacon cheeseburgers — no mushrooms in the house today. 😦  The afternoon has been spent relaxing, playing computer games and some Wii games, and taking a nap.  I have been using photos I have taken to make promo pieces for my latest book and today I pulled up an old photo I took 10+ years ago of the sun setting over my parents’ farm to highlight the “Heaven is a Home with Family” devotional page.  I suppose that statement means different things to different people, and to some it probably needs to be clarified that heaven is a home with a loving family.  It is a loving family because God is love and He is the head of this family.  As Christians, I believe God desires for our families on earth to better reflect His family of love than what they often do.  And sometimes our families are filled with a love we don’t know exists until we are put to the test.  As I think about this particular devotional topic from my book, I can look back over this past summer and realize that the family I am a part of is filled with more love than we had probably ever noticed before.  It has been in the hardest of times and in the best of times that the family has come together.  When my brother’s daughter died in a car accident, we mourned together and the community mourned with us.  When we gathered to remember my dad’s 80th birthday and the life of my niece, we celebrated together and the community celebrated with us.  When another niece was married, we rejoiced together and the community rejoiced with us.  Through all of these events, and so much more, it is easy to see the love of God reflected in our family, through our family, and to our family.  While we’re not perfect, we do get to see a glimpse of the family that God has called us to in His heavenly home.

As I wind down the day and write today’s page, Susan is having more seizures so I’ll finish the writing and see what the night will bring us.  I pray that you and I would hold fast to God at all times, especially when it feels like things are going out of control.  I pray that we would look to God for the wisdom and courage to allow Him to transform our families to be more like His family.  I pray that we would value the family God has given us and that we would be the family to those who feel they have no one.

Page 267 began early as I headed into work to get the cleaning and building prep done so I could begin mowing around the building before school began for the day.  I do my best to not be a distraction to the students who are in the building as I remember a long time ago watching the maintenance staff mow lawns as I sat in an early elementary classroom.  I suppose the teacher had other things she expected me to be doing, but none of it was as fascinating as watching the tractor pulling a multi-gang reel mower across the lawn.  So I start mowing before the sun is up, and in doing so I deprive these young students from watching the grass clippings fly as I go by their classroom window. 🙂  When I think about how easy it can be to distract young students, my mind took me to the warning of Jesus that we should not cause one of these “little ones” to stumble.

Once the school day began I headed away from the building and finished the mowing for the week.  As I mowed, my mind reflected on the allegiance I have to Christ.  It seems like every time I look through my social media sites, I can’t avoid new commentary about sports figures who choose not to stand for the national anthem at the beginning of their sporting event.  While I believe that we ought to show respect for what the anthem represents within our nation and that we ought to honor those who defend, and have defended with their lives, the way of life we enjoy as Americans, I become appalled at the tone of the verbal attacks against individuals by those claiming to be Christian.  So I began to wonder as I mowed, “What if every Christian had a greater passion for pledging, and living, an allegiance to God than they do for anything else?”.  If my true allegiance is to God, it will show in the way I respond to things I agree with and things I disagree with.  The respect I have for God ought to be visible in the respect I show to others.  If Christians cannot be respectful in our conversations with people and about people, how can we expect any level of respect to be present in our society?  We have become such an angry society and while we express it in different ways, our anger often keeps us from even attempting to understand the anger of others.  “They” do something we find disrespectful and somehow we believe that gives us permission to have no respect for them.  Our lack of respect makes them even more disrespectful and on and on the cycle goes — at least until the faithful people of God stand up and say with their actions that their respect for God will compel them to have respect for others.

After finishing the mowing, I headed inside and took a first look at the lesson material for next week’s 1st through 3rd grade class I teach.  I always like to go through the material early enough to let the lesson theme and scripture soak into my mind so God can bring out what He wants shared.  By mid-afternoon it was time for a late lunch so I stopped by KFC and then took a quick walk along the river in Mishawaka.  It wouldn’t be much of a productive walk without taking my camera and as I did so today I got a few shots I liked.  One of those photos was of a leaf floating down the river.  If I were to title the picture which made today’s page, I would call it “The Heart of Fall”.  After my walk, I headed back to work and began the Friday evening cleaning to get the building ready for Sunday.  When I collected trash from throughout the building and took it out, there were deer playing on the back lawn.  I enjoy seeing them out and for the most part, they seem to be somewhat used to seeing me.  

I pray that you and I would seek to live life in a way that isn’t a distraction to others as they pursue God.  I pray that we would guard our mouth and our keyboard when others don’t act in the way we think they ought to.  I pray that we would live in a way that gives respect and honor to God.  I pray that our respect of God would be seen in the way we treat others with respect.  I pray that we would learn to listen with understanding  when we, and the people around us, are filled with anger.  I pray that our allegiance to God would be seen in the way we deal with anger — both ours and that of others.

After a long day yesterday, I slept well once I made it to bed but the alarm on my internal clock still went off at the usual time this morning.  I had thought about setting an actual alarm clock, but decided to let my body decide when page 266 would start. Starting at its normal time wasn’t a bad thing as I was hoping to get my kayak on the lake before sunrise in an attempt to catch some good photos.  I was out the door and headed down the road while it was still dark and did manage to get the kayak on the lake just as the first glimmers of light were crawling over the eastern horizon.  There were just enough clouds in the sky to catch the light from the sun and expand it into a brilliant display of color.  The air was calm to start the day which made the lake surface as smooth as glass and as reflective as a mirror.  The conditions were near perfect and I found myself snapping photo after photo in the stillness of the morning.

Today’s photo is from this morning’s sunrise but it doesn’t show a completely smooth lake surface.  The reason being is that I began my journey on the eastern shore where the sun was soon to rise and paddled out into the lake to get the vantage point I wanted for the photos.  As I shot back across where I had just been, the ripples of my presence were still noticeable.  As I paddled forward and gazed across the smooth lake surface in front of me, the ripples weren’t noticeable and it would have been easy to assume they didn’t exist.  It wasn’t until I turned around and began to look at where I had been that I could notice the “tracks” left behind.  It is easy, especially when life is smooth, to gaze ahead and see no evidence that our presence in this life makes any kind of a difference.  As bad as that conclusion is, there are many who look at the waters ahead of them and wrongly conclude that there is not evidence that God is making any difference in this world.  

One of the enormous benefits of journaling in some form or fashion, is that it provides a record of the “ripples” that have touched our life because of the working of God.  Throughout the Bible, God has called His followers to practice using various forms of reminders so they wouldn’t forget who He is nor what He has done.  When we are able to look back and see how God has touched our life in the past, it should give us great courage as we move forward regardless of how smooth or turbulent the waters ahead happen to be.  By journaling about the work of God in our life, we are also able to make note of how God has been using us to accomplish His good will and purpose in the lives of others.  We rarely see immediate results when we are faithful in being who God has called and created us to be.  God does His best work in us when it is done in a way that He alone gets the credit and we become somewhat invisible.  But even as we look back on that type of work in our life, we are able to see glimpses of how He has used it for the benefit of others and of His kingdom.  It is so easy to get discouraged when it seems we don’t make a difference — believe me, I know.  Yet how often during those times of discouragement do we just need to stop and turn around so we can see the reminders of what God has been doing all along?

I pray that you and I would listen to God when He calls us to times of rest with Him.  I pray that we would find times to enjoy the stillness of God’s presence with us.  I pray that we would listen to God as He calls us to remember Him and His work in us.  I pray that we would establish ways and means of remembrance that will also serve as reminders to others.  I pray that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus even as we look back to recognize the work He has been doing.

Page 265 was the 37th anniversary of my first official date.  At that time, you could get your driver’s license a month and a day after your sixteenth birthday so on September 21, 1979, as I was beginning my junior year in high school, I got my driver’s license in the afternoon and asked the prettiest girl in the school to go out with me for pizza that evening.  She said yes and two years later we said “I do” which also made page 265 the 35th anniversary of our wedding. 🙂  

Being a Wednesday, page 265 was a long, full day so the writing of it isn’t taking place until the next day.  The day began with the posting of a poem I had written for our anniversary and then it was the usual cleaning, building prep, and taking out trash from the day before.  Once the building was ready, I headed out to do part of the mowing for the week while the weather was cooperative.  On my first pass down the playground field, I noticed a deer peering out from the woods at the far corner of the lawn.  By the time I had made it 3/4 of the way down the field, she had stepped fully out of the woods to see what I was doing.  Before long, another deer had joined her and pretty soon a small flock of geese showed up as well.  As I kept mowing, they kept working their way along the edge of the lawn eating grass and leaves from the trees.  After a few rounds and it became apparent they weren’t planning to leave, I stopped and got may camera so I could take a few photos while I mowed.  

When I had finished the mowing I wanted to get done for the day, I headed inside and did some follow-up on some messages that had been left for me.  While I was working on that, my wife came in to say her workday was done and to see if I wanted to get lunch.  So even in the midst of a busy day, we did manage to go out to lunch together for our anniversary.  While we were out, I bought her a flash for her camera and we picked up a few things at Sam’s Club before I headed back to work to get ready for the Wednesday evening class I teach.  I’m still nervous about teaching 1st through 3rd graders, so I spent time not only planning out the lesson I wanted to teach, but also preparing a variety of options for communicating the lesson and involving the students in learning it.

Our topic for the evening was thankfulness.  While God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances, that can be difficult for most adults to put into practice let alone trying to help children look for ways to be thankful in all things.  Probably one of the best exercises in thankfulness for any age person is to start making a list of things we are thankful for.  What will generally happen, is one thing on your list will remind you of something else then that thing will make you think of another and before you know it, your list is much longer than you ever would have thought.  

Once the class time was over, I did my Thursday morning cleaning on Wednesday night so page 266 could begin on the lake watching the sunrise — but that’s information for its page.  By 10:00 PM I had the cleaning done and it was time to head home and call it a day — a day in which there was much to be thankful for.

I pray that you and I would hold onto whatever good memories we have from the past.  I pray that we would be diligent about celebrating the goodness of God.  I pray that we would live a life free from fear.  I pray that we would notice, and learn from, the lessons God places in front of us each day.  I pray that we would grow in our thankfulness.

Page 264 seemed to pass by quickly as I look back and wonder where the day went.  As fall quickly approaches, the daylight hours visibly shrink each day.  It is dark when I get to work and the sun doesn’t crest the horizon until after the morning cleaning is done.  This morning as I took the trash out in the pre-dawn light, there were turkeys, geese, and deer gathered around the playground area.  The low light combined with the distance I had to shoot from made for photos that weren’t as sharp as I would have liked but it also made the deer more curious than fearful.  As the deer watched me closely, I wondered how much attention we pay to the sources of potential danger that surround us each day.  I suspect that many times we are oblivious even to the physical dangers we face while the spiritual dangers never cross our mind.  God not only warns us of the spiritual battle that takes place, He also provides spiritual armor to protect us in the midst of this battle — but it is up to us to put it on each day.

After taking some photos of the morning wildlife visitors, I spent some time with a sign company tech as he worked on the lighting of our sign.  I’m not sure how productive that was as he said it was working even though the top part wasn’t lit when I arrived in the morning.  His only suggestion was that perhaps the bulbs weren’t putting out enough light and needed to be replaced — but he didn’t have any to replace them with and wasn’t sure if it was something they stocked.  While I didn’t say it, my immediate thought was, “so the lights are on but no one is home?”.  As he left without confirming a real solution, I thought about how often the light of Jesus, which dwells within us through His Spirit, isn’t visible from the outside.  While I suppose it is possible the bulbs in the sign aren’t putting out the light that they are supposed to, it is never the source of light which is the problem when we fail to shine as we ought.   

When the service tech left, I spent some time in prayer as I went over the lesson I plan to share tomorrow evening in the 1st through 3rd grade Bible class I teach.  The rest of my workday was a combination of prayer, writing, and lesson development.  It has been a long time since I taught early elementary students so I continue to prepare the only way I know how — with much prayer and an open mind that considers creative ways to teach the core truths of God’s Word.  

I pray that you and I would daily put on the full armor of God so that after we have done everything, we can stand.  I pray that we would be alert at all times, recognizing that our enemy is always on the prowl seeking ways to devour us.  I pray that we would let the light of Christ shine brightly through us.  I pray that we would give careful examination of ourselves when we notice the light isn’t as bright as it ought to be.  I pray that we would seek God for the wisdom needed to teach others.  I pray that would have the desire both to learn and to teach.

After enjoying the sunset over Lake Michigan last night with my family, it was very early this morning before I finished writing yesterday’s page and went to bed for the night.  After a night that was short, but restful, I was up early to begin page 263 with the usual morning tasks of cleaning and building prep to get ready for the school day.  Once the bathrooms were cleaned, floors swept, and trash taken out, it was time to shift the morning prayers to a listening mode for next week’s prayer guide.  As I spent time praying and listening while I considered several topics, I finally settled on the topic of perfection.  Paul writes to the Corinthians, and to us, and says to “aim for perfection”.  I believe most of us have concluded that perfection is unattainable, so we settle for something far below perfection when God has better things in mind for us.  When we allow the world to define perfection for us, it actually makes sense that we would decide a life-long pursuit of it is a waste of time.  However, when we look to God to define perfection for us as being transformed into the image of Christ, a life-long pursuit of that becomes a noble task and worthwhile endeavor.  When we set our eyes on things above and not on the things of the earth, we find that Godly perfection is more attainable than we likely imagined.  God gives us His perfect law and a perfect example to follow as we learn to give up self and take on the image of Christ in all we do and say.  In God’s view, our perfection is not an accomplishment of ours but rather a journey that “leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”  

As I finished up the prayer guide and got it formatted and scheduled to send out on Sunday, it was time to shift my prayer focus to the missions that Deer Run helps to support.  As I put on the “missions committee treasurer” hat, I spent time praying for a variety of mission endeavors as I took care of the monthly correspondence and accounting that goes with that role.  Because of the diversity in the types and sizes of the mission works that we help to support, it becomes obvious to me that the only measure of success that can be universally applied is their faithfulness in doing what they have been called to do.  The same is true for each of us as we live out the mission God has given us of making disciples — yes, that’s a task for every believer not just those involved in “official” ministry and mission work.  When we try to measure our perfection against the results of someone else, we will rarely measure us, or them, accurately.  It is only when we use faithfulness to God as the standard of our life that we will learn to shine as we were meant to.  While that is an easy statement to type, it is often difficult to live when our culture puts so much emphasis on measurable accomplishments that may not always align with living a life of faithfulness.

By mid-afternoon I had finished the day’s work and it was time to get some lunch and head home.  At home, I did some more writing  then took a nap until time for supper.  Once I had eaten, it was time to sit down and write today’s page before heading to bed to get some sleep in preparation for whatever tomorrow’s page may bring.  While there are many days that I seriously question if I’ve accomplished anything useful with my life, God continues to ask me the same question each night — “Have you been faithful today?”.  

I pray that you and I would pursue God through a life of faithfulness above all else.  I pray that we would seek to be perfect, just as our Father in heaven is perfect.  I pray that we would allow God to define the perfection we seek rather than adopt the world’s definition.  I pray that we would practice our faithfulness in living out God’s command that we make disciples.

“Let your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16

Page 262 was a Sunday which meant Bible study and worship with my church family.  The Bible study class I attend is still working through the book of Esther and today’s focus was on Esther’s request that the Jewish people would join her in 3 days and nights of fasting and prayer in preparation for her to go before the king on behalf of all the Jewish people.  Everyone was involved in seeking God as they waited for His plan of deliverance.  Many times we don’t recruit people to fast and pray about decisions that are made because we’ve already decided what the decision will be.  When we do ask for prayer, it is primarily wanting people to join us in seeking God’s blessing on whatever it is we’ve already decided to do.  We rarely seek genuine intercessors — those with a practice and reputation of going before God and listening for His answers — because an answer is not really what we’re looking for.  Esther was in a specific place at a specific time for a specific purpose but that purpose could not be met without first going to God in earnest, urgent prayer seeking direction on what the next step would be and how to go about taking that step.

Following the Bible class, our worship time included a message from David has he continued his series from Nehemiah.  Nehemiah also found himself in a position to make a difference for the Jewish people by paying attention to God’s plans and fully seeking God for the courage and wisdom necessary to be a part of that plan.  Part of the message talked about the opposition that surely comes when you are involved in doing the work of God and shining His light into the darkness.  While darkness cannot overcome light, the spiritual darkness we encounter will always push back against light.  When we shine the light of truth into darkness, we can be sure that we will ruffle a few feathers as those in darkness do not want to see truth.  As I think about the varying degrees of difficulty I’ve had in ministry over the years, most often the source is some form of leadership that has taken offense at my holding fast to truth and integrity while expecting the same from them.  That particular light will make many people squirm as it begins to reveal compromise with the world and excuses for behavior that is not consistent with our word.

After the church service, we had lunch and then relaxed for a while at home before heading out for some family time at Lake Michigan.  Today’s photo comes from the Lake Michigan shoreline as I caught a bird coming into the beach for a landing.  As I watched the bird, I thought about some preaching advise I had heard years ago.  The advise was something to the effect that a good sermon was like a good flight — you need a smooth take-off and a smooth landing with as little time between the two as possible in reaching your destination.  They went on to say that the ride can get a little bumpy along the way and people will soon forget that it wasn’t ideal; but botch the take-off or landing, and it is likely people will never forget.  While it is probably not the best preaching advice that I have ever received, it is a story I think of whenever I struggle with how to conclude a message.  This bird glided in to a point just above the ground and then allowed the air currents to hold it aloft while it slowly extended its feet and settled in for a landing.  Prayer allows us to glide on the currents of God’s Spirit and has the power to keep us aloft as we gather our feet underneath us and wait to plant them exactly on the spot that God has planned for us to be at.  When my life pursuit is knowing God and I acknowledge Him in all my ways, He is the one who makes my paths straight and leads me to land at just the right spot.

I pray that you and I would seek God fully and join with other in seeking God for all direction and timing in the decisions we face.  I pray that we would continually grow in developing a lifestyle of prayer that defines both who we are and how we do things.  I pray that we would learn to rise of on wings like eagles as we grow in our practice of waiting upon the Lord.