He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Recommended Reading: 1 John 2:15-17 “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
COMMENTS: I am blessed to have been able to enjoy employment and work in a career without interruption for 39-1/2 years for one employer. I was hired right out of college June 1973 at the tender age of 22 and continued working for the same employer until October 2012 when I retired. Working that long for the same employer was more common in my father’s generation and somewhat common in my generation but became less common in my children’s generation and will become almost unheard of in my grandchildren’s generation. In fact, the life of employers is becoming less secure and uncertain as well. Retiring from employment with a retirement income has not always been possible and is becoming less likely for young generations than for mine.
Well, there was a number of times during those years when employment became very uncertain as business conditions became weak. There were also a few times when I was uncertain of God’s calling and considered a career change. Truth was I felt unfulfilled in my work for a time and didn’t think I was accomplishing anything of lasting value.
Scripture tells us to not let our roots grow too deep in this world. When we define our worth by our social status or by the job we work at or by the wealth and possessions we acquire or by the power we control, we allow ourselves to grow deeper roots into this world where we only will live a brief time.
When we are young, 70-80 years of life seems like an eternity, but at 40 we begin to discover life is brief. Then when we reach our 60’s and 70’s we realize what we have spent the most time doing is quickly evaporating. If read Ecclesiastes, you will discover Solomon’s realization in his elderly years that everything this world offers is worthless and will not last or satisfy our soul’s longing for something more.
But the eternal good news is Christ offers much more. He offers eternal life but also meaningful life while living on earth. The worth He gives us is based on His love for us and not on what we accomplish or successes achieved. He becomes our employer and our boss. We work and are motivated to please Him over pleasing our boss or employer.
Truth is, working for Christ makes us better employees and more valuable to our employer because we are motivated to work to a higher standard and quality.
I recall being at a crossroad midway in my working career and contemplated leaving my career and becoming a pastor. After much soul searching and prayer, I heard God’s voice in my soul saying “If you fail to serve Me where you are, you won’t be able to serve Me as a pastor. You have an opportunity to reach many through your employment that you could never be able to reach from the pulpit of a church. Go serve me where you are.”
That answer gave me the direction I needed and changed my outlook. I discovered new opportunities to share Christ’s love but also new opportunities. Truth was, the reason I was really considering a career change was mostly because of a design weakness I was not able to figure out. The answer was not in giving up but in building relationships with others and soliciting their help too. Relationships based on trust and respect became a biproduct, which became more important and enduring than the assigned work.
Writing this journal is fulfilling work God has called me to in this season of my life, but the work He called me to in past can and will be used by God in amazing ways if we simply begin and live each day with our hand and eyes and mind in His.
Well, whether we live each day in our homes or at a job or going to school or traveling great distances, when we do so with an attitude of love for Christ and desire to share His love and message of redemption to any and all we encounter, we will find the meaning for life we long for. That does not mean preaching but does mean showing compassion and living at a higher level of moral and ethical integrity. It means being willing and able to share the reason for our joy and hope when asked but make our lives evidence of that hope.
That is something I’m still working on and striving to do. God’s Holy Spirit is near ready to help us succeed if we only asked. Let’s ask today. AMEN!+-
Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. E. H. Chapin
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 195 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/
My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
donsdevotions 