Dr. Jay's Blog

Without going as far as divulging my exact location, I would like to say that during this break I am in an area that is somewhat unfamiliar to me.

As many of you know, I take most of my study breaks out west where I’m familiar with the area, the climate and much of the beauty of the “big sky” that that part of the country affords.

This year, for reasons of circumstance, I decided to stay within driving distance of Pittsburgh and find myself in a small town that’s literally surrounded by water with a thriving tourist industry and lots of boats going in and out of various harbors, all within my little community.

I confess that I know very little about sailing and not a lot about boating in general. (When I was a teenager I did learn to water ski and my family did have a couple of small boats that afforded me the opportunity to get out on the water now and then!)

What has blessed me over the last days has been a reminder of the obvious: a sailboat is literally dependant upon the wind in order to make progress in reaching it’s objective. (Of course, every sailboat that I’ve seen has some sort of alternate motor that provides power when the wind just isn’t cooperating.)

Our walk with the Lord is much like that, isn’t it? When the wind of the Spirit is blowing in our lives and we have our “sails up” we’re carried along by this mysterious power that is literally the Spirit of Jesus carrying us along.

If we don’t know the direction of the wind or don’t know how to catch it, then we find ourselves stagnant and not moving. I’ve had some times of reflection and seen where I’ve allowed that to happen in my life and one of the first “words” from the Lord for me has been to “spend time each morning checking the winds of the Spirit as revealed in God’s word in undisturbed time with Him.”

This is such a basic discipline that I’m almost embarrassed to put it in the blog but none-the-less, it’s something that we easily presume and often take for granted, especially if we are longer term disciples.

God’s word, a disciplined plan of reading, a journal and perhaps a favorite devotional (which serves as my on board “motor”) are essential to catch the wind of the Spirit on a daily basis and in so doing, put ourselves in position of faith and expectation that God will indeed carry us (me) to His desired destination.

Learning as I go,

Dr. Jay

P.S. Just another word of encouragement to follow brief updates on twitter as I post them there on a more frequent basis. Twitter.com/drjay_

You can follow Pastor Jay on Twitter;
"Twitter.com/drjay_" .

For the next two weeks, I am completely "unplugged" from normal duties to focus on my own soul and the wonderful love of God as shown to me in Jesus.

I won't be blogging every day, but when something "too good to keep to myself" comes along, I will post it.

More likely, I'll use my Twitter account to post references to inspirational links. Your welcome to join in
Twitter.com/drjay_

Thanks for your prayers and support in these unusual, unrestricted moments.

Much grace,

Dr. Jay

I had a great conversation today with one of our student interns who has committed his life to being available to our kids for the summer while holding down a part time job at Starbucks.

What’s fascinating about his story was that God used a rather traumatic incident in his life to completely redirect him toward ministry as a vocational calling rather than something he did “because it was fun to do.”

If you knew the nature of the accident in which he was involved, you would understand that he could probably blame God or find reasons to be upset with Him. Instead he chose to see it as God’s way of redirecting him when nothing else would get his attention.

I wonder how often we allow adversity to do that. Don’t we usually see adversity as something in the way of God’s will for our lives rather than perhaps redirecting our lives to discover God’s will? I know I left that time reconfirmed that we must trust the Lord with those details, praise Him throughout and believe that He has our best interest at heart. He can use even “accidents” as providential works of grace to direct our lives toward His perfect will.

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

Last evening I had a very special time with Carol, my Mom and sister as we spent the evening enjoying Victor Hugo’s classic play, Les Miserables.

Although I will confess that there were times that the plot was just a bit fuzzy to me, the overwhelming reality that I came out of there with is that, in the end, “good prevails over evil and suffering.”

Now this is no great revelation to anyone who knows what the Bible says about life, but it is incredibly powerful when presented with such skill, color, music and the grandeur of live actors before you.

If you’re going through a season when it looks like nothing but despair and hopelessness, remember John Veal-John, who in the end, was vindicated and promised that he would “see their smiles forever”!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

As part of my final week before my summer study break, I’ve had several meetings today that were related to “fall planning.”

I doubt that most folks are a regular member of the North Way family, let alone the community at large, have any idea of the amount of prayer and thought that go into planning what it is that we believe God would have us to share with His people here at North Way.

This is an extremely serious process for all of us who are privileged to teach and share God’s word.

We know that what is at stake is not just having “good beliefs” but literally hearing the “rhema” or the word for now that God is speaking to us.

Balancing those two is a challenge that every honest pastor would admit to. We want to be faithful in bringing God’s eternal word and teaching faithful doctrine, but we also want to be diligent to hear what God is saying for the congregation in its current circumstance.

Pray for us as we go through the process and plan for an awesome fall season of ministry together.

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

One of the blessings that this time of year affords us is the opportunity to “mix it up” with people who are simply outside enjoying these beautiful days.

I had occasion today to have an exceptional conversation with one of our members who was involved in a project and took a break in order to chat just a bit.

What was really rewarding to me was his sense of the reality of the challenges that he faced, yet the confidence that God was going to see him through those challenges and was going to remain faithful despite the significant number of things that had to be accomplished in order to meet his goals.

To me, this is the essence of true ministry. It’s the availability to share faith and grace with someone else who is facing a situation that they may find overwhelming on their own but are greatly encouraged when you are willing to believe God with them for their need.

I love this time of year for just that reason. Why not make a point of finding someone who is “out there” and listen to their story, sharing your faith with them and believing God to demonstrate His faithfulness in this time when we’re all having to trust the Lord in unique ways.

Blessings,

Dr. Jay