Pastor Jay //

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This week I have been spending a great deal of time studying. There is a great sense of satisfaction in making progress. I am reminded, however, of the many hours of frustration and uncertain direction as I began studying for this project. I am not sure how many Fridays and Saturdays and late nights I have spend reading and taking notes. Some of those hours seem wasted now that I look back and realize that various notes were not used.

My point is this: it seems that in all things that we do, progress is not felt all the way along. There are times when what you are doing will not specifically be used, but indirectly you are being shaped for something that you have yet to envision. It is like taking two steps back before you can take three steps forward.

If you are currently in a situation where your efforts are not showing progress, trust that God may be using it to prepare you in another way.

Photo: an Orthodox Jew copying scriptures into a new scroll. There are errors in every scroll. To erase them, he used a blade to scrape the page.

As we prayerfully prepare for Inauguration day, I found this blog post to be helpful. Wes Toole takes an imaginary look at what his interview would be with the president-elect if he had the opportunity.

He writes:

“Who am I to advise a president? What could I say to him that he would not be told by a team of staffers and advisers that circle within his small galaxy on a daily basis?” That being said, if I had the opportunity to sit down and advise President-Elect Barack Obama on any spiritual matter, my side of the conversation might sound something like this…

Be My Guest: Wes Toole «.

Last night we had the privilege of ordaining one of our men as a deacon of the church: Russell Turner. Russell has an amazing humility about him. We have had him in observation and training for a year and have seen him serve in various capacities. We are grateful that he is so willing to serve in this way.

This week we begin our Fireproof sermon series. You can also join in on one of our home group studies about marriage. Our local fire department will be on-hand Sunday morning to help us remember 9/11. Show your support for them when they come. Take a moment to thank them for all that they do for us. The ocal theater called today and said that they saw our mailer and ad and wanted to see if we would endorse the movie so that they could bring it to Cameron! I told her that a 5000 piece mailer went out. Thank you Mrs. Cunningham for calling!

Also, take a minute to see the updated fireproof website.

We had a great time at the lake picnic and baptism (sponsored by our Sunday School). Thank you Clayton and Darla, Russell and Mandi, and crew for making it a wonderful picnic. Here are some pictures.

Some What-ifs of Marriage

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As you pray for the upcoming election and our current president, this video should encourage you in supporting what they do on our behalf.

I thought it was interesting to note the comment by Pastor Warren, when he said:

“We believe in separation of church and state, but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics, because faith is just a worldview and everyone has some kind of worldview.”

I would encourage you to hear the full interview of the two candidates if you have not heard it already. I am not publicly endorsing any particular candidate. I will, at times, speak on issues. I believe that the church has a moral mandate to be “salt and light” to the culture around us. There may come a day when our government, like Canada’s, will imprison me for making comments about ethics (”right and wrong”). I pray that never has to happen.

Here is the link to the rest of the videos on GodTube.

MSN is conducting an online poll to see what public opinion says about removing “In God We Trust” from our money. You can vote your opinion at this link:

Vote Here

This week as the Olympics begin, we celebrate many of the wonderful achievements that will take place as the world comes together. However, during this Olympic season, make a commitment to pray each time you hear news from Beijing. Pray that our brothers and sisters there would be given freedom to worship without hindrance. Pray that they would flourish in faith and boldness.