Ray Family Update from November 2016

Dear Praying Friends,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. For us, Thanksgiving was a wonderful time to spend with family and friends and reflect upon the goodness and mercy of God. Just after Thanksgiving, not too far from us in the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas, many families and individuals lost homes and loved ones to the wildfires. Tragedies like this are a sober reminder that life is short and that we should not take anything or anybody for granted.

One man, Michael Reed, last spoke to his wife on the phone as she was informing him that the fires were advancing nearby and he told her to hang up and call 911. Reed lost communication with his wife after that and never heard from her again. When he was finally able to return to his home, he found it completely burned, but held out hope that his wife and two daughters were able to escape. However, this past weekend, Reed learned that evidence suggested his wife and daughters were found dead after trying to flee the area by foot. Mr. Reed and his son will survive, but their lives will never be the same again. God help us to never take our loved ones for granted!

Reflecting Upon Ministry

November proved to be quite an emotional month for me. Just over twenty years ago I trusted Christ as Saviour and soon became burdened about preaching His word. From the moment I came under conviction about preaching, I believed God’s will for me was to pastor a church. I had no idea just how difficult it would be to finish the Lord’s plotted course for my life. Even when I began pastoring, I was honestly quite clueless as to the difficulties and heartaches ahead. Pastor Reagan used to say “The ministry would be great if it were not for the people, but without people there would be no ministry.” From a different perspective, I once heard Brother Roloff say the best thing you could do for a young man desiring to enter the ministry was to talk him out of it. Not to put words in his mouth, but I think the point Brother Roloff was trying to make was that the ministry was going to be difficult for any man, especially those who were not called of God. The apostle Paul conveyed one painful portion of the ministry when he said, “the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Corinthians 12:15). Pastor Reagan admonished me, “When things look down, stop looking at things...Get your eyes on the Lord.” His advice rings more clear today than it has at any other point in my ministry.

Truth is, a minister of God can pray for God to change people all day long, or he can determine to get and keep his eyes on the Lord. He can do his best to be faithful regardless of how lonely he feels in the ministry. He can sow for the Lord regardless of whether he lives to see any results. He can love and be loyal to people regardless of whether they return the love or loyalty. He can do right for and by people even when they criticize him for doing that which will eventually prove to be in their best interest. He can serve the Lord with a clean conscience regardless of the character assassinations that come with the job. He can, by faith, know that his labour is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). He can give the Lord his all, knowing that it will never be any more than a small portion of what He gave for him on the cross of Calvary. This, my friend, is what I resolve to do!

What Lies Ahead

During the latter part of November and throughout the month of December we take some time away from our regularly scheduled outreach. The hope is that people will take some time to get rested up and spend quality time with their families. Once the calendar turns to 2017 things quickly get hectic again. For me personally, January will prove to be quite busy as I will begin verse-by-verse studies in the book of James for Sunday and Wednesday evenings, as well as courses for the Bible Institute on Dispensationalism and the book of Hebrews respectively. In addition to that, we will make trips to Cana, Virginia early in the month and Deland, Florida later in the month for Bible Conferences. I am both honoured and humbled to be able to preach for these two men for whom I have the utmost respect.

Before January ends, we hope to be over halfway finished with the fourth and final volume of the daily devotional series. Additionally, we hope to have above 600 songs in the layout of the new songbook and perhaps be finished with our first children’s book. Please pray for clarity and strength of mind in each of these endeavours.