Ray Family Update from October 2020

Dear Praying Friends,

It is entirely unbelievable to me that we are entering November of 2020. It seems the older I get the quicker time passes; however, this year has been especially swift in its passing. All of it serves as a stern reminder that life is short and that our focus should be upon those things which last beyond the here and now. The temptation is instead to focus upon that which is physical and temporal. In fact, we are bombarded with physical and temporal things vying for our attention seemingly every minute of the day. Whether we acknowledge it or not, the temporal and physical cares have captured our hearts, albeit to varying degrees. We should all be praying that God would refocus our attention or, better yet, our affection on things above (Colossians 3:2).

As much as possible, we are trying to return to whatever normal is. This time last month, our family, along with several other families in our church, enjoyed endured the China virus. As a result, we had to make the difficult decision to move to online services only for two weeks. While we are thankful for the availability of the internet and having services streamed over the internet, it is no replacement for being together with God’s people to sing God’s praises and hear His word. We thank the Lord that we are back to in-person services.

In spite of the oddity of the year, we have strived to remain faithful to God and to stedfastly continue in His work. Although outreach has been a bit of a challenge, we have maintained a high percentage of our people showing up every week in our community with scripture signs to warn those that drive by of a great salvation that they need not neglect. We have also been privileged to keep our Bible Institute going with one of the larger student enrollment numbers that we have ever enjoyed. Additionally, we have prepared several works for publishing (likely through e-books) and we are inching ever closer to having our second children’s book ready to go to the printer.

On a personal level, I ask you to pray with and for me that I will use the remainder of 2020 to do what the Lord would have me to do. The outside meetings slowed down quite a bit due to the China virus, but I do have one conference coming up at the end of December. In the meantime, I have several writing projects that I need to get completed before we hit 2021. Speaking of 2021, we will likely be facing some very important decisions on maintaining our website (LearntheBible.org) and on what to do with our auditorium in order to fix some major issues we have that separate and distance our people one from another and from the service in general.

I am certain you have enough going on in your own world, but I ask you to take it as a nudge from God to pray for us if He brings our family or church to your mind. Many who receive our updates do not physically attend our church, but you have become our extended family and we are thankful for you and your love for us. Won’t it be such a precious meeting in heaven when we are all gathered around one throne to worship the God that redeemed us with no time or distance to separate us!