Hello Friends,

I am excited! I have been asked to join a small team of Northwest Yearly Meeting Friends on a trip to Russia in September. This is an honor and opportunity for me to use my gifts as a minister of the gospel in a new context and to learn about a culture that has fascinated me for years. The trip is planned as a journey of encouragement and learning about our Russian brothers and sisters.

The leaders of this trip, Johan and Judy Maurer, have lived for over 9 years outside of Moscow, developing a ministry with students and young adults. They would like to have me on the trip specifically to work with these young people. Interacting with my Russian peers would give them an example of a young person for whom following Jesus is the core of their life.

If you think that this is a valuable endeavor I ask for your support. If you would like to help make this trip a possibility please do so by sending funds to Northwest Yearly Meeting (200 North Meridian Street, Newberg, OR 97132) marked “Jesse Davis – Russia” – this is a tax-deductible gift and you would receive a receipt from the yearly meeting for your records. I need a total of $2500 and currently have $1000 raised already.

This experience will only be possible with your support. I ask that you prayerfully consider giving to this journey. Even if you are unable to give financial support at this time your prayers for a successful and fruitful trip are needed.

I recently went to Cannon Beach for a wedding of some friends. I drove up and spent a couple days with the family in a beach house doing way more than I thought I would need to. Helping out with the wedding and reception set up was in my wheelhouse but about an hour and a half before the wedding the mother of the bride was working on some final things and I asked what she needed me to do and she responded, “Make these boutonnieres!” In that moment, I knew that I couldn’t say “I can’t do that.”  So, I just responded, “Yes, Ma’am.” I made the boutonnieres and the wedding went off without a hitch (except two people got hitched, but that was the whole point of the wedding in the first place).

I did not expect to be needed as a flower arranger/boutonniere maker but I am glad I was able to be present and support my friends as much as I could. I just wanted to spend some time with them and have a little beach fun. Often in our lives we find ourselves with one expectation of what a situation will require of us and the reality of that situation requires something more from us than we knew we were capable of. This was the case for me at the wedding in Cannon Beach and is generally the case for me in my work as a minister of the gospel. I find myself in situations that I expected to go one way and do not go that way at all. I find myself growing and learning in these situations, I find that these are the moments when I am challenged by God and am surprised at how capable I am in meeting that challenge with His help. I may just want a little beach fun but God has more in store for me and a better story comes out of the situation. When I surrender my expectations for a situation to God, He inevitably exceeds them and shows me more about who He is and who I am in those moments. 

Spring time growing up was a time for exploring the world around me and finding wonder around every corner. It was also a time for June Bugs. These crazy bugs flew around and would often congregate around the screen door to our house. They were attracted by the light on our front porch and without fail each evening as we turned the light on a fleet of these guys would head towards the light. The trajectories they took often looked like a group of sleepy drivers weaving all over the place and up and down. They would strike the house, door, light, and anything close to it. In their rush to get to the light they often wounded themselves. They were so eager by what attracted them that they flew a bit recklessly.

                I wonder what our attraction to Christ looks like to others. Does it seem reckless? Do we look like a fleet of sleepy drivers weaving all over the place as we head to our destination? Maybe we seem like we are floating slowly towards Him? As we head into the summer season I hope that we consider what our desire for Christ looks like in our lives. I hope that we can find ourselves moving towards Him on a daily basis. Like clockwork I hope that when Christ shines His light on us we go flying towards Him and His love. I hope that we are a little bit more like June Bugs.

Some of you may have noticed that there is some work being done on the parsonage. We are currently working on redoing much of the interior. This means that walls, electrical, and our heat/air conditioning systems are all being worked on! This process has been pretty amazing to see. We are finding a bunch of neat things from the lives of those who have inhabited the space. Anytime you do a big project like this there are surprises and some of them are pretty cool! Old notebooks and pictures, odd construction quirks, doors hidden behind walls and all sorts of other things have been seen for the first time in years. As the walls are stripped and the carpets removed and the work of deconstruction shifts to the work of reconstruction the “real work” begins. Anyone can tear something down. It takes a craftsman to rebuild though. Someone who knows the job and has practiced and worked on projects like this before.

            As we lean on craftsmen for the reconstruction/renewal of the house we also lean on Christ for the renovation and renewal of our lives. We come to him needing to be reshaped and rebuilt. After years of hard use some brokenness is to be expected. As we invite Christ into our brokenness we may be tempted to hide the things that may need fixing. When the designer of the house comes back to do the renovations you are sure to have a good experience, and you certainly aren’t going to be able to hide the problem areas! Some things may be harder for us to let him work on but if we trust his vision for our lives then we give those long held things up. We may not be able to visual the finished product but Christ knows the beginning, middle, and end of our lives and we can trust him to do his best for us.  Let Christ work on your life and give his vision for you a chance!