Don't be surprised.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.  If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.  However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”  1 Peter 4:12-16

I ‘suffered’ recently when my daughter called in the morning to tell me that her car wouldn’t start; the worldly father didn’t want to hear that as I desire that her life needed to be filled with the least possible measure of stress.  Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

My mother used to remind me of life in the dust bowl years, the dirty thirties, and I recall her talking with joy as we went through the many museums on the prairie about the old odd shaped tools that she or her father used when she was a child.  It was fascinating but I would probably not want to return to those days for more than a month.  I would prefer to eat a freeze dried ‘breakfast skillet’ than have to cook breakfast in an iron skillet over a fire; every day.

I also would not want either of my daughters to live as I did while in Haiti.  I don’t mind telling them about my daily activities there, but would not want them to live there for more than a week.  Stressed and suffering; a couple of things that we usually don’t associate with life in North America.

The attached photo is of a kitchen at a school in the Port-au-Prince area.  This is it, no oven, no broiler or light, no roof, no electrical outlets or lights, no tile on the floor.  This is the kitchen in a Lutheran school in a city of 2,500,000 people and there are many more like this throughout Haiti in the schools that are blessed with a Trinity HOPE feeding program.

Forget about this fallen world my brothers and sisters in Christ.  A little over a quarter will feed one child one meal at this school.  Our world is not their world.  Our Savior is their Savior and that is what is truly important.  They don’t need a new stove, a roof, electricity…they need a Savior.  Thank you for your continued support to prepare missionaries in Haiti.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Love one another deeply.

“The end of all things is near.  Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.  Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.  If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”  1 Peter 4:7-11

These words don’t get any easier for residents of this sinful world, “love each other deeply” no matter how much you dislike them, offer hospitality without grumbling.  This world tells me this is crazy talk; people who follow this kind of thinking are probably not competent to stand trial.  Perhaps the end of all things is really drawing near, because this sinful world that we live in just keeps moving farther and farther away from the truth of how our Savior encouraged us to live and instructed us to serve.

At times, it seems like the best service I am capable of doing is serving Him by helping children in a foreign country who are poor, hiding from gangs, don’t speak a word of my language and do not eat on a regular basis.  By the grace of God, this sinful wretch is capable of helping to feed the children at the Lutheran School in Ouanaminthe who are getting their hands washed before they eat.  For this simple act of service, He uses my gifts, hears my prayers and my continual thoughts to do His work while preparing them to go and share the Gospel message in Haiti.  Thank you for joining me in this simple service of feeding them, and helping them to become His missionaries in Haiti.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

The reality of life.

“When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.  Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders.  Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.  But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground.  The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.  The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping.  But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan.  He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.  The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.” Acts 27:39-44

I went to Haiti as a Communication Liaison LCMS Missionary from March 2001 through December 2003.  After the chaos from the end of President Aristide’s term, I went back a few times a year with either a Medical Mission team or a Trinity HOPE mission team.  I don’t know how many times that I heard team members describe Haiti looking like a “war zone”.  After the deadly earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince in January 2010, the news media from around the world spent a few weeks there, astonished at the living conditions.  It wasn’t like their homeland; needed to be fixed.  A few weeks ago, the following comment appeared in my search for news from Haiti.

Sylvie Bertrand, the UNODC regional representative said, “It’s time for people in Haiti to live peacefully; for their kids to go back to school, for them to be able to eat every day.”  And that means, she says, ensuring that “national authorities are well-trained, well-equipped, and ready to face and curb down the level of violence.”  Fourteen years after the earthquake destroyed much in PAP, the gangs have brought chaos and it again looks and feels like a “war zone”. 

The Apostle Paul had survived the storm and shipwreck on the Adriatic Sea.  Our brothers and sisters in the faith have been through a really long storm and may now be leaving the shipwreck.  All of us who are, or have gone through a storm need to be connected to our Heavenly Father and other believers.  No one here or in Haiti has been promised a magical escape clause.  We can’t be passive.  Seek His guidance and wait and be ready to move forward.  

It may mean some hard, dangerous and unpleasant work.  It may require humbling yourself before God and others.  Sometimes the reality is that life isn’t easy or fair.  Satan loves that; blame somebody.  Seek God’s favor and direction.  Sometimes, reality in this fallen world of ours means some type of a mature response.  Trust God, as He did for Paul, to bring us to shore.

There will be a time possibly, in the months ahead, when all the Christian schools in PAP will be open and meals will again be served.  Ms Bertrand, that is God pleasing and it will happen.  The reality is, in this fallen world, the inevitable winds of adversity will always blow somewhere until the gates of Paradise are opened to all of His children.   

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Unity of believers.

“On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land.  They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep.  A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep.  Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.  In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow.  Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”  So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.” Acts 27:27-32

A few weeks ago, Pastor Chuck Swindoll wrote a devotion about ‘unity’ and it’s message caused me to consider what believers in Haiti were going through now.  In the above scripture from Acts, the Apostle Paul and the other shipmates were afraid they would be driven against the rocks and their ship would be broken to pieces.  I can only imagine that our fellow believers in Haiti are fearing for the same results from their own form of disaster for their own country.

Paul and shipmates were experiencing life-threatening fears from the stormy sea and those living in Port-au-Prince (PAP) are hunkering down to avoid being hit by gang led gunfire being thrown at those who have come to end the chaos.  And the roads in and out of PAP are blocked by the gangs so there is no way to escape.  Just as Paul knew that staying together was the secret to their survival, the believers in Haiti are staying together in unity of prayer.  They have remained faithful these past few years of gang warfare.  They have kept praying, kept sending their children to Christian schools as long as it was safely possible.  They keep clinging to Jesus.

The tendency in our fallen world these days is cut and run; drop the life boat and get the heck out of town and the country.  We in the U.S. have seen it at our Southern Border; people running away from an angry sea into a promised better life.  It’s our human nature; the grass always looks better on the other side of our neighbor’s fence; they too have weeds.  My great-grandparents left their German homes for the promise of a better life.  I don’t know what my direction would have been had I been with them in the late 1800’s.  It would have been made after many family filled hours of prayers with Jesus and then waiting before they made a unified decision.

I do know that the parents and children from Christian Schools in Haiti with Trinity HOPE feeding programs are feeling the daily presence of God's people here in the U.S. surrounding them in prayers as the gang led chaos is taking away their freedom.  They are in unity with us.  Believers here and there are in unified prayers daily.  With our God protecting and leading us, we are going to make it together.  Unity.  As we celebrate Memorial Day today, let us also remember the lives of those being sacrificed in Haiti for the freedom that awaits those remaining.  Remember the sacrifice our Savior gave for each of us on this side of Paradise.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Seek and save the lost.

“Now he had to go through Samaria.  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.  When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”  (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”   John 4:4-10

In the Gospel of Luke, our Savior tells His disciples that He came to seek and save the lost and they should do likewise.  About a month ago, there was a man say to me, that Jesus was giving those instruction to his disciples and not us.  Well, that was a moment for me to seek to save the way Jim was thinking.  Our purpose as Christians is to seek and save the lost; wins souls for Christ.  That can be difficult if we are picking and choosing who we are seeking.  We can instruct our children to stop living sinful lives and start being like us; Christians.  We can sit in Church meetings and get a list of names of people who have been delinquent and divide up the names and make telephone calls.  We can hire staff to seek and save the lost and train volunteers.

Jesus created the model of our work with the Samaritan woman that He met at the well.  This woman appeared at a well just outside of the town in which she lived. Jesus knew who she was; how she had been living her life; he even knew she was currently living with a man to whom she was not married.  He could have really unloaded on her; after all, He was the Son of God. 

Rather than seize the opportunity to condemn this woman for how she was living, Jesus shows us that offering hope to the lost is the better choice.  Whenever I see a photo of people around a well in Haiti this story comes to mind.  These two girls at the well at Eglise Lutherienne in Cap Haitian probably come from homes where vodou is practiced and a neighborhood with souls that need to be saved.  The water in this well in Cap Haitian is free for them and this gift, while not the living water Christ has to offer, is a gift of life for their thirsty lives.  They are not drinking out of the ditch; they are drinking on territory that is dedicated to Jesus Christ.

This Lutheran school is filled with young missionaries that you have helped to prepare as they are blessed with a Trinity HOPE feeding program and daily are given the Word of God that makes its way into the neighborhoods of Cap Haitian.  You and I didn’t choose to feed these kids, God did.  It wasn’t our plan reach out to these two children by the well; it was His plan to use the children in the school to do that.  He chose you to help, you had a choice.  Thank you.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Been healed recently?

“A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus was indignant.  He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.  Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone.  But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”  Instead, he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.  As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.  Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” Mark 1:40-45

The healed leper was truly full of joy and could not keep quiet about ‘his’ miracle.  How would you have responded to being healed?  Had your illness been healed by Jesus and then you had been told not to tell anybody but it would be okay to show yourself without the scars of your illness to your Pastor; what would you have done?  I can only imagine that it would have been very difficult to contain my joy.

One online dictionary provides the following definitions for the word ‘heal’.  1. To restore to health or soundness; cure.  2. To set right; repair: healed the rift between us.  3. To restore a person to spiritual wholeness.  4.  To become whole and sound; return to health.  To me it seems that each of these definitions would cause one’s eyes to brighten and bring a wide smile to stretch across a face; healing brings joy to the one being healed and also to those who may have had a part in the healing.  Consider the children in the attached photo, they attend the one of two Christian schools in Ouanaminthe that have a Trinity HOPE feeding program; they are being healed.  Their relationship with our Triune God is either being formed or strengthened and their physical hunger is being restored every day. 

I heard a quote on the Internet radio recently when an Evangelist said “We cannot make people love us, but we can let others love us.”  As a Trinity HOPE supporter, I have no intentions to ‘make’ these children love me, but rather I smile knowing their spiritual welfare is being strengthened each day as they draw closer to God and farther away from the vodou priest.  When I visit them, they can hug me all they want but all the glory belongs to God as He is the reason for their healing and also for my healing.  I close today with the words from a song that I heard Alexa share that was written by Lenny Smith called ‘Our God reigns.’  

“How lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, good news; announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness: our God reigns, our God reigns!  He had no stately form; He had no majesty that we should be drawn to Him.  He was despised and we took no account of Him.  Our God reigns, our God reigns!  It was our sin and guilt that bruised and wounded Him.  It was our sin that brought Him down.  When we like sheep had gone astray our Shepherd came and on His shoulders bore our shame.  Meek as a lamb that’s led out to the slaughterhouse, dumb as a sheep before its shearer, His life ran down upon the ground like pouring rain that we might be born again.  Out from the tomb He came with grace and majesty; He is alive, He is alive.  God loves us so, see here His hands, His feet, His side; yes we know, He is alive.”

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Stay awake.

“(Jesus said) "Therefore stay awake; for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake." Mark 13:35-37

These verses in Mark give each of us a reminder to STAY AWAKE!  When I read these verses today, I was thinking that perhaps Jesus was telling me to stay busy; stay awake as the master may return at any time, nobody knows when but He has promised to return. 

Do you suppose that we are to be just staying idle and watching and waiting for the Master to return?  It wouldn’t seem that is what Jesus would be asking us to do, considering the Great Commission in the final chapter of Matthew.  It would seem that we are to be working to bring more into the Kingdom and protect those that are already in His fold; protect the property and bring in more as the harvest is ready.  Be alert, don’t close your eyes and go to sleep, no…stay alert and watch for the Master.

The children in the attached photo appear to be waiting…and watching.  Waiting and watching for their turn to receive their lunch at Petit Paradis in Port-au-Prince.  They belong to the King and have been told about the Master’s return.  The temptations and pressures of their world, and our world attack each of us every day; temptations that try to lure us into falling asleep, stop working and stop believing.

We need to stand ready to receive our Master at each hour of the day; waiting and watching for that glorious day when the door will open.  Thank you for staying awake and helping to prepare these children to be ready for that day when each of us will meet our Savior face to face and be taken from this sinful world into a new Heavenly home.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Lord, help me Jesus.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”  1 Peter 4:12-13

The attached photo was taken from Google Earth, it is a section of National Highway Rte. 1 in Haiti, about one and a half miles east of Gonaives.  This location will forever be a reminder to me of the above scripture.  I have been through this location on many occasions, sometimes driving alone and quite often driving with others but always with Him.

On one hot early afternoon, there were four of us riding back to PAP from Cap Haitian; Pastors Daniel Paul, Eliona Bernard, my driver Joey and me.  We had a couple of plastic bags filled with fresh killed goat meat in the back of the truck on that hot afternoon.  We had stopped in Gonaives to get fuel for the pickup and had learned that a Haitian Senator had been assassinated in PAP and because of it, there were some problems brewing in Gonaives.  We decided to leave immediately and not stop to visit Pastor Revenel Benoit who was the District President, before leaving town.

We reached the location in the photo, just to the left of the bridge, and the road was “broken”; a term used by Haitians to describe the road being blockaded by something.  On this day two semi-trucks were parked in such a manner to straddle the highway from ditch to ditch making the road impassable.  We stopped and a group of armed men wearing plaid shirts motioned for us to get out of our pickup truck.

Prayer time; followed by words from a George Jones song.  “Why me Lord, what have I ever done to deserve even one of the pleasures I've known.  Tell me Lord, what did I ever do that was worth love from you or the kindness you've shown.”

The four of us got out of the truck and placed our hands into the air as their weapons were pointed at us.  The man who approached me was carrying an older model 410-gauge shotgun that he was obviously very proud of as he placed the barrel a few inches from my face.  I uttered the words ‘mwen pa gen lanjan’ and ‘missionary’ and pointed to the cross on my Christ Lutheran Church ball cap on my head.  I asked if he was a Christian and knew Jesus Christ; he nodded that he knew Jesus.  “Lord help me Jesus, I've wasted it so help me Jesus I know what I am.  Now that I know that I've needed you so help me Jesus, my soul's in your hand.”

The bad men wanted money (lanjan), or drugs or weapons and sadly we didn’t have any of these items; just a few plastic bags of goat meat.  We had Jesus and that was a problem for them, as they were sure that we had the treasures of their world.  After a minute we stepped away from our truck as they searched the interior and the bed and gave up as another vehicle came down the road and they went through the same routine with them.

Our journey was delayed by an hour, and we waited as they marched back and forth, shouting and pointing their guns at the people they were detaining.  “Tell me Lord, if you think there's a way I can try to repay all I've taken from you.  Maybe Lord, I can show someone else what I've been through myself on my way back to you.”  Eventually, Pastor Daniel said let’s get back into the truck and leave as he saw a narrow trail leading away from the highway and into the hills and we calmly drove away.

I have shared this story with a number of people but never did with my mother.  Some things from Haiti, mom didn’t need to hear about.  Many asked what was going through my mind while staring down the barrel of the shotgun.  I recall being calm and at peace, seems odd but at the time that is what was occupying my thoughts; wondering if any of these people knew Jesus.  “Lord help me Jesus, I've wasted it so help me Jesus I know what I am.  Now that I know that I've need you so help me Jesus, my soul's in your hands.”

When mission teams travel to Haiti to visit Trinity HOPE feeding programs, please keep them in your daily prayers as one never knows what will be around the next bend or down the road.  It is always comforting to know that people like you are praying for each of us when doing His work.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Walking in danger.

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.  As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”  1 Peter 4:1-2

Last weekend, I spent some time on my PC looking through photos of schools that I had visited in Haiti over the years and came across a few with memories that were not pleasant, but rather brought back images of dark long corridors in a labyrinth of uneven steps and uncertainty of what was around the next corner and who might be waiting there.

Before going to live in Haiti in March of 2001, my prayer life was not always what it should have been and perhaps that is why God nudged me to go there and live with my fellow brothers and sisters whose daily lives were filled with prayer.  HE also gave me much needed additional lessons in patience.  Before entering a hallway such as the one in the attached photo taken while making my way to a school in PAP, prayers for protection for me and those with me would be offered.  Before turning the key in my pickup truck, prayers were offered for safe travel.  Safety was always an issue, looking at who was walking alongside the truck in PAP, who was following me for more than a couple of blocks when driving home, who was watching my transaction at the bank, who followed me while walking in the market.  He was with me, always with me.  I recently heard a group sing ‘Majesty’ and those words reflect the comfort that was felt by me, and those living in Haiti as we walked with our Savior.

“Majesty, worship His Majesty unto Jesus, be all glory, power and praise.  Majesty, Kingdom authority flow from His throne, unto his own, His anthem raise.  So exalt, lift up on high the Name of Jesus.  Magnify, come glorify, Christ Jesus the King.  Majesty, worship His Majesty.  Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all Kings.”

Our prayers are with the children in all Christian schools, here in the U.S., in Haiti and throughout His creation; with their teachers, principals, pastors and parents now, every day.  Thank you for also keeping them in your daily prayers as they do His work in the midst of unforeseen dangers.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

The fee.

“And he said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom."  And He said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise."  Luke 23:42-43

There were many times while living in Haiti, twenty years ago, that these verses from Luke came to mind; recalling the words of the thief that was hanging on the cross next to the Son of God, asking Christ Jesus to remember him when He gets into Heaven.

The attached photo was one of those times.  It was taken on the roof of the school at Village de la Paix which is next door to the Cite Solei slum in Port-au-Prince.  Just beyond the range of this photo was a barricade of chairs that were in the center of the narrow street, placed there by a group of vodou people charging a fee to drive through ‘their’ territory.  Or, as they would say “you are obliged to give me $10 to drive through this street.”  This fee would normally be used for road repairs, as form of local taxation; common in Haiti.  But in their case, the fee would be used to supplement their vodou temple.

There are more vodou people in Haiti than Christians and quite often I would wonder what their remark would have been to the Savior had they been hanging next to him on Calvary.  Quite possibly, “why don’t you use your magic and come down?”  Many of the children in the Christian schools come from homes with vodou and they must be questioned by those who have not heard the truth about Jesus.  Their journey on this earth has to be difficult as they give an answer for the truth that they have been taught to only their peers, but also their family.  Why doesn’t their God defeat the evil gangs in the streets of their neighborhood?

Our Savior has assured them that they will be with Him in Paradise along with all who accept Him as their Lord and Savior.  Thank you for continuing to support these young children who carry that message to the lost souls in Haiti. 

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay