Wayne Jacobsen

Last Thursday I had just returned from a day of meetings in Los Angeles. Among others we’d met with one of the producers of the Spider-Man franchise, who is a passionate believer, was deeply impacted by THE SHACK and wants to help us bring the movie to screen. One of the things he said was, “Do you realize what you have the opportunity to do? You get show what a flower looks like God walks past it in a garden.” Wow! That makes me quiver!

I was relating that story to my wife and daughter who had brought the grandkids over for dinner. My daughter asked, “Do you guys ever stop and think that you might be way in over your heads here?”

Sara and I howled in laughter. Of course we are! I told Julie that I haven’t touched the bottom of the lake in so long, I don’t remember what it feels like anymore.

For the last 12 years God has asked us to be involved in all kinds of things that we’re not capable of doing, nor did we have the means on our own to make them happen. Whether it has been BridgeBuilder negotiations, publishing, or traveling around the world without a safety net. But we have seen him provide over and over exactly what we needed and brothers and sisters to share our lives with in the process.

Somehow in all of that we learned how to ride the top of the water spiritually speaking, by relaxing into his love. What a shock it has been! I didn’t know it, but for most of my life I’ve begged God to keep me in the shallow water by praying for circumstances that were predictable, manageable and comfortable. And I was always so angry and frustrated when he didn’t fix the circumstances that troubled me so that I could be happy.

But that’s not where life is lived for most of us. I never learned how much his love and grace could carry me through. All along he wanted to teach me how to swim on the top so that I could go places with him far beyond the shoreline. For the last dozen years or so, I’ve been learning to live with my security is in his love for me, not in being able to touch the bottom.

i honestly think that’s how many of us have misunderstood this Christian life. We thought it meant that God would keep us in the shallows, instead of teaching us to swim over the depths. We got angry at him when things didn’t turn out as easy as we wanted, when he was using those things to move us out of our comfort zone and into his. But living in his is so much better—free, alive, adventurous and fruitful.

So now I have no idea where the bottom is and I honestly don’t care anymore. When you can’t touch the bottom, it doesn’t matter if it’s 3 feet below your outstretched legs or 300. My security isn’t there anymore; I am learning top put it in God’s awesome love for me that can sustain me through anything, and accomplish his purpose not only in the circumstances I’m in, but also transforming me in the process.

And that’s not just true for me. It’s even more true for people facing far more dire circumstances than I am today. I get email every day from single moms struggling to stay afloat, people battling horrible diseases (or caring for kids who are), or people out of work or lonely and isolated. I know how frustrating all of that can be and at the same time I know that God wants to teach them to swim above those things rather than being consumed by them. That all begins with a revelation of his love and engagement with you.

His love is more certain than the rising sun. Learn to relax into him and he will become far more real to you than the fact that you, too, are in way over your head!

I guess this bit of humor is making the rounds on the ‘net! I loved it:

Ingrid, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the church’s’ morals, kept sticking her nose into other people’s business.

Several members did not approve of her extra curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused Frank, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon.

She emphatically told Frank (and several others) that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.

Frank, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn’t explain, defend, or deny… He said nothing.

Later that evening, Frank quietly parked his pickup in front of Ingrid’s house, walked home, and left it there all night!!!

You gotta love Frank!

Paul, Brad and I (that’s us above by some of our signs, and one of the shuttle buses that ferried people back and forth to their hotels) met some great people at Christian Retailing Convention in Orlando, but those events truly are not my cup of tea, or should I say Diet Coke! We are amazed at how this tidal wave just keeps rising. In the last month weekly sales for THE SHACK have doubled, following on the heels of The Today Show appearance, and articles in TIME Magazine as well as PEOPLE. We had some marvelous opportunities to share THE SHACK story and found people deeply touched by how God brought all of that together.

We met our UK partners and found their enthusiasm for THE SHACK staggering. They recorded a video interview with all three of us for use there. Also THE SHACK has been featured in a number of news reports on the BBC which has surprised folks there since they never talk about books with Christian themes.

And my two titles continue to grow, reaching an entirely new audience. At a book signing I did for HE LOVES ME, I was approached by a key book buyer from Barnes and Noble, who said she’d just ordered enough of my two titles to drive them to the front of the store. Wow! Who would have thought?

I don’t know when it’s harder to write entries these days, on the road or at home. I come home to a way too full inbox. My books are just soaring now on the draft of THE SHACK and that has brought all kinds of new people to my email, phone line and front door! I still haven’t worked out how I’m going to handle all of this, but for the time being I’ve got a new helper around the office. Jessica completed her summer with us and departed for a family vacation. My incredible wife Sara has stepped in to help us get through this time. She has taken a leave of absence from her counseling job at a local high school and will take over a lot of my daily duties at Lifestream, to give me more time to write and deal with other realities at Windblown Media.

I am really excited about our working together through the next year. She will be handling a lot of details around here, but please know if you’re talking with her, it’s the same as talking with me. Some folks would say it’s even better!

One final note. We also heard from our brothers and sisters in Kenya who are still in need. Food prices have hit the roof and they are still caring for families that were displaced in the violence and have no home to return to. Every dime sent to us will go directly to those who need it. If God puts it on your heart to send something, please go to our Invoice Page and click on the ‘Pay Invoice’ button. You can then list “Donation for Kenya” and the amount you’d like to give. If you use the ‘Donation’ button you will need to also send me an email letting me know you wanted this to go for Kenya and not for Lifestream. All donations to this cause are tax deductible. Or, if you prefer, you can also send a check to Lifestream • 7228 University Dr. • Moorpark, CA 93021.

Yes, we did make it home from Europe, but have fallen into a firestorm of emails and business arrangements that need my attention NOW! Almost takes all the joy out of coming home! Almost!

I leave for Orlando tomorrow, so things are a bit face-paced around here. But in the last week we’ve moved the movie production of THE SHACK a few more feet down the track and we are so excited at how that is shaping up. Kathie Lee Gifford on the TODAY show this morning gave it an exceptional summer-reading plug. TIME magazine has a blurb in their new issue, and we also have had interest for articles from Reuters, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, and PEOPLE. So the phenomena keeps unfurling. Who would have ever thought.

But here’s what I really wanted to share. I had a brief exchange with a lady named Vicky and I think it would be encouraging to others of you as well. This is what Father wants to do in our lives and he has a thousand ways to do it given our unique make up and circumstances.

Here’s the exchange:

I am a 49-year-old widow. Just a few months after his 44th birthday, my husband was diagnosed as being in the late stages of an insidious and deadly type of cancer. He died 49 days later. That was September 20, 2005. I spent two years utterly shattered by these events and am just now emerging from the shroud of this living death.

Last night I started reading So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore.

I am a performance-based believer (at least I think I’m a believer, plagued by doubts all the time), all my life trying to earn God’s love and attention. The idea of him as “Father” or “Dad” is totally foreign to me. I’ve always felt there that I’ve missed something, that something has failed to take root in my heart and I’ve just missed the point. Over the years I’ve alternated between being a good-Christian-Girl to being an outrageous party girl to getting into New Age stuff. I don’t want to live this way any longer. I want it to be real, and to know that I know that I know.

My biggest question is HOW? How do I just stop and let God love me? Last night I prayed that he will show me how to let him love me. How do I open up and let him be a Father to me?

My response: First let me say I’m sorry for the deep pain you’ve experienced. Unfortunately, it is not as uncommon in our day as people might think. Life is filled with pain, it’s just that lots of people have learned to hide it.

Secondly, I’d say to simply ask God to see his reality. You don’t let him love you. He already does. It’s just that you don’t see it yet. When you ask him to show you, he does the work to untangle you from the inside so that you can see that love. That process generally takes some time. So just wake up every day acknowledging his love for you. Ask him to show you a bit more every day….

A few things from the website that might help:

Listen to Transitions (free download).
Read HE LOVES ME (free download if you prefer).
You might also find some of our podcasts.
And if you haven’t yet, buy and read THE SHACK.

NONE of these will do it, of course. They will begin to help you carve out a mindset that will help you recognize Father’s working in you so that you can discover the unique way that Father wants to make himself known to you and in you.

And to that end, I pray that the eyes of your heart will be opened to behold all that this God has done for you and al that he wants to do in you to let you freely live as his daughter in the earth. It’s great stuff. Isn’t it amazing how he has already begun to draw you back to his side? He understands your pain, the places you’ve wandered, and now wants to get you on the track that matches the hunger he’s planted in your heart. And he’ll do it! He’s pretty good at what he does.

This is how she responded. And I love that God didn’t use any of the things I gave her, but simply made himself know in the reality of Vicky’s life.

A few weeks after your reply, my boss asked me to accompany him to his friend’s house to notarize some end-of-life documents. The man, like my husband, was stricken with an aggressive, deadly cancer and had only days to live. When we arrived, the wife was extremely distraught and I sat there and held her hand as she poured out her grief and fear over this imminent loss.

She was on my mind the rest of the day and it weighed heavy on me all that she was going though and the grief that lay ahead…and that evening I was reliving in my mind and spirit the days leading up to my own husband’s death. How even though he had betrayed me, I loved him, I couldn’t HELP but love him, I couldn’t just all of a sudden stop loving him even if I tried; and in fact, I would have gotten up on that bed and died in his place. Absolutely. Without question.

And then That Voice…the Voice that I know to be Jesus Voice…whispered to my heart “that’s how I feel about you and that’s what I did for you”. And my heart opened up to Him.

Finally. After nearly 50 years of trying to get Him to love me, trying to get MYSELF to love Him. Finally, ALL HIM. 100%. Not 99% God + 1% me. Which always ended up equaling exactly ZERO. Finally. All Him.

Do I sound giddy? I am!

One more picture! This was the view from our chalet last night in the village of Rougemont in the Swiss Alps.

Sara and I just returned from two days in that area with our hosts Silvio and Dominique Viotti. We have had a great time with this dear brother and sister and their family. We have laughed ourselves silly more times than I can count. A couple of years ago Silvio translated SO YOU DON’T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH ANYMORE into French and is just finishing up on HE LOVES ME. They have been warm and gracious to us and have showed us the incredible beauty of their country. They have also introduced us to a number of their friends on Sunday as we had a bbq out in a park and shared about Father’s life together.

Tomorrow Sara and I board a Swiss Air jet from Geneva for the flight home. I’ve been gone 3 weeks, traveled hundreds of miles and am looking forward to a night or two in my own bed at home.

Finally, we just found out that the NY Times published an article today on THE SHACK, which has now had four weeks at #1 on their Trade Fiction list. Christian Novel Is Surprise Best Seller traces the rise of THE SHACK by William P. Young, calling it “the most compelling recent example of how a word-of-mouth phenomenon can explode into a blockbuster when the momentum hits chain bookstores, and the marketing and distribution power of a major commercial publisher is thrown behind it.”

On Friday we hiked up to the rocky nob of the hill that you can see on the picture from my last blog. It is to the left above where we are staying. The view was breathtaking. The picture above is the view to the south and the picture below the view to the north of the small village where we have been staying. The weather has been fabulous, if a bit warm. Sunny every day and the landscape is green and luscious.

Today we are off to the Alps for a two-day expedition! This should be fun. Then, it is home on a big Swiss Air jet.

Sara and I left Germany this morning and arrived in Switzerland. The previous day we trained down to the southern border of Germany and were taken on a beautiful drive through the Black Forest. What a great time we had! Then this morning we took a train into Switzerland. That’s us outside the capital city of Bern before we spent the midday touring the city. We climbed to the top of the Cathedral tower in the background for a breathtaking, if not queasy, view of the area.

I had such a tremendous time in Germany. The ‘Jake’ book has become a huge seller there and most people I met with had already read it and were ready to interact with me about its content. I was so blessed by the people I met, the hunger they had, and their openness to follow Jesus instead of the rituals or demands of religion.

I love it that Jesus is stirring a common passion all over the world. It is not being led by any person, but the Holy Spirt is disillusioning people with the emptiness of our religious dogma and practice, to invite us into a real relationship with him. The only frustrating part of the trip was being unable to speak the language and not spending enough time in each place to get to know people as well as I hoped. But I was warmly and graciously received by people all over the country.

Now we are holed up in the village of Vallorbe along the French border west of Lausanne. This is the view out of the home we’re staying in. And what’s more, we actually get five nights sleeping in the same bed! How fun is that?

Still working my way through Germany. Sara arrived on Monday and we are enjoying this trip together now. We will be leaving Kaiserslautern today and head to Manheim. Then we have one more stop in Germany before we go to meet our friends in Switzerland. It has been an awesome trip so far. We’ve met lots of hungry people and have had some wonderful fellowship. I love how Father is calling people to himself in these days.

Here’s some items that might be of interest:

Our local paper out here ran an article about Windblown Media and The Shack. A lot of the facts in the story aren’t quite right, but the writer sure got the spirit of it. I thought some of you might enjoy reading it.

For those who have been waiting for an audio version of THE SHACK, it is now available both in a seven CD set and by Digital Download.

Also the ebook versions are done and will be available for Amazon’s Kindle and other ebook outlets on June 20.

I am barnstorming Germany at the moment. I took a long, restful train ride through the countryside yesterday from Hamlen to Nuremberg. What a beautiful country this is! Except for that brief respite, however, this has been a grueling trip because I am having less than 24 hours at almost all of the stops I’m making. One day is not enough time to really get to know people and get to the important questions that help us sort out what Jesus is doing in individual lives. I’d never schedule a tour myself like this because it is so frustrating not having time to get past the curiosity questions and share more deeply. But this is what I have.

Today I had a bit of a break and went down to see the parade ground where Hitler held his public rallies. We toured the museum there and learned how he built his power over people by marginalizing, excluding, and even exterminating anyone who didn’t show a passion for his rule or tactics. It was sobering. So much of the language we heard was similar to what’s going on from those inside organized religion who want to challenge anyone who dares to question its authority, methodology or effectiveness of teaching people how to live in Father’s love.

What I have enjoyed about the trip is not only those in their 50s and 60s who have found fresh life in Jesus, but also the number of young people here who are passionate about a greater life in Jesus. They are not so much burned out by the rituals of religion as much as they are hungry to know an authentic life in Jesus that they didn’t find there to begin with. In every meeting I’ve been to there has been young, hungry, engaged men and women who are looking for what life in Jesus is really all about. It has been so encouraging. The Spirit is calling to a new generation to come to him in the freedom of simply learning to live as the Father’s children in the earth and not get lost in the religious activity of generations that preceded them. Amazing!

This is what we must encourage not discourage. If you care about God’s church in the earth you will discourage them or try to bring them into conformity with our tired religious practices. Interestingly enough, I received this email over the last couple of days from Becky back in the States that seemed to address this very thing:

I’m a 23 year old Christian who left “the box” 2 years ago. I was raised in church and after witnessing 3 pastoral affairs and 2 church splits, I threw up my hands and walked away. If that was God, I didn’t want Him. I didn’t know what to do. My decision to leave the church was against everything I’ve been taught here in the Bible Belt, but at the same time it was a decision that felt as right as choosing God in the first place. Interestingly enough, I had my first real and authentic conversation with God after I left the church. Although it was mostly filled with anger, it was the first time I allowed myself to be real with God. I spent my entire life in this passive aggressive state because all the formulaic prayers and activities didn’t lead to the life the Bible talked so much about. It seemed no matter what I did, I couldn’t feel alive and whole like the Bible said….

Reading The Shack last year changed a lot. I have never felt such a sense of relief after reading something. If that God is who God really is, THAT’S a God worth worshipping! I no longer had to be someone I wasn’t in order to love Him. What a relief. And although I feel confident in my decision now more than ever, I still often struggle with it. If this mindset is true, then why is it a 23 year old in 2008 was the first to figure it out? And that’s where you come in…. I’m starting from the beginning on your podcasts and plan to listen to them all. I just have to say thank you. It’s nice to know people older, with much more wisdom, education, and experience feel the same way.

I hear this so often from people. Who am I to think that these systems might be leading us astray? Wouldn’t those who are more intelligent or more experienced see it before I do? And if people don’t put that on themselves, those who set themselves up as leaders will do it for them. I can’t tell you how many people have faced a dismissive attitude from an elder or pastor with the same comment: “Who are you to think you can hear God better than me? If God were speaking those things today, wouldn’t he say it to me first?”

My answer to Becky would be, “Why not you?” Why not a twenty-three year old girl who simply wants to know Jesus? When Jesus was here he was excited when the simplest people captured the vision for his kingdom. He greatly rejoiced before God at such moments, grateful that God had revealed himself not to the wise and learned who were so busy trying to keep people under their authority, but to common people and children.

Wouldn’t we want to ask ourselves why our so-called leaders discourage what Jesus so blatantly affirmed? I wonder.

So, why not Becky? She is his—beloved daughter of the Most High God. He knows where she is and how to bring her along to where he wants her to be.

Why would God show her what others have missed?

Maybe it’s because her simple heart is unclouded by the need to build a group of people into an efficient organization. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t draw her salary from the success of her program and ideas. And maybe her vocational success isn’t tied to corralling a group of people under her control. If the truth be told most of those leaders who discourage people like Becky one day began with a heart just like Becky’s before it got confused by the obligations of building a Christian organization.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather rejoice with Becky and encourage her to keep going. Keep coming to him and follow him as best as you can see him. Feel free to make some mistakes in the process and he will teach you how to live in his freedom and his glory.

Why not her?

Why not you?