Wayne Jacobsen

Handling the Truth

11 Comments / Phenomenon of the Dones /

By Wayne Jacobsen Part 12 in a continuing series on The Phenomenon of the Dones.  

When did truth become more important than love?

When I grew up in Christianity I was taught that you had to believe the truth to be saved. Of course loving each other was encouraged, but certainly not with the same passion. So living to doctrine and defending it when challenged was more important than loving others, even though Jesus specifically told us to do the latter. In fact he said our capacity to love would win the world, not our eloquence with the truth.

In fact, truth without love more often destroys people than helps people. Those who explore theology alone and don’t mine the depths of God’s love and character can’t help but be a bit obnoxious. For them it is all about believing the right thing and what they miss is a process of transformation. They are often angry, manipulative and judgmental. On what basis, then, has truth set them free? Are they more gentle, loving, and kind to others who are lost? In my experience? No.

That may be why Jesus and Paul both told us love was more important because they knew that without love people would not be able to discover truth. I’m convinced that truth can travel without love. You speak the truth without it and little good it does. But love can’t travel without the truth. Love always seeks what’s true and then graciously draws people toward the light. We never need to choose love at the expense of truth when we appreciate that love is the most important part of truth and the environment in which people are freest to discover what’s true.

Unfortunately, however, for two thousand years Christians have staked their identity on being right. Battles over doctrine, even down to insignificant minutia, have divided us into innumerable factions, each one believing they have more truth than the others. So that instead of learning to love each other beyond our differences, every difference is a test of who is right and who is wrong. We get sucked into the same game the world plays of having to convince those who disagree with us of how wrong they are.

I see the fallout from that every day in my FaceBook feed, especially as people try to convince their friends that the truth they see is the truth everyone needs to believe. And the more insecure someone is the more they are drawn into the battle over truth instead of learning how to love. We expend far more energy trying to prove someone wrong than we do helping them discover how loved they are.

Often we do it without even thinking. Recently I asked for some input on a book cover design. I got over 300 responses and the majority registered their preference as if it was the only right option. People who didn’t see it the same way were wrong, not just seeing it differently. When we no longer separate preference from fact, we express ourselves in way that is off-putting to others, and closes more doors than it opens.

Nowhere is this more evident today than in the argument about whether or not someone must go to a local congregation to be a Christian. Every one fights for their point of view convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is wrong. One seeks validation of their faith experience, the other demands compliance and both divide the body of Christ not on the basis of Truth, but on personal preference. Much of the angst I’ve seen in those “done” with religious institutions is the need to convince those who meet in those systems that what they are doing is wrong and hurtful, or those inside try to convince those outside that they can’t be part of Jesus’ church without being a committed member of a local institution.

And as I’ve observed over the years, some of those who most ardently defended local congregations when they were leading them are the most damming now that they are on the outside.

If you live by right or wrong, you will condemn others to validate yourself. A lot of that dialog stems from insecurity—people who need the affirmation of others to validate their own conclusions. Both misunderstand the nature of truth and how God wins us into it. Of course this conflict is exacerbated by social media platforms because arrogant, polarizing commentary generates more response than graceful ones. We care more about being right on an issue that we do about being right with each other.

“Truth cannot be compromised,” is the motto of both sides of any conflict and while true enough on the face of it, it doesn’t recognized how much of what we fight for is not truth itself, but only our view of it. How often have you ardently defended something you found out later was based on misunderstanding or misinformation? One of the joys of this journey is discovering that God’s wisdom far exceeds ours on everything and we are constantly growing to understand what’s true and what are only fabrications of our desires. That’s why Jesus wanted us to know that Truth was not the perfect alignment of our doctrinal ducks, but our connection to a Person who is Truth itself. By believing him we believe in all truth, even the parts we don’t know yet, or still have confused.

That’s why one of the telltale signs of someone growing in truth is humility. Knowing they see dimly into God’s reality allows them to hold it lightly and not seek to force it on others.

Their tone expresses that this is the best they see it today, not this is the only way a real child of God can see it. When you hear that kind of language, back away. This is someone who knows doctrine better than they know him. Find those who can discuss difference of opinion graciously, knowing that love, not judgment, is the best way to help people discover truth and that growing in truth has more to do with learning to depend on him rather than amassing intellectual knowledge alone.

None of this is to say, of course, that truth is not important, only that most of our truth isn’t truth with a capital T, but simply our own conclusions based on the comfort it gives us at the time. I’m all for getting our theology straight; I’m not a relativist. I don’t believe everyone gets to decide what’s true. What’s true in the universe is how God designed it to work and created us to live in it. Where we embrace that reality, we get to live freely even in a broken world not immune from its pain, but also not overwhelmed by it. There are only a precious few big-ticket items that provide the basis of life in Christ, and none of them are essential to be loved because love opens the door to truth.

One of Jesus’ most oft-quoted statements is, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” (John 8:32). Mostly those words are misapplied as if he’s referring to the right set of beliefs and is used to justify people forcing their point of view on others. What if, however, he was not only telling us what truth could do, but how to share it with others? It is valuable when it sets people free, and disastrous when it seeks to manipulate people to do what we think best.

The ways of the world are all built on lies—lies about God, about ourselves, about success and failure, about what we value and how we engage others. Believe the lies and you become imprisoned by them in long, slow death spiral. Truth is the bright light that penetrates the darkness. Our tendency is not to run to it, but shield our eyes and stay in the false comfort of those lies. Love is what makes the light inviting instead of repelling.

When I read the Gospels, I am increasingly aware of how careful Jesus was with the truth. The truth is powerful stuff. It can blow up someone’s entire world. That’s a great thing when they are ready for it, but it can be horribly destructive if they are not. That’s why he was so mindful how, when, and to whom he shared truth. He sometimes couched it in stories so people who weren’t ready to receive it wouldn’t understand it.

If you’ve ever tried to convince someone that something is true when they don’t want to hear it you know how impossible it is. When Jesus spoke clearly, he was talking to those who were curious. Even then he didn’t talk about truth as a set of theological concepts to believe, but the truth that allows you to see past the lies that ensnare us and set you free to embrace God’s realty. The only time he confronted people with truth they weren’t ready for was when their actions were doing great damage to others and, even then he wasn’t heard. There’s nothing more glorious than truth that brings freedom and nothing more destructive than beating others up with truth we think they should hear.

Fifteen years ago I was riding in a car with my dad when he asked me a question. “Do you enjoy what you’re doing now?” Five years earlier I had been a pastor of a growing congregation in the central part of California. Through a painful set of circumstances I got separated from that group and he wasn’t sure how content I was with the consulting, writing and traveling. I thought he was really asking if I missed being a pastor.

I thought about it for a moment and realized that I had moved from being a leader of a conformity-based system to a brother alongside people seeking to find their freedom in Christ. “Well, Dad I used to walk around with a set of keys making sure everyone was locked into their cells. For the past five years I’ve been wandering those same hallways but this time unlocking the prisons that hold people captive.”

“That does sound good,” he responded.

It is! And this isn’t about whether people frequent a congregation or not. This is about feeling I had the responsibility to conform people to what I thought was best for them instead of freeing them to live in an affection-based relationship with God and letting him change them. I’ve never regretted that choice. And I’ve seen far more fruit rise from helping them live free than I ever did from trying to get them to believe my conclusions or meet my expectations.

I don’t try to convince anyone of anything anymore. I talk to hungry people about God’s reality as I best understand it. When they are ready for it, they respond in ways that liberates and fulfills. When they aren’t, I measure my words more carefully seeking a way to love them rather than try to set them straight. Only the Spirit can prepare them for the truth he wants to breathe into their lives. The more I try to convince them, the more I push them away from the light I want them to see. Instead I want to treat them in a way that will invite them into the orbit of his love where they will be better prepared to see through their deception and embrace what’s true.

That’s why love is the more excellent way.  Without it, truth won’t find it’s way in the world.

__________________

This is part 11 in a series on The Phenomenon of the Dones by Wayne Jacobsen who is the author of Finding Church and host of a podcast at TheGodJourney.com.  You can read the first half here and subsequent parts below:

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Uhh… You Might Have that Story Wrong

4 Comments / Intimacy /

I guess this meme made the rounds on the Internet but somehow I missed it. It was posted as a blog comment yesterday at The God Journey in our spirited discussion about what salvation really means.

Jesus knocks on the door saying, “Let me in.”

The voice from inside replies, “Why?”

Jesus says, “So I can save you.”

“From what?” asks the voice inside.

“From what I’m going to do to you if you don’t let me in!”

I laughed of ten minutes when I read that. I know that world. I grew up in it and how ridiculous that whole story seems to me now! We need to be saved from Jesus or his irate Father? No we need to be saved from the sin and shame that devour our lives and leave us helpless to our own affectations and appetites.

Salvation is real. He saves us from a world of darkness, fear and torment and brings us into a new creation of light, love, and liberty. That’s a better story because it’s a more accurate story.

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Calamity in Kenya

In the World /

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

The lack of rain that caused such devastation in the land of Pokot, where we have tried to help over the past couple of years, has now reversed itself and this spring excessive rains have brought a new crisis to these beleaguered people.  We have four coaches in the region helping the people take responsibility to better their own lives and with each project they want to do we match 50% sweat equity on their part, with 50% resources from ours. This is a desperate part of Kenya with no government presence or other NGOs to help with this crises. I am constantly amazed that every one else in the world seems to ignore their plight. We have with God’s help provided what little we can to help turn the tide on their conditions. We’ve been blessed by the many people with third-world development experience who have come alongside to assist us and the thousands of dollars of contribution who touched these people deeply.

All was going well until this new calamity arrived brought on by the flooding.  I got this letter the other day from the brothers in Kenya who we work through to help bring new life into Pokot.

Dear brother Wayne, receive more greeting from the coaching team in North Pokot, they appreciate also for there monthly support.  They are doing excellent work. In East Africa , there is a lot of rain even the North pokot has been affected much for the first time with heavy rain. This has contributed more the calamity of many diseases like typhoid, malarial and common cold, so the coaches and the committee has appeal an emergency camp medication for more than ten villages, which are more affected. So brother wayne we have talked with the coaches to pray so that we send this urgent need for medical camping.

So if you can help them with the drugs and help additional of nurses , IGEM volunteers about 14 are ready to go assist for medical camping of two weeks in those ten village. We could not wait to put this in the budget on 22nd but it is urgent need. Many house in kenya are been swept the flood especially in western and Kitale region.

We have called the doctor and have estimated that we need to purchase drugs , fuel transportation, accommodation for doctors and nurses (tents, Blanket and mattress and food).  This is urgent need for now, we need to go there soon as God’s provides.

In the last week we have added an additional $11,000 to meet this need, in addition to the regular support we are sending to help the villages.  Volunteer doctors and nurses from Kitale are in that region now, staying in tents and sleeping little more than three hours a night because the need is so great. They are also trying to get the government to provide mosquito nets to help with the spread of disease.

Here is their report from the first few days on the field:

Our doctor’s and nurse were so busy treating the sick in North Pokot, there are huge number of people suffering with Malaria, typhoid, leumonia, chronic malaria, there is no hospital within this place and from here to reach our hospital is appromately 50KM , which is very far and when outbreak come there is no other way of saving life. The places are in the bush. The community committee which we selected last year assisted by our coaches has paved the way in order to reach there with the vehicle and beyond other interior villages, our volunteers need to walk carrying the supplies.  Right now we are with ten villages which are more affected and the mobile camping need to take place for six months time to curb down the diseases, then from there we will see what God has done. But our volunteers since all of them cannot stay for all of that period, but they have agreed to work in periods to relief others. The challenges we need also to cook for those who are total sick , so that the drugs can work well, so pray with us for the food while we are in the mission field because it force our volunteers to give the food which are supposed to be used by them.

And some pictures:

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Bringing the sick to get help
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Triage
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A lot of interest around that table.

If you want the backstory on our work in this part of Kenya, you can read this blog that gives a short view of God’s work in linking us up with their need, and people there who are ready to help meet it. If you have extra to pass along for the people of West Pokot you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.  If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

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Spirituality and Sexuality

1 Comment / What I'm Reading /

Recently Brad and I did a couple of podcasts on the issues of sexuality in our spiritual journeys, Let’s Talk Sex, and No Need to Hide, and discovered just how separated people keep their sexuality from their spirituality. That’s mostly due to the fact that religion attaches so much shame to our sexual appetites and brokenness. And yet many are longing to have that conversation in the gracious space where they no longer have to hide, or doubt, or condemn themselves.

We need more conversation in this area not less and most of that with the Father who loves us. Sexuality is his gift after all, and it is no surprise that the brokenness of this world and the work of the enemy would seek to destroy us by the very thing that touches the deepest part of our soul, our identity, and our connection with another human being. They turn it against us, warping it in ways that damages our souls and becomes a source of great pain and frustration, even inside of a marriage.

God does not think sex disgusting and only he can untwist the way our sexuality gets compromised and exploited by the world we live in. Like so much of the creation, we use it for our own amusements instead of his purposes and in the end get hurt more than we ever dreamed.

In that vain, I want to recommend a new book to you. It’s called unashamed, and yes the lack of caps is intentional. The subtitle is, “candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness and faith” and was written by Tracy Levinson and Anne-Marie Coffee. It takes a fresh look at dating for a new generation of young women.

I got a chance to read a prepublication copy of this book and wrote the following endorsement for the final version:

Unashamed is the conversation every parent wants to have with their daughter, but often finds it too difficult. Frankly and humorously, Tracy Levinson flips over all the rocks that young women would do well to explore to understand themselves, their sexuality, and the choices that will build a better future. Thoughtful, caring, and biblically sound, she walks a glorious line to uphold a young woman’s purity in God’s eyes even as they struggle with temptation and failure. You’ll want your daughter to read this book, and perhaps even join her.

Tracy hopes to encourage you as she shares her grace-infused insight, wisdom, laughter and liberating truth. It’s written for young women, and people in their lives who adore them which can include moms, dads, brothers, grandparents, boyfriends, and church leaders. Tracy candidly explores pivotal questions asked by this millennial generation and draws from her own journey and conversations with her daughters. Some of the questions she tackles include: What if I have already been involved sexually, how do I get a redo? What are the things that bug you about dating in the Christian culture? What does it mean to guard my heart and does it pertain to dating?

This is what Tracy says about her book, “My hope is to help as many women and girls as possible by empowering them to choose wisdom, love and peace, as opposed to making decisions from fear, shame or condemnation.” You may not come to all the same conclusions Tracy does, but your daughters will be all the stronger for you exploring this book with them.

You can order the book at Amazon.com, or from her web page TracyLevinson.com.

If you have daughters you care about and don’t know how to tackle this subject, this is the perfect book for you.  You will thank me.

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The All New God Journey Site

3 Comments / Behind the Scenes /

All new!  Still free!

If you haven’t visited The God Journey website for awhile, now would be a good time.  Brad is back as co-host and we have a full re-design of the website and the podcast to update the look.  Still the same conversations, with new artwork and imagery and it’s still free!

Brad and I continue to explore our journeys and invite others along for the ride. We’re always blessed by the email we receive from people who are encouraged, challenged, or enlightened out of our conversations and thoughts about the journey.

New episodes post on Fridays. There are 532 shows in the archive. Every where I go people tell me how much my weekly conversations with Brad, others, or myself has helped to bring freedom and joy to their journey. We even included on the new page a list of some of the sweet things people have said or written about the podcast.  I’ll also include them here:

“I don’t think you realize what a lifeline the podcasts have been.”
“You articulate what I am feeling. Somehow I don’t feel alone when I listen to you and Brad talk.”
“Your conversations are like a cool breeze on a hot day.”
“It’s simply two real guys talking about life…”
“Keep slinging that freedom all over the place.”
“My entire outlook on life has changed overnight! My life has Life again!”
“The podcasts also gave me language and an eye to see what God was doing inside me.”
“Your compassion for both God and his children is refreshing and honest.”
“Yours is a sane voice in a crazy world.”

Who would have thought when we began recording our conversations 11 years ago, that it would have gone on this long and been helpful to so many?  We are blessed by the continued encouragement we get to record conversations that Brad and I find so joyful even if they were not.

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Our Israel Trip Had to Change Dates!

Lifestream News /

A funny thing happened on our way to a God Journey Tour of Israel… Lionsgate moved the release date of the film version of The Shack while Brad and I would have both been on the tour. Without warning they moved they switched the release of the movie from November 18, 2016, to March 3, 2017. Since they are the whale in the living room we had to scramble to change our tour dates. The tour to Israel has been moved forward one month to January 25, 2017 – February 5, 2017.

I sincerely apologize for having to do this to people who were already making plans to join us. There is still plenty of room if you want to join Brad and I in Israel.  The new dates in Jordan will be before the regular tour, January 22-25.  You can get all the details and register here.

Two years ago I took my wife, son and 40 other people who have enjoyed my writings for an 11-day trip to the land of Israel. We had the time of our lives! Not only did we get to be where so much of redemptive history unfolded, but we also got to share it with people on a similar journey of learning to live in the Father’s affection and exploring more relational ways of finding church. I am excited to return again with Brad and take my daughter and niece on the same trip.  The extended time in Jordan will allow us to visit Mt. Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land, the ancient rock-carved city of Petra, and some added sites in Israel as we come back up to join the rest of those touring with us.

The cost of the Israel Tour will be less than $4000 per person, with double-occupancy and including airfare if you’re coming from the US.  Those of you traveling from elsewhere can just pay for the land tour and make your own flight arrangements to Israel.  If you’d like to join us for the three extra days in Jordan it will cost about $1300 extra.

This land and its people are pivotal in the biblical story and it is here that history will reach its conclusion. No, God is not more present here than he is anywhere else on the planet, but if you’ve never been you have no idea how it will impact you to be in the very places you’ve read about so often and how it will change your reading of Scripture for the rest of your life.

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Can you imagine what it is like…

  • to stand on the shore of Galilee with the water lapping at your feet
  • to climb Mt. Carmel where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal
  • to look down from the Mt. of Olives at the very place where God’s temple stood
  • to be surrounded by 2000 year old trees in Gethsemane
  • to approach Temple Mount on stone pathways that date to the time of Jesus
  • to be in the very cell that held Jesus the night before He was crucified

My first trip to Israel in 1997 proved to have far more impact on me than I ever thought it could and the one we took two years ago brought some amazing people together and began friendships from around the world that continue to flourish. Join Brad and me for a walk through the Scripture story in the land where it all took place. I’ll be sharing some thoughts at key sites designed to stimulate personal reflection. And as we go along, we will enjoy a joint conversation about how God is revealing Himself in us.

jeruslamewwallThe Israel Tour Company, known for intimate tours that allow people to absorb the culture and history of the land, is taking care of all the details.  They have hosted both my previous trips there and I’m thrilled to be working with them again.

We have chosen to travel in January since the weather is comfortable in the desert locations, there aren’t as many tourists in the country at this time, and we can take a smaller, more intimate group more affordably. The length of the trip is designed to move us through the highlights of the country, still allowing time for reflection and a free day in Jerusalem.

I hope you can join me for an amazing tour of Israel – one that will add so much to your understanding of who God is and how he wants to walk with us.

For more information and registration click here.

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FINDING CHURCH Book Discussion Beginning

Finding Church /

For those who would like to join me for a book discussion about my latest book, Finding Church, we are beginning that discussion today. If you haven’t purchased the book yet, you can do so from us or from Amazon, or download the e-book or audio versions. It is also available in German and in Spanish.  Just click on the link above for all the options to secure the book.

I’m excited to work through this book with those who want to and see if we can’t help you recognize how Jesus is building his church around you and how he wants you to participate in her life.  We begin with chapter 1 and take about two weeks to explore each chapter as we work through the entire book.  There will be questions to explore as well as the opportunity to ask me anything you’d like to ask from various chapters.

You can find the forum here.  You may read entries without registering, but to participate in the forum you will need to sing-in.  Grab a cup of coffee, or a cold drink and come join us every week or two and let’s explore the book together.

Please sign in and introduce yourself in the Introductions category and then start on Chapter 1 and share what caused you to begin to hunger for something more? If you have other topic ideas or threads, you can suggest them in the “Question for Wayne” topic.  I’m looking forward to working through this book again and sharing that process with some of you.

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Your Help Is Hurting! (Kenya Update)

5 Comments / In the World /

“Your Help is Hurting!”

Powerful word from one of the most positive videos I’ve ever watched about helping people trapped in poverty.  It’s not our charity they need, but an invitation into the marketplace and the tools to leverage their own creativity and industry that will provide for themselves. This video is only 7:32 minutes long, but it could change your entire view about helping impoverished people around the world.

“People are not the problem; they are the solution.” What a refreshing perspective, and you’ll find on this video a different way of looking at need in the developing world and whether we are actually helping people win their own solutions, or helping with their need only to make us feel better about ourselves. If we understood the power of this message we would be wiser about the money we spend to help.

Many “missions” organizations manipulate our guilt to fund the very kind of projects that perpetuate their poverty rather than provide solutions. Others use people’s desire for cross-cultural experiences to waste exorbitant amounts of money to transport and feed westerners overseas while they do projects, that the people could be empowered to do themselves.  I hope you watch this video and realize that handouts only create dependency, where helping people with tools to apply their own skills and create a market for their own goods will have far greater benefit.

I’ve not seen a video that expresses better my heart in trying to help the people were engaged with in Kenya. We haven’t wanted to just send aid money, but more importantly to help create the kind of development that will allow them to develop the skills and opportunities for their own provision. Often I’ve had groups ask if I needed volunteers to go help build some project because they had a group of people wanting a Kenyan experience. I’ve held off groups like that because the people would rather build these things themselves. They need the work and are content to do it. What they cannot afford are the materials.  By the time people spend the money to transport 20 people to Kenya and provide for them for two weeks, we could fund multiple projects and let the people there have the skills and satisfaction of meeting their own need.

We’ve been involved in Kenya since 2008, first with a group of good friends near Kitale helping build an orphanage and provide for other medical and educational needs.  We also built a petrol station that not only employs locals but more importantly funds the orphanage.  In 2014 they came across 120,000 people north of them in Pokot, who had been devastated by a drought and whose needs were greater than their own.  They wanted to help so we provided an initial $60,000 so they could bring in water, food, and medical care.  We have drilled six wells to get them water and for the past 18 months we have switched to funding development instead of relief. We are now using a 50/50 development model where they provide 50% sweat equity on a given project and we provide 50% of the resources they need for whatever it takes to care for their needs and cultivate a self-sustaining economy. We are looking to put a million dollars there over the next five years to help them jumpstart an economy that will be self-sustaining beyond that. We’ve already received more than half of that and are now eight months into that process.

We are funding four coaches working in that area to help the people create this self-sustaining economy and find simple, readily available solutions to their needs. We also helped fund a grain enterprise with an advance of $14,000. The grain they buy during harvest, bag, and then re-sell later in the year brings in over $80,000 to fund education for our friends near Kitale as well as for the Pokot children.  They keep back enough from the sale to buy grain again the following year. So our original $14,000 investment in these people has already provided more than $160,000 to help with these projects and it will continue year after year.

If you want the backstory on our work in this part of Kenya, you can read this blog that gives a short view of God’s work in linking us up with their need, and people there who are ready to help meet it. If you have extra to pass along for the people of West Pokot you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.  If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

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Paradox Lost: Embracing the Mystery of God

What I'm Reading /

I have waited to post this review for a long time. I’ve been aware of this book a number of years, first hearing about it in conversations with the author who was being deeply touched by the mystery of God.  Then through the writing process as he put those thoughts down and finally through the publication process.  Today it is finally being released by Zondervan and I can finally recommend it to you.

It’s called Paradox Lost: Rediscovering the Mystery of God.  I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about recommending this book to you, not because if it’s author (who’s a great friend of mine), or the great stories therein (which are many), or the writing style (which is fabulous), or because I suggested the title (which I did), but because the content of this book is so important at this time in Christian history.

For hundreds of years, we’ve sought to stuff God in a box. Academic approaches to Scripture have created systematic theologies that substitute ideas about God for actually knowing him, and popular teachers have given us endless formulas to get God to do what we think he should do. We have reduced God to a concept or to a set of principles and by that have diminished him in ways that have disillusioned so many people when he doesn’t do for them what they expect him to do.

Paradox Lost: Rediscovering the Mystery of God, invites to consider that God is so much greater than any box we might use to describe or build to contain him.  Author Richard Hansen gently makes that point showing us that what is unknowable about God is inviting rather than threatening and helps us see that what might appear to be contradictory in Scripture are simply complementary understandings of him that must be held in tension, not resolved. Recognizing that God is greater than any system we can attach to him isn’t a barrier to faith, but the place where faith begins.

Rich Hansen has been my friend for nearly 30 years, since we pastored in the same community together. Over the decades we have met regularly to pray, listen, and encourage each other through the best and worst of times. He also worked for many years as a missionary professor at Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

I can say this about him, he lives what he writes, and a more genuine individual you will not meet.  And that comes through in his book

Here’s the endorsement I gave for its publication:

You’ll love this book as it explores the wonder of a living God who exceeds all your expectations.  PARADOX LOST is a compelling and timely reminder that God transcends all the boxes we build for him.

Order it here from Amazon.com.

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Up Next: Maryland, Virginia and Alberta

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My next two trips will take me to the east coast of the US in mid-May and then to Alberta, Canada in early June.  Each of these invitations ha piqued my interest and provide times for others to come and join in if you’d like.  For those who would like to join me in Maryland, Virginia, or Alberta, the links below will take you to the dates and contact details. I not only enjoy the opportunity to help people explore their journey in Christ a bit more, but I love to see these people meet others in the area who are also asking some of the same questions they are.

May 13-22:  Check here for Maryland and Virginia dates near Fredrick, Richmond, and Charlottesville.

June 3-13:  Check here for Calgary, Red Deer, Innisfail, and Edmonton.

And looking really far out, I’ll be taking another tour to Israel in early February 2017.  You can get details here if you’d like to join us.

You can also get all the details on our Travel Page.  And if you’d like to be notified by email when I’m planning a trip to your area you can sign up on our email list and include your address.

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