Yesterday we drove from Madrid to the south coast near the city of Malaga for a weekend retreat. (The picture at left is from our tour in downtown Madrid.) We are on the Mediterranean Sea, and even got to dip our feet in last night. This morning we had one of those amazing discussions about the cross, and eyes were opening around the room like I rarely witness. People were in tears, and even my translator could hardly contain himself. God just dumped an amazing amount of his grace into the room.

I sat there amazed, knowing that this was a very special moment in some people’s lives and that it had nothing to do with me, but what God wanted to share with some people. When we dismissed at the end not a soul moved. Finally one person said, “We are undone!”

And it was true. I am amazed that God lets me be part of stuff like this. But we have truly been taught an inadequate view of the cross that makes God the angry judge, rather than the loving Abba. Some people love it that way and will fight to the death to preserve what they believe to be an adequate view of God. The cross was not God crushing an innocent victim, but substitutionary atonement in the truest sense. Jesus took our place in the healing of our sin and shame, so that we could draw near to his Father, our Father, without fear and without shame. It is truly the most amazing story.

Sara and I landed safely this morning in Madrid, Spain. This is our first trip here and yet we got off the plane to familiar faces—people we met in the States a little over a year ago. We’ll be gathering with people tonight and tomorrow in Madrid, even though people have come from all over Spain, Portugal, and even France. Oh, yeah, we’ll also be working through jet lag since we only got a couple of hours sleep on the flight in.

Tomorrow we are going to see a bit of downtown Madrid and then Friday morning we will be driving five hours south to Malaga on the south coast. We will be gathering for a weekend Then for the weekend we will be gathering in Malaga on the south coast. If you’d like to join us you can get the details here.

Then next Tuesday we’ll be moving on to Rome, Italy to meet some of our dear friends who will arrive from Switzerland and to sample the sites and sounds of the city, it’s history and nearby Vatican City.

I’d like to invite you to visit our new Lifestream home page, which has just been redesigned to give visitors a quick overview of what’s going on in my life. Originally designed to be a welcome page for new visitors, it now includes the most important information coming out of Lifestream. You’ll find a section for the latest Lifestream News, Wayne’s most recent blog, the current podcast at The God Journey, what’s next on Wayne’s travel schedule and quick links to the most visited pages at Lifestream.

You can now bookmark this page as the one to go to to get caught up on what we’re doing around here. Rather than checking multiple pages to get the information you want most, you can now find it all in one place with links to get more detail on those portions that most interest you. We hope it is more convenient and helpful in making available the thoughts and ideas that I am involved in.

And as I prepare to head out for a trip to Europe I am blessed by the comments and interactions I am already getting from those who are listening to the new Jesus Lens series. We are also preparing the videos of this as well. It is an eight-hour, twenty-four part overview as to how to glean the truth from Scripture by reading it through the lens of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We are making it available free of charge both by audio and soon by video as well. Eventually we’ll have CDs for the audio and DVDs for the video available through Lifestream.

Finally, in our corner of the world, tomorrow is Father’s Day and I’m looking forward to sharing some time with my incredible kids and grandkids. I realize this is a mixed-bag in our culture. While most celebrate the joy of fatherhood and their appreciation for the incredible men who loved, taught, and cared for them, it can also pick at the wound of those whose fathers either were absent or abusive. Regardless of how awesome or awful your earthly father might have been, I hope we can all celebrate this one reality, we ALL have a Father that outshines any human father on the planet. He is more loving, more gracious, more real, more fun, and more caring than

Jesus walked with that Father when he was here. And then taught those who were closest to him, it wasn’t just his Father, but our Father. May you know the love and care of that Father with ever-increasing reality and joy!

Students sharing a meal at the Living Loved Children’s Centre in Eldoret, Kenya

I interrupt The Jesus Lens for a special new bulletin: East Africa has been hit with incredible food shortages this spring and our brothers and sisters there are asking for our prayers and our help. I just wanted to put the word out for prayer and if any of you would like to help with donations, that would be awesome as well. Less than 50 percent of the expected rainfall in East Africa came during this year’s long rains from March to May. That resulted in an 80 percent shortfall in crops in East Africa, and now the people are in desperate need of aid. You can read more about it in the Mission Network News.

Last week I received this email from the brother I spent some time with last year in Kenya:

Dear brother in the Lord, we have been so busy in many regions for sharing the loving Gospel to our brothers and sisters. Continue praying for us especially for the orphans in other Centre as well as the widows in the following areas—Mt Elgon, upper and lower Endebes,some parts of Eldoret, Langas as well as Moi’s Bridge and north Pokot and Garsen. We are praying and encouraging our brothers and sisters there to contribute something for this people. The maize and the beans have gone to 4500 Kshs. ($50) for a 90 kgs sack and beans 9000ksh ($25) for 90kg. This is so terrible situation.

So, continue praying for millions of Kenyans affected by hunger and drought. Death is being reported in more villages. So, prayers, medication, food is highly needed to save more life, especially widows, orphan,s and disabled. Even the president and our Prime Minister had declared it as a national disaster. In our church in Forkland and Bungoma North, many who have been affected has run for refugee to our churches. More than fifteen families are staying with us. But locally, IGEM members who have ability are now contributing food to help them. Many families are running to our home churches to get a meal. Those who are more affected are HIV widows and HIV orphans and this situation might be continuing into October, 2011. Death is more reported in many places due to hunger.

Michael

Michael, as director of IGEM (International Gospel Equipping Mission) helps facilitate outreaches and equipping for more than 9 million believers throughout East Africa. I have found him to be a man of incredible integrity and immense generosity toward the people God has given him a heart for. He has coordinated our help building the Orphanage in Kitale and his heart is breaking for the immense need in his country. Anything you can give would be of help. As you might imagine, this has also added to the cost of caring for children at the orphanage. They need about $2,800.00 per month to pay the staff and care for the children at the orphanage. We have paid them through June if this year and we’re hoping some others will continue to help here. We committed to provide the first two years of help for the orphanage and they are looking for ways to self-fund that going forward. However, with the needs in their country so overwhelming, that may not be possible then.

For more information on our orphanage there, you can read this earlier blog. 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 • 1560-1 Newbury Rd #313 • Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.