I’m off to New York City over the weekend and into the early part of next week on business for Windblown Media, and to hang out with some fellow-travelers in the New York area. It should be fun. But I haven’t been on an airplane for nearly two months and I’m already dreading the airport hassles all over again. And I’m hoping we use a runway rather than the new Hudson River Terminal. I like boat rides, but climbing out on the wings in winter sounds a bit cool.

I’ve also planned trips in the next couple of months to Knoxville, TN and to Atlanta, GA. So I guess I’m back on the road again.

I also recommended this book on a recent podcast of The God Journey and wanted to make sure you’ve heard about it if you’re looking for a children’s Bible for kids in the 3 – 7 age range. A friend recommended it to me and it has become my granddaughter’s favorite book. She loves it, and what’s even better is that all the stories are framed in grace, with a relational God wanting to reconnect with his fallen children. It’s called The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones with art by Jago. It’s tag line is “Every story whispers his name” and then makes the loving God part of every story. This is a great resource to share the Scriptures with your young children… And maybe even your older ones. I loved it and can’t wait to read more of those stories to Aimee.

Finally, I got this email the other day. I love the heart and spirit of it, so I wanted to pass it along to you as well. It captures the simple freedom of just living in grace.

I just wanted to write to you to tell you how much your book So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore, the story of Jake Colsen, has meant to me. It was six years ago that we left a church where I had served as the children’s pastor. I thought I was there to help children become followers of Jesus, but the “power” of the church had other ideas. I have lived with the pain of the situation for so long thinking that God didn’t love me or have a plan for me and had no place for me in his kingdom.

In the six years since leaving, I have begun a totally new career and have really started to see how ministry seems much more fruitful and more satisfying not being part of anything organized. All my years of theological training though seem to make me feel that it was not adequate if it was not done through the church. Your book was like it was written specifically to me. Some of the things that Jake said is exactly how I had felt and was feeling. I now am starting to see such a different way of looking at the journey that God has for me.

One phrase that I have continued to recite to myself all the time from the book is, “You need to follow him, even when it creates conflict. Always be gentle and gracious to everyone, but never compromise what is in your heart just to get along.” This quote has given me so much strength to realize that it was okay to create conflict because of what God was doing in my heart and telling me to do. Going forward, I know I need to just keep tender towards God and his word and be strong in what He is telling me to do. God will need to take care of the conflict.

Thank you so much for writing this book and what it has meant to so many people. Someone recommended the book to me, and I have certainly recommended it to many other people since reading it last weekend. I can tell the people who are not ready to read it as they look at me with a blank stare when I give them the name of the book. I can not fully express to you the freedom that I have felt since reading the book.

How do we follow him? Live loved. Live free. Live gently with others and let Jesus take care of the fall-out. If we live only to avoid conflict, we may find ourselves avoiding him. I liked what Martin Luther said: “Peace if possible, but truth at any rate.”

“Living loved” has become quite the motto around here. It’s what allows us to live deeply in the life of Jesus. Recently a correspondent sent me some excerpts on that theme drawn from Thomas Merton’s book, No Man Is An Island. Since I have had time to write anything this week, I thought you’d enjoy his take on this. I sure did. His words vibrate with truth and life!

13. Our ability to be sincere with ourselves, with God, and with other men is really proportionate to our capacity for sincere love. And the sincerity of our love depends in large measure upon our capacity to believe ourselves loved. Most of the moral and mental and even religious complexities of our time go back to our desperate fear that we are not and can never be really loved by anyone.

When we consider that most men want to be loved as if they were gods, it is hardly surprising that they should despair of receiving the love they think they deserve. Even the biggest of fools must be dimly aware that he is not worthy of adoration, and no matter what he may believe about his right to be adored, he will not be long in finding out that he can never fool anyone enough to make her adore him. And yet our idea of ourselves is so fantastically unreal that we rebel against this lack of “love” as though we were the vic¬tims of an injustice. Our whole life is then constructed on a basis of duplicity. We assume that others are re¬ceiving the kind of appreciation we want for ourselves, and we proceed on the assumption that since we are not lovable as we are, we must become lovable under false pretenses, as if we were something better than we are. The real reason why so few men believe in God is that they have ceased to believe that even a God can love them. But their despair is, perhaps, more respect¬able than the insincerity of those who think they can trick God into loving them for something they are not. This kind of duplicity is, after all, fairly common among so-called “believers,” who consciously cling to the hope that God Himself, placated by prayer, will support their egotism and their insincerity, and help them to achieve their own selfish ends.

14. If we are to love sincerely, and with simplicity, we must first of all overcome the fear of not being loved. And this cannot be done by forcing ourselves to believe in some illusion, saying that we are loved when we are not. We must somehow strip ourselves of our great¬est illusions about ourselves, frankly recognize in how many ways we are unlovable, descend into the depths of our being until we come to the basic reality that is in us, and learn to see that we are lovable after all, in spite of everything! This is a difficult job. It can only really be done by a lifetime of genuine humility. We must accept the fact that we are not what we would like to be. We must cast off our false, exterior self like the cheap and showy garment that it is. We must find our real self, in all its elemental poverty but also in its very great and very simple dignity: created to be a child of God, and capable of loving with some¬thing of God’s own sincerity and His unselfishness.

The first step in this sincerity is the recognition that although we are worth little or nothing in ourselves, we are potentially worth very much, because we can hope to be loved by God. He does not love us because we are good, but we become good when and because He loves us. If we receive this love in all simplicity, the sincerity of our love for others will more or less take care of it¬self. Strong in the confidence that we are loved by Him, we will not worry too much about the uncertainty of being loved by other men. I do not mean that we will be indifferent to their love for us: since we wish them to love in us the God Who loves them in us. But we will never have to be anxious about their love, which in any case we do not expect to see too dearly in this life.

15. The whole question of sincerity, then, is basically a question of love and fear. The man who is selfish, nar¬row, who loves little and fears much that he will not be loved, can never be deeply sincere, even though he may sometimes have a character that seems to be frank on the surface. In his depths he will always be involved in duplicity. He will deceive himself in his best and most serious intentions. Nothing he says or feels about love, whether human or divine, can safely be believed, until his love be purged at least of its basest and most unreasonable fears.

But the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that he may be the object of God’s love precisely because of his shortcomings, can begin to be sincere. His sincerity is based on confidence, not in his illusions about himself, but in the endless, unfailing mercy of God.

Perhaps letting God teach us how to live loved is the hardest thing we’ll ever learn. Our flesh wars against it, and religion constantly challenges the notion by making us think that God only loves us when we’ve earned it some how. But he has always loved you, and always will. That doesn’t change. Whether you believe it or not, makes all the difference in the world. This is where transformation begins!

If you have written me this week (Monday through today) and did not receive a response, could you please re-send it? The laptop I’ve been using through this move died this morning and with it all the email I have downloaded but not yet answered this week.

I’m sorry about the problem, but if you’ll re-send your email I’d be happy to try to catch up some day….

We are still in the midst of moving. What a mess! Sara and I have collected way too much junk over 33 years of married life, and since our moves always include Wayne’s office equipment and books, it really messes us up for a time. We’re sorry about that. If you’ve had trouble getting through to us or if there is a bit of a delay with your order through this time, we sincerely apologize.

If you want to make note, our new numbers are as follows:

Lifestream
1560-1 Newbury Rd, #313
Newbury Park, CA 91320
Ph: (805) 498-7774
Fax: (805) 499-5975

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written here, and I apologize for that. This last two months have been crazy and we’ve been horribly busy on so many fronts. What extra time we had, we grabbed to enjoy our children, grandchildren and friends. While this new year has been incredibly difficult at the outset for a number of reasons, I think God is clearly giving us a way forward. I continually live amazed at God’s ability to adapt his purpose and plan even through the most confusing and distressing of circumstances. Even when our lives are in turmoil, he stays constant—always present, always moving forward, always caring deeply for his children.

This weekend Sara and I have begun our third move in the last eight years. Crazy, isn’t it? My parents lived on the same farm for over 40 years. But it seems God has led us to move on yet again. Over the next few days we will be moving 15 miles south from our present home in Moorpark. We will now be residents of Newbury Park just a couple of miles off of the infamous 101 Freeway that runs up the coast of California. In some amazing ways God opened the door for us to get this home at the end of a very quiet street that borders some open space. I am really grateful since this former farm boy has always found city life in Southern California a bit claustrophobic. This will be a lovely setting for spending time with fellow-travelers on this journey, and hopefully an inspirational spot for the writing I hope to do in the coming years.

We will also be much closer to Brad and Kelly and their family, since our initial podcast adventure has taken us down other roads together we never saw coming. So all will be quiet here over the next week as we get moved and settled. Then we’ll be ready to start this new year and see where Father might lead. Of course, the podcasts continue, of course, if you want to keep up with us there.

We often pray for those being touched by the things I’ve written. In the last few weeks we have a lot of email from people in very desperate circumstances who are finding fresh hope again in the love of the Father. May that be true for you as well, wherever you happen to be on this journey.

My daughter sent me this yesterday. Just read this column by sports writer Rick Reilly. This is the church at her best. And see if there isn’t some way God might show you to give yourself away to someone on a rocky road!

One of the true joys of this time of year for us is to look back at they year that is now passing and be reminded of all that God has done in our lives and all the people he made part of that. Because of our crazy lives we get to connect with hundreds, if not thousands of people, through visits, travel, phone calls and email.

So for all of them and for all who frequent this blog, Sara and I recorded a special Lifestream Podcast to share our greetings with you. )You can listen to it simply by clicking on the link, or right-click on the link if you want to download it to your computer or mp3 player.)

This year we journeyed as far as Germany and Switzerland and to the Carolinas for the first time. Wherever we go we are always blessed by the people Jesus has linked us to by my writings. We admire the courage of those who are living to their convictions and passions, rather than just settling for religious obligations or rituals. I know how difficult it is, especially in the early years, but also how rewarding the journey of following Jesus with abandon and connecting with others he gives you.

My heart and prayer for those of you who frequent this blog, is taken right from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians:

Merry Christmas to you all. May these days and the year ahead be filled with the increasing reality of his presence and may he surprise you with simple joys and laughter all along the journey. Here are a couple of our joys. I couldn’t resist the chance to share them with you again. They are such a joy and wonder in our lives.

I got some wonderful email from the brothers and sisters from Kenya over the last few days. This has truly been one of the highlights of my year. We became aware of these people when they wrote me a couple of years ago wanting to know if I’d come to visit them in Africa. That led to a lengthy email exchange to find out how they felt I could serve them in coming. I sent them copies of my books and was surprised that they were so taken with my view of Father’s love and biblical examination of the nature of the church. The teaching caught on like wildfire among their entire community of churches and pastors. They translated some of Authentic Relationships and passed it out freely. I was blessed at very simple changes I saw them making to be more responsive to a less hierarchical structure of their group.

And, as Father would arrange it, I had a couple of people I knew traveling through Kenya and asked them to stop in and visit them and find out what they were about. I was assured by independent verification that they were who they were presenting themselves to be and that the man I was communicating with had a heart of gold and I could trust him.

Then a year ago Kenya erupted in tribal violence after a disputed election. Homes were burned, people brutally murdered, and thousands of people displaced. I wrote my new-found friend and asked if he was OK and if they needed anything. He told me he had 25 families who’d been displaced camped at his home. When I asked about sending money, he said no one had ever sent money to them before. We made the need known on this blog and my podcast audience a few times through the spring and summer.

Throughout the year year people helped us send over $30,000.00 to Kenya to help with these brothers and sisters. They have been so grateful and have used it all so wisely. To our joy, they not only used it for themselves, but also shared with unbelievers in need, and believers in other corners of the country that needed help as well. One of the high points of this year for me is this connection and how God has used it to build up the body of Christ, there and here. So many of have sent checks both large and small to share with our brothers and sisters in this time of need.

So I want to share my most recent contact with them. This one is about a translation of my article, “Why I Don’t Go to Church Anymore.” And this is from the head of a large denomination that encompasses a number of countries in eastern Africa:

We would like to thank you very much. Our translation team has completed the work we decided to take only parts of “Why I Don’t Go to Church Anymore”. The message is so touching and this message will benefit thousands of Saints across Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and some parts of Uganda. I have already send it out to Rwanda and Burundi through email. There are nine pages and we are praying if God can open a way that we may get our own photocopy machine and spiral machine and this can give us easier work to save thousands of money for photocopy. Then we will only buy photocopying papers instead of using thousands of money for photocopy. We are having around 200,000 church leaders who are in need of this material and this material will help more in rural areas, interior places and even in urban where there is misinterpretation of the word ‘church’. This message has changed totally my life and the lives of our congregation so we are praying that God will provide us with the photocopy machine that we may start immediately distributing to church leaders. I have put some copies in our offices that some leaders may photocopy. May the Lord bless you so much for what you are doing. If you may want to publish in the Internet you may do so because it is so needed worldwide. There are 39 million people who only speak and read Swahili in east and central Africa who will now be able to read it. Download Swahili translation here.

We also were able to send over $5,000.00 a couple of weeks ago. They had an opportunity to buy Bibles at a highly discounted price and wanted to distribute them free of charge. Here is their report:

It has taken some days to send you the feedback but I was working in the distribution of the Bibles to the needed people. We would like to appreciate very much for your large support towards us and since I told you earlier that we shall use the support in three categories.

1. We bought a plot to help the needy children especially those who were orphans that they may have education in this village called Bosnia. It is within Kitale in rural area. The history of this area were affected in tribal clashes in 1992 and they were chased from their land and there was one person who felt the sympathy and bought the land for about 5 acres and he divided to 51 families and right now the village is having around 1,500 people with more than 3,000 children. I have been going there regularly with the team and we have started the fellowship there two years ago. The people are very congested the life is also hard, no hospital or school within. Two years ago we started with them a prayer believing that God will expand their life so immediately the time you send the support then God reviled to me about the situation so we were there with the treatment for the children some food and lastly, there was one person who wanted to migrate from there and he requested if we can be able to buy his plot that we may extend the school so I decided to buy the plot so we are thanking God that the children of the area will have the place where they will be having education because we started the pre-school last year. Baby class up to standard one using only one building and it seems that God was answered their prayers. This is the starting point for humble beginning and in future we will extend as God provides. This school is having around 65 children where this building can accommodate. And next year if God will provide us with the structure, the number will be increased up to 200. May the Lord bless you so much for your wonderful offer to us.

2. We bought 237 Swahili Bibles since we bought at whole sale and this has already been distributed to 237 leaders who do not have even a new testament Bible

3. We managed to buy drugs of to help our brothers and the sisters. And the rest of the money I used for my orphans whom I stay with about 17 of them and for my family.

May the Lord bless you so much for the large support and for standing with us at the times of need.

This is one of those incredible connections that God brings about in his timing. As it has unfolded through the year it has been a great blessing not only to share with them but watch them grow in rethinking their paradigms. I’m praying about a trip out there next year and spending some time seeing what God has done and how we might further encourage his life and grace among them. And I am deeply grateful to all of you who participated with us in blessing this collection of brothers and sisters on the other side of the world.

I was in Prescott and Phoenix, Arizona last week. I spent some fabulous time with lots of people on this journey in some widely diverse settings—from some dialog with a camp staff, to a speaking time in a more traditional congregation meeting in a home, to an all-day conversation with people sorting out this journey, to helping some brothers finish books they’ve been working on, to helping some brothers work through a deep conflict, to a podcast interview with Darin Hufford at the Free Believers Network, and finally to a round of golf on Wednesday at the Arizona Biltmore. What a week!

It was great to get home, even thought he workload here is piled high as well. Sara and I aren’t fully used to living in the space we’re in now. I talk about it a bit on the interview above. So many people want a piece of my life and time right now that I’m having to say no to more people than ever. That always doesn’t go down well and I hate that. But I’m also saying yes to more people than ever, though I know that isn’t helpful to the folks I say no to.

Honestly, I don’t like telling people, “I can’t,” but it is the reality of the demands on my time right now. And I will not fill up every moment of every day with these kinds of things. I reserve time to spend with Sara, to replenish my own spirit, and to play with my kids and those incredible grandkids. So I hope you understand when I say, “I can’t.” Hopefully people won’t take it personally. It isn’t.

I do all that Father puts in my heart to do. I may not always get that right, but I will be as honest about that as I know to be.

The only problem with sharing that is that the people asking don’t know before they ask. And some now won’t ask because they hear Wayne is too busy. I hope in all of this we are all looking to the Lord’s leading. If you feel nudged to ask, ask! If I fee

For those interested, I am scheduled to be on the Drew Marshall show tomorrow from 1:00 to 1:30 Pacific Time with Paul Young, author of THE SHACK. I am in the mountains of Arizona at the moment, however, and not completely sure we can get everything worked out to make this happen. But if we do you can listen live there, or you can listen to the archive later .