A Special Gift a Long Time Ago

1 Comment / Uncategorized /

I just read his obituary in Christianity Today. “Walter Hooper, a North Carolina man who dedicated his life to preserving and promoting the writings of C. S. Lewis, died Monday at the age of 89. He was sick with COVID-19.”

What an amazing life this man led and he was an important piece of a gift God gave me 19 years ago that has remained a treasured day in my memories. News of his death rekindled those today.

I was in Wales visiting friends and a fellowship there that had been powerfully impacted by some of my earlier books. One night, before bedtime, I was told to be ready to leave early in the morning on a day trip. They wouldn’t tell me where they were taking me, but they were obviously excited.

We got in the car the next morning and off we went back to England. I assumed they had some other folks they wanted me to meet. Soon, however, I noted we were on the road to Oxford. I’d never been there. It was where C.S. Lewis lived, taught, and wrote. My shelves are filled with C.S. Lewis books and others by the Inklings, a group of Christian writers that lived in Oxford. I had hoped that some day I would get to visit the city, the university, and the Kilns, the home where Lewis lived.  That’s where they were taking me and we had a 10:00 am appointment to tour the home, which are only done by prior arrangement.

As we were welcomed into the home, the American student giving us the tour said she could start now, but if we were willing to wait forty-five minutes she said we could join another group that would be extra-special. She didn’t say why but did say she had already gained their permission to let us join in. Since we would be waiting in C.S. Lewis’ library, we opted to join the later tour.

Right on time, two more people arrived. One a college student, and the other an older, soft spoken gentleman (seated above) that was going to lead the tour. He was introduced as “Walter” and though I’d read some of his books about Lewis and some he had edited for him, I don’t know if I’d ever seen his picture. However, as he began to show us around the library, it become clear that he had been in this home with Lewis and knew him quite well. His anecdotes of Lewis’ humor and his insight into his writings were such a delight. Fifteen minutes into the tour it dawned on me who he was and that I was being given a personal tour of C.S. Lewis’ home by someone who had known Lewis and dedicated his life to putting his writings into the world. We spent a couple of hours together and he took us throughout the house and grounds with his stories.

It was one of the most memorable days of my life. And, it seemed like a gift straight from the Father’s hand—that on the far side of the world two friends from Wales would take me to Oxford to surprise me and that we would just happen to be there when Walter Hooper was showing a young friend Lewis’ home and recounting his life and work with Lewis.

I’m grateful at every memory of it, as I was today when I read of Walter Hooper’s passing. At some point in eternity I hope I cross paths with C.S. Lewis and Walter Hooper on the bank of a tranquil stream and talk of the wonders of our God, and all the ways we got him wrong living in this age.

Rest in peace, Walter Hooper.  You’ve enriched the world with your careful work on Lewis’ thoughts and writings.

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Relationships Make Us Rich

2 Comments / Encouragement /

After spending a few days with a group of people in Florida, a newfound friend observed, “You’re a repository for thousands and thousands of conversations you’ve had all over the globe with all kinds of people who are discovering what it means to live the life of Jesus.”

I had never thought of it that way, but it does express what my life has been like. I’ve talked to some of the most amazing people on the planet caught up in their own Jesus journey. I have gleaned much from them as we have processed our journeys together to look into the mysteries of God.

So, for everyone I’ve ever had a conversation with, I’m grateful that you took the time to engage my life and add to my story. I hope I’ve added to yours as well.

These are the first paragraphs on the Acknowledgment page of my newest book, Live Loved Free Full, which is set to release in a couple of weeks.  As I worked through that book I could remember specific people with whom I was talking when the truths of that book became cemented in my heart. At its end, I wanted to express my gratitude for people all over the world who have enriched me with their insights, experiences, and even questions we wrestled with together.  My heart is a marvelous tapestry the Spirit has stitched together over thousands of conversations with people in all stages of the spiritual journey—from seasoned ones who have explored the realities of living loved for decades and from people just starting out from the trailhead.

Relationships make us rich. The reason I’m sharing that now is that I’ve never been more grateful for the people God has put in my life than I have over the last few weeks. Leading up to my writing A Fresh Wind Is Blowing, and for the week after, I’ve been in a constant stream of conversations with people all over the world, which have thrilled my heart, opened my eyes to things God had been preparing me to see, and put a fresh sense of his leading and his hope in my heart. All of that has been mining a deep vein of precious thoughts from the heart of God. Most of those conversations are still going on and I have no idea where they may lead yet, but I am grateful for the manifold wisdom of God he makes known through his Church.

His church really is the network of friends and friends of friends that he knits into our lives over the course of our journey. Some of those I talk to frequently, others come in and out of my life after great gaps of time, but the conversations are rich with the wisdom and life of his Spirit. This is a fluid way of seeing his Church because it isn’t a programmed reality we can identify, but the result of following those nudges to connect with people and then allowing them into our lives as our mutual affection grows. These are people who love you where you are on the journey. They don’t manipulate you to fulfill their expectations or try to convince you of anything they think is true. They share freely out of love and wait for the Spirit to make sense of things.

As these conversations persist, the insights added by others continue to snowball until the reality Jesus is inviting me into becomes clear. It’s a marvelous process, one Paul describes in Ephesians 1 when he says the Church is “the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Each of us alone only gets to see a facet of who God is, but in our growing connection with his family, we get a wider grasp of his nature and purpose in our hearts and in circumstances around us. 

A few of those conversations I’ve been able to share over the 781 episodes of The God Journey.  Most, however, went unrecorded except in the recesses of my brain. Like a giant jig-saw puzzle, each of those interactions has blessed my life and spilled out in things I’ve said or written.  Tomorrow on The God Journey, I’m sharing a conversation that I had with an old friend from South Africa who has explored some elements of living in Father’s love that delights my heart. It is probably one of the most important podcasts I’ve ever released and I hope you can find time to listen to it even if you no longer regularly check in there.

You’ll hear how the maturing of his love in us will set you free from the suffering that resulted from our self-centered thinking and allow us to be a better reflection of him to people around us. I’ll warn you now, the road to that reality is not an easy nor a popular one. As we taste more deeply of his love it will challenge our affection for the world’s way of doing things and put us on a path less traveled. However, no one who has gone down that path, however, has ever lived to regret it. Whatever he changes in us he only replaces with something far better.

I hope I’ve spurred you on to celebrate the relationships Jesus has given you. Who has touched your life with words that encourage and enlighten you? Who has provided you a living example of what it means to live in growing trust in Father’s faithfulness?  If it’s been a while since you’ve talked to them, consider connecting with them again, even if it is just to express your gratitude for what they’ve added to your life.  Healthy relationships are some of the real treasures of this kingdom.

Give place to them. Enjoy them. Let love be at the heart of all you do.

One final note, we are still recruiting members for the Living Loved Free Full Launch Team. If you can help us, check it out and get an advance copy of the book.

 

 

 

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A Fresh Wind is Blowing 

10 Comments / Encouragement /

Do you know how in advance of a storm, the wind can pick up suddenly, change direction, and bring in a scent of rain? I have a growing sense that the same thing is happening with God’s Spirit. The wind of his Spirit has shifted. Have you felt it?

In the last couple of weeks, something has changed, and I feel the same sense of wonder and excitement the children did when the Beaver in Narnia told them, “Aslan is on the move.”  I don’t know what it means, but I know a fresh purpose of God is unfolding. And please, don’t think this has anything to do with the recent election; I’m speaking of a different realm.

Everything has shifted in my own heart over the past two weeks, a fresh unfolding of Father’s insights and a rising hope that something new is taking shape. I am also discovering that I’m not alone. I’ve talked to many others who have been seeded with a fresh stirring of the Spirit in their hearts as well. For some, that has come with fresh insight, for others, a growing hopefulness in their hearts even if they can’t quite put a finger on it. For all, it seems to be a fresh invitation to draw closer to God and listen with expectancy.

What you hear may be out of the norm for you. Some of the people I’ve talked to tell me that they wouldn’t dare share what God seems to be showing them with many of their Christian friends. “They would look at me like I’m crazy,” one told me.  I know. Believe me, I know. Yet, the things she was hearing were coming fresh from God’s heart.

Those who need the affirmation of their friends will have a tough time on this road. Truth rarely travels in crowds. That’s one of the reasons Jesus told us about the broad and the narrow road. He wanted his disciples to know that they dare not seek affirmation of what’s true in the popular beliefs of the day. They would miss him if they did. More people will respond to fear than faith and, in the process, become more rigid and less loving.

If you are sensing something different in your heart, pay attention. Give space to what God is stirring in your heart. Don’t cling to your old comforts or fear what change might come. This is his doing, and he is inviting you to tack on a fresh wind. If you’re not sensing that yet, please don’t let that shake you. He is doing something else in you at the moment. Just don’t be surprised when you do begin to see it.

I want to encourage those who are hearing something new but afraid to believe it because it isn’t conventional. While other Christians seemed to be preoccupied with matters political or demanding their “rights” during a time of upheaval just know that the flow of the Spirit is running deeper than you’ll find in such temporal things.  Don’t let fear guide you, and don’t cling to his past work as a comfort. He is no longer there.

One lady described it as an undercurrent, spreading throughout the world, like a crystal-clear, underground river flowing beneath the surface. Many will walk right over it and miss it, but those with roots deep enough to touch it will find their heart drawn more deeply toward Father’s heart and purpose. Don’t look with your physical eyes; for what’s really important is currently unseen.

Perhaps that’s what Father is doing in this pandemic. I am not convinced God caused it; a world out of synch with its Creator would do that quite easily. Nonetheless, as with all things, he is in it working together for his purpose and our good. The disruption of our lives could put us off balance enough to be open to this fresh wind of his Spirit. The physical distancing we have been asked to do from each other for the good of the whole may have also been an invitation to give more place to him.  (I talk a bit more about this with Gil Michel on today’s podcast at The God Journey, An Opportunity to Grow.)

Is your heart more alive to some insights you find yourself resisting, just because it’s different or because your friends might disagree? Be careful where others manipulate your fears or feed your anger. Find that space where hope, humility, and love warm your heart, even when circumstances are dire. That’s where you’ll sense his moving.

It’s not for me to tell you what it is, even if I could. I’m still sorting out what all of this means, to be honest. I see him stitching threads together that have hovered around my life for the past couple of years that all seemed disjointed until now.  I can’t say more now lest I disrupt what Father is doing and shape something in your heart before Father does. Don’t run to anyone else to tell you what it is either. Jesus is summoning his people to follow him alone.

Things are happening now that will change the course of events in this world, but that time is not yet. It is time for all of us to quiet our hearts and catch the wind of his spirit.

It won’t come by our works, but by learning to rest in his.

 

Note: We are still looking for members for the Living Loved Free Full Launch Team. If you can help us, check it out.

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Would You Like to Help Me Launch My New Book?

8 Comments / Uncategorized /

I love surprises, and this one is a surprise even to me. My new book, Live Loved Free Full, releases December 22, 2020. It had been sitting on my computer for more than a decade, and I had no idea what a gem it was until I opened it recently. Someone else had put this together from blog posts and articles—a daily devotional inviting people into a grace-filled relational space to start each day. I have added to it and updated it and am excited to share the unexpected treat with you.

Right now, I am looking for a lot of volunteers who want to be part of a launch team that can spread the word about this book on social media! If you’d like to help us, we’ll give you $6.00 off the purchase of a copy.  You can read more about the book on my blog here.

If you…

  • love to read.
  • enjoy using Facebook, Instagram, or other social media
  • like to tell others about the books they are reading.
  • are willing to share about new books on social media.
  • are willing to write a review of the book on Goodreads and Amazon.
  • want to help me make this book available to the world.

Would you be interested?  I’d love to have you on the team! All launch team members will receive an advance digital copy of Live Loved Free Full.

If you want to join my team, please follow these two easy steps:

We’ll ask you to do three simple things.  (1) Read as much of the digital copy that we’ll send to you so that you’ll feel free to recommend it to others. (2) Write a review of it—even one to two sentences—and post it at Goodreads when you have it done and then on Amazon when it releases there on January 1, 2021. Amazon doesn’t accept reader reviews until the book is available to everyone. (3) Post pictures of the book with your recommendation about it on your social media feeds in late December and early January.

If you’re not interested in being on the Launch Team but want to pre-order your copy of Live Loved Free Full, click on the link.  I’m really excited about this book and can’t wait to share it with you.

If you’re willing to help us in this way, I’ll give you a coupon good for $6.00 off the purchase of your own printed copy. This one is a special edition in hardback with dustcover and a ribbon to keep your place.

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Happy Birthday to Our Little Book

4 Comments / Language of Healing /

A year ago today, I released my latest book, A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation, along with my coauthors Arnita Taylor and Bob Prater. In the year since, our culture has only grown more polarized, regretfully.  We’re not blaming the book for that. We always knew a book about peacemaking would be a tough sell in a culture that covets fear and conflict to drive market share and political engagement. We just hope for so much better.

The three of us believe that the issues that divide us wouldn’t seem so insurmountable if we could actually listen to each other, care as much about what others need as much as we do what we need, and create environments to discuss our differences with mutual respect and compassionate hearts. Wherever this book has been read and its encouragements applied, some amazing things have happened in churches, schools, and Zoom conversations. I’m delighted to see so many of my friends finding new ways to care about people who may not think the way they do or look like they do. For the last six weeks, the three of us authors have been helping a college in Texas have a conversation about how to create a new anti-racist institution a team is exploring. We have been amazed at the insightful and reasoned conversation those people are having even though they see the issue very differently. It can be done.

“When you combine courage with compassion, the world can change.” That’s what it says on the back of the book, and we are finding just how true that is. It takes some work. It is easier for many to join the voices of animosity and suspicion in our polarized nation, but the rewards of changing the conversation are worth the risk. We’re excited about those we know personally who are learning to take a different approach to the issues that divide us.

So, if you’ve read and been touched by our little book, and its companion Conversation Guide, would you please help us expand this book’s reach in the world? Consider it a birthday gift for the message in this book.  It is not backed by a major publisher or an advertising budget. No one at NY Times or Christianity Today has reviewed. Bob, Arnita, and I have simply been putting it into the world wherever God gives us voice and opportunity and seeing where word-of-mouth will take it.

What can you do?  Post one of the pictures below on your social feed, and either write a brief paragraph about how this book has changed your thinking, or quote one of your favorite passages from it.  I’ll start.  Here’s one of mine. This is from Arnita on page 193 describing the process of writing this book:

It’s not that we just had eighteen months of holding hands; we have had passionate disagreements! We just have not had conflict that couldn’t be talked through. We were able to be gentle, ask questions, and stay factual, and we didn’t attach excessive emotions to our own point of view. We’ve been honest because whatever concern does not rise to the surface cannot be addressed or healed. Additionally, we’ve been committed to the common goal of finishing this conversation with respect and honor.”

My growing friendship with Bob and Arnita and the content of this book have transformed me in ways I had not imagined. It has changed the way I seek out and interact with people who are different than me, as well as helping my friends realize there is a different conversation to be had about politics, race, religion, and sexuality that the political parties, the media, and even religious leaders try to prevent us from having.

If you haven’t explored this little book, maybe in the aftermath of such a contentious election you, too, might be ready for a different conversation. This book isn’t about changing the culture in Washington or our media but changing our conversation with the people around us. A language of healing will only take hold in the world one person, one conversation, or one engagement at a time.

Feel free to download or copy a picture below and post it somewhere with your own personal story of how this book impacted you or posting a favorite quotation from it. You can link back to this page, our book page, or even Amazon’s listing. If you want to order discounted copies in bulk to start a discussion group or give away for Christmas, you can find them at Blue Sheep Media.

Let’s see if we can grow this conversation and put a different spirit in the wind. We are grateful for whatever you can do to help us.

A Language of Healing with Bob Prater, Arnita Taylor, and Wayne Jacobsen

 

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At Peace No Matter What

Uncategorized /

Someone sent my own quote back to me a few days ago, telling me how much it had encouraged them.  This thought always draws my heart back to a better place, as well. Our world is a mess, no doubt about it. I wish there had been no virus, that our country wasn’t so polarized after the election, and that we could really treat all human beings equally regardless of their skin color. I’m sorry that people lose their jobs, get troubling diagnoses from their doctor, or have to deal with broken relationships with people they love.

I heard a quote this morning that is similar: “You can’t change how the story begins, but you can change how it ends.” It was mistakenly attributed to C. S. Lewis, though it isn’t in any of his writings. Still, it invites us to focus on the places where we can make a difference instead of leaving us in the despair of victimhood. We can’t do anything about what has happened to us in the past, but God is with us today and can teach us to trust his love in a way that will change the course of our lives.

When we stop fighting the reality of our circumstances, then we’re in a place to discover his peace in the midst of them and his grace to let him change us or the circumstances we face. That’s where I have hope, on what God might do today as I put my hand in his and follow him; however, he leads.

The person who sent this quote back to me also shared how that is living out in them.

Just wanted to thank you so very much for A Breath of Fresh Air. It has been refreshing to go back and listen to some of the older podcasts. I have enjoyed you and Brad being together and all the great laughing you two did together.

Also just wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying and learning from the podcasts you and Kyle do together. They have been uplifting and such great teachable moments.

Of course, I love all the podcasts when you have guests and just when it is you. The insight God has given you and the way you share your life, perspectives, and teachings about the Bible has been very life-changing to me, i.e. Jesus Lens, Transitions, all the books and all the rest, have helped me be able to move on after so many years of negativity and control to a much more peaceful, love and grace-based faith and love for God and that He loves me so deeply. I can’t wait until your new devotional book comes out!

Hope you and your family have a blessed holiday season during this pandemic!

Others have told me that the quotes we’re sending out are drawing them back to discover the resources they come from. I like that they are not getting lost. If you want to hear the podcast that the quote above came from, you can listen here: Giving Up the Burden to Convince Others.

And I love the movement she describes from “negativity and control to a more peaceful, love and grace-based faith.” That’s my journey, too, which allows me to embrace whatever today is inside my confidence that God will get me through this too.  I no longer look back at my past, frustrated by what has been, nor look too far ahead and worry about what might be.

I find his grace sufficient to whatever I have to face today and know that living there will prepare me best for whatever is coming down the road.

___________________________

You can find out more about my newest book, Live Loved Free Full here.  And, if you don’t receive our periodic Breath of Fresh Air, you can sign up by clicking on the link and checking the appropriate box.

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A Daily Guide to Living Loved, Free and Full

34 Comments / Behind the Scenes, Encouragement /

The world bombards us with its anxieties and distractions while religion often draws us onto the performance treadmill of doing our best for God. With all of that, how will we ever sustain a journey that leans into Father’s love and faces every circumstance in the growing confidence that we can know his ways and follow his lead?

Live Loved Free Full, is my newest book and will come hot off the presses at the end of this year. I never thought I’d do a devotional, but a number of years ago a college intern working at Lifestream culled some of the best insights I’d put into my past articles and blogs over the last twenty-five years of learning to live loved. She formatted them into 365 daily thoughts that could help people lean into more relational space each day with God and with his love for the people around them. This is a book people can revisit year after year to call their hearts back to his reality.

I had taken a cursory look at it years ago but was so busy with other projects I didn’t have time to go through it all. So, it has rested on my computer for the past few years. Recently, however, I got thinking about it after a conversation with my publisher at Blue Sheep Media. I sent them the rough copy, and they expressed a real passion to print it. Surprised at their enthusiasm, I started reading through it and got captured by it. Some of these, I don’t remember writing, but I found myself inspired by some of my own long-forgotten words.  How weird is that?

So, I have spent the last few months going through it and working in some of my more recent blogs to put together a book that can either be read as a daily devotional or even read straight through if someone prefers. Many of daily reflections feed off the ones before and continue in the ones following, so some themes carry through for a few days at a time. This book will be in a smaller hardback edition, a convenient companion size for your Bible or journal, if you keep one. My prayer is that it will be a daily reminder to lean into God’s perspective for you year after year.

Now, we’ve been busy getting it ready for a December 22 release date. Yes, I know that doesn’t give you a lot of time, especially for those of you who want to get it as a Christmas gift for someone you love. However, if you want to pre-order it, we’ll ship it out directly from the publisher as soon as they arrive.  If we cannot provide that by Christmas, we’ll have a downloadable card you print up at home and wrap to give to your family member or friend that let them know their gift will be arriving hot off the presses soon.

These daily insights are designed to draw your heart into God’s reality with a focus that will open a doorway so you can see your world through his eyes, including the wisdom he has to help navigate your day and the people in it.

This book will help you . . .

  • Gain confidence in how deeply loved by God you are.
  • Recognize how he nudges you with spiritual insight.
  • Lean into a growing trust in the way God is working in you.
  • Enjoy sharing his love with others in ways that will transform the world around you.
  • Rest from your own efforts and learn to cooperate with what he is doing.
  • Find the freedom to follow him, especially when it isn’t easy.

You can pre-order your copy today of Live Loved Free Full, right here and we’ll give you $2.00 off the cover price. I hope it gives you a thought every day that will help your mind and heart recognize how Father is making himself known to you and how you can think through your day with his perspective.

If you pre-order this book along with other products from Lifestream, they will all be sent when the new book is ready to be shipped. If you’d prefer the other books to be shipped sooner, please make a separate order.  Thank you. 

Hardback with dust jacket, 320 pages, $16.99

For International orders:  Since this is being published by Blue Sheep Media, an independent publisher, distributing options outside the U.S. are incredibly limited. We are happy to ship books to International destinations, but the cost is expensive. We don’t profit from shipping, but it is often way more than the cost of the book.  If you’d like us to ship one to another country,  please email Jess to get a quote for the number of books you want and where you want it shipped. Keep in mind the shipping cost is usually the same for one book as it is for two. We’ll let you know how much it will cost to fulfill that order, then you can decide whether to do it or not. We will have an e-book version that will be easier to distribute overseas.

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“This Book Has Been My Friend”

Church Life /

I’ll let Lauren handle my blogging duties today. I’ve gotten many emails like this over the past nearly-twenty years that “The Jake Story” started to appear in the world. Dave Coleman and I started releasing chapters over twenty years ago at JakeColsen.com. No one knew who was writing it at the time, but the story seemed to capture what so many others were experiencing.

I just finished reading your book So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. I have never read a book that has explained a past situation of so many layers and depth and put clear biblical thoughts and explanations to it. I could relate to everything in that book from a past church situation my husband and I went through eight years ago. Thankfully and painfully, we have been changed ever since.

This book has been my “friend” and God has provided me a lot of clarity and encouragement through this book. Thank you for having the boldness to write it.

I believe we are on the same journey.

It sure sounds like we are. I’m always blessed to hear that something I’ve written has magnified in someone else’s heart what the Spirit of God was revealing in them. I’m so grateful that this little story keeps finding its way into people’s hearts and how much it encourages them to the “better things” God has placed in their hearts.

A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of the national discord through the recent election, someone mentioned to me that we could use a “John” to invite us again to those things of first importance.

So, I went back and read that opening scene and excerpted part of it below if you’d like to as well. It began with an angry group of people arguing about God and religion on a public street. As they grew increasingly hostile and threatening to each other, a stranger walked into the center of the fight and floated a different perspective into the crowd:

“You really have no idea what Jesus was like, do you?”

The words slipped off the man’s lips as gently as the breeze wafted through the trees overhead and in stark contrast to the heated argument that swirled around him. They were so softly spoken that I read them on his lips as much as heard what he said. But their impact was not lost on the crowd. The noisy clamor subsided quickly as tension-filled faces gave way to puzzled expressions. “Who said that?” was the unspoken question that filled the eyes of each one as they scanned the others around them.

“What do you know about it, old man?” One of them finally spoke up, his mockery dripping off of each word until the disapproving gaze of the crowd silenced him. He laughed it off and looked away embarrassed, grateful that their eyes had swung back to the stranger. But he was in no hurry to speak. The resulting silence hung in the air, far beyond the point of awkwardness. A few nervous glances and shrugs shot throughout the crowd, but no one spoke and no one left. During this time the man scanned the crowd pausing to hold each person’s gaze for a brief second. When he caught my eye, everything inside seemed to melt. I looked away instantly.

After what seemed an insufferably long time he spoke again. “He was nothing special to look at. He could walk down this street today and not one of you would even notice him. In fact he had the kind of face you would shy away from, certain he wouldn’t fit in with your crowd.

“But he was as gentle a man as one would ever know. He could silence detractors without ever raising his voice. He never bullied his way; never drew attention to himself nor did he ever pretend to like what vexed his soul. He was real, to the very core of his being.

“And at the core of that being was love.” The stranger paused and shook his head. “Wow! Did he love!” His eyes looked far past the crowd now, seeming to peer across the depths of time and space. “We didn’t even know what love was until we saw it in him. It was everyone, too, even those who hated him, who wouldn’t extend to him the simplest of courtesies. He still cared for them, hoping somehow they would find a way out of their self-inflicted souls to recognize who stood among them.”

“And with all that love, he was completely honest. Yet even when his actions or words exposed people’s darkest motives, they didn’t feel shamed. They felt safe with him. His words conveyed not even a hint of judgment, simply an entreaty to come to God and be freed by him. There was no one you would trust more quickly with your deepest secrets. If someone were going to catch you at your worst moments you’d want it to be him.

“He wasted no time mocking others, nor their religious trappings.” He glanced at those who had just done so. “If he had something to say to them, he’d say it and move on and you would know you’d been loved more than anyone had ever loved you before.” Here the man stopped, his eyes closed and mouth clenched as if choking back tears that would melt him in an instant if he gave in to them.

“I’m not talking about mamby-pamby sentimentalism either. He loved, really loved. It didn’t matter if you were Pharisee or prostitute, disciple or blind beggar, Jew, Samaritan, or Gentile. His love held itself out for any to embrace. Most did, too, when they saw him. Though so few ended up following him for those few moments his presence passed through their life, they tasted something they could never deny even years later. Somehow he seemed to know everything about you, but loved deeply all that was true about who he made you to be.”

He paused and scanned the crowd. In the last couple of moments perhaps as many as 30 people had stopped to listen, their gaze firmly on the man and their mouths suspended open in bewilderment. I can record his words here, but am bereft of an adequate description of their impact. No one within earshot could deny their power or their authenticity. They rang from the very depths of this man’s soul.

“And when he hung there from that filthy cross,” the man’s eyes looked up into the trees that towered over us, “that love still poured down—on mocker and disillusioned friend alike. As he approached the dark chamber of death, wearied by his battle with sin, there was no finer moment in all the world. His anguish became the conduit for his life to be given to you. This was no madman. This was God’s Son, poured out to the last breath, so that we could live free.

“If I were you,” he said sweeping his index finger across those who’d started the whole discussion “I would waste far less time ragging on religion and find out just how much he really loves you.”

You can pick up the rest of the story in the book. If you haven’t read it, it’s thirteen fictional conversations between this man on the street and the one observing him in the crowd, who is frustrated with his own lifeless faith.  Who is this stranger on the street, and what does he know about Jesus?

The answers change the trajectory of his entire life and open doors he would never have imagined.

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What’s In Your Heart?

1 Comment / Intimacy /

I’ve known John and his wife Jenny for almost twenty years. Transplanted to England from South Africa, we met them through our friends in Ireland and have enjoyed many rich times of fellowship with them. He’s just published a new book and one that I think many of you will enjoy.

It’s called What’s in Your Heart. It is subtitled A Guide to Wholehearted Following, and I think many of you will find it a simple but profound read to help you grasp what it means to know Jesus and to follow him with a wholehearted joy that will transform the world you live in. It’s a call to living within the rhythms of God’s eternal life each day, an invitation to follow the calling of Jesus at home, at work, in the marketplace, and a reminder that when he calls us he says, “We can do this together!”

John shared this book with me when he was still writing it and I’m so excited it is now available.  It will help you walk free of religious obligation, ritual, and routine as you discover God’s vast world of grace and unseen dimensions. Here’s what I wrote as an endorsement for the book:

Simple. Exciting. Transformative. If you’re looking for a guide to help you understand what a whole-hearted relationship with Jesus looks like in the practicality of everyday life, you need look no further than What’s in Your Heart.  This book can help you discover what Father has already put in your heart, and show you how to live in that joy. John Langford will steer you away from the pretensions of religious thinking, so you can truly live a life worthy of Jesus’ love and his purpose in the world. I can imagine no one better to write this; he lives every word and has for the twenty years I’ve known him.

Interestingly enough, John and I recorded a podcast together at The God Journey by the same name. You can listen to it here. Some of my favorite people in the world are those whose trajectory in their life with Jesus has steadily trended upward, where he has made difficult decisions with God’s heart in mind not pursuing what is easy or popular.

This is a book you could give to a new person just starting on a Jesus journey, and one you could share with a seasoned saint and they would be encouraged as well to those things of first importance.

You can find out more about this book on John’s website, His Life. It is also available on Amazon for the United States and on Amazon in the U.K.

Here’s an excerpt from What’s in Your Heart:

It had been a long day as I settled into bed. I leafed through The Book and turned to the story of God’s conversation with Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.”  My mind had been captivated once again just as it had been over a period of days by the Israelite journey from slavery in Egypt to their promised freedom. They stood, so to speak on the threshold of a new beginning for themselves in Canaan with God. I started reading the well-known narrative about the spies and their role in moving from fulfilment to frustration as they debated the pros and cons of entering the land promised to them by God.  The Lord had instructed Moses to appoint leaders from each of the tribes represented to travel into Canaan. The twelve were sent to explore this land which God had chosen to give to His people.

As I read the story, I reflected on the lead up to this stage of the saga. The supernatural power of God demonstrated throughout the Israelite journey from the plagues in Egypt to the rolling back of the Red Sea and the incredible daily provision for this beloved people. As I continued to read my expectation began to rise like a symphony drawing to the conclusion of this incredible drama of deliverance. But alas, when the spies return from their reconnaissance the harmony drops off as the leaders are divided. Caleb and Joshua have no doubt whatsoever that God has given them this land promised as their inheritance. The other ten spies were not having it. We, of course know the outcome of this tragic story. Slightly heavy hearted I closed The Book and reached to turn out my bedside lamp.

Suddenly and completely unexpected, I heard the tender voice that I have come to know and trust. What I heard at that moment was probably one of the most significant words from the Lord I have had the privilege to hear. His voice firm yet tender spoke into my heart with such clarity. “You know why the Israelites did not go into the land don’t you?”

And, before I could answer, He replied to His own question. “Because it was not in their hearts!”

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Follow His Path Not the Crowd

2 Comments / Encouragement /

Someone sent my own quote back to me from one my office sent out last month, with these words:  “Thank you so much for these ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ inspirational messages! The name is perfect, and the messages are greatly needed and much appreciated in these crazy, hectic, troubling times.”

Following Jesus and seeking the approval of the crowd are two divergent paths. Last week, it was a bit concerning to see how some people responded on my Facebook page to my blog about the upcoming election. More people took a purely partisan perspective than I would have hoped, even accusing me of various perspectives I don’t hold or trying to shame me back into the evangelical political fold.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I don’t write what I do to gain more audience share. This website would be very different if I wrote for others’ approval or to build my audience. I don’t know why my heart beats with a different cadence than other people I love seem to hear, but I write because I think something needs to be said that I’m not reading elsewhere. I’m careful about that, too. When something is on my heart that I know will challenge others, I share it with those I know who listen to Father before writing. That still doesn’t mean I always get it right, but it does mean I’m willing to put some different thoughts out there and interact with those who want to give it some honest consideration.

People can disagree without being unloving. We dare not let the world carve up Christ-followers into political factions that the world uses to gain power and financial advantage. I find both sides of that divide to be inherently dishonest and manipulative. Why would we let them become a litmus test for another’s passion for Jesus? Jesus warned us that some would exclude us and lie about us to make us their enemy. He also challenged us never to let them become our enemy.  Love is still the only environment in which his light and life flow into the world.

We only grow where we perceive things that are different than we already think. When something challenges my point of view, I listen more closely to see if I detect the breath of the Spirit. Of course, not everything does, but I’ll miss those that do if I only listen to what I already know.

Don’t worry. No matter how this election turns out, God is bigger still. He has a plan unfolding on the earth, and as part of that, he is gathering his sheep not as a powerful political force but as those who reveal his glory in the world. Often in history, his people are more effective when they are powerless in the world’s ways and strong in his. We’ll never figure out what that is in advance, but he does have a path for you to follow, and trying to be popular won’t allow you to see it. You’ll then be left to do what you think is best, and that’s not a healthy road for any of us. In your interactions with others, always be authentic, but also be gracious and generous to people who see differently than you do.

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Note:  If you’re not receiving these thrice-weekly quotations, you can do so by signing up for A Breath of Fresh Air. You’ll also find a different set of quotes three other days of the week on my Instagram and Facebook author page.  You can subscribe to my Instagram feed here or find me there as wayneatlifestream, or “like” my Facebook Author page to receive them.

 

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