Behind the Scenes

Taking Some Time to Heal

For all our best laid hopes and plans, it’s the things you don’t see coming that have the most profound impact in how life unfolds

Sara and I have a few detours thrown our way over our lifetimes, which has helped us to live feely in the present and not too dismayed when times turn a bit darker. Over the past few weeks, we have been caught in an ever-declining health situation that came on rapidly and will leaves it imprint for some time to come. I know most people don’t read this blog to hear about my health situation, and I don’t want to share all the details hear for the world to read. At the same time, I have a world of friendships and I just can’t keep up with all inquiries more personally.

I woke up on September 14th with severe pain in my back. I have had some back trouble from time to time, so that wasn’t a huge surprise, but as we prayed and sought treatment, the pain only increased to excruciating levels. Nothing seemed to slow it down, not an epidural, targeted injection, or physical. The scans we had didn’t unveil a cause worthy of the pain.

Nearly passing out from pain one day, Sara finally took me to the ER, early last week. During their rigorous tests they found a suspicious lesion on one of my vertebrae in the middle of my back. It was decomposing. The next day, I was on the operating table to remove the vertebrae for a biopsy, rebuild that part of my back and then fuse it to hold together.

The larger issue is what caused the deteriorating vertebrae. The biopsy has indicated multiple myeloma which is which is a cancer in the white blood cells. Fortunately, it is treatable, and the prognosis is good to manage this condition in the future. We’ll begin that today and hope that in the next two to three months we find the right combination of drugs to restrain this disease while my back heals from the very brutal surgery it just has endured.

So, quite quickly we entered a new season of our journey, learning to embrace Jesus’s love, light, and healing in these new challenges. He has been part of all of this from the beginning, leading us by his goodness and putting together the medical team we needed. We have no idea how long this stretch of our journey might demand all of us, whether it will be a few weeks, months, or longer. That’s not in our hands. It could also just go away tomorrow. We are not looking forward any of it, but we’re not afraid of it either. God works some of his special triumphs out of desperate situations.

We managed to return home Wednesday after my eight-day hospital stay. What’s evident now is that this medical battle ahead of us is going to take significant time and energy. It takes almost all we have each day just to get work though my treatment demands and navigate the pain. Recovery has already been arduous with pain and complications. Who’s to say what the next days and weeks will contain?

It is obvious now that this medical need is going to take almost all our time, energy, and resource for the foreseeable future. Thus, I’m going to be taking a leave of absence from writing, email, and podcasting as I give my full attention to what my body needs. We’ve tossed all our plans into the wind and we trust that God will show us the way forward.

How are our hearts through all of these? They’re great, well-covered by Jesus and his love for us. We are both so glad we have each other to lean on at a time like this. Our faith in the Lord stands resolute, confident that in his ability to work good out of tragic circumstances, and that pain is only another lens to see his beauty in the word.

We appreciate your prayers, concerns, and friendship. We will also appreciate your patience as we need to expend our resources closer to home these days. I know most people don’t read this blog for updates on our personal needs, but it is also true that Sara and I have a family that covers the whole world. So, we will provide some updates here in general terms. Our internet/messaging load is already greater than we can keep up with.

We are taking this one day at a time. We could wake up tomorrow completely healed and that may allow us to get back to those things God has asked of us. Or, that my happen over a few months. At this point and we are making no assumptions. We wake up each morning seeing what he has before us and what we need to do that day to deal with our circumstances and still find ways to put his love in the world. Sara has been a rock through this season in caring for me as well as sorting through all the medical information. She will need continued strength, rest, and joy to hold her. Please pray for her.

In the end, nothing has changed. Every day, every breath is in his hands, no more today than it was before all this began. We are confident that he has a way through this and that we will be here to accomplish his purpose for us in the earth. So, I guess we’re on a new journey together not just Sara and me but the Lifestream and God Journey families. So, buckle up. Let’s see how God glorifies himself here and anticipate with gratitude his power to do all things well.

Taking Some Time to Heal Read More »

Oops again!

I am really embarrassed to say that the God Journey After-Show we had scheduled with Tobie van der Westhuizen from South Africa next weekend has had to be delayed another week. He informed me yesterday that he had an irresolvable scheduling conflict that would prevent him from joining us that day. He was profoundly sorry and asked if we could move the session to September 28.

I know. That does seem a long way off, but it will give you three more podcasts exploring my conversation with him.

Tobie is our current guest at The God Journey in a series of podcasts exploring the idea that a mistranslation in our English Bibles replaced the word for justice with the word righteousness and, by doing so, has obscured the nature of a love-based Gospel and how the kingdom of God becomes visible in the world.  If you’re not up-to-date on this conversation, please see my blog on September 5 and the podcast series that began on September 5.  We had planned to meet with Tobie in a live Zoom chat next Saturday, September 21.

So, now the After-Show with Tobie will be held on September 28, 2024. It will stream live on The God Journey Facebook page at 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time and be available afterward for those who want to hear it. If you’d like to participate in the Zoom room conversation, please email Wayne in advance to get the link. I’ve sent an updated link for those who have already emailed me, but the one previously sent will work as well.

I’m sorry to do this to you, but perhaps such things remind us all that flexibility is a helpful tool to navigate the shifting circumstances that affect our lives. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you on the 28th.

________________________________

As to Kenya, we sent another $10,250.00 to complete work on rescuing the orphanage buildings and grounds and need an additional $6,000.00. Every little bit helps us get to our goal.  If you can help us, please see our Donation Page at Lifestream. As always, every dollar you send goes directly to Kenya. We do not take out any administration or transfer fees for Lifestream. Just designate “Kenya” in the options or email us and let us know your gift is for Kenya. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or 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.

Oops again! Read More »

Thank You, Thank You, and Oops!

I’ve got two quick things to update you on.

First, we are so grateful for those who have responded to the need in Kenya to rescue the orphanage we built fifteen years ago. Torrential rains have caused the land to shift, and without your help, the government would have shut it down. In just a week, we received $25,02500 of the $41,430.00 we needed and have sent it on so they could get started. We are still looking for the remaining $16,405.00.

If you can help us raise the remaining $31,430.00, please see our Donation Page at Lifestream. As always, every dollar you send goes directly to Kenya. We do not take out any administration or transfer fees for Lifestream. Just designate “Kenya” in the options or email us and let us know your gift is for Kenya. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or 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.

The work begins…

 

And now the oops!

The email notification for the blog last week had a typo. I gave out the wrong date for our God Journey After-Show regarding my last blog and the current podcast about a mistranslation of the Greek that may have significantly altered our understanding of the Gospel Jesus preached. We continue that discussion in upcoming podcasts as well. Unfortunately, the email notification announced the date as September 14 when it should have said September 21. I apologize for the error and any inconvenience it caused. In any case, the After-Show will be held on September 21, 2024, and Tobie will join us from South Africa. It will stream live on The God Journey Facebook page at 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time and be available afterward for those who want to hear it. If you’d like to participate in the Zoom room conversation, please email Wayne in advance to get the link.

 

Thank You, Thank You, and Oops! Read More »

Living Loved on Steroids

It feels like someone walked into my office and unfurled a treasure map on my desk. “There’s gold there,” he said, waving his hand across the aged parchment.

It was more a puzzle than a map. There were no hills, rivers, or oceans but words, images, and symbols. It looked familiar, but I couldn’t see the gold.

“You’ll need the code to understand it,” he added.

“There’s a code?”

He smiled. “The word ‘righteousness’ does not appear in the Bible.”

Now I was really confused. What kind of nonsense is this? Of course, it does, and what did that have to do with the map I was now holding? Off the top of my head, I thought of a dozen verses with ‘righteousness’ in them. He watched me getting ready to raise an objection.

“What if it’s a mistranslation?”

“How could that be? It’s such a critical word to the whole Bible story?”

“Then why is it that the Greek word we use for  ‘righteousness’ not translated that way in any secular books from that time?”

“How is it translated?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Justice.”  And with that, he took the map out of my hand, turned it ninety degrees, and my eyes lit up. There it was! 

      *         *         *        *

It didn’t quite happen that way, but that’s an excellent metaphor for what happened to me a few weeks ago. I received an email from someone I didn’t know named Tobie van der Westhuizen from Bloemfontein, South Africa. He calls himself a “reclusive philosopher” but has been on a path that unveils an interpretation of the Scripture that may be more complete than traditional Protestant theology has yet seen. Here is my introduction to Tobie:

My theological world came to a standstill eight years ago because of a single sentence that captivated me and would not let me go: The word righteousness does not appear in the Bible

Whilst that may sound as crazy as saying “The word ‘God’ does not appear in the Bible,” I believe it to be true and also confirmed it over and over again during eight years of near-obsessive study and reflection on the topic. In fact, I have been so overwhelmed by this simple sentence and its implications for my life and theology that I have found it difficult to teach it to others in the way I have been teaching the Bible for four decades.

During this time I have been reminded, quite regularly, of Neil Postman’s analogy of Native Americans communicating via smoke signals but finding it impossible to discuss deep philosophy this way. “The form excludes the content,” Postman says.

His words perfectly captured my feeling that the form of theology, as we know it, is inadequate for conveying a revelation of this magnitude—in essence, a revelation of life that is as different to the theory as the romantic exploration of newlyweds is to a monk reading a dreary textbook on the physiology of the human body.

I was pretty sure I’d just gotten an email from a loose cannon on the deck of the body of Christ. But I kept reading what he had sent me, and he got into my head and heart. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and tried his premise as I read Scripture:

  • Matthew 6:33: Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be added to you.”
  • Matthew 5:20: For I tell you that unless your justice surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
  • Romans 1:17: For in the gospel, the justice of God is revealed—a justice that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The just will live by faith.”

Any Greek scholar will tell you that the word justice is inherent in the Greek d-k words that we translate as righteous and righteousness. And yet, in our day,  righteousness has come synonymously with personal piety, sinlessness, and morality. It turns our hearts inward when an invitation to live in his justice would impact every human interaction we have. Scripture became fuller and richer. Treating others as we want to be treated makes us part of how his kingdom reveals itself in the darkness of our world. It is still living loved, but on steroids. This is an entire flow of love, from the heart of the Father into ours and from ours to how we engage the world. 

This may very well complete what Martin Luther began in the Reformation. Yes, it is salvation by grace, but it is not primarily to resolve our eternal destiny or for us to work toward personal piety. Engaging his love transforms us so that we become outposts of justice alongside other followers in a world of selfishness. This is the kingdom come! 

You’re likely to hear a lot more about this in days to come. I’m letting you know because tomorrow, Kyle and I, along with Tobie, will begin to unpack his thoughts on the next episode of The God Journey. If you no longer listen to the podcast, you might want to return for the next few episodes. This may be the most important content we’ll share on the podcast this year. And for those who listen, we will host a God Journey After-Show on September 21, 2024, with Tobie. It will stream live on The God Journey Facebook page at 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time and be available afterward for those who want to hear it. If you’d like to participate in the Zoom room conversation, please email Wayne in advance to get the link.

I’m so excited to share this treasure with you and give you a way to explore it yourself because this is one of those realities that is far better explored than explained.

Living Loved on Steroids Read More »

Painting with Flowers

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

My wife paints with flowers, and what an amazing job she does. We’ve lived at our new home for just a little over a year and I wanted to share Sara’s latest garden with so many of you who have asked about it. Sara will always say it is a work in progress, but here it was last Friday in the middle of summer:  

(If the link doesn’t play in your email, click on this link.)

She calls it her favorite garden of all she has done, and it’s mine too, even though the last one was pretty impressive. The difference now is that instead of going out to look at her garden, we live inside of it. Every window looks out on stunning views of the flowers, greenery, fountains, butterflies, and birds that inhabit this space. It makes our new home a true oasis of beauty and peace. There is nothing more pleasurable than sitting in this garden with friends and family as we share the wonders of our life in Jesus. We’ve done that a lot since we’ve been home from our last trip and I’ve always said I’d enjoy the day when I travel less and people come to find me.

So, y’all come and sit a spell if you’d like. Let’s do it by prior arrangement, though, so we can space it out. And maybe I’ll fire up Wayne’s Smokehouse (see video for what that means) and break bread together as well.  Space is limited, but I’ve no doubt that if Father has it in his heart, it will work out.

And if you want to see how magical it turns at night, click here.

And, if you haven’t heard this yet, here is one of my favorite stories to ever come out of Sara’s Garden.

 

____________________________________

Zoom With Me? 

On an unrelated note, I will be hosting an open Zoom conversation this Saturday, August 10, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, for anyone who would like to discuss any of the themes of our podcasts or my blog. I don’t have an agenda for this, just a desire to further the discussion with those who are finding similar hunger in their own journey. Lord willing, we will stream it live on The God Journey Facebook page for those who want to listen in. If you want to participate in the discussion, please email me in advance for the Zoom link.  There’s lots we could talk about—gazing with God, praying for a younger generation, healing from trauma, how God speaks to us, living with temporal uncertainty, God’s vengeance, life in the spirit, or anything else on your heart. You’ll set the agenda, I’ll just be along for the ride.

Painting with Flowers Read More »

And the Lessons You Will Learn

Not only did we go to some amazing places, talked with a lot of incredible people, but we also learned so much about each other and how God is working in us. Every day is an adventure in the life of Jesus no matter where we are. I love how he shows up in the most subtle ways throughout any day and the new insights he sows into our hearts. They may come as a stray thought, seemingly out of the blue, or arise from a conversation with each other, a friend or stranger, or in a a song lyric, scene from a movie, or a quote from a book, article, or email.

What we learned from this trip has already shown up in the blogs I wrote and podcasts I recorded on the road and others will also appear in future chapters of my latest book.

Sara and I learned much more about each other and what we were going through at various moments in our marriage. From deep inside Sara’s world, I see things from a vantage point I’ve not had before. As she continues to experience her healing, we shared some of the amazing tools Sara has gained to help her deal with a traumatic past she didn’t know she had until only two years ago, though the pain had been deeply felt in her mind and body the last twenty years. And, a song we were enjoying was the catalyst for a conversation about special moments throughout our marriage that invited us deeper into love. Some came through great hardship and pain, others in times of honesty and vulnerability, and still others in beauty and joy.

We have wrestled with a new way to read the Old Testament, which allows it to be understood more in light of the Jesus and have seen how much that has helped us see more clearly how his love works in the world and our own lives.

We’ve been reminded that love is a whisper in a world fraught with noise, anger, and manipulation. If we don’t slow down enough to hear it, we may well mistakenly conclude Jesus isn’t with us, showing us a way forward in his mercy and grace. We’re learning to tun our hearts to the whispers and to lean away from the distractions that draw our eyes away from him.

We have appreciated the myriad ways God leads people into his life and fullness. No curriculum will work for everyone; just a naked hunger to know God as he is and ourselves as we are. If we don’t guard it, our hunger can be easily buried by anxiety or busyness, or we can get distracted by responsibilities or amusements.

It will be no different tomorrow after we get home. This RV trip has ended, but our journeys with him will continue to unfold, albeit in a more familiar venue with people we love here.

We are excited to discover what this next chapter might be, and to get some more writing done than the trail allows.

 

 

 

And the Lessons You Will Learn Read More »

Oh, The Places You’ll Go…

It’s weird setting out on a trip, unsure of where you’ll go, how long you’ll stay, and when you’ll return. This is our third such excursion across the U.S. Each day begins with an early morning walk with our dogs. I take one early for about two miles, and Sara joins me for the next three. Some of that got interrupted when our big dog tore her ACL, but she’s back at it for the second part of the walk now.

This is my favorite time of day: getting up for sunrise (and sometimes well before it) and watching the earth come alive, first as the sky brightens with rich colors and then as the light spreads across the landscape.

I welcome Jesus into my day, reflecting on the day past and the new one coming. My best thoughts often come when I’m relaxing with him and holding some question or concern in his presence. A lot of what fills my blogs, podcasts, and chapters of my new book come from these early morning walks. I also daydream a bit and listen to podcasts about Jesus, news, culture, or even golf.

Here are some of the scenes we enjoyed on this trip:

West Texas

Perdido Bay

York, SC

Roanoke, VA

Charlottesville, VA

Richmond, VA

Sykesville, MD

York, PA

Lexington, KY

Louisville, KY

Downtown Independence, MO

Denver, CO (Washington, Park)

Green River, UT

 

Not all our morning walks are this lovely; we often walk around our RV park to get our miles in. Tomorrow, we will arrive home and walk again under Mt Boney, which presides over our Newbury Park, CA neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, The Places You’ll Go… Read More »

The Last Leg of a Beautiful Trip

As Sara and I turn toward home, our hearts are filled with joy from this time together, and the countless conversations we’ve had with people from all over the U.S. We even had people fly in or drive great distances to be with us for some of our gatherings. There were also many spontaneous opportunities to connect with people that I hope were as enriching to them as they were for us.

For those keeping track of our dog Zoey, she is in the seventh week of her recovery from ACL surgery in Florida. She continues to progress wonderfully and now walks two miles daily with us. The only challenge has been keeping our puppy away as she aches to play with her best friend.  We are grateful for how all of this turned out.

We are in the Denver area this week to spend time with our son and make some personal connections with those who want to meet with us. We have traveled almost 6,000 miles in the RV since we left our home in California on April 1. We will be headed back home on Monday and are ready to see what next chapter God will write with Sara and me. Thanks for all of your love, prayers, encouragement, and support.

One of my favorite conversations was with fifty or so people in a state-run rehab facility in Maryland who were transitioning back into society from serving prison terms. All had read or watched THE SHACK, and some had read HE LOVES ME. They were ready to talk the moment I sat down. I was impressed with the incredible hunger in the room and the thoughts they invited me to wrestle through with them.

Many shared how they had a jaded view of God based on things that had happened to them and on things they’d heard about God from other Christians. But THE SHACK’S portrayal of God had them considering new possibilities. The questions were passionate and kind, and I left there deeply touched by the opportunity to be with them. Many wanted to know a God who would love them in their failures and make a home in them so they could find their life in him. I pray that God is revealing himself and his love to them.

Also, during this trip, we raised over $70,000 from people on my blogs and podcast to help people in Kenya regain their water supply after devastating floods had wiped it out. We restored the wells in time to save the corn crop that was already growing. For those who gave to help them, I hope you hear their gratefulness resound in your heart. You saved some lives that no one else in Kenya seems to be able to help these tribes in North Pokot.  Thank you so much.

One of our team in Kenya sent this note and the following video:

Hi brother Wayne, our team arrived here Wednesday last week and we have been working tirelessly day and night to make sure the community has received all the items. People here in Kenya volunteered two trucks to carry the donations. We have served over 600 households with food and supplies. This is the great work and it has given us the new experience again to interact, to share the word and to impress there life.

The irrigation program has been restored and protected for future emergency.  The maize plantations were withering and we thank all the supporters for making the irrigation system running. We are grateful for their  great support and ask God to bless them abundantly.

If you cannot see video in your email, you can view it on the blog.

The Last Leg of a Beautiful Trip Read More »

Seeing God as He Really Is

Some in the religious establishment have so disfigured God that people see him as a demanding tyrant who orchestrates horrible tragedies to punish or train them. They don’t know God as a loving Father or Jesus as a gracious Redeemer who is not manipulating the chaos of darkness to torment them into obedience; Father and Son are reaching into the chaos with a love so profound and rich that it can rescue us from any tragedy life has dealt us.

That came home to me in the last couple of days as I’ve had conversations with sixty or so people who are in various stages of fighting for freedom and sobriety against horrendous trauma in their lives. I am humbled by their struggle and admire so much the courage it takes to confront their brokenness and learn to rely on Jesus to do what they are powerless to solve on their own.

One of these conversations happened in a state-run rehab facility, where the people had read The Shack or watched the movie and wanted to discuss how Father intersects with their own journeys. The questions were poignant, their observations astute, and their passion to find what’s true was evident in their comments. Many of them had had religious experiences that turned them off to God.  It was an incredible joy to talk with them  in such starkly honest terms about who God is and how he wanted to be involved in their lives.

And that’s just the last two days. Throughout this trip, our personal connections have been rich, and the joy I feel watching Sara share from her trauma story warms my heart in ways you can’t imagine. What a trip we have had! We think back on so many conversations and so many old friendships rekindled, and new ones begun. After our weekend in Pennsylvania, it will be time to turn this ship westward and home to California.

Though we took our time getting out to the east coast, we are going to take a quick and direct route home. It is time to get back to our life there. So, with apologies to those in Iowa and South Dakota, who hoped we would come through those states, we are taking a more southerly route home. Here’s how that route looks now:

We are not planning a lot of big gatherings after Lexington, KY. The rest of the trip will be more about personal connections with those who desire it. . But we will take time in these areas to connect with people who may desire it. We’re still finalizing what this might look like, so if you’re interested in connecting, please email Wayne as soon as possible.  

 

 

Seeing God as He Really Is Read More »

Holding on to Love

Sara and I are making a big turn up the east coast this week and begin our journey westward on Monday, with stops in Lexington and Louisville this weekend. From there, it looks like we’re going to go through St. Louis and Kansas City to visit our son in Denver.  If you’re along that way and want to connect with us, please get in touch.

For those concerned about our dog Zoey, she had her four-week, post surgery check-up for her ACL, and it is healing well.  We still have not gotten biopsy results back. Crazy!

Here are two videos you might enjoy:

Here are some thoughts from a conversation last night, many of you might find helpful:

“Lose track of his love and you’ll get lost in the darkness; hold on to his love and he will light you a path through it. ”

And, water returns to the tribes in North Pokot:

Thanks to all who have helped us with the need in Kenya. We’re getting close to the total that will help meet their needs for water and relief in this time of crisis. You can read my blog about the current need.

And it is not too late if you still want to help us. We still need about $10,000, if you have some extra. Again, every dime you give goes straight to Kenya; we take nothing out for administrative or financial fees.

God has been so good to us on this journey, with so many conversations and journeys to share, whether it’s people coming to a meeting or a chance encounter getting a haircut, we’re having a lot of fun coming alongside others and helping them see how Jesus might be leading them, What a delight to wander across the U.S. and see what doors Father opens, and what cinnamon rolls we can find!

Holding on to Love Read More »