The God Journey

Wayne is back home from Kenya after his two and a half week trip there with Kent Burgess. Wayne fills Brad in on the trip and also plays a couple of interviews he recorded at the end of their time in Kenya, one with two of their hosts looking back on our time there, and one with Kent as they got ready to leave and come back. They talk about the distortion of Christianity in Kenya, the desperate need in the wake of the 2008 tribal violence, and the power of God’s love and forgiveness to heal broken lives and a broken country. If you would like to see pictures from Kenya and read additional commentary, please check out Wayne’s blogs from Kenya at the Lifestream site: Day 4 in Kenya, Day 6 in Kenya, Day 8: A Great Outpouring of Love, Final Days in the Land of Kenya

Look who stopped by. On a recent trip to Los Angeles Jim Palmer, author of Divine Nobodies and Wide Open Spaces, came by to meet Brad and Wayne so we taped part of the conversation. Jim talks about his transition from staff member at Willow Creek to someone living outside the box, and wonders why so many people only see the church functioning at a given place and time and not everywhere, at every time, with everyone.

Wayne and Brad finally have a chance to catch up on some of the wonderful email they’ve been sent in recent weeks. It’s always fun to see the insights people are having on their own God journeys and to interact with some of their questions. Wayne and Brad find themselves in a discussion about miracles and healings, Redding and IHOP, and whether or not getting people to adopt the “right” technique is helpful to them growing in these areas. They also re-visit their discussion on the soft legalism of practical Christianity.

Brad is all excited about a new documentary he saw last week,The Human Experience, which spawns a discussion about how we embrace the life that truly is life. By looking at the most needy in our world, it brought home the incredible point that our life does not consist of our possessions or our strategic planning. Jesus modeled a different way of living, even from his youngest days in Nazareth. Life is best lived by responding to God’s purpose unfolding in the spontaneous moments with the people right before us, than trying to orchestrate life on our own terms. Maybe living loved and loving others is the strategy.

Don’t you love meeting new people on this journey of living loved? Brad introduces Wayne to a good friend of his from Nashville who was visiting in Los Angeles. Chris DuPré is a musician, former pastor and wrote the music for the My Beautiful One CD available at Windblown Media. Chris has an inspiring story of being swallowed up in the love of God before he got sidetracked by the seducing power of religious performance, only to find his way once again back to his first love and a passionate, growing relationship with God. He will soon have a new website up about his journey at chrisdupre.org.

Our apologies to all those looking for today’s podcast. Unfortunately the audio file was not actually on the server. We are working to rectify that now. Give us a few minutes. We were wondering if anyone was still listening to this podcast, and judging from my email today, I guess we still have a number of passionate listeners. Sorry to tantalize you today with an empty file…

The earthquake in Haiti and Pat Robertson’s comments about it open up a discussion about the difference between enduring suffering from a religious platform and embracing a Loving God in the midst suffering. Steve McVey, author of Grace Walk and Walking in the Will of God, who was in the area and came by to meet Brad and Wayne, joins in the discussion. Unpacking the grace of a loving Father in the midst of suffering, is difficult to do when we are focused on the why-did-he-allow-this question instead the where-is-he-in-the-midst of this question.

Observations from the Gospel of John, mingled with love/hate letters from listeners, and an article in the New York Times send Brad and Wayne into a discussion about the obnoxious self, especially when it lures us into a religious performance treadmill we think we can control, and when it drives us to push others to do what we think is best for them. Only by knowing the incredible love of the Father can the deception and power of the obnoxious self be exposed and undermined so that we can truly live free and generously in the world.

Back from their end-of-the-year break, Brad and Wayne catch up with each other and some emails from listeners who share their own journey out of religious performance, to living loved. They describe well the process of moving from being painfully disillusioned about God and the church, to becoming gratefully disillusioned in their new-found freedom, joy and relationships. These stories underline the reality that this is a process, it takes some time and though the early days might be painful, the fruit that it yields is far and away worth taking the journey.

Wayne and Brad pass on their Christmas greetings to The God Journey crowd as they take a couple of weeks off from recording to find some rest, refreshing and joy with family as well. We’ll be back on January 8, 2010. If you’ve listened well to us you’ll be able to thrive in this season without us. If you haven’t listened that carefully, there is an archive full of podcasts for your listening pleasure. Perhaps they will help you find great joy and comfort not in the theology of Christianity, but in the life of Jesus. Just use the links at left.