The God Journey

Wayne and Brad have been on vacation so there is no podcast today. To inform those who only listen to the downloads, Wayne has recorded this brief snippet to alert people to what's going on with the podcast and some other information that might prove helpful to listeners. He also includes one of his Engage videos, since they have come up quite a bit this summer in his correspondence and conversations with people. Listen if you like. If not, and you need a podcast, check out Children Unplugged below. This includes the funniest podcast moment in their history and starts at about 10:36 in the recording. Podcast Notes: Children Unplugged podcast Engage Videos at Lifestream Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Some congregations are now offering money-back guarantee with a three-month commitment to give 1/10 of their income. If you don't see his blessings at the end you get your money back. Gimmick or lesson in generosity? That news story launches Brad and Wayne into a conversation about tithing, giving, and generosity under the new covenant. Is tithing still God's requirement? The way some people talk of tithing it's like protection money to the mafia don. Give him his cut and he'll make sure the enemy leave you alone. Others see it as an investment. If they give God 10%, he'll give them way more as a reward. How do these views of the tithe affect how we see our Father at work in us? Podcast Notes: Christianity Today Article: When Tithing Comes With a Money-Back Guarantee Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

"To my wife, so many passages of scripture are now tainted with memories of fear and condemnation from an always angry, inescapable, never-satisfied deity that she can't bring herself to read it anymore." And she's not alone. For too many, having been abused by legalistically-twisted interpretations of Scripture destroys the treasure it can hold for our journeys. If that's happened to you, is there any way they can become a valuable part of our journey? Wayne and Brad share their own views and uses of Scriptures in their journeys and how they can add depth and clarity to a growing friendship with the God Jesus revealed. Podcast Notes: The Jesus Lens Videos Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Perhaps the most destructive residual effect of the Fall is that we are all drawn into living the "fiefdom of me", determining good or evil based on how it brings me joy or sadness. How much that affects us is seen by how often what Father does in his thwarts our expectations, reminding us that there is still so much about him we haven't begun to understand. That's why it's more helpful to live in the bits God has revealed of himself to us, rather than making assumptions about what we think he ought to do if he shared in the agendas of our little fiefdom. Instead he is inviting us into his kingdom, which can win us out of fiefdom and invite us into a Great Adventure. Podcast Notes: Wayne's Review of Pardox Lost Anne Lamott quit from: Anne Lamott shares all that she knows: “Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, and scared” Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Brad and Wayne continue their discussion from last week as it moves to the dialog we carry on in the normal course of our lives, especially with those who may not see what I see. It has been said that religion makes us "relationally challenged" as we are more driven to argument and accusation than we are truly understanding what someone else is going through. Here is some helpful advice for being a better conversationalist by not trying to fix or convince people and by sharing the bandwidth to let others participate and find your way into a give and take where you explore each other. By loving each other more than we want to convince them of our truth, we open the door to a better dialog. Podcast Notes: CS Lewis quote about tyranny: "“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Has the civic discourse in America reached an all-time low, and if so is there any hope it's about to get better?  As Wayne and Brad begin in the mailbag they are invited into a discussion about the current state of political affairs in the U.S., including the rise in violence and fear as people talk at each other rather than with each other. What has brought about the cultural angst that rips at the fabric of our society, and is it possible to turn it around? In the course of this discussion they consider America's gun laws, the racial inequities in our culture, and the problem of illegal immigration.  Part 2 continues next week. Podcast Notes: Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Wayne is ticked off! He's met too many women of late who have been preyed upon by counselors or pastors who seek to fulfill their sexual urges at the expense of women who are emotionally broken.  Instead of inviting them into a secure environment of love and affection, they exploit them in a way that only deepens their pain and fears. That leads Brad and Wayne on a discussion about where healing and life is learned in an institution or in a healthy family. Walking alongside others who have found enough transformation in Christ not to exploit others for what they can get, but can provide a safe and secure place for people to engage God and be open in their own struggles. Jesus was the safest place on the planet for hurting people to fall, and he wants to provide that same space through your growing freedom. Podcast Notes: Wayne refers to this book again:  Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Can you provide a podcast without trying to build a community? That's what one listener wants to know and it invites Wayne and Brad into an interesting discussion about this podcast and whether or not they want to build an audience or turn the God Journey into an Internet community.  If your Yuck Meter went off, so did ours! Finding our identity in a group of like-minded people seems to be a common human drive. It's as old as tribalism, as ubiquitous as denominations, and as fresh as my-sports-team-is-better-than-yours. What accounts for this constant drive toward tribalism? Is it healthy? Does it have unintended consequences that prove destructive to real community? Or, is there something better God does in us which negates the need to find our security or identity in any group of people? Podcast Notes: Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

What happens when a mom of children in their twenties offers to answer questions about sex from the hormone-ravaged world of 18-28 year olds?  You get: unashamed: candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness, and faith.  Wayne and Brad invite the author, Tracy Levinson to join them on this week's podcast to talk about her new book and what she has discovered in her conversations about sex and dating in a grace-based, Jesus-passionate framework. Tracy is a long-time God Journey listener from the Dallas, TX area covers this explosive topic with grace, humor, and vulnerable honesty that is as insightful as it is engaging. Podcast Notes: unashamed: candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness and faith Tracy's website Wayne's review of Tracy's book Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"    

Wayne is back from the land of puppy dogs and rainbows and shares with Brad some of the lessons and experiences of the trip.  They also discuss the horrendous violence in Florida this past weekend and where we find God in such tragedies. In spite of the brokenness of our world, how is God the most joyful presence int he universe? We don't need to blame God for the horrors off our broken world, but celebrate him in the midst of them as we become those who put joy and healing in the world instead of more pain and hurt. As Wayne learned in Canada, if you can't find a way to play even in the midst of your greatest pain or challenges, then they will win and drive you more deeply into bondage. Podcast Notes: Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Religious performance teaches us that God wants us to be perfect today, and every failure or mistake is proof that we don't love him enough or are not committed enough. What if God had something else in mind, actually walking with us while he teaches us to live increasingly free from our broken ways of thinking and finding greater freedom in him? Wayne is enjoying watching his new puppy and Wayne and wonders if God doesn't enjoy that same process with us. In that environment of growing trust we are less prone to try to claim promises even Scripture to make God do what we want and instead find great joy in discovering what he has in mind and cooperating with him there. Podcast Notes: Information on the GJ Trip to Israel Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

How far have Wayne and Brad walked from their evangelical past? An article in the April issue of Christianity Today offered a new matrix to define what an evangelical is using four theological statements. It gives Wayne and Brad a chance to check their evangelical roots to see how the last fifteen years has shaped their view. Though they both consider themselves conservative theologically, one thing continued to stand out as they worked through the matrix—it didn't have room for a Living God in the practicality of daily life. Evangelicalism has replaced a living God with the Bible text, and a vibrant relationship for following a set of expectations. As they work through the matrix they discuss the Bible, their purpose in the world, the atonement, and what constitutes salvation. Podcast Notes: Wayne's Visit to the Nomad Podcast Christianity Today Article: Defining Evangelicals Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

Especially in the most challenging or devastating of circumstances, knowing we are loved turns the tide from being swallowed up by our circumstances to finding the freedom to navigate them with God's wisdom and grace. Wayne and Brad read some listener responses to recent podcasts and pick up a thread about how our security in Father's affection frees us to live differently in so many circumstances. It is an awareness often hard-won in wrestling with him—and losing! One email demonstrates just how powerful the knowledge of Father's affection can be when he wins us into that space. Knowing we're not orphans but beloved children centers us in his reality and allows us to see more clearly what he offers us. To the same conclusion they revisit an earlier podcast about significance and discovering that our lives matter not by what we can do for God, but by the worth his love settles in us. Podcast Notes: Wayne's Travel Schedule Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

If you're nagged by the question of whether you should be doing more for God, you know how disorienting it can be. Could it be God? My religious training? An need for significance? Or the devil? David has his seminary degree and experience as a pastor/church planter for many years. Even though the stress and long hours compromised his physical health and the well-being of his family, he is beginning to wonder if there's something more he should be doing for God. What does it mean to be a living sacrifice, and how can one affirmed as a "good and faithful" servant of God? Wayne engages David's email by sharing his own journey dealing with the insecurity that seeks significance as an antidote, and learning that he serves best when he's most secure as a beloved son of a gracious Father. The podcast ends with an email from Dan and a song that inspired a recent podcast inspired. Podcast Notes: Wayne's Travel Schedule The song at the end is Ragamuffin Prayer by Daniel Madison. Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"

In the last podcast of the year, Wayne lets the listeners have the microphone as he reads email from others finding increasing freedom and joy in their journeys. He begins with some observations from his recent trip to Orange County, CA and then the subject turns to how easily religious performance can force us to create a false self to fit into the program and think ourselves better than others. Freedom comes as we let God untwist the false self we have created in our religious performance and find ourselves resting in the reality of who he made us to be. He also talks about the beginning stages of recognizing God's voice and his fingerprints as he draws us into his reality. Podcast Resources: Engage Videos Our latest update from Kenya Add your voice to our question/comment line: (805) 539-6980 or Skype us at "TheGodJourney"