Wayne Jacobsen

In a few hours I’ll take wing for a three-week trip to Australia.  There are so many exciting connections in store there, both from people I’ve seen before and for people I’ve only corresponded with.  It should be fun

But I’m also getting things arranged for an early June visit to North Carolina. There’s been some people there trying to get me to come for a long time, and we’ve finally found the dates that work for everyone.  So I’ve booked out 11 days, even though we haven’t filled up all of that time yet.  So, if you know some folks in North Carolina that would like to have a conversation about living loved, or finding life in the relational church, please let me know soon.  I’m praying about a number of opportunities at the moment, and want to see if any of you are, too!

Also as part of this trip I’d like to spend some time in a conversation about Seeding Community in the world if there are enough people who want to join me. How does God bring people together in community without the systematized approaches that humanity has been attempting for centuries?  I begin with the premise that community is a gift God gives, and not something humans can manufacture with the best of intentions.  But we can facilitate environments in which community can find expression, and that’s what I’d like to talk about with others who have a similar passion.   (If you don’t know what this is, you can listen to The Greater Gathering at The God Journey. 

This won’t be an open event because the venue is small and because there’s a specific type of person I’m looking to have in this more-focused conversation.  I’m looking for elder-types, not people who have arrived, but men and women who are a bit seasoned in the journey of living loved and feel a specific nudge from God to help others be equipped in that life as well.  If there’s enough interest, we’re going to hold this over the May 31-June 2 weekend near Lake James, North Carolina.  We have some bed space available, but some may need to say at nearby hotels.  There will be no cost for this retreat other than your own food and lodging. 

If you’d like to be part of this day and I don’t already know you, please send me an email with a paragraph or two about your spiritual journey and why you would want to participate in this dialog.  I’m not sure what I’m looking for here but it will give me some information as I pray about who God wants to be part of this conversation. 

So this is just to see what hunger and desires are out there for the first two weeks of June. Please email me if anything is on your heart. 

I was at the bedside of one of my closest friends when he passed into the next life about six years ago, my first thought was, “I’d love to know what he knows now.”  I felt that way again yesterday when I heard that Brennan Manning had passed away.  I know he had been very sick for a long time and rejoice that he has now entered into the fullness of the Father’s glory and can enjoy him forever without the frailties of our human flesh and the limitations of this age.  He will be sorely missed here, and my heart goes out to those closest to him that will live for awhile with a Brennan-sized hole in their lives.  For many, that will be quite large, but fortunately he has left many words behind to encourage others to understand how deeply loved by God they are.  

Brennan Manning is the author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, Abba’s Child, Ruthless Trust, and numerous other books.  You can see a list of them here at Amazon.com.  If you’ve ever read a Manning book or heard him speak, his message was of the deep love of a Father who could reach into our most broken places with transforming compassion.  A former Catholic priest, he had an ongoing struggle with alcoholism and wrote about it with such transparency and grace that it freed many others to a more honest journey with their own struggles.  Unmasking the empty platitudes of religious obligatoin, he was a voice for the common person finding Jesus in the midst of darkness and discovering what a life-long journey with him might look like.  You didn’t have to be wise or whole to discovery the joy of knowing God’s love.  

If you haven’t read a Manning book now would be a good time to find out what you’ve missing.  Abba’s Child, far and away was my favorite.  He was a provocative writer whose openness and honesty made him an endearing figure and his passion for God was infectious to say the least.  I have benefited greatly from his life and his writings and am so grateful that God allowed his gift to be so widely shared in the world.  

I am convinced that for those who know God, what happens in the first moments after death has to be the ride of all rides.  We weren’t created for the foibles and frustrations of this age, but for the glories of eternity in the presence of the Father.  While I am content to live here as long as Father desires it, I realize that this is just the lobby for an eternity with him that none of us can imagine.  Viewed from there, this life will just be a dew or a vapor.  Brennan Manning arrived at the front of the line yesterday and got to finally pass through those doors.    

I’d love to know what he knows now!  If he could just write one more book….

What a crazy week!  This one began in the Bay area of California with some great dialog.  Not everyone loved it, however. We did have some people that wanted to promote some abusive views of God that others among us were trying to break free of.  It was in interesting conversation to say the least.  I know people like them mean well, or so they think, but when you’re militant about others knowing that God will strike them with calamity just to get their attention, you’ve missed who he is entirely. 

They even argued that that is exactly what God’s discipline is about.  My heart hurts for such people.  They sound like abused kids of an angry alcoholic dad as they try to explain that dad’s violence is a sign of his love.  God simply isn’t like that.  He’s in the world to rescue us from its destruction.  Our troubles arise from a fallen world, not a disciplining Father.  Discipline means to train up, as in a dad directing his child, not one who’s beating them into submission. 

Then, Sara and I had a couple of days on the Central Coast before I head off to Australia.  Then we returned home for a quick visit by some dear Swiss friends.  All the while we’ve been trying to sort out the new website.  I appreciate the patience and help so many of you have offered.  It turned out to be more of a mess than we thought it was when it launched, so now we’re having to fix things on the run. But I’ve heard from many of you that you love the new look and how much easier it is to find the free stuff!  People really love the free stuff! 

Next up is a three-week trip to Australia.  There are a lot of hungry hearts there and people taking great risks to follow God instead of man.  I love that!  And we’re going to begin some of the conversations there about Seeding Community in the world.  We have the tendency to keep creating various systems to try to manufacture community in the world.  Most don’t realize that God’s kind of community is a gift he gives. We can’t create it by anything we do, but we can recognize what he’s doing and participate with him.  By living lives of freedom, love, and hospitality we can open up space in which God can seed his community in the world.  I’m excited about exploring that more with people who share a hunger for nonsystematized ways encouraging community in the world. 

In June, we’ll be looking to take some of that to the Carolinas as well, though the schedule is far from complete at the point, but will be in the first two weeks of June.  And in between those two trips Sara and I will be on Vancouver Island for an anniversary trip, though we’ve set aside some time over the weekend to connect with other hungry hearts in the region. 

And finally, we’ve been putting the final touches on a Lifestream trip to Israel next February, February 5-16 to be exact.  I’ve wanted to take Sara there since I first visited seventeen years ago.  It impacted me more than I expected and has forever shaped my enjoyment of Scripture having been in the land in which it was penned.  Standing on the shore of Galilee, or sitting in a private spot in Garden of Gethsemane, or being in the holding cell where Jesus was the night before he was crucified were forever stamped on my heart.  Finally God has opened the door for us to go and take 40 people with us and we’ll have the same guide whom I enjoyed so much last time.   Full details will be available soon, and we’ll announce it here first.
 

It’s been eight months in planning so that we could make this website more accommodating to the people who come here, and more functional on the backside for Sara in the office. It was far more complicated than I imagined, but we’re still excited to let you in on our new web site.

I love the new design and how it makes the items for which people come to the website so muc easier to find. All of our free resources have been gathered into one section to make it easier for people to find and utilize. Our most current information is all on the front page, including the most recent podcast, blog, and newsletter as well my travel schedule and recent items on the website occasional visitors might have missed.

Certainly there will be glitches as we finally take the website public, so please be patient if you find a missing link or if something loads more slowly than it should. You can now open an account with us that will track your orders and contributions as well as let you control your email subscription options. For those who’d like to make local, personal connections, we will be adding a feature to let those who opt-in communicate with other Lifestream readers and listeners. This would be done blindly so that people would only exchange personal contact information if they desire to. Primarily we want Lifestream to be a resource for people who are wanting to grow in the reality of living loved by the Father and becoming part of his unfolding kingdom in the world. It is our hope that this new website will further those goals.