I’ve known Stan Firth for a number of years now, as Father has allowed us to fellowship together a few times. I enjoy this elder brother in the faith, the price he’s paid to follow his conscience and the simple passion, hope, and joy he brings to those who cross his path. Formerly a Baptist pastor in Scotland he now resides south of London, living outside the box of organized religion. Many of you might know him from a podcast he did with Brad and I a few years ago.

He has just released a new book called The Remarkable Replacement Army, that I think many of you will enjoy. Following up on his earlier book Custom and Command that posed the question of whether our participation in our current Sunday morning institutions is a command of Jesus we are to follow, or is it just a custom that has grown up over 2,000 years of Christian history, his newest book is a protracted metaphor presented as a prophecy of the church in our time and for the future.

I love much of the content of this book and recommend it to everyone whose contemplating the nature of the church today, especially those who no longer feel connected to a traditional congregation. In it, Stan describes a time of transition between the traditional congregation as we’ve known it and a more relational networking of passionate believers that he says will define church life in this century. It will challenge many of you. It will encourage others of you. And it will help many of you who think how you can live more effectively beyond the traditional congregation.

That said, there are also things in this book that give me pause. Portraying it as a prophecy is problematic for me and unfortunately may discourage some from mining the incredible content here. I’m convinced Stan believes that it is, and I respect him for saying so. At the same time I’m not sure I agree with the value of getting people to see this transition in prophetic terms, knowing it can appeal to a fleshy desire to be in a significant movement. Certainly, the institutional patterns of the past are losing their grip on people and God is inviting many people outside those conventions to discover more relational ways of living and walking alongside other believers and touching the world. That’s a reality. but it may not be a shift in God’s priorities or methodologies so much as it is that our religious systems have grown so complicated and manipulative that they have choked out the life of the Spirit in many places and people have gone looking elsewhere for Truth and life.

God’s Remarkable Replacement Army uses an extended metaphor about a “replacement army” in Norway during World War II to resist the Nazi occupation and preserve the wishes of their king while he was in England helping to overthrow the German invaders. Stan has gleaned much insight from that period of history and uses it to share some of his observations about people who no longer fit into the religious systems they once did. As with all metaphors it can be pushed too far and draw people to the wrong conclusions. And, in this day of religious conflict around the world, I grow increasingly uncomfortable with military language to describe God’s church in the world. The title immediately was off-putting to me, but as you read the book you’ll understand why he chose it. I appreciate that he wasn’t calling believers to arms, but inviting them to live in service to their King.

Finally the former school teacher can’t resist telling us how to read his book and it does bog down at times when he lectures us about what we should read, when we should read it, and how it should be read. Get past those bits. They may seem a bit tedious, but theirs veins of gold running through this little book that will encourage and enlighten you. I don’t write these things to discourage you from reading the book, but to warn you not to take the exit ramps from his incredible content and miss the greater truths that Stan shares from his life.

This is an older brother sharing his most profound convictions. Many of you will know well what he means when he writes:

Up until about fifteen yeas ago, my wife and I were staunch church-members, always fully involved in the activities of a local fellowship, wherever we happened to be living. We had even spent nearly two decades in “full time service”, when I was a “pastor” (or “minister”). Slowly but surely, however, we had come to this conclusion about church life, which I have been describing—this conviction that the existing church system was no longer the way forward for our discipleship. It become clear to us that, in spite of the past, we could not continue to be “church goers”. We knew that our action would cause raised eyebrows—to say the least—among our relatives and close friends. Because of our previous extremely-church-oriented lifestyle, the fact that we had stopped “going to church” would seem , to those who knew us, very odd indeed—if not downright heretical!”

In the third section of the book, Stan gives some practical guidelines for thriving in the King’s purpose outside of those congregational structures. There’s really genius here if you don’t take this as a how-to book of methods to implement in your life. Stan warns us against doing so. But many of you will appreciate, as I did, his ideas on “cross-my-path-care”, intentionally socializing with others, and how the Scriptures and the Spirit work hand in hand to show us the Father’s purpose. I’ve used some of these things in numerous conversations already to help people see that living relationally is not less intentional, if anything it is more so or you may find yourself feeling empty and isolated, when you don’t need to.

Here is an excerpt:

I prophesy that the exiting regiments of the Army of the King of Kings (the various denominations) and “streams’ which currently make up the Church are going to disintegrate, sooner or later, during the 21st Century. Already I see many signs of that. Furthermore although there are individual churches and groups of churches, which at this moment are, to all intents and purposes, “fighting well”, I suggest that even they, in the long run, will all but disappear from the scene. I prophesy that the days of the Institutional Church are drawing to a close. I do not believe, however, that the King of Kings is discouraged—even though the army of Christians view the deteriorating situation with dismay. …There is no way that he will leave himself without a body of “soldier of Christ” to further his cause on Earth. My prediction is that, as the 21st Century unfolds, the King of Kings will come to be represented by an Army of a radically different style from the army that has previously represented him. I prophesy that he will replace his formal army (his formal church) with an informal network of dedicated believers—a veritable “resistance movement” of committed Christians.

Problems aside, this book is one that people thinking outside the religious box need to read. It comes from the depth of a man’s heart and wisdom that has lived these realities for years and you won’t want to miss the powerful insights that fill this book.

You can order the book from Lulu.com. Paperback, 320 pages. Or you can download a free PDF version here.

Work on the trenches for the main building’s foundation has begun

I just got this picture from Kenya. The property has been purchased and they’ve begun work on the building, both to refurbish those that already exist and those that need to be added. 2011 also brought a host of new laws in Kenya about the standard of care necessary for orphanages, so the costs will escalate some to satisfy those new requirements. To date we have taken in just under $30,000.00 from people who read this blog or listen to The God Journey. Amazing! Your generosity has overflowed to incredible thanksgiving for lots of people who are keeping their on this project.

With our matching grant that means we have raised almost $60,000.00 for this project and it is exciting to see the work begin and know that later this year these 72 children will be able to move out of their incredibly unsafe and unsanitary housing to have a chance at a more productive life. Thanks to all of you that have helped. Another $20,000.00 with matching funds will complete our goal here. I hope we don’t need significantly more than that to adjust to these new regulations, but we’ll have to see. But as I gather these are not like the burdensome, ridiculous regulations often added here in America, but basic sanitary and safety codes to ensure that children are well cared for.

If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the Gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560-1 Newbury Rd #313 • Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

I was in an internet exchange the other day where someone asked, “Do we meet God’s standards of love? If not, what can we do to improve?”

I know many people who wonder about that because religion has taught us to see love as a command, not as a reality. I used to look at love as a standard we have to live up to. It was exhausting, it didn’t work, and I’ve come to believe that love isn’t a standard we need to achieve at all. I’m convinced love is a reality for us to live in. It is the reality that totally defines the God we’re coming to know. He is love, and he responds in love to us. I am convinced the descriptors of love in I Corinthians 13 are not the Ten Commandments of the New Testament telling us how we should act, but a description of God’s love, both as it flows from his heart and in our freedom as we live in that love.

Otherwise we’re just reduced to actors, trying to follow a script God wrote. He invited us into a relationship of love that would transform us. As I grow to know his, I grow in finding love in my heart for others. I don’t conjure it up. I don’t pretend to have it. When it’s there I can live out of that love. When it’s not, I go running to him, sit at his feet, and ask him to teach me more of his love and pray that it will win more of my heart. This has been a fifteen-year journey for me and I feel as if I’m only scratching the surface. But it works. As I relax into the reality of his love I find love in my heart for others, even when they are being spiteful toward me.

So I see love now as a journey. It begins in him, and he invites me into its flow. Little by little, one day at a time, I’m learning to live in that reality. Where I do, my heart is at peace and some wonderful fruit gets borne for others. Where I don’t, I get worn out, self-focused, and anxious. As I sit here today I see the ocean of God’s love as the world’s greatest resort, and there is no better place to live, and that doesn’t require one thing to change in my life except to grow in the reality of his love. But I truly want nothing else. No other trinket or ambition in this world compares to it.

But I’ll grant you the learning curve is fairly steep for those of us who found it easier to live as if we weren’t loved.

The enthusiasm of a friend of mine from the St. Louis area for the writings of John O’Donohue has gotten me to read some of his stuff of late. O’Donohue was an Irishman, a poet, and a deep-thinker in living beyond the excesses and anxieties of our age to find simplicity of heart and life before God and the world. He passed away two years ago leaving a treasure trove of his thoughts, insights and observations.

I’m reading To Bless The Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings as a devotional of sorts and thought some of his thoughts particularly applicable as a new year approaches. He certainly captures some of the deepest cries of my heart:

May I live this day compassionate in heart, clear in Word, gracious in awareness,
generous in love.

Wow! Me too! And this:

May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer but do at last what I came her for and waste my heart on fear no more.

That’s my prayer for you as this new year unfolds, as long as the dream was first Father’s dream. Chasing our own only leads to frustration. Following his is as much a joy in the going, painful though it be at times, as it is in the having! Happy New Year to all our brothers and sisters across the world!

Where they are currently living


The property we have now purchased and are refurbishing for them.

We continue to be amazed at the generosity that has overflowed in regards to our project to move 72 orphan children and their caretakers out of a slum and into a safer and more sanitary site. We have received $23,500.00 to date and with our matching grant that means we have $47,000.00. We advanced $53,000.00 to them the last couple of weeks so that they could buy the land, pay all the necessary fees, and begin to get some work done on it. They are overjoyed and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from so many people they have never met. With every correspondence he tells me to pass on their gratefulness.

I got this email from them after they were able to buy the property: “Glory and honor with praise return to our almighty God. We have gone every step to examine the property along with the advocate. The properties were clear we paid cash 3.7 million Kenya schillings. So property is for the children now. The land is in the Municipal council so transaction is a bit high .So we needed another 72,000 schillings for the transaction, survey and transfer fees to start processing the title deed for the land. I have already hired a guard watchman to see the property. May the Lord bless you so much for all what you did along with your team.”

You are that team. Thanks for your help. For those that don’t know, we’ve had a fifteen-year old high school student from the St. Louis area who began to make and sell hand-made dolls to sell, with all the proceeds going to the orphanage in Kenya. To date she has already made and sold over 100 dolls and is sending over $2,000.00 to add to our total! You can read more about that and even order dolls if you wish further down the blog!

So we are nearly half-way to our goal of $100,000.00, and much is being done in Kenya to secure this land and to begin to refurbish the buildings there. Personally, I’ve been so blessed whenever Sara gives me a new total. We simply made this need available without trying to pressure anyone to give out of obligation or guilt, and the generosity of hearts to help us relocate these kids brings tears to my eyes. I know Kent feels the same. We were among these kids on the last day of our trip there and so touched by their plight and the deplorable living conditions they were in.

But neither of us wanted to respond out of the raw need as well. Since we were in touch with 18 different orphanages, we needed some time to process what we saw, and hear where the Lord wanted us to begin. Both Kent and I are excited about this process and are gratefully for all of you who are carrying this with us.

If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the Gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560-1 Newbury Rd #313 • Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

We’re taking a much-needed break for the holiday season. We apologize if this inconveniences you in anyway, but our offices will be closed until January 4, 2011. Any orders, phone calls, or other business will be handled at that time. We hope you have some joyful time and restful days in this season. Merry Christmas and blessings to all of you.

Our hearts have been really sad around here the last few days. We lost a dear friend. For 14 years she brought such joy, companionship, and unbridled affection into our lives. Our daughter was a senior in high school when this puppy moved in. She has lived with us in four different homes, and relished the addition of two new grandchildren. She has been a delight and God has taught me much through the simple love and trust of this dog. I totally get how much dogs reflect his glory.

Saying goodbye has not been easy and the hole her passing left in our home is a huge one even though this has been a long time coming. Her health has been fading for some time and before every trip I took this last year, I’ve told her goodbye, not expecting to have her here when I returned. But she somehow kept hanging on. Finally on Sunday she literally could not take another step. Tears well up in my eyes whenever I think of her, which I do a lot. I used to try to run from grief by ignoring its cause. Now days I embraced it as a counterpoint to times of joy. The grief I have at Sierra’s passing is only because she was such a treasured part of our lives for so long. I’ve concluded that grief is good. It is part of saying goodbye and it is incredibly healing. And the love of many of our dear friends who appreciate our loss has been helpful as well.

Yesterday I received an email from a dear friend whose family is going through some grief of their own. He was on staff at a fellowship that over the last four years, at the Lord’s direction, has been dismantling all the structures that defined their life. Recently they sold the building and held their last gathering there over the weekend. He mentioned how sad how children and wife were, that there were so many great memories attached to that location. I get that! It’s wonderful to have so many memories of good times with God’s people. Saying goodbye doesn’t always mean something is wrong, but that it’s time has come to an end, and new possibilities await.

I know it is rough to let go of something or someone we deeply loved or enjoyed, whether it was our choice to lay it down or death ripped it from our hands. We can be sad leaving wonderful things behind, but that doesn’t have to deter us from pressing on to what Father has next for us. People who live to avoid future sorrow miss out on so much of life. Our joys today may well turn into the losses of tomorrow, but those same losses open up space for new things and new relationships to come into our lives.

I remember when our first dog died 21 years go. I swore I’d never get another dog, that the pain of losing her wasn’t worth it. I’ve been through this enough times to know that the joys far outweigh the pain. Not only will we embrace the pain of losing Sierra, but we went to see a litter of golden retrievers last night and picked out a new puppy to grace the Jacobsen home. She’s only four weeks old, so we won’t get her for a couple of weeks, but we’re already preparing to add her to our family.

Life goes on. A new chapter opens, a new pup becomes part of our heritage, and the empty space Sierra left will be filled. The new one won’t replace Sierra, we will still have her memories in our heart, but we are ready to make some new ones, too. If our first dog hadn’t died, we’d never have had Sierra, and I wouldn’t have missed her for the world.

Perhaps the greatest danger to our journey is not the difficult times but the good ones. They invite us to pitch our tent where God only invited us to pass through. Some try so hard to hold on to their past, or are so hurt when things change, that they resist change as a bad thing. Grief is a great thing. It’s part of celebrating a treasure and letting go of it. Then we are able to walk on into the future knowing all not lost and that God still has some wonderful things to share with us as the journey continues.

And for you dog-lovers, someone sent me this clip. It’s a great reminder that God put dogs on the planet to reflect a bit of himself to us!

Last week Sara and I went to see the new Narnia movie, The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. The book it is based on is my favorite in the series, especially for Reepicheep’s humorous, sometimes reckless, but indomitable spirit. I was looking forward to this movie and overall I was not disappointed. It’s beautifully shot, the new Eustace actor is perfect for the role, and I love it when Aslan sneaks into camera range. Much of this movie I really enjoyed, but like the others in this series there’s something about it that doesn’t quite draw me in as deeply as I wish it would. They still come off a bit stiff, the special effects forced, and without the heart I found in these books. I guess the movies of “The Lord of the Rings” set the bar pretty high for me. Still, it’s well worth seeing.

Toward the end of the movie as the main characters stand at the edge of Aslan’s country contemplating whether to go further, or stay in their respective worlds. At that point King Caspian offers a breath-taking observation, “I’ve spent too long wanting what was taken from me and not what I was given.” It hit me smack between the eyes. There are two ways to live in this world, either being thankful for what God has given you, or growing in bitter frustration at what you’ve lost.

We’ve all lost stuff living in this darkened world. Some lose their innocence through abuse, a place in ministry because of betrayal, a part in business because of a dishonest colleague, a marriage because of unfaithfulness, or a hundred other things. The enemy thrives in our world to steal, to kill, and to destroy and can seem to find no end of humans who will cooperate with him in that passion. None of us our immune and thus our lives have painful moments as well as joyful ones.

Focus on what you’ve lost in this world and you’ll become a bitter person, driven to destroy others in your misguided attempt to get what’s fair. Focus on what you’ve been given by God, however, and you’ll understand the true joys of heaven. Maybe some of us we have wasted so much time and energy focusing on what we’ve lost, that we’ve lost sight of the gifts he has given us. If Jesus’ life taught us anything it’s that there is still much life, grace, and love even where others seek to exclude us, lie about us, and persecute us.

When you focus on what God has given rather than the things you’ve lost, you can know great joy and gratitude even in the painful realities of the age we live in. God is the redeeming influence in your life, not the destructive one. Those who seek your destruction are pawns in the hands of a diabolical enemy. As painful as they can make our lives, God is bigger still. He can even turn our losses in this age into a treasures far greater by making himself known in the midst of our pain and disappointment.

True treasure is not in the material things of this age anyway. I don’t understand people who use material reward as the bottom line for their actions. Last week the sports writers in our country were incredulous that a baseball pitcher gave up an offer from the New York Yankees to play for another team at $40 million dollars less than the Yankees offered him. The lead story here for everyone was what he gave up. People thought he was stupid for not taking every dime off the table that he could have. Their compass is only set by maximizing income. The pitcher was more concerned about being on a team he would enjoy playing for. Lost in the story was that he was offered $100 million to play for the team that he wanted to play with. Sure he could have had more, but there are lots of things that aren’t worth trading your pwesonal well-being to have.

Just how much money does it take to be happy anyway? A recent study in the U.S. said that it’s about $75,000.00. As people’s income rises to that point their personal sense of happiness increases. They don’t have to worry about the necessities and have enough left over to enjoy. But the study also showed that happiness decreased as income increased beyond $75,000. I thought that was fascinating. More money doesn’t make people happy. Above $75,000 the stress of protecting it, keeping it, managing it, and the complication it brings into real relationships became destructive to the well-being of the people who have it. I know that’s hard to believe. Most in our culture believe that the more money they can get their hands on will only add to their joy. It is not true. Money is not what really matters in life.

I have found a fresh joy in no longer whining about the things I’ve lost. Life in this age is filled with loss. Like King Caspian, I want to enjoy the things God has given which do not rust away and cannot be stolen by the enemy or his pawns.

Last summer when I was in England, I stumbled upon this little book of insights and inspiration from the journey of a young woman who had been struck by a debilitating virus while studying at the university. I was taken with her observations about learning to live inside Father’s love even when we can’t understand why he is not intervening in our circumstances in the most significant way we think he should. Her story and her insights are compelling. Sara and I have been giving her book to people we love going through difficult moments in their lives.

I thought about this book the other day as people are still trying to find that small, special Christmas gift for a good friend that will warm their heart into the new year. Rainbows In My Eyes just might fight the bill for some of you, too. By clicking on that link above you can read my thoughts on her book and even some examples of her poetry.

Now, I know some of you are scared of poetry, but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed here. But through the Christmas holidays we are offering this book at a special discount price. Normally $10.50, we are offering it for $8.00 plus postage. Unless you’re planning to order priority mail, however, you might want to order yours this week if you want to use it as a Christmas gift. You will find this book either an inspiring and wonderful read for yourself, or a wonderful gift to give to a friend. not just this season, but any time you have a loved one sorting out their walk with God in a dark season.

Last week I told you about a high-school girl who is making and selling hand-made dolls to raise money for our project in Kenya to help move 72 orphans from a slum near Eldoret onto some safer and more sanitary property. I told her story last week in a blog about how one life can make a difference.

She has sold over $1000.00 worth of dolls and is all caught up with her orders. She’d love to make some more and asked If I would make it available to my blog readers. So, if you would like to order her dolls, either for children you now or to donate them to the orphanage for the kids in Kenya, you may do so at her website.