Sara and I are reading together the book I recommended last month, As Is: Unearthing Common Place Glory is a new book by a first-time author, Krista Finch. We are enjoying it and the conversations that follow.

We were really touched by the one we read a few days ago. In the chapter called, “Garage Sale Giving”, Krista tells the story of an eight-year-old boy who came up to her at her garage sale and wanted to buy a set of dishes. He gave her $10.00 and lifted the heavy stoneware plates. After she got his change he carried them down the street. Moments later a lady burst from a car shouting, “Can you believe it! He just gave these (dishes) to me for Mother’s Day,” shaking her head in awe. “With his own money he saved up. Can you believe that?”

Here’s how Krista ends that story:

Can you believe it? I asked myself again after the masses made their exodus from my makeshift shop of trinkets. As I packed up the unsold items, I smiled. Openhandedness is an unlikely find, I thought. Especially in a world where acquisition and ambition, self and comfort are the goals. Cheerful and unlimited giving is an unlikely find, except in the heart of a child.

And those who dare to be like them.

I’ve known moments living alongside people who function with great generosity for each other, and I’ve known seasons where the people I’m around are grabbing for themselves whatever the can grab. I much prefer the openhanded crowd and want to live there myself.

Have I got a book of hope for you, especially if you’re going through some very deep waters. It is a collection of poems by a young poet in England dealing with a tragedy in her own life and sorting it out with God in her poetry. Her words are brutally honest, at times playful even in her disappointments, but they are full of life and encouragement. Going through a deep place myself these days I found this book a wonderful encouragement to finding God’s love in the midst of excruciating pain and incomprehensible need?

I met Jenny through a book she sent to me when I was near her home in Suffolk England. In it she had written a personal note: “You don’t know me but I just wanted to say thank you to you. I’ve read So you Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore, listened to the Transition series and sometimes manage to listen to The God Journey podcast. They are great and have set me off on a journey and anew way of thinking. It’s like discovering the truth that was actually already there in your heart, but hadn’t quite realized it yet. Anyway, this is just a small token of my gratitude.”

The book was titled Rainbows In My Eyes and you’ll have to read the poem called “The Rainbow Bird” to understand why, but that one alone is worth getting this anthology for what it says about the Incarnation and death of Jesus. And you can find out more about the book and Jenny on her website, JKRowbory.co.uk

The story behind the poems is as tragic as the poems are triumphant. On the flyleaf of her book I found the following story:

Jenny Rowbory was born in 1986 in Ashford, Middlesex, and currently lives in Suffolk. During her first year at university in 2004, she became ill with a virus that caused severe M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: inflammation of the brain and spinal cord). M.E. affects all bodily systems, causing Jenny to be bed-bound and unable to sit up because of strain on her cardiovascular system. This book of poetry was produced as a result of a Pearson project to support a young, chronically ill poet. The proceeds from the sale of this book will go towards her medical costs.

Though deeply touched by her story, I was not prepared for the poetry within. Most books I receive with a tragic back story like this one usually do not contain writing of this caliber or with this depth of insight. I am recommending the book to you, not out of compassion for Jenny’s condition, though I’m deeply touched by her need and now pray for her regularly, but because in her poetry she captures the God I know and the honest place of dealing with suffering in the face of a loving and all-powerful God. She is both playful with God and gut-wrenchingly honest. You’ll find in her words language to help deal with your own challenges and desire to engage the Abba Father.

I am clearly not an authority on poetry. I don’t write it and rarely read it, but this book touched me deeply and has encouraged my own journey. We wanted to make it available in the States and had copies sent here to help save you the postage charge for overseas transport.

If you live in England or outside the U.S., please order directly from Jenny’s website, so that she benefits the most from the sale of her book.

If you live in the United States, you can use the link below to order through Lifestream. The money from sales here will also go to Jenny’s medical treatment.

To give you a taste of some of her poetry, I’ve included three of her shorter ones here

Can’t You Be A Magician, God?
© Copyright 2009 by Jennifer Karen Rowbory – Used by Permission

Can’t you be a magician, God,
if only for one day?
Forget about being wise and good
and do exactly what I say.

Can’t our prayers be spells, God,
if only for one day?
The right words in the right order
and bingo! We’ll have our way.

Make me better now, Lord
please no more delay.
I want to force your hand, Lord,
to make my illness go away.

Held
© Copyright 2009 by Jennifer Karen Rowbory – Used by Permission

Pinned here
I kick and scream
try to punch my way out.
But your arms are too strong.

Pinned here
I sulk and ignore you,
try to freeze you out.
But you are too patient.

Pinned here
I spit and abuse you,
try to provoke you.
But your love is too great.

Pinned here I cry,
break your heart with my pain.
But you will not let me go.

Pinned here,
too exhausted to wrestle any more.
In the stillness I see
I’m in an embrace not a headlock.

Christmas
© Copyright 2009 by Jennifer Karen Rowbory – Used by Permission

You are my treasure,
my pearl beyond price.
I forsake all my riches,
my wealth in heaven,
to come and seek you out.

Got this email today and it brightened my heart. I hope it brightens yours too:

July 4, 2010 was a monumental day in our lives. On that day, we both found out: THAT GOD LOVES US! How about that!? It was during our normal devotional time that “we got it” at almost 71 and 72 years old. We got it!

How about all those years in the professional clergy? Oh, yes, we could all ways quote John 3:16, and other related verses, but when God comes in, you can not fail “to get it” and say, “Oh my goodness” it has been there all the time!”

Oh, one other thing, I forwarded the article on Friends and Friends of Friends to a brother whom we have know for years, who is about 80 years old, and was also a Baptist pastor, and he exclaimed: “I have read few articles that blessed and touched me as that one did”, He went on to say, he felt you were really “on to something”.

Is that sound I hear the echo of angel songs in the heavens? Nothing brings greater joy to my heart than hearing news that someone else has discovered just how loved they are by the Creator of all!

It has been a long time since I saw my blog entry page. We’ve been a bit busy. Sara and I arrived in England on Wednesday morning at 7:00, trained into our hotel and got prepped for a business lunch at 12:45. Then we went to see a matinee version of Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London! As tired as we were from not having had a night’s sleep, the story of redemption—of grace versus law—was deeply touching. We’ve heard lots about it, but had never seen it before.

Then we made our way down to Woking for the weekend and have basked the last four days in the joy of being with brothers and sisters we had not met before who are various places in this journey of breaking free from religious obligation and learning to live loved by the Father. The group in Woking has a marvelous story all their own, from planting a seeker-sensitive congregation nine years ago to dismantling it over the last year and a half and finding their way into a wonderful relational life together. These are people who have known each other for decades, whose children have grown up together and married each other and raising children of their own. We were so enriched by their life together and the things Father is opening up to them.

On Saturday we had another 30 or so people for a wider conversation about what God is doing today to invite people into his reality. We had people there from as far away as Denmark. What an awesome group of people with great questions and insights. Some have paid an incredible price to follow their conscience as God was leading them rather than just fit into the status quo. Two people there had grown up on the same street together more than 40 years ago, live hundreds of miles apart now, had not seen each other for decades and had no idea they were on similar journeys. Can you hear the Spirit knitting the family together?

I had one conversation with the man who had been their pastor through part of the time they were trying to be a more traditional congregation. He had a great answer to those who ask him, “Why don’t you go to church services anymore?”

He said he responds this way, “I have found there are two main reasons people attend religious services, either they really enjoy them or they feel obligated to go. I feel neither at this point in my life.” He said that allows others to stop and think about why they go. If people attend religious services because they enjoy it and it draws them closer to God, or helps them connect with others, then great. If, however, they only go out of obligation then they may get a chance to rethink it. There are many, many ways to experience the joys of church life without attending religious services. It’s just that so many people don’t know that yet.

Then yesterday Sara and I made our way up to Suffolk, in the countryside northeast of England (see picture above). We are with a group of people here who are also sorting out what it means to experience relational community. They moved up here to plant a church some years ago, but God is taking them on a marvelous journey of sorting out what it really means to live inside the life of the Father and to share that life with others. We had a marvelous time sorting through some of the cross last night and in a few minutes we will continue our conversation at a picnic this afternoon by the lake, and at a home later this evening. This is why I travel—to hang out with fellow-travelers who are discovering, often at great personal cost, what it means to live and share the love of the Father.

Then tomorrow it is off to Dorset for a friends and friends of friends gathering similar to what we shared in Ireland a couple of years ago. Many of these people are old friends, others will be new but we are looking forward to the rich fellowship of brothers and sisters relaxing together in the Lord’s love. This is not a conference with lots of meetings and teachings, but time to share wonderful conversations, connect relationally, and celebrate the life of Jesus together.

I am always amazed at the things Jesus invites me to be a part of with him, and this time with Sara too…

Due to Wayne and Sara’s trip to England, the Lifestream offices will be closed until July 7. We will still be shipping Internet orders during that time and checking email, but our responses might be delayed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

No, we’re not sitting in the stands. We’re not even huge soccer (or football) fans. And we’re not even in South Africa at the moment. We are home in California getting ready to leave for England next week.

But St John’s Parish near Cape Town published a magazine called This Life, which they’ve put out throughout the city to spread the Gospel while the country is inundated with tourists for the World Cup. The editor did a two-page spread on our time there last October with quotes from some of our discussions and a brief interview. Yes, that’s us on the bottom right of the cover.

The article is titled, “I’m In Recovery from Religion” and exposes people to some of my books and my passion for people to live in relationship with God. I don’t know that I’ve ever been called “quietly spoken” before, but I like the looks of it in print. Anyway, I thought others, especially our South African friends would like to have a look at it.

The full issue is supposed to be on their website soon if you are interested, or you can download the PDF of our article here.

If you listen to our podcast, you’ve heard Brad and I often say, “It is what it is.” Although we don’t always get the life we want, or circumstances to unfold the way we desire, we can find grace a plenty to live in the reality of life that unfolds around us. We are at our healthiest when we are embracing him in the midst of life as it really is, not trying to get him to make everything the way we want it.

As Is: Unearthing Common Place Glory is a new book by a first-time author, Krista Finch. I actually saw this book a year and a half ago while it was still in production. I was taken at the time with Krista’s refreshing insights about embracing life simply as it unfolds and seeing God’s fingerprints and his grace in the most common arenas of life.

I wrote this little blurb for her book back then: “As Is: Unearthing Commonplace Glory offers the marvelous freedom to stop trying to control the events we cannot control and instead respond to God’s magnificent grace as it unfolds in our daily circumstances. With her humorous wit and fresh insights Krista Finch opens a door to the practicality of living by grace that will inspire your own journey and leave you hungering for more of God.” After seeing the final product, I’ll stand by that.

A few days ago my copy of the book arrived. I spent some time with it last night and was wonderfully refreshed and reminded to look for God in the common moments of life. This book is not deep theology trying to challenge your failed paradigms, nor is it filled with laugh-out-loud stories. I couldn’t applaud everything she’s concluded, but I love the journey she is on and a lot of what she’s learned.

This is a book of insightful observations and thoughts much as you’d experience in a relaxed walk with your best friend where your heart is re-focused on the things that truly matter. It is a wonderfully refreshing read, like a cool breeze that suddenly washes over you on an otherwise hot and stale day. Here is a woman who knows what it is not to have life fulfilled on her terms, and has learned how to embrace the reality of life in the deep love and presence of a loving Father.

To whet your appetite, here’s a sample of the journey she invites you to share with her:

We miss something remarkable when happiness is our pursuit. because happiness is a brief vapor at her very best. What’s more, there is something beautiful about getting what you get, something lovely in teh mess, something divine in the ordinary. And the something is grace.

Grace to smile in sickness, to dance in death, to carwheel in chaos, to trike a pose, thou all around us and inside us crumbles. Grace to understand that this isn’t the way things are supposed to be, at least not forever. But it’s the way things are now and here. Grace to believe there is plenty of grace for all of it. All we have to do is receive it; live, that is. Life, as is.

And if we’ll take what life gives, grace will find us—in all her fierceness and splendor, dressed in chain mail and armor, ready to pin a sprig of lilac on our collars. But she only comes to those of us who find ourselves in the places where brokenness and rejoicing coexist. Places where bitter death tolls harmonize with strains of celebration. Places where broken bones dance to the trumpet’s blast…”

A good friend pointed me to this video over the weekend, by John Lynch one of the authors of Bo’s Cafe, a book I got to help edit with John and the others. I love the way he expresses a different way to raise children than the contest of power most parents get trapped into. This will help you invite your children into their own journey with the Father, rather than trying to impose your journey on them.

I know many parents will get to the end of this and want to scream, “Show me how!” thinking there are a list of how-tos that will accomplish this end. And you would be wrong. There are no how-tos that you can plug into an situation and derive this outcome. This is an invitation into a different reality in which you can think and pray about your children, and in which you can shape your relationship with them.

So catch this in your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how as life unfolds with your children. This is less about what you do than it is the heart with which you respond to your children and watch God’s purposes grow in your family.

In response to my recent BodyLife article about “How Do I…” I got this amazing note this morning. This is from a young brother I’ve been in touch with for a few years. I love what he is discovering, and think few realize the critical lessons God is teaching him when they are busy trying to build an audience for “their ministry.” It can be a huge trap of darkness:

Wayne, I just read “How Do I?” for about the fifth time, and it still keeps kicking me in the heart. You know, I started a blog in January and recently, the audience began to expand. The feelings that came with that expansion left me feeling sort of yucky. I’m sure you know the feeling.

You can’t get to sleep because of that one, negative comment about your last article. Every time you read a scripture or have a meaningful experience, you wonder if that would make a good article. All the while, the Spirit is saying, “This is not My plan; this is not My purpose. Don’t follow your desire for recognition and influence. It is poisoning your ability to freely live life.”

Finally, while sort of aimlessly praying about this in the shower this morning, I told the Lord (and later, my wife) that I’m going to take a break from even looking at (my) blog for the week. I need a normal life again. I don’t want to be a quasi-celebrity in my own little, creative fiefdom that’s built around my insatiable desire for affirmation.

Thank you so much for writing that article. It has been like oxygen to me so many times. Seriously man, it’s been a big help. This experience has helped me realize that your life might not be so enviable after all – and I don’t mean that as a dig. Dealing with perpetual affirmation and lofty expectations from others can be an enormous distraction for the writer and his audience. God help us all.

Fortunately, I haven’t dealt with the need for affirmation for some time. But I know its power and how it can distort even the gifts God has put inside of us. Following him has to remain at the core of our choices each day and any other substitute to guide our actions is a trap. That doesn’t mean writing a blog or publishing a book is inherently wrong. It simply means that we have eyes open enough to recognize when we’re giving up our freedom in him for any other agenda.

I got this email yesterday from a friend who is on the journey of learning to live loved after raising his children in the demands of religion. Now adults, some of his children are questioning their religious upbringing and some have become quite accomplished Pharisees. All of them at the moment are going through some very hurtful and desperate circumstances.

In the second to the last chapter of He Loves Me, I related Jesus choice in John 12 to pray the God-save-me-prayer as he faced the cross, or the Father-glorify-your-name prayer. Jesus chose the latter, and he alludes to that in his brief note.

Here’s what he wrote me. I hope it encourages others of you with adult kids to trust God’s ability to win them to his love, more than you trust your own:

The boys do not like to spill all their problems on me but oddly, because I am finally starting to believe in Father’s love, it does not hurt or panic me. I don’t even feel the need for a SAVE ME prayer. Glorify your name settles my heart far better than waiting for God to do some miracle to relieve the pressure. I keep reminding the boys that it is all about learning to live in and trust Father’s Love.

I know they will get there because my oldest daughter (who had her PhD in Pharasieeism) is truly living loved. She has already gone down this road and will tell anyone IF she is wrong about Father’s love she is hopelessly lost because she cannot go back to where she was. I know Father will get them all there in His time. I am finally at a point where I am free from having to prove God’s love for them. He is doing that quite well all by himself. I keep telling them to just watch, and then point out how he is proving His love and care.