Search Results for: Friends and friends of friends

Over $3500.00 has been sent in so far to help with relief in Kenya, from four or five different countries on three continents. Honestly, I’m overwhelmed at the generosity that has poured out of so many of you. We’re seeing God open some incredible doors to help brothers and sisters and they are so grateful that brothers and sisters from the outside have given such help.

Now I’ll let Dan do the rest of my work today. I got this email from him last week and I love what it says about freedom and how it impacts relationships:

I was adding a phone number this morning to my cell phone. The first day of the new year seemed like a good time to also clean out some phone numbers of people I have no recognition of who they are. As I was thumbing through the names, a few of the people I had not seen or heard
from since we started on this free range journey, I was wondering what happened to the relationship?

And that is just it!

There was no relationship. We were part of a big mega-church that stressed it’s many programs and offerings. In the mega-church mindset, programs give opportunity for relationship to happen, but don’t assure that it can be found there. The relationships lives inside of programs. Once the program is over, the relationship is over. Once we no longer were involved in those programs there was no longer any reason to maintain the relationship. They never called, they never wrote, they never checked in just to see how we were doing. That would have required a relationship outside of a program and who would officiate that? When would it begin? When would it end? Who would be in charge? Who had the authority to be over the other for accountability?

It is amazing how freedom in Christ does not often allow for freedom in relationships and freedom from expectations in those relationship. We have made a few attempts to touch base with some of them, but their lack of response made it clear they didn’t have room for relationships outside of the program they are a part of.

That is sad. They are good people. It is strange how something like freedom can be such a threat.

I think a lot of us have had the same struggle with relationships we had in the institutional format. They work as long as we’re on the task together, but once that ends, there isn’t a friendship that goes beyond it. Of course both parties bear responsibilities in that, especially if we’re waiting for the others to make the first move. I like that Dan has tried. I think we always try. I have wonderful friendships from almost every stage of my life on this journey. But to be honest, I’ve been the one that has instigated most of the contact. I don’t blame them for that. Most people are so busy just surviving the responsibilities of every day living, especially if they add to that heavy involvement in the life of a congregation, that they just don’t have the time or energy for relationships beyond it…

I hope we’re all learning to live a community that transcends whatever task we’re on or not on together. The connection of this family is not the meetings we attend, but the relationships we forge as God connects us to others. We all don’t need to pursue only people who are like-minded, but with all kinds of folks, believers and unbelievers as God leads us.

The simple question I ask regularly is, “Father who do you want me walking alongside at this season of my life.” And then I follow through on that. I realize most people find it difficult to initiate contact, but I consider that part of my life following him!

I got this question today. It was sent to me by someone who used the title ‘Apostle and Pastor’ in front of his name. He needed both—in caps! Interesting…

How do you reconcile these scriptures in light of your view of fellowship.

Matt 28:18-20
Acts 2:42-47
Hebrews 10:25

If it is true that you can walk in Christ without fellowship, that means it’s time for you to start a fellowship so you can help those who are not so strong.

While I appreciated the brevity, I find the context absurd. I can’t imagine anyone reading my website thinking that I encourage people to walk with Jesus without fellowship. That’s nuts! I encourage fellowship all the time, but in real relationships with people, not by sitting in your pew once a week watching others around you.

And I can’t imagine anyone reading those three texts and understanding their historical context who would think they obligate people to ‘start fellowships’ or be in a required meeting. People who hunger for the living God don’t need to be obligated to anything. Their hunger for him will lead them to all the people he wants them to connect with.

Here’s how I answered him:

Who said anything about walking with Christ without fellowship? I can gather with other Christians and help new ones grow in the faith by just having fellowship with those God asks me to walk beside in any given season. I don’t have to ‘start a fellowship’ for that. If you read carefully I’m not advocating a lack of fellowship, but I am indicating that walking with people is far more important than starting or maintaining a group. We’d like to think they are the same but they are not. History proves that.

So the Scriptures you cite are all lived out in greater reality, depth and power when we’re not caught up in the mechanics of a group and simple walk in deep friendship and love with whomever God puts in our life. Sometimes that puts me in a room with hundreds of people, sometimes just tow or three.

Jesus, nor the early apostles did not view the life of the church as a series of meetings on Sunday morning or Wednesday night that are led from the front, but vibrant relationships that wrestle with the deep issues of life and magnify God in doing so!

And it doesn’t bother me of people want to get together at a regular place in a regular way. That’s an expression of this family too! It just isn’t the only expression and not necessarily the best. Scripture never points to believers gathered in rows to witness a meeting led by a few. It pictures people meeting together to share insights and ask questions, to share Jesus’ gifts, to build each other up and to share the burdens of life together.

What do you do when your children don’t understand? I often get emails from parents of older children, who do not understand why their parents no longer attend the religious services they made the children attend when they were younger. Some are curious, but I get lots of email from those whose kids are deeply confused, fearing their parents have fallen away from Christ. Some have even threatened to withhold their grandchildren from their parents for fear they will lead them astray somehow. “What should we do?” they ask.

I just tell them to love them right back. Don’t get angry or defensive, just keep opening your hearts to them trusting that your relationship with them some day will overrun their fears and apprehensions. It would be nice if we could go back and re-train our kids, but once they’ve become adults, they will resent attempts they perceive are manipulative.

A couple of days ago I got an email from one of those adult children who had had a hard time with their parents’ journey… for a time! But God has ways of sorting these things out. I have corresponded with the parents in the past so it was fun to hear from their daughter:

I grew up in a small town in the southwest where my parents gracefully raised me and home schooled me and my brothers through high school. Through my growing up years I was raised as a run-of-the-mill Christian, who attended a small non-denominational group of believers where I grew accustomed to their rules and regulations. I attended this place up until I was in college where I started attending another non-denominational congregation. I met my husband there and dated him for three years. We attended this place, and made long lasting relations with these brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile, back home my parents stopped attending and started this other profound way of living for Father. My mom talked a lot about your blog and podcasts, but at the time it never quite registered. Quite frankly, I was shocked and amazed that my parents were doing the exact opposite of what they taught us kids growing up. It was hard to fathom that this type of lifestyle, not going to a congregation, and following all the rules, was okay with God.

A couple months after attending our new fellowship in Denver, my husband one day woke up on a Sunday morning, and said, “We don’t need to go today”. And that is how it all started. At first, I was quite happy not having to get up so early on a weekend day to attend a large group of people, but as time went by, about 6 to 8 months later, my relationship with Father started developing in a more natural form than what I have ever experienced before.

I began to listen more, started finding myself in Father and was finding out what Father wanted from me. He wanted my heart, and that was it, nothing more just my heart. I thought for the longest time that as long as I lived up to others expectations and thought that they were coming from God, I was ok. And as long as I used my gifts and read my Bible every single day for at least 30 minutes, I was in the Lord’s will. But, instead of all that nonsense, he just wanted my heart, and he wanted me for himself. Once I grasp how easy Father was and how complicated everybody around me made him out to be, life became lighter and less demanding and all that was missing was knowing that Father was an gentle God who just wanted to love me. That is when I started getting to know my father more intimately than I have ever experienced before.

That is where I am today thanks to Father and the brothers and sister (my mom and dad, you, Brad, and people on the forum) that he chose to help me along the way. Just recently, Father has just opened the door for us to move back home close to our families and brothers and sisters. My husband, Jonathan and I are very excited for the move.

However, our friends back home know that we don’t attend any kind of congregation, but some don’t acknowledge that, and still try to put pressure on the subject of attendance. I am a little worried that the pressure will build more strongly once we are down there living day to day. My hope is to focus on our relationships with our brothers and sisters and develop them with Father, but how can we do that if they are so focused on the congregation and activities and things of that nature than on bonding and sharing life together like Jesus did with the disciples?

I love what God has done in this young woman and I’m sure her parents are elated to have their daughter finally appreciate and share their journey. And I love the gracious and God-focused heart it is all producing in her.

But now it comes full circle doesn’t it? The same concerns the parents had about their daughter, the daughter now has about her friends. She is realizing that there are others who may not approve of her journey and wondering how her relationships will work when she moves back to her home town. She also sees how the activities and busyness of congregational life can actually rob us of real relationships rather than promote them.

One of the worst things religion twists us to do is to try to make other see what we see. When we’re doing that we’re not just loving them where they are, but trying to get them to be where we are. That doesn’t lead to effective loving. In fact you’ll find people pushing you away, and even worse retreating into the defensiveness of their own bondage.

Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to learn is how to simply love people, being honest with them about the life Christ has shown us without trying to manipulate them. But that is the environment where the Holy Spirit works most easily to open people’s eyes. I know it takes a lot of trust in God’s ability to lay down our need to convince others that we’re right, but it is a big part of learning to live in his life and to share that life with others in a way that promotes his work in them.

For those of you that have been waiting for THE SHACK in hardback, it is out today! And, do they look awesome! This edition has larger type and an appendix in the back entitled, “The Story Behind The Shack“. In it, the author, William “Paul” Young wrote it to tell how he came to craft this story, and how it came to be published by a circle of friends.

But shouldn’t the hardback version come out before the paperback? Well, that’s how most publishers do it, but we’re accidental publishers, remember? There is a larger profit margin in hardback books, which is why publishers do them first and then bring out the paperback version. We considered all that with the first printing, but our priority was to put this story in the hands of as many people as we could, and not worry about our profit margin. But so many people want to plow through this story again and again and take notes in the margin, that they asked us for something more permanent. That made sense to us so we ordered up a hardback printing for those who wanted it for their libraries, or those who wanted something more fancy to give as a gift. You can get it from us at Lifestream, or you can order it from the Windblown Media site.

I almost hated to post this today, because there’s been so much focus on THE SHACK here this week. I know some of you are loving the behind the scenes look and, yes, we’re having a lot of fun with what’s going on. But in the end, the book is still an ‘it.’ and I want most of our conversation to be filled with a HIM! This journey is not about books or publishing ventures, as fun as that might all be. It is about knowing him, about learning to live in the love of an awesome Father, and by living in him be transformed into his image.

He is still the reason I wake in the morning, and behind all that we do here. Don’t ever let your excitement (or even despair) over anyTHING going on in your life, ever trump the simple glory of living in him on this day! May he grow in you this weekend and may we all learn better how to yield to his ways!

A letter we got last week about THE SHACK, said this: “(Your book) took me places I really did not want to go; but having made the journey, would not have missed it for the world.” What a great observation!

Doesn’t that describe the ways in which Father works. Follow your own agenda and desires and you end up shipwrecked in the consequences of your own selfish independence. Follow Father, even though it’s scary and uncertain, and you’ll end up smack dab in the middle of his life in situations beyond your wildest considerations! That expresses so well the last decade and a half of my life. God has put me in places I’d never choose to go, and then in the middle of it, he just overwhelms you with the wonder of himself!

Specifically that’s been true of this marvelous story called THE SHACK. I know some of you are probably tired of hearing about this book, but others have been praying with us about this over the past two years and are interested in the back story of this increasing tsunami! It is the craziest story I’ve ever been part of and now starting to draw some major attention. As many of you know this little book appeared in my inbox nearly three years ago. I loved it when I read it and encouraged the author to get it into print.

The author, Paul Young, didn’t want to do much with it. He’d written it for his kids and thought he’d share it with a few friends. But myself and others saw something in this story that begged to touch the world. Brad, my God Journey co-host, and I helped Paul ready the book for publication and I took it to a number of publishers with whom I’ve had working relationships. All turned it down for reasons I could not understand—until yesterday! In an exchange with a publisher on an unrelated matter, THE SHACK came up. This editor had been one of those to whom I’d submitted THE SHACK for publication. They had passed on it, and this was her explanation:

It’s tough to talk publishers into doing something unusual. I call it the Catch 22 of publishing. If somebody has done something like it, then we can’t do it. If nobody has done something like it, then we can’t do it. I’m speaking not just of of our house… but every house I know. Sometimes it takes the people closest to the project to launch it.

That explains a lot about the lack of creativity in Christian publishing today and why it has been so frustrating over the years to get them to think outside the box. Finally, as many of you know, Brad and I formed a publishing company,Windblown Media, and printed THE SHACK last May. What began as slow, lapping waves on the shore is now swelling into a rising tsunami. Here’s how one of the top media consultants in Christian publishing recently wrote this to Publisher’s Weekly:

I’m not sure if The Shack by William Paul Young is on your radar yet or not. It’s becoming an independent press (Windblown Media) runaway best-seller. Here’s the scoop:

Windblown did a soft-launch on May 1, 2007 just on their company website. They sold 10,000 (paperback) just on their website from May 1 to the end of August. It wasn’t on Amazon or in stores unless stores heard of the book from readers and ordered it through their site.

September 1st they hard launched at retail via Ingram for national distribution. They sold 22,000 copies from Sept 1 to the end of the first week of November. They just took delivery of a 50,000 third printing, and in two weeks have sold over 20,000 of that print run including orders for over 7,000 copies just yesterday.

They’ve ordered an immediate 4th printing of 25,000 to get them through Christmas. Windblown is also now launching the hardcover edition with a small 3,500 print run, available now for Christmas sales.

The cool news: They’ve spent only $200 on marketing. The rest is all word of mouth.

But there’s more. I got this report from my partner Brad today, who is the President of Windblown and the one behind order fulfillment:

As of December THE SHACK has jumped up to #19 of ALL books being sold at Ingram. We just beat out I AM LEGEND—that has $$millions of dollars ramping up their marketing machine. We’re just 5-6 steps down from THE SECRET, which was last year’s word of mouth phenomenon. There’s maybe only 4-5 paperback in the whole top 25—most Everything else is hardcovers.

Just today we sold over 12,000 books with new orders from major bookstore chains, who want to display it prominently on their front tables. One buyer asked us about our advertising campaign behind the book. We laughed. We can’t keep up with sales now, why would we advertise? Daily we hear from people who feel their spiritual lives have been rescued from anger, doubt and frustration toward God and renewed a relationship of love with him. We’re hearing from celebrities who love this book and are endorsing it to their fans. We’re hearing from theologians of every stripe, some who want to use the book in seminary classes on God and suffering. We’ve also been contacted by major movie studios about purchasing the movie rights. We’re not selling those, by the way. The dream from the beginning was to make this into a general-release feature film that would offer our culture a view of God that religion has totally obscured. It looks like now we’ll get that chance.

And we hear from authors who want to work with Windblown Media or those who want to know the ‘secret of our publishing success.’ We laugh. There is no secret. We did everything wrong with this book. We were just three brothers that wanted to take something we considered a gift from the heart of our Father and make it available to folks . The power of the story itself has swept people up with it. After reading it, many order cases to give to friends. So many people have blogged about it, and recommended it to their friends, that it just keeps growing by word of mouth.

It is all just beyond us to comprehend, and almost beyond us to keep up with it. To all those who have prayed with us, and helped pass it along, please know how deeply grateful we are for your participation in this process.

i know this is long, but it’s a story we wanted to tell. Remember the top-tier media consultant I referred to earlier, he wrote us a note last week that blew me away:

“Not by might or by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.”
You may see this only once or twice in your lifetime.
It is unique, in the full sense of that word.

When I read that, I sat back overwhelmed. It’s true, you know. You couldn’t orchestrate something like this if you tried. And tere are hundreds of multi-million dollar publishers who try every year to do just that with all their demographic surveys and business expertise. This is not our deal. This is God’s gift. We’ve simply been asked to be it’s steward—keeping the message clear, the story available and our hands open before him. Which is what we’re trying to do!

When the idea of publishing this book ourselves came up, I was the one most dead-set against it. We’ll never be able to do it justice, I thought, and there were so many things we didn’t know about getting this book out there. Trying to find the time, the energy and the resources to do it, just wasn’t in my thinking. But one small, gentle step at a time, Father took me places I didn’t want to go.

And now, I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

That’s our granddaughter Aimee (on the left) last night as we went over to help her celebrate her third birthday. It had been a tough day for her. Since her new baby sister arrived she has been missing the ‘mother time’ she had gotten used to as an only child. I’m not sure she thinks Lindsay Grace (that lovely little girl on the right) is such a blessing at the moment. But we came over, brought her some balloons and shared some cake and ice cream with her, and she lit up like the candles on the cake. This picture of that event reminded me of something I’d read earlier that day in Genesis.

After the world had turned so evil that God had to purge it with a flood. After the waters and receded and Noah and his family had left the ark, God spoke to them (as Eugene Peterson translated it in The Message.):

Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans let his blood be shed.
Because God made humans in his image
reflecting his very nature.
You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,
lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!
Genesis 9:6-7

It was the last part that startled me. After his warning about not taking the life of a fellow human because they are made in God’s image, he tells Noah to live fruitfully and bountifully. Just after so severe a judgment, I would have thought God would tell them to be careful and live more righteously. While he still made clear that violating others is so against his nature, he still wanted them to enjoy the bounty of this earth and enjoy the life he gave them. Is that also what it means to live righteously?

I do think that’s the point. God gave us life to be enjoyed. But it is easy for us to focus so often on what we don’t have and forget to enjoy him in the midst of what we do. And it’s easy to be overwhelmed with all the need in this world, where sin, sickness and death have robbed people of life and to feel guilty about whether or not we’re doing enough to help others or enough to right the injustices perpetuated on others. An unhealthy preoccupation with those things robs us of the ability to celebrate him the midst of our lives. Part of living righteously is not just embracing God’s holiness, but also embracing his creativity and to live bountifully in whatever God has given us today.

Certainly at the same time we can openly share with others and play the part he’s asked us top lay in relieving the suffering of others. But we do so because we realize that whatever impinges on our freedom to enjoy God in his creation is also part of the fall. Sin causes robs us of the joy in life that he has given us and focusing on need all the time can be exhausting and bring us no closer to him.

No wonder Jesus spent so much time celebrating the richness of his Father’s life, whether at wedding feasts, dinner with his friends, or parties with sinners. That enjoyment is also part of his Father’s righteousness. And it isn’t just for those who have a lot. I’ve seen little children in desperate poverty play and laugh with joy in their little games. I remember back to the early days of our marriage, when we had almost nothing. Everything we owned was in the trunk of an Oldsmobile Cutlass and we came to California to strike out on our life together. In those more simple times we were blessed just to have each other and a life ahead in God.

So don’t forget to live bountifully, not just one day a year, but as a regular part of life. Do it in the joy of pleasant and abundant circumstances, and let him teach you when life’s brokenness meets you head-on. I was in a hospital this morning with a good friend whose wife was undergoing surgery this morning to remove a tumor that may be malignant. Certainly their challenge is great in this season, but his joy can still be known in the middle of such struggles. Maybe that’s where our fellowship comes in as others rally around those who are carrying a heavy load and help them with it.

Stateside tomorrow we’re celebrating Thanksgiving Day. There is so much that Sara and I have to be thankful for these days and with great relish we will share it all with the God we love so deeply. And we want to send our Thanksgiving greetings on to others who are celebrating as well, and to all those of God’s family throughout the world. Even in the midst of great tragedies our Father makes his life known. Even learning to share in that joy is part of his gift to us in a broken world.

Look at that little girl’s picture at the top left. With such exuberance and joy her arms are open wide and her face filled with joy. That’s how I want to be with my Father today—and every day he graces me to do so!

Sorry it has been so long again. My life is pretty crazy at this point. Only had 11 days between a trip to the East Coast and turning around to make my third trip this year into Canada, this one to British Columbia. And it’s been busy since we’re trying to get out a new hardback version of The Shack, for those who have been asking for a more permanent copy for their libraries.

I also got a shocking package in the mail Friday from an old publisher of mine. Thomas Nelson sent me a new copy of a Portuguese translation of In My Father’s Vineyard) (pictured at left, which is no longer in print in English). I had no idea this was even in process. This is the beautiful coffee table book that is now out of print. They did a beautiful job on the book. I miss the fact that we no longer have that available in English. It brought back so many rich images of growing up on my dad’s vineyard.

I had a great time with some old friends in upstate New York and down in central Pennsylvania. This trip produced some interesting conversations, some newfound friends and even defined some new terms. And in Pennsylvania, I picked up a new term for believers on this journey that we discussed on the last podcast. In case you missed it, I’ll fill you in here.

Someone was talking about a wine list they saw at a restaurant that was offering “free-range wine.” They were asking me what that was, knowing I’d grown up on a vineyard. The term really tickled me. According to Wikipedia “Free range is a method of farming husbandry where the animals are permitted to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. The principle is to allow the animals as much freedom as possible, to live out their instinctual behaviors in a reasonably natural way…” I don’t know how you apply that to vines. We never had to cage them up in our vineyard because they weren’t ever trying to get away.

But as we talked about it, we thought what a great term it was for believers who are no longer a committed part of Sunday morning institutions. We haven’t left Christ. We’ve not lost our passion for the body, but many of us have found it far easier to grow and help others grow without all the overhead, machinery and rituals of organized religion. To some of us it was a cage that did not promote healthy spiritual growth, but actually stifled it by all the personal expectations and political necessities of an institution. Now, I know not everyone feels that way and many continue to find great life and growth in such places. If it is helping you know God better and live more deeply in him, good on you! But it is also fabulous that others are finding more opportunities for growth in the freedom from some of the restrictive realities of many of those institutions.

‘Free-range believers’ is a good way to say it. Now don’t worry. I’m not coining a term to identify a new movement or exploit a new market. I just think it’s a wonderful way to express what many of us are finding to be true—maybe we all don’t have to grow up in the same environment. What may be a joy for some can become a prison for others. And yet we are all believers still in this marvelous journey. Free-ranger believer. That has all the overlays of freedom and not growing being hyped up through artificial nutrition. As many write me, it certainly is not an easier way to live, but for many it is more real and more life-transforming.

Now I’m on my way to Canada again. There are so many wonderful people up there on an incredible journey and I’ve got a slew of people on this trip that I’ll be meeting for the first time. I love it up there. Not only are the people awesome, but so is the chicken at Swiss Chalet and the chocolate dessert at Kelsey’s. (I know, it’s not the best for me, especially after my check-up at the docs last week. It’s time to get serious about a few dietary essentials. Bummer!

One last thing. If you want a bit more of The Shack, check out Willies blog from this weekend. It’s an awesome story in the same vain, and with the same poignant wisdom! You will thank me!

I’m on an extended weekend away to spend some time with my family. Daughter Julie and granddaughter Aimee are with Sara and me at my folk’s place up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Central California. My son and son-in-law will join us for the weekend and we have a few friends dropping by. So it should be a wild weekend!

I was going to share a bit about Sara and my weekend in Stratford, Ontario a couple of weeks ago, but instead I’ll let the folks there do it for me. The photo at left captures a conversation out by the barbecue that I had with Brad, a brother who joined us for the weekend. A couple of days ago I received wonderful surprise in my email—a document where a lot of the folks who gathered with us had shared their reflections of the weekend. There’s some cool stuff in here about God’s working among us, in their own words. It’s amazing how many different things he can do over the same weekend with so many different people in the exact same locale. If you want to hear my thoughts on the weekend, you can check out today’s podcast, which covers a bit of it.

Here are excerpts of their reflections. I’ve left off names, because they didn’t write these for publication and some are wonderfully personal and I didn’t want to take advantage of that. Thanks to all who contributed their comments. Sara and I were deeply, deeply touched.

You served as a ‘flagpole’ providing an opportunity to allow us all to come together and make contact. It was neat to hear of such similar journeys. The Lord is calling us closer and closer to Himself and that means that we are bypassing all the things that made up ‘our life’. It’s the Lord who takes it from here. We love your part in this.

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Our weekend together was a special blessing to us to reconnect with a few old friends we haven’t seen in years and to hear some of what the Lord has been doing in their hearts. Then to meet quite a number of others face to face with whom we have communicated by email in the past but never met in person was also a thrill. And then on top of all that, to meet so many others for the very first time who are also on the same journey was such an encouragement to our hearts. We were truly blessed and encouraged by you all! “Thank you” Wayne and Sara, and “Thank you” to everyone else who shared a bit of yourselves with us in Stratford last weekend!!!

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I guess for me it would be that God is bigger than I had anticipated. He’s bigger than my lack. He’s bigger than my mind can fathom. He’s bigger than my doubts and fears. He’s bigger than my failures and He’s bigger than my “triumphs”. This past weekend with Wayne & Sara just made me want Him all the more. The desperation/angst/longing resides in me. How He’ll answer that is yet to be seen. But He’s bigger than that isn’t He?

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A thought came to my mind as I observed Wayne and Sara… a long way from California…and family… on hard chairs all afternoon… with people they do not know… sharing a message that is hard to both grasp and live out because of our propensity to (performance) … this is a couple that has certainly given up a lot in their journey with Father… in order to (be with) us. I feel humbled, honoured touched and thankful.

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The short time I was with everyone was a nice relaxing time of yakking with others. God continued to impress upon me the privilege of listening to Him and making decisions to step out on what I believe is from Him.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meeting Wayne and Sara was a delight…. I was able to catch a glimpse of what body life just might be like while we were gathered together over that weekend. The rippling effects of so many hearts being connected is a treasure that continues to enrich my journey with Him.

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The most powerful message that I heard throughout the weekend with Wayne was that we really can trust God with our life, with the lives of those in our circle of influence and in the lives of the people we will meet in the days to come. He is more than enough for all of us.

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For me (besides the joy of getting to spend time with Wayne and Sara), the most delightful aspect of the weekend was interacting with others. Reconnecting with people we knew from our past life in the institution and meeting new folk on journeys similar to our own was exhilarating and eye opening. Despite the diversity of our backgrounds, I was struck by how much we had in common in our desire to know the Lord as life – and not as a dead religion. I also realized how much I need to learn to relax, but that’s another story!

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It was great to be able to meet with many new people spread about South-western Ontario. I enjoyed the conversations and just “being” together with others on similar and unique journeys. Wayne and Sara, you are wonderful members of this great family of Christ and I am enriched by knowing you a little more than (just) through the books and podcasts. You are a great encouragement to me and to so many others that I know.

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I have been overwhelmed by what the Lord did in my heart last weekend! Something was broken that had held me in bondage for far too long. You may find this hard to believe, but not only did I enjoy a wonderful stress-free workweek. I was even able to joke with a troublesome male co-worker—and he joked back! I was so unlike my former self. Instead of focusing on my troubles as you suggested, I began to ask the Lord expectantly, “What do you have in store for me today?” and He certainly has not disappointed—quite the opposite, in fact. The most wonderful thing that happened has to do with my relationship with my adult daughter. It has often been strained. Yesterday, we went shopping and had the best time we’d had in many years! We laughed, had fun and talked meaningfully about things that were bothering her. I believe she sensed my new ability to relax and accept her for who she is, and that made all the difference. I honestly haven’t felt this free in years!

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It was a delight to meet with other believers and share in their journeys as we find greater and lasting intimacy with our Father apart from the framework of religious obligation and legalism. Wayne, I love how you avoid becoming “entangled once again” even in these newfound liberties. I am loath to trade institutionalism for ‘out-of-the-box-ism’. Somehow it strokes pride in me to think that I’m on the ‘cutting edge’ and I know I don’t want to go there again! In this regard, I’m glad you did not encourage any of those attitudes but rather exposed that thinking for what they are; arrogant and divisive.

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We just had the most fun today! (One of the couples) we had never met prior to the weekend (visited our home. They arrived at 2 PM and we talked non-stop about the Lord for over three hours. Then they treated us to dinner at your favorite restaurant and we fellowshipped for another two hours! What a joy it was to hear their stories and to gain two new friends in the process. It’s as if we’d known them for years! In August, we’re planning to visit some of the people we met on the weekend who live two to four hours away. For most of us, leaving the institution meant embarking on a very lonely and isolated journey, but as a direct result of our weekend together we’ve discovered a gold mine of wonderful, like-minded brothers and sisters we never knew existed. How cool is THAT?

Well, I got through Saturday, thanks to a ton of grace and, I’m sure, a lot of prayers and support from people like you. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and for all the lovely emails and comments that were so encouraging.

It has been a most difficult week, especially following my return from Europe. Sara and I returned home last night and went to bed at 8:00. I don’t recall ever having been more mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted! But strangely Sara and I both felt full spiritually, knowing we had seen God’s hand unfold in some amazing ways and had completed the things he had asked us to do. It was hard to leave Louise, but we know God has others nearby to come alongside her when we can’t. Today was a day of rest and reconnection as we have simply vegged the entire day. It’s been wonderful and so desperately needed.

A week ago I was in a grassy field in Ireland with believers from all over the world celebrating an amazing week of sharing our relationship with God and finding new and growing relationships with each other. One week later I was back in my old hometown facilitating my best friend’s funeral. What I didn’t say in my earlier blog is that the funeral was held in the facility of the congregation I used to pastor before being unceremoniously resigned nearly 13 years ago. I find it fascinating how God brings things around full-circle, and thought my friend might have been smiling down at us in the irony of it all. But these people couldn’t have been more gracious in offering their facility and helping with all the arrangements.

I definitely felt strange standing behind a podium I had spoken from so many times before in more pleasant circumstances, looking out on faces of people with whom Sara and I used to share such rich fellowship and joyful laughter. Though some tragic circumstances years ago we got separated in our spiritual journeys. It took the death of a mutually loved brother to bring us back together for another moment in time. Perhaps something more enduring will result from this weekend. I certainly hope and pray so. We may not see ‘church’ the same way as they do, but the church Jesus builds does not depend on that. It simply results from people who will share honest and loving friendships together.

I am more and more convinced after my time in Ireland that the body of Christ takes expression as simply a network of friends, and the friends of those friends! I realize that may take more explanation at some point, but I’m way too tired today. It was wonderful even if for a weekend to connect with people that we had loved so much and had so often laid down our lives to serve. It would be a wonderful legacy of this weekend if some of those relationships were restored in Christ.

For if the death of our earthly brother could bring us together for a weekend, then wouldn’t it be true that the death of Jesus, our older brother, would be more than sufficient to bring us together for all time? Stay tuned!

I flew home from Europe just in time to help one of my closest friends cross the threshold of life in this age into the glory of Father’s house. After flying into LA late Sunday afternoon, Sara and I stopped at the house long enough to exchange luggage, get a bit of sleep and then headed to our hold home town 3 hours north of us. Paul Gutierrez was in the final stages of his battle with cancer at home with his wife, Louise. These two have been among our closest friends for the last couple of decades. I didn’t think he would live until I got home, but it seems he waited for me.

Sara and I were there only two hours before it became apparent the end was near. Father had put it on my heart to read Colossians to him from THE MESSAGE, which I did. Sara, Louise and Paul’s two sisters cried our way through it as his breathing slowed. So many of those verses spoke so clearly to what was going on in that room and in Father’s heart. As I ended his breathing slowed appreciably. I grabbed both of his arms, told him that we all loved him and commended him to the glory of the Father. A few short breaths later he stopped breathing and shortly after his pulse stopped. He stepped across the threshold to Eternity and has finally seen him face to face for whom our souls long. I am overjoyed for him and a future day when we will join him there.

But we cried and cried with Louise. She lost her husband of 30 years and Sara and I at least for the time being lost a very close friend. We are not as those who grieve without hope, but we still grieve. We just grieve with the hope that this is not the last word and though our parting is painful a more glorious reunion yet lies ahead. If my time in Ireland was even a fleeting taste of the relationships we’ll have in heaven, then that will be a grand day indeed!

For now, we will all be busy in the next few days helping with arrangements and planning Paul’s memorial gathering on Saturday that I’ve been asked to facilitate. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get through that one.

It’s a bit of a whirlwind quite honestly. I usually come home from trips quite wasted and this was no exception. My body clock is way off and I haven’t had a long, deep night’s sleep yet. Exhaustion just hangs at the edges of my consciousness, but I pray God holds me together through this week and does some wonderful things in family and friends as we deal with Paul’s departure from this world. In the meantime I’m falling behind with everything else. Your patience and understanding will be greatly appreciated, as will your prayers….