Will God determine the result of the next election regardless of what we do?  Many think so based on a faulty interpretation of Romans 14. After spending a few moments answering a listener's question about is whether or not there is a valid calling to the ministry, Brad and Wayne talk about the difference between trusting in God's sovereignty and falling into the passive abyss of fatalism. This not only affects how we participate in a democracy, but also how we view God's work in our daily lives and the value of our responsiveness to him. Growing trust in God and walking with him never leaves us fatalistic. He's active in the world and we can be active alongside him as God touches the world through the lives of his followers.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's Travel Schedule

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts." (Bertrand Russell) Two amazing stories of transformation by God Journey listeners opens up a discussion about how we respond to God's moving in our lives instead of trying to get him to do what we think is best. Then Wayne reads part of an article from Mark Mason about the eight reasons psychologists say we can't trust ourselves or our perspectives. It seems our brain bends our perception of reality to fit our very limited view of the world. While offering some hilarious observations, it also shows why our true freedom is not the freedom to do whatever we want, but to learn to live by the Spirit so that we are not bound by our limited perspectives.  Then we get to embrace a wider view of who he is and a gracious humility about our own conclusions.

Podcast Notes:

Why You Can't Trust Yourself by Mark Manson

Wayne's Travel Schedule

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

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WARNING: Be advised that this podcast is a frank and perhaps for some a controversial conversation about sexuality. Wayne and Brad continue with part two of their conversation with Tracy Levinson, author of Unashamed: candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness, and faith. They start where they left off, talking about navigating the waters where your sexual experience is a disappointment or even a cause of great pain. Then they talk about the entire relationship between a husband and wife and how it affects their sexual experience together. Loving each other is not about manipulating each other for our own wants but growing in the joy of mutually shared selflessness, Finally, they read a letter from a transgendered woman and podcast listener about the the struggles she's had in recently coming out and embracing what she considers freedom and authenticity.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's Travel Schedule

Original Podcast with Tracy

Tracey's latest article on modesty:  Jesus, Nakedness and your Kids\

Seven Things I'm Learning About Transgendered People by Mark Wingfield

unashamed: candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness and faith

Tracy's website

Wayne's review of Tracy's book

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

WARNING: Be advised that this podcast is a frank and perhaps for some a controversial conversation about sexuality. The sex lady returns to discuss some of your questions and comments from our earlier podcast. Wayne and Brad continue their frank and sometimes explicit conversation with Tracy Levinson, author of Unashamed: candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness, and faith, about a grace-based approach to sexuality in a variety of contexts.  They talk about how to deal with sexual issues with children  and how we can teach them modesty and restraint, without tainting their sexuality with fear or shame, and where we may have failed sexually or been taken advantage of how to be at peace with God. They also talk about masturbation and its impact on healthy sexuality, but not as a sin that will disconnect your relationship with God. They also help explore how a couple can communicate more effectively about their frequency, turn-ons  and sort through the places where it has caused pain or disappointment. h or disconnect you from God as you deal with it.

Podcast Notes:

Original Podcast with Tracy

unashamed: candid conversations about dating, love, nakedness and faith

Tracy's website

Wayne's review of Tracy's book

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

New studies just out show just how powerful a network of good friendships can be. One study calls friendship better than morphine for its ability to produce endorphins that have pain-killing effects. Another suggests that the lack of human relationships may be the real cause of addiction, concluding that "the opposite of addiction is not sobriety; it's human connection." It's no wonder then that human brokenness—insecurity, loneliness, and price—keep us from the very relationships we seek.  Finding our life in the Father's affection allows us the freedom to bond with others in healthy friendships that brings joy to our lives in so many ways.  Wayne and Brad talk about what friendship really is and how you can find the connection you need, both with God and others to cultivate the friendships that can have a huge impact in your life.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's Travel Schedule

Friends are Better than Morphine

The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered

Do Your Friends Actually Like You?

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

One of the themes of our ongoing podcast is the time it takes for our brains to switch from living in the bondage of religious performance, to finding our life and freedom in the affection of a gracious Father. It is a journey that takes years and we've often wondered why. Wayne shares with Brad a recent article that excited him by seeming to confirm that this is not only a spiritual reality, but also a physiological reason why it's true. God created our brain to be an amazingly adaptive and because of that our neural pathways are influenced by everything that happens to us and everything we take in. It's an amazing process where the way we think is shaped by the neural pathways that have most influenced us in the past. The good news, however, is that we can blaze new pathways of thinking over time. Old trails unused will fade away and new ones that serve us better can become part of the fabric of our lives. Is this what Paul meant by "the renewing of the mind?" It certainly seems to be part of it and explains why conformity to a list of expectations can never change us.

Podcast Notes:

Article by David Eagleman on Keeping the Brain Active

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

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Brad's concerned that patriotism has become a dirty word among some of his Christian friends and wants to explore why with Wayne. Of course our hope is not in the kingdoms of this world, but does that mean we just abandon the political landscape and not have influence there? That gets them into a discussion about the history of the U.S., the ideals of its founders, American exceptionalism, and how we are living that out almost 250 years later. They talk about the current election, corruption in our national leaders, and the economic greed and political necessity of polarizing the electorate instead of encouraging a moral imagination to cultivate a higher common good than each person's own self-interest. Is there hope for America's future, and is there anything we can do at the local or national level to change the nature of the debate and be a blessing to the country we live in?

Podcast Notes:

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

The picture above is of the dying forest where Wayne's father lives. It is the unintended consequences of shutting down the lumber industry 20 years ago allegedly to protect the forest. But the opposite happened. It's a fitting metaphor for what charity is doing to many third-world economies. Sometimes our most well-intentioned actions have devastating impact we do not foresee and would not have chosen. Wayne recently watched a documentary called Poverty, Inc, and it lays out in stark terms how misguided approaches to helping poorer nations can actually make them more impoverished by destroying their local economy. The industry that surrounds world poverty is structured on obsolete premises and yet continues to exist because it benefits third-world warlords, the banking industry, and agri-business in the first world. This is a powerful movie that will change how you view poverty and failed government and charity polices. We need to empower people in poverty to employ their own creativity to building an economy, rather than use their need to line our own pockets. Perhaps unadvisedly at the end the wade into the current political climate of the U.S.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne's blog on Your Help is Hurting

You can view Poverty, Inc at Netflix and read more about the people behind it here.

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

You can find our latest update on our work in Kenya here.

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

Wayne and Brad are back from their summer hiatus and as they sort through some listener email, they are asked about their own journeys and what God is doing in them at the moment. That spawns some conversation about embracing God's delight in us especially when we're not at our best, and learning the value of living helplessly in the Father's care instead of with an over-exaggerated view of our own abilities to fix the circumstances we hope to fix. Growing in our awareness of helplessness is not hopeless, especially when our hand is in the hand of the Father. In our own lives and in others, only God can work things out the way he desires.

Podcast Notes:

Wayne refers to this book again:  Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson

There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their Trip to Israel

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"

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

Podcast Notes:

Children Unplugged podcast

Engage Videos at Lifestream

Information on the GJ Trip to Israel

Add your voice to our question/comment line via Skype at "TheGodJourney"