The God Journey

Why are so many Christians beginning to see empathy as a threat to truth? Wayne and Kyle explore this troubling trend and what it reveals about our understanding of God's kingdom. From surprising election results to Jesus' encounters with broken people, they consider the difference between enforcing morality and inviting people into the transforming power of love. What if empathy isn't the enemy of truth, but the doorway through which truth can be heard? Living in God's kingdom isn't about imposing our values on others, but learning to see and love people as the conduit for God's truth to heal them.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• The Empathy Gap
• Get HE LOVES ME and JUST LOVE together for a special price.

The post When Empathy Becomes the Enemy (#1059) first appeared on The God Journey.

From struggling orphanages in Kenya to ministries with seemingly limitless resources, the contrasts are heartbreaking. How does something as beautiful as generosity become a tool for manipulation and personal enrichment? After watching The Religious Business, Wayne and Kyle wrestle with the troubling financial practices of some religious organizations and leaders who accumulate extraordinary wealth while appealing to the sacrificial giving of others. What happens when the needs of vulnerable people get lost behind lavish lifestyles and institutional ambitions? Their conversation isn't just about exposing excess; it's also about their own discomfort with receiving generosity, the importance of financial integrity, and the incredible beauty of people freely sharing what they have to bless others. Let's not let the abuse diminish the beauty of generosity, but rediscover it as a reflection of God's love—freely given, honestly stewarded, and never manipulated.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• The Empathy Gap
• The Religion Business documentary

The post The Religion Business (#1058) first appeared on The God Journey.

What happens when loyalty to a group becomes more important than our willingness to see what's true? Wayne and Kyle explore Dietrich Bonhoeffer's provocative reflections on stupidity—not as a lack of intelligence, but as the blindness that comes when we surrender our discernment to the crowd. Whether in politics, religion, or our closest relationships, it's easy to become so convinced we're right that we can no longer hear another perspective. But how does God free us from that blindness? Through stories of unlikely friendships, challenging conversations, and personal discoveries, Wayne and Kyle consider how love opens doors that arguments and confrontation often cannot. Perhaps God's light doesn't need to overwhelm the darkness but simply find a willing heart where it can take root. How do we remain open to the gentle light of Jesus, even when it challenges the things we thought we knew?

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• My Friend Luis and the immigration story Kyle refers to early in the podcast
• Bonhoffer's essay on Stupidity

The post Too Blind to Know It? (#1057) first appeared on The God Journey.

After returning from New England and eastern Canada, Wayne catches up with Kyle about a disappointing decision by Wyoming's Community College Commission. Then an assessment by AI of Wayne's strengths and weaknesses opens a deeper conversation about success, influence, and the ways we measure a fruitful life. What if following Jesus takes us down paths that don't fit the world's expectations of achievement or significance? His priorities may lead us toward quieter acts of love, unexpected relationships, and opportunities we could never have planned for ourselves. Wayne and Kyle explore what it means to follow Jesus without needing to leverage every opportunity, build something lasting, or measure our lives by visible results.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• Get your copy of It's Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age

The post When Following Jesus Looks Different (#1056) first appeared on The God Journey.

Wayne and Kyle explore how to live out of love, especially when in conflicted situations. Drawing from Wayne and Tobie’s recent How Does Love Make Right? seminar, they walk through seven ways love can respond to hurt and injustice: presence, truth, impact, responsibility, protection, restoration, and freedom. The goal is not to control people or force an outcome, but to learn how to act from the fullness of God’s love rather than fear, scarcity, or self-protection. Along the way, they reflect on boundaries, honest apologies, safe relationships, arrogance, and the challenge of telling the truth without weaponizing it. Love does not ignore what is broken, nor does it pretend every situation can be fixed on demand. It helps us see clearly, own what is ours, protect what matters, and make room for restoration wherever it is possible.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• Get your copy of Just Love
• Living Out of Just Love —
  1. Presence: Am I responding from God’s fullness or my own fear?
  2. Truth: What is actually happening here?
  3. Impact: Who is being diminished, excluded, controlled, or harmed?
  4. Responsibility: What belongs to me to own or repair?
  5. Protection: What boundary or intervention may be needed?
  6. Restoration: What might help restore life, dignity, agency, or wholeness?
  7. Freedom: Can I act in love without controlling the outcome?

The post How Love Responds to What’s Broken (#1055) first appeared on The God Journey.

Suzie Bell, whom we don't know, posted a list of FaceBook of things she needed to unlearn. Wayne and Kyle explore some of the lessons many of us absorbed along the way that may need to be unlearned if we are going to live more freely in God’s love. Faith is not the same as denial. Loyalty is not always the same as truth. Forgiveness does not require pretending the harm never happened, and disagreement is not rebellion. Leaving a church, relationship, or career does not necessarily mean failure. Sometimes healing begins when we finally question the assumptions that once kept us safe but now keep us stuck. Along the way, they reflect on friendship, loss, performance, telling our stories honestly without weaponizing them, and the courage it takes to face pain rather than avoid it. Unlearning is not about throwing everything away; it is about making room for what is truer, freer, and more deeply rooted in God's nature.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)

The post What I Had to Unlearn (#1054) first appeared on The God Journey.

"I had to decide that love meant something more to God than it meant to me, or he didn't love me." That comment from a friend of Wayne's sparks a conversation with Kyle about what happens when our familiar definitions no longer fit what God is actually doing in us. Pain does not necessarily mean God is absent. Sometimes growth allows us to see through our circumstances and fears to have a better grasp of what it means to walk with him. Along the way, they talk about vulnerability, healing, unanswered outcomes, Lewis’s dreams about laying down his weapons, and the courage to tell our stories honestly. Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of spiritual growth is allowing God to redefine things we thought we already understood—and discovering that his reality is often larger, kinder, and more redemptive than the categories we inherited.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• The Singing Bible
• The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist - a fun and interesting documentary on AI
• Get your copy of It's Time

The post Seeing Through a Better Lens (#1053) first appeared on The God Journey.

After a brief discussion about the current AI brouhaha, Wayne and Kyle continue their conversation about what it means to abide in Christ. They make an important distinction between responding to God's invitation and being pressured into it. Fear, religious performance, and the demand to “get it right” can make spiritual life feel forced, but God’s presence draws us another way. Abiding grows as we recognize his invitation in our longing and respond to what he reveals. Then we'll be prepared when difficult times come and not have to try to close the circle with our own resources. Exploring his presence is best done in love, at rest, and with playfulness. Genuine abiding is not driven by obligation; it unfolds in love, trust, and an increasing freedom to live with God in the reality of our everyday lives.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days)
• The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist - a fun and interesting documentary on AI
• Get your copy of It's Time

The post The Invitation to Abide (#1052) first appeared on The God Journey.

Wayne and Kyle explore Jesus’s invitation to abide in him. It often begins with longing—a desire to know his presence and have him walk with us through life. But abiding is not something we manufacture through spiritual practices or dramatic experiences. It unfolds as God reveals himself and we recognize the ways he is already present with us through insights, nudges, impressions, and a growing awareness deeper than our own thoughts As we embrace what he reveals, we learn to follow. Over time, his life becomes less confined to extraordinary moments and more deeply woven into the ordinary ones—our conversations, relationships, disappointments, questions, and daily routines. Abiding is learning to recognize how God is merging his reality with ours and to live in heart-to-heart engagement with him.

Podcast Notes:

• The video recording of this podcast. (Because of Facebook policies, this link will only stay active for 30 days.)
• Get your copy of Just Love

The post What Does It Mean to Abide? (#1051) first appeared on The God Journey.

Wayne, Kyle, and Joni continue their conversation about patriarchy, moving from cultural systems and religious interpretations into the deeper ways...

The post Patriarchy Diminishes Us All (#1039) first appeared on The God Journey.