Written by Ross Wakeley

Finding GodGod in life’s journey

Practical ideas Practical ideas

for everyday lifefor everyday life

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Lorraine is 84 now and she’s

had a tough life. Back in her

early 30’s, her husband dumped

her for another woman!

Lorraine had five young kids,

lived in a country town and had

to get work just to survive.

She’d got married in a local

church, but when this crisis

came they left her to cope on

her own.

For Lorraine the church is full of hypocrites and things got no

better some years later. One of her son’s—

Graham—was married and he and his wife

had the joy of a new baby.

They attended a local church in St Mary’s

and asked the pastor to christen their baby.

“Ah sorry mate, you don’t live in my parish.

Try the Pastor where you live.” So Graham

made a call and got this response:

“Yes, I’ll christen your child, but only after

you’ve attended my church for six weeks

and the church accepts you.”

Graham tells me he hung up on that bloke, went home, told his

wife and she hit the roof at such hypocritical religion.

I’m not sure about how you

feel about this true story, but

that sort of religious behaviour

makes me boil!

It’s NOT God’s nature.

Note: Names changed in this story to guard privacy

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What Lorraine and Graham copped is actually religion. So let

me be clear—religion is all about what I need to DO to try and

get right with God. It never works.

In this booklet, we’re exploring:

How do I find God in the everyday struggles of life?

What will Jesus do to help me?

How do I have a relationship with Jesus?

So let’s be clear—Christianity has a focus on Jesus Christ and

what he has DONE for all of us—so we can be loved, free and

accepted by God. Its relational, experiential and based on the

truths of the Bible. Christians often ‘stuff up’ but ‘own up’ to

our failures (and hopefully give others lots of grace).

Thankfully God isn’t yelling at us or trying to dump guilt on us.

Let’s explore this journey of finding God with the story of a

well-known Aussie—Ken Duncan.

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Ken Duncan is one of the country's most loved photographers

with his striking landscape panoramas found in thousands of

homes and offices. His work has appeared in publications such

as Time and National Geographic. Ken describes himself as

“an average photographer, with a great God”. His first solo book

was published in 1987 and since 1992, he’s produced over 30

individual titles. Ken and Mel Gibson went to school together,

and when Mel was making the movie The Passion of the Christ,

he invited Ken to shoot the official photo's [it’s a brilliant book].

Photo Source: Ken Duncan ©

2012 Divine Guidance P/L

Years before the books, Ken developed a relationship with

Jesus Christ. Ken says, “My surrender to Jesus was an act of

faith after running into life’s brick walls. I only wish someone

could have saved me a little pain and shown me the evidence”.

Photo Source: Ken Duncan ©

2012 Divine Guidance P/L

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John Howard asked Ken to write a letter to George Bush

explaining why he decided to publish the book. Ken Duncan

wrote: “The reason why I did this book is to remind America

that the only thing which would

keep them strong for troubled

times ahead is their faith in

God, and that is under attack.

Trust in God.”

Next day, the September 11

terrorist attacks occurred. Bush

wrote to Ken: “At a time when I

had to make some very heavy

decisions over my nation, I’d

like to thank you for this book,

because I’m reminded how

blessed our nation is by God.

Thank you so much.”

Ken says, “Jesus life, death and resurrection can change our

lives forever. The story is true and his purpose is real. As a

Christian, when I stand in the beauty of God’s creation, I’m

not afraid, because I think, ‘How great is my God, how big is

my God and how small am I, and yet He loves me.’ A person

who doesn’t know God, finds the universe begins to show

them how small they are and how imprisoning fear can be”.

On September 7, 2001,

Ken Duncan’s photobook,

America Wide: In God

We Trust, was launched.

It featured the 50 states

of America. It was given

to former president

George W Bush on

September 10 by then

Australian prime minister

John Howard.

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MY WORLDVIEW

The story of Ken Duncan tells of a man moving from NO faith

in God to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Ken proved his choice

is a good decision. Many other people are on their own faith

journey and look at life through our unique worldview.

1. The overall perspective from which we see and interpret

events in the world.

2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held

by an individual or a group.

The CHART explores a range of worldviews. Where are you at?

2000 years ago in Israel, a brilliant Jew named Saul attempted

to kill the early followers of Jesus Christ. He passionately hated

Jesus—his worldview was that his Jewish faith was THE truth

and everything else was a lie. Then everything changes.

Riding to Damascus—on a mission to capture and kill Christians—

Saul has a unique experience. A bright light from heaven flashed

around him. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to

him, "Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"

Saul asked, "Who are you,

Lord?" The voice answered,

"I am Jesus, whom you are

persecuting”. (Acts 9:3-5)

This dramatic event radically

changes Saul’s worldview and

he changes his name to Paul!

Saul—like lots of Aussies—had a

wrong view of God. Let me look

at four common views of God

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Ken Duncan and Paul discovered a personal relationship with

God himself. They proved that God is not angry at us.

Jesus is not against us, but for us. The real God continuously

acts to love us. God is not into man-made religion, but is

totally compassionate and brings us freedom and life. So,

HOW do I find God in the everyday struggles of life?

Wrong views of God—

4. God is a kindly

grandfather who helps

us when we are in need.

2. God is a divine rescue

service to bail me out

when things get rough.

1. God is a moral policeman

just waiting to thump me

when I step out of line.

3. God is just an old man

in the sky who only

acts if we yell loudly.

God as a

moral policeman

God as an old

man in the sky

God as

Santa Claus

God as a

divine rescuer

Celestial Police Emergency Service

Celestial Deliveries

Celestial

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WHAT ACTIVITY, PLACE

OR ACTION HELPS YOU

BEST ENCOUNTER GOD?

1. Sensory

2. Rational

3. Truth

4. Bible

5. Sharing

6. Discipline

7. Passion

8. Mystic

9. Sacrament

Enjoying the

works of God,

all of nature

Logic and

scientific proof

is vital to us

Truth and systematic

belief thinking

Know God’s

Word. Apply

it to daily life

Prefer to help

other people

to show God

Self-sacrifice

and led by my

inner values

Celebrate

God’s power

to change life

Enjoying God’s

presence in

our life daily

Express Jesus’

life in ritual

and symbol

The heavens declare

the glory of God.

Psalm 19:1

God says, “Lift your

eyes to the heavens.”

Isaiah 40:26

Don’t believe empty philosophies of man’s

ideas. Colossians 2:8

All Scripture is God

inspired and teaches

truth. 2 Timothy 3:16

Mary responded,

“I am the Lord’s

servant.” Luke 1:38

Let God transform

you by changing your

thinking. Rom 12:2

God’s Kingdom is us

living by God’s power.

1 Corinthians 4:20

Our Father loves us,

and he calls us his

children. 1 John 3:1

God became human

and made his home

among us. John 1:14

Our style of

spiritual life

Favourite

location

Our Focus

Bible verse

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2. Rational Style

The people with a rational style,

will naturally seek God or express

their spirituality through mental

activity. They reflect and look for

logic and scientific proof to back

up their faith in God.

1. Sensory Style

People with a sensory style, use

five senses in their spirituality. To

enjoy God’s creation—the beach,

bush, the heavens or the stunning

flowers and amazing animals God

has made lifts our spirit.

3. Truth spiritual Style

A style fitting people into systematic

beliefs and truth. They have no time

for frauds or empty religion. They

like things to be done “properly”,

often dislike emotion and can be

critical of those with a passion style.

4. Bible driven Style

People with a spiritual search that is

sparked with a Scripture-driven style,

naturally express their spirituality

through the study of the Bible. They

will also apply biblical principles to

life, but can be a bit judgemental.

HOW OUR UNIQUE PERSONALITY HELPS US FIND GOD

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5. Sharing Style

Your spiritual journey is energised as

you share what God is doing in your

life with other people. You like to

share God’s love with others through

talking and caring. You discover more

about God from a chat with friends.

6. Self discipline Style

Often “loners” fit this style. May have

little interest in material and worldly

stuff. They will happily make a sacrifice

of their time and pull back from life to

chase after time with God. They find

sharing style people hard to accept.

7. Passion Style

Spirituality develops from super–

natural encounters with God and an

outward passion for God. These folk

trust in God’s power, enthusiastic

about their faith, but can be open

to emotional manipulation.

8. Mystical Style

The spiritual journey is explored in an

experiential way—people look for a

place to just “be” in God’s presence.

They ask God to give them revelation

of truth and for the God/individual

relationship to be developed through

worship and enjoying time with God.

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9. Sacramental Style

A style appeals to people who search

for or worship Jesus best through

ritual, symbol and sacraments [Holy

Communion, Lord’s Supper or Mass].

This style links spirituality with our

senses and a real love for tradition

and symbols of faith. A risk is that

the familiar becomes an empty ritual.

What spiritual

style do you have?

[it may be a mix

of a few styles]

What insights have

you gained about

how you seek for

God in this world?

Any other personal

reflections?

Resources to assist your spiritual searching

Alpha course—a 12 week course that includes relevant talks,

small group discussion and treats questions with respect.

See www.alpha.org.au or http://uk-england.alpha.org/alpha

Colours of Spirituality—http://3colorsofyourspirituality.org/en

Finger of God—film explores what God’s doing supernaturally

in people all over the world. See www.fingerofgodfilm.com

Brennan Manning—Ragamuffin Gospel (see next page)

My web site is full of FREE resources to help you explore a

spiritual journey. See http://wakeley.weebly.com

Acknowledgment: 3 Colors of Your Spirituality

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The Word (Jesus Christ) became human and made his home

among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.

(John 1:14) God gives you and I grace—favour that we don’t

deserve—no matter what we’ve done. Absorb that good news.

WHAT WILL JESUS DO TO HELP ME?

“I hope there is something more than this”

“I’m a spiritual person for sure....not religious though.”

“I don’t like the formal church structures (of spirituality)”

“My parents went to church but I’m probably more spiritual”

Brennan Manning began

his working life as a Catholic

priest and then became a

gutter alcoholic. Brennan

knew about a God of grace.

But like many of us, he had

trouble applying God’s real

grace to our daily life.

So easily we see God as a

bookkeeper recording our

failures and successes on a

score sheet—and we never

win! There is good news

We come to Jesus as ragamuffins—

dirty, bedraggled and beat-up—and

he embraces us in his arms of love.

Brennan Manning proved this true.

He is one of the most “free” people

I know and is released from his

earlier life of pain by experiencing

the unlimited love of Jesus.

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WHAT WILL JESUS DO TO HELP ME?

Charlie Brown discovers life is tough and we all need some one

who really understands our struggles. Jesus TOTALLY does—

Jesus had equal status with God but didn't think so much of

himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no

matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the

privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became

human! Having become human, he stayed human.

It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special

privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then

died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death

at that—a crucifixion. Philippians 2:5-8 (The Message)

In prayer (which is honest talking to God) we have a God—in

Jesus—who hears our words; our heart and knows where we

are at. He will never reject us. Never “hangs up” because we

get angry at God. His love, faithfulness and goodness is real.

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THE GREAT ELECTRICIAN

Once upon a time there was a Great

Electrician (GE). He made himself a

light globe and called it Osram. He

was pleased with that light globe

and it shone with a wonderful light.

The light wasn't just 'light' it also

radiated love, joy and peace. The

Great Electrician said to Osram,

“Go and enjoy yourself and fill the

whole place with your light. The only

thing I ask you not to do is, don't

let anything shake you. If you do,

you will die, your light will go out.”

Osram was very happy. One day someone came along. A handy

man. He said to Osram, “What makes you shine so bright?

Can I have a look?” So Osram allowed the handyman to look,

but he couldn't see anything because of the light being emitted.

He gave Osram a shake. The filament in Osram stretched and

broke and his light went out.

“Whoops!” said Osram. “I'm

in trouble now.” The light had

gone out and Osram could see

that his filament was broken.

“GE will get angry with me”,

he muttered, and tried to hide.

GE said to Osram,

“Why are you hiding?”

Osram told GE what had

happened and GE said,

“Wait, I will fix you directly.”

But Osram didn't wait.

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Then GE came back and replaced the filament with a new one.

GE said to Osram, “There you go, you've been born again.”

Osram was puzzled because no light came out. He asked GE

why no light came out of him.

GE said to Osram, “You must

remain plugged into me from

now on.” However Osram was

a bit naughty and wouldn't

stay plugged into GE. At times

he'd wander about and his

light would go out and he’d

wander around in the dark.

Eventually he'd go back to GE

get plugged in and restored.

But after a while, he'd repeat the cycle. Story © Bill Rossiter

He went to the handyman and

said, “You broke me, you fix me.”

So the handyman dismantled

Osram and siliconed his filament

together. But Osram still could

not produce light.

“Hang on,” said the handyman,

“I know a bloke who might be able to fix you.” They used duct

tape, glue and wire to try and replace the filament but nothing

worked. One or two got a flash for an instant but the filament

would not last long enough to produce light.

I’m sure you know who the Great Electrician (GE) really is,

in this story from Bill Rossiter (he lives in Tasmania). I liked

it as it “highlights” how being independent from God only

makes life tougher for you and I.

Many of us “do it on our own” as we’ve been hurt by religion or

life. Been there? Here’s some help with the pain or questions

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It’s common for us to blame God for our suffering and tell God

to fix the problem. In our pain, we can miss reality. What do I

mean? Imagine you’ve been booked by the police for speeding.

We have a cycle of emotions: shock, denial, anger, “It's not my

fault!” Mankind does the same thing: we blame God for our stuff.

Paul Young, author of The Shack, says:

“People often embrace fear, pain, power and

rights in our relationships. We center our lives

around things that leave us feeling empty.

We’re addicted to power and the illusion of

security that power offers. When a disaster

happens, we’ll turn against the false powers

we trusted. In our disappointment, we’ll either

become softened toward God (‘Help God, I

need to be rescued’), or we become bolder

in our independence (‘You’ve let me down,

so go away God, I’m better off on my own’.)”

Paul Young carried an immense amount of

hidden pain in his life. He’d been sexually

abused at six and then the church wounded

him with judgmental attitudes. He hid it all

down deep inside. That was until his wife

caught Paul (then in his late 40’s) having

an affair with another woman. Now, he

had to deal with all of his junk and pain.

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Lots of us keep our secrets, our sin, our pain and our shame in

‘The Shack’. We’re scared to go there. Scared God will wack

us. Overwhelmed by all of our failure. We feel really powerless

to make things right. We know all of the religions will fail us.

Here is the GOOD news—

As a result of Jesus’ death for all mankind on the Cross and his

resurrection, our shame and sin has been dealt with—forever.

Accept God’s gift and we stand in a place of freedom, mercy,

forgiveness, love and acceptance. Our choice. God transforms

our ‘shack’ from a scary place to us being healed and whole.

Paul Young released his book

about six years ago—over ten

million have been sold. Why?

It’s honest about life. It really

helps with our pain, suffering

and getting a better view of a

God who is good and is love.

We live transformed,

knowing and experiencing

that we are adopted into

the centre of God’s love.

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You and I are You and I are

adopted into the adopted into the

centre of God’s lovecentre of God’s love

Jesus

Father

Holy Spirit

God doesn’t make junk! You are lovedGod doesn’t make junk! You are loved

Applying this to MY life

Does this stuff work? Do the ‘finding

God’ and my notes on dealing with

our pain when we’ve had a run in with

people caught in religion really work?

This photo is our family in Nowra

back in early 1988. We’d been asked

to Pastor a church of 80 people and

we took it on with enthusiasm. The

church doubled in size in two years,

BUT then the “attacks” began

For example, one leader accused me of “leaving the narrow

path”—he was stating I was no longer a “true Christian.” That’s

about as low as you can get to knock another person who is a

Christian. I was shattered. He said it due to jealousy, insecurity

and what is called a ‘religious spirit,’ but I was stuffed for a bit.

I really had to let God heal me and the help of my family and

friends was pivotal into recovering from that time of criticism.

Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible, New International

Version ® Copyright 1984 by International Bible Society

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993-2002.

Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Acknowledgements: Photo’s—Passion movie, internet, author

Booklet © 2012 Ross Wakeley

Colour version free at http://wakeley.weebly.com

Jesus Christ has helped Jan & I through many

tough times. We’ve proven God’s love, care

and goodness is ‘rock solid’. Jesus is also our

role model of how to handle struggles.

Jesus daily lived from God the Father’s—

Affirmation—“You are my beloved Son”

Empowerment—Jesus was totally dependant

Revelation—That is how Jesus lived/spoke

“Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the

best of several ways; He is the only way.” (A. W. Tozer) God put

us here to LIVE. If people are crying out for help, Jesus does not

reject them. He'd be saying, “I’m here to help you.” And he does.

You may find a counsellor or your Chaplain a help in your journey.

As the quote from the movie, Shawshank Redemption bluntly

puts it: “Either get busy living, or get busy dying”. Choose life.