Run to the Refuge
 What a crazy year 2020 has been! To think we'd be dealing with a worldwide pandemic, growing tension over our racial divide, wildfires out west, and hurricane flooding down south? I know this has been a brutal time for many people on this list, losing people you love, your business, or your employment. My heart goes out to all of you who have been touched by these tragedies in painful ways.
This is why the Psalmists repeatedly refer to God as a refuge, a safe place to run where our soul can be at rest. I know some think that means if we pray hard enough God will turn all our circumstances to bliss. However, that isn't the way he works most often. Don't get me wrong, I love it when God does miracles to calm our storms or heal our sicknesses. But he doesn't always work that way, and certainly not on our whim. He can make chocolate cake out of my broccoli, but that's not usually how he works. No, I've not asked him to but you can be sure I've prayed similar-sounding prayers to his ears.
But whether or not he changes our circumstances, he is nonetheless the best refuge for you to come to when you're feeling overwhelmed with life. Lean in with the certainty that he has a way to navigate you through anything, even if you can't see it or feel him. He is still our refuge. Let him soothe your heart, give you a trust bigger than your fears, and then you'll be better able to see how he is inviting you to find his way through your challenges.
I know that isn't easy, but where else do we have to go? Ask him to teach you, because when the world falls apart around you, you want to know that he is big enough to hold your pain and heal your heart.
A Breath of Fresh Air
On Sunday, all of you on this email list will receive an email with a word of encouragement on it, much like the one above. They all won't be this artsy, but they will invite your heart into a more relational space with the God who loves you. We're going to start sending those out every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings (U.S. time) as a gift to you. Knowing, however, you didn't sign up for three emails a week in your inbox, you will only receive them for the first week. If you don't want that much email, do nothing. They will stop after Thursday. If you now you want them, however, you can opt-in to our Breath of Fresh Air updates by clicking here and updating your email preferences. If you want to try them out, we'll provide the same link at the bottom of those first three.
New Companion to A Language of Healing
Many of you have been reading my latest book, The Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation: Creating safe environments for conversations about race, politics, sexuality, and religion. Written with coauthors Arnita Taylor and Bob Prater, this couldn't be a more timely read to help us find the solutions our culture desperately needs. I have been thrilled at the fruitful conversations this book has invited me into, even while others on both sides seem more interested in bashing each other over the head. Many have asked if we would also produce a Conversation Guide for those who want to host small-group discussions about race, religion, sexuality, or politics. I know of no other book that offers such a valuable resource for such a time as this. You can order or copies of A Language of Healing and The Conversation Guide with these links.
2020 Travel
Obviously, all my travel has been on-hold since the pandemic hit. There's just no way for me to gather people in the current climate. I am, however, doing a lot of Zoom conversations with various groups if that's of interest. You have not because you ask not.
New Lifestreams for Personal Enrichment
We've included a new feature at Lifestream.org to help people explore a lot of our resources there. We're calling them Lifestreams and I'll be explaining more about them in the future. This will allow people to explore resources that will help them answer in their own journey five of the most important questions I help people sort out as I travel. This arranges my books, articles, recordings, and blogs so that people can go through them as a course of study in exploring the answer to these questions:
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