In this week of violence, where ten people buying groceries are murdered; where nineteen children are massacred in a school class room; where Taiwanese Christians are attacked while gathering to worship—what can we say? These events happened in only the last seven days.

In a time where we are divided and separated by politics and news—what can we say?

In a time where some of us are in personal health crisis not knowing the future or even the present—what can we say?

In this time where our private pain is so often masked by the tyranny of the urgent that we just quit sharing our inner world because the outer world is changing every single day.

“There’s a trick to the ‘graceful exit.’ It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over — and let it go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out.”

―Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and founder of “The Conversation Project

There's so much in this for each of us. How can we embrace the paradigm that an exit is "moving up" rather than "moving out?"

My life’s work has been to care for the souls of Christian leaders in the marketplace and ministry. Much is at stake in the lives of a leader, the leader’s family, and the lives of those in their spheres of influence. To be a leader has always carried risks, but it seems those risks are exponentially greater these days. Sadly, what we are currently witnessing is a broad disintegration of leadership in every corner of American life. From the halls of government to the corporate board room to the pastor’s study, Jesus’ piercing question rings loud and clear: