Thriving In Exile

The idea for Thriving in Exile first germinated in 2011 after our beloved pastor, Elston Brown, passed away and my mom, June Elliott, exhorted our church to "bloom where we are planted." I began pondering the story of Jeremiah and the oft-quoted (misquoted? or at least, misapplied?) Scripture which promises wonderful plans of a future and a hope. Just so happens, for the Jewish people, those plans also involved exile. But the lessons they learned would help the Jewish people survive and thrive through thousands of years of exile.

Fast forward to Election Night 2012. I felt crushed. But in the same moment, the lessons of Jeremiah 29 came into my mind. So I woke up early the next morning and wrote an email to a few hundred thousand of my closes friends. It even reached Glenn Beck...(1)

We started hearing back from folks all across the country with whom this "thriving" message resonated. So I began writing in longer form the lessons I had articulated in that email. 

Recently, i ran across an email my sister, Dawn, forwarded me from a friend she had just given a copy of Thriving In Exile...

I had never considered the thought of being In exile, but that is exactly where I am at....  Strange how the thought of being in exile now seems to be okay, and it shed light into the darkness. I think it may have even given me a ray of hope that just possibly I can plant something from my own thoughts into a blue box and see what happens.... So, in exile I will dwell for as long as it is in His plan, but I will try something different. Build, plant, pray and bless. Thank you again! God Bless!

I ended up writing two more companion books as part of a "Thriving Series." The lessons of that season remain with me and I hope they will bless you.

P.S. Here's a vignette we created from content in Thriving In Exile on Ronald Reagan:

(1) Funny thing... The week Glenn Beck launched his TV career on Fox, I was a guest. It was my first national TV interview. His career took off like a rocket after that. Coincidence?