Here are 6 things I thought were worth sharing this week:

1. In recent months I’ve become aware of feeling much grief. Partly losses close to my own life in the past several years, partly friends and their immense losses, as well as early deaths. Then there’s my daily work engaging the United Nations, and becoming more aware of places of increasing suffering, from Myanmar to Syria to Palestine. And in an MCC meeting this week, this comment from a well-connected leader: “Pastors are weary. They’re running on adrenaline. It’s not sustainable.” As my life gets longer, I didn’t anticipate the impact of increasing loss. It’s not easy to accept that to love much is to also suffer much. I am trying to be drawn closer to knowing the God who is somehow present to all this, a God who suffers. In the words of the hymn “My Song is Love Unknown,” “Never was love, dear King, never was grief, like Thine.”

2. When life and the world gets difficult, I try to seek out things that spark joy. On a recent afternoon in my beloved Adirondack Mountains, after canoeing my favorite lake, and taking a plunge into icy waters, I sat down in the grass. And lo and behold, close by swimming from my left came a loon. Normally I am pursuing those magical creatures. It was as if it was seeking me.

3. Recommended: Christianity Today’s article “What Evangelicals Owe Haiti” is a superb look at a country which has been “over-missionized” with minimal effect on the nation as a whole. If you tempted to withdraw from politics, or don’t think political power can be used for enormous good, watch this surprising New York Times video story “In This Story, George Bush is the Hero” (how 25 million lives were saved during the AIDS crisis).

4. As part of my United Nations engagement with MCC, I’m part of the NGO Working Group/Security Council, about 30 agencies that meet off-the-record with members of the Security Council, the premier global body for maintaining international peace and security. What keeps coming up is division within the “Permanent 5” members which is paralyzing action. With rising US-China tensions, as one ambassador put it, “when two elephants fight, everyone else gets trampled.” And as a “P5” member, Russia’s illegal military invasion of Ukraine is perverting the Council’s legitimacy. I’ll be writing more about what, if anything, can be done.

5. Releasing one week from today on May 23, my new book “From Pandemic to Renewal” is much on my mind. A mentor I sent an advance copy to sent some kind words: “Your new book arrived yesterday, and I am already well into it.  You have a good writing style and compelling message. The issue of personal transformation through Christ directing our stance and response toward crisis is urgently needed by the church, reeling as it is from loss of vision and fractured by seemingly irreconcilable conflict. Thanks for sharing your infectious sense of vocation.”

6. Comments like that make it worth it, given the ups and downs of writing a book – expressed so well in these two cartoons. So, hey, please think about pre-ordering my book here. If you like it, tell others. And if you’re a praying person, please – do that too.