Space for Life

In this episode, Tommy sits down with Justin Jones-Fosu, CEO of Work Meaningful and author of Stop Chasing, Start Creating. They talk about forgiving a father who left, why forgiveness is a choice you keep making, and Justin's new book. Find more at TommyThompson.com.

0:00 Intro

2:08 Justin's parents divorce and people pleasing

4:26 The shoebox exercise and therapy

6:52 Choosing to hear his dad's story

10:57 What choosing to forgive means

14:58 Accept what is, ask what if

18:07 Forgiveness as a daily choice

22:15 Wondering what happened to them

28:31 The mirror test for forgiveness

30:50 Inside Stop Chasing, Start Creating

38:03 The 67 sayings and the blank one

41:47 Values reviews and defining meaningful

43:29 Tommy's life mission story

48:53 Mindset, momentum, and mastery

52:32 Fables, Live Meaningful, and what's next

55:58 Why 67 days

How to Forgive a Parent Who Left, Why Forgiveness Is a Daily Choice, Faith and Forgiveness After Abandonment, Spiritual Growth Through Hard Family Stories, Stop Chasing Approval and Start Creating Meaning, The Tortoise and the Hare Before the Race, How to Stop People Pleasing, Finding Your Values and Living by Them, Christian Faith Podcast on Forgiveness, Personal Development for People of Faith, Creating Meaning in the Middle of the Mess

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://tommythompson.org

Charis Napier, Worship Lead Pastor at Hope Church, joins Tommy to talk about what worship is and why it's so much more than the singing before the sermon. They cover how to worship when you can't carry a tune or don't feel like it, what it means to sing words you're still growing into, and the many ways people worship beyond Sunday morning. Charis also shares how worship carried her through loss, and how it can be a place of healing in the hardest seasons of life.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Charis's two-part view of worship: being honest before God, then acknowledging who he is.
• The John Piper definition she says she doesn't need to improve on.
• Why genuine worship is the most beautiful thing she sees from the stage, no matter how it sounds.
• The 5am morning she told God she wasn't feeling it, and the psalm that turned it around.
• How singing words you don't feel yet can be faith, not dishonesty.
• Ways to worship beyond singing, from her husband's drumming to her mother-in-law's work with the dying.
• How the Psalms give language to grief and lead back to praise.
• A simple way to start if worship has only ever meant Sunday morning.
• 
  

(0:00) Why worship, why now

(3:29) Meet Charis Napier

(4:36) Her dad's diagnosis and her mom

(6:19) Leading the youth band at 14

(10:16) How Charis defines worship

(13:18) John Piper on worship

(15:58) If you can't carry a tune

(19:12) Why we gather on Sunday

(21:37) When you don't feel like going

(24:29) The 5am "I'm not feeling it"

(26:47) Singing words you don't feel yet

(28:08) Leading "I Trust in God" after loss

(31:55) The many ways we worship

(38:21) Her mother-in-law's quiet worship

(41:06) Worship in lament

(43:22) Praise in the waiting room

(46:49) The honesty of the Psalms

(48:11) In lament, praise erupts

(51:07) Where to start

(54:01) Thank you, Charis

Learn more about Charis at Hope Church.

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://tommythompson.org

Brett McCracken has written about faith and culture for 20 years. His new book, The Wisdom of Sleep, starts with a simple question: why would God design people to be unconscious for a third of their lives, especially now, when a phone makes it easy to stay on? He and Tommy talk about sleep as a gift you receive, what scrolling does instead of rest, and how a bad night shows up in the people around you.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Why a few minutes of scrolling feels like rest and leaves you more tired.
• Why God resting on the seventh day still matters when work can follow you home.
• How the garden, the wilderness, and heaven are all about rest, and where sleep fits.
• Why the single best thing you can do for your health is something you lie down and receive.
• What dreaming does with the conversations and inputs of the day you just lived.
• When sleeplessness is a disorder you should get help for, and when it is a choice.
• Why sleep looks like death on purpose, and why waking up points at resurrection.
• How a bad night changes how you show up for your family and your work.

(0:00) How he started writing (9:52) Parenting made sleep urgent (12:45) Technology gives you a reason not to rest (18:16) Why God made us sleep (24:14) Rest was the point, then we lost it (31:36) The best thing for your health is received (38:25) What your brain does while you dream (47:28) When poor sleep is a choice (53:50) Sleep looks like death on purpose (1:01:06) How your sleep lands on other people (1:06:52) The last 30 minutes, and the gaps in the day

The Wisdom of Sleep is available in print and as an audiobook Brett narrated. More of his writing is at The Gospel Coalition, and his other books are at brettmccracken.com.

Braxton Byerson grew up in a military family, played with both brothers at Virginia Union, then took the game to Uruguay and China before the ball stopped bouncing for him. Now he coaches, speaks, and writes about confidence, choices, and character, including the hard question he puts to young men: who are you when you do not get applause? Tommy talks with Braxton about getting cut, starting over with middle school girls basketball, life after a divorce, and why the words young people need most are I'm with you.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Braxton grows up in Chester, VA, rooted in faith and humility by parents who cared more about character than applause.
• All three Byerson brothers play together at Virginia Union, a first in CIAA history.
• Pro ball in Uruguay and China puts him outside his language and comfort zone, and teaches him to sit back and listen.
• Confidence, choices, and character become his trifecta for student athletes.
• Getting cut in sixth grade, then again overseas, and choosing to show up anyway.
• Coaching a middle school girls team that had won three games in eight years into the playoffs four years running.
• Writing Stay on the Tracks, getting certified as a life coach, and taking the leap when fear and trust in God cannot share the same seat.
• Why youth open up when an adult says I'm with you, and Galatians 6:9 as the line he leaves people with.

(0:00) Intro

(3:50) Military kid to Chester, Virginia 

(7:45) Three brothers at Virginia Union 

(9:15) Pro ball in Uruguay and China

(15:15) Confidence, choices, and character

(19:25) Who are you without applause

(20:45) The ring of existence

(27:10) Bigger than basketball

(27:35) Cut in sixth grade, then overseas

(33:15) Coaching middle school girls

(38:15) Writing and life coaching

(48:30) I'm with you 

(57:05) Galatians 6:9 

(58:27) How to connect with Braxton

Stay on the Tracks, A Journey of Patience and Perseverance You've Got This, The Student Trifecta for Academic Achievement https://braxtonbyersonent.carrd.co https://www.instagram.com/braxb_7/ https://vuusports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/braxton-byerson/966 Instagram and TikTok: braxb_7 Facebook and LinkedIn: Braxton Byerson

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://tommythompson.org

You're in a known place, and then you're not. Parenthood, an empty nest, grief, a career, retirement. Tommy spent the summer wondering if this was the year he let Space for Life go, then he found Encore. Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons left big law at 35 to be with her kids, called it front ending retirement, and lost her identity anyway.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Tommy takes a sabbatical, wonders if Space for Life is over, and then reads Encore.
• Elizabeth leaves Milbank at 35 to be with her kids, moves to Tucson, and loses her identity.
• The difference between the roles we walk in with and the person under those roles.
• Tommy adds a line to his mission statement, I am God's son.
• How to make a plan so you don't base jump into a panic.
• Grief, the choice toward hope, and taking one small action when you are stuck.

(0:00) Season eight after a sabbatical 

(2:55) Meet Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons

(4:04) Leaving big law at 35

(7:40) Far from just fine

(12:17) The roles we lead with

(16:16) Who stays when roles go

(23:11) Tommy's encore after 40 years

(25:14) Call it a graduation 

(33:50) Plan, don't panic 

(38:08) Treat it like an experiment 

(41:50) Structure that fills you 

(47:28) Don't kill the dream 

(50:40) Hope after a terrible change 

(54:50) One small action

Encore, A High Achiever's Guide to Thriving in Retirement 

https://encoraco.com 

https://zelinkaparsons.com 

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons on LinkedIn

Tommy revisits a conversation with Lisa Ould, executive director of Barnabas Center and decades-long counselor, on one of the most personal and underaddressed topics he has taken on across all of Space for Life. Whether you tend to suppress what you feel or find yourself regularly overwhelmed by it, this episode offers a clear framework for understanding where emotions come from, why they matter, and how to stay in what Lisa calls your window of tolerance. Tommy gets personal too, sharing a formative story from his high school lacrosse days that quietly shaped how he has related to his own emotions ever since.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• What the emotions wheel is and why most of us only have five or six words for what we actually feel.
• The critical distinction between experiencing an emotion, expressing it, and the choices you make from there.
• The counseling concept of the window of tolerance, and what it looks like to be in hyperarousal or hypoarousal.
• How your belief systems shape your habitual emotional patterns, and why naming those beliefs is the first step toward changing them.
• Practical guidance for the over-expressive person and the emotionally shut-down person, including how habits and movement can shift where you land.
• Tommy's high school lacrosse story, the moment he made a quiet vow to shut down his emotions, and the cost of that vow on both the hard feelings and the good ones.
• Why the goal is never to stop feeling but to grow your ability to stay present and functional while you do.
• How faith and scripture connect to emotional health by reshaping the belief systems that drive our habitual responses.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(4:11) Emotions as part of how we're made

(6:20) The emotions wheel

(10:18) Feeling vs. expressing vs. choosing

(15:40) The window of tolerance

(21:44) Beliefs, emotions, and choices

(30:55) The person stuck in habitual negative emotion

(36:00) The emotionally shut-down person

(38:14) Tommy's lacrosse story and the vow he made

Resources / Next Steps:

Learn more about Lisa Ould and Barnabas Center at barnabascenterclt.com.

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Ana Megrelishvili went through a troubled childhood: her family was poor and in disarray, and her own father sexually abused her. Nevertheless, she did not let trauma shape her identity, and she eventually found healing and peace after going on a silent retreat. In this episode, Ana joins Tommy Thompson to share how she immigrated to the United States, overcame her resentment of God, and is now changing the lives of many after fully understanding her purpose in life. She talks about the origins of her non-profit Christian Professionals Network Worldwide and how they are addressing the worsening state of homelessness in the country.

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://tommythompson.org

Tommy Thompson sits down with author and attorney Justin Earley to talk about one of the most underdiagnosed crises of our time, an epidemic of loneliness that most people are living with but can't even name. Justin is the author of The Common Rule, Habits of the Household, and his most recent book Made for People, which makes the case that we were created not just for connection but for deep, covenant friendship. This conversation traces the biblical roots of why friendship matters, what it actually takes to build it, and why one honest hour a week with the right person might be the most life-changing thing you can do.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Justin's unlikely path from English major at UVA to missionary in Shanghai to Georgetown law school and Richmond business attorney, and how that journey gave birth to three books.
• The collapse Justin experienced in his first year of lawyering, and how that season of anxiety and panic attacks led directly to The Common Rule.
• Why Justin believes loneliness is one of the most dangerous conditions of our time, one most people are living with but would never self-diagnose.
• What Genesis reveals about why God made us to be fully known and fully loved alongside other people, not just with him alone.
• Why having a full network of acquaintances and connections is not the same as friendship, and can sometimes make the loneliness worse.
• The concept of covenant friendship and its ten ingredients, from vulnerability and honesty to geography, time, and worship.
• Why vulnerability is the hardest thing to get your heart around, and why scheduling is the hardest thing to actually follow through on.
• Why one honest hour a week with the right person is all it takes to begin changing your life.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:47) Justin's background and three books

(9:19) Anxiety, collapse, and the birth of The Common Rule

(17:54) Why Justin wrote Made for People

(21:01) The epidemic of loneliness

(23:49) The theology of friendship in Genesis

(29:06) Ten ingredients of covenant friendship

(37:24) One hour a week is enough

(41:03) Where to start if you feel alone

Resources / Next Steps:

Pick up Made for People on Amazon and leave a review to help others find it.

Find Justin and all of his books at justinwhitmoreearly.com.

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Tommy Thompson and co-host Patricia Clark revisit a conversation that cuts to the heart of one of the most common struggles in modern life. Rather than treating stress as something to push through or accept as inevitable, Tommy makes the case that stress is a barometer, a signal worth reading about what is really going on beneath the surface. This episode walks through five practical ways to stop letting stress run the show, from the simple act of slowing down to the deeper work of engaging your faith in a way that actually changes how you feel.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Why stress has become epidemic in modern society and how the American dream may be quietly fueling it.
• The barometer concept, treating stress not as noise to ignore but as a signal with something real to say.
• A quick review of five practical tools from a previous episode, covering morning routines, breathing, mini getaways, and distractions.
• Tip 1: How to take a step back, ask why you are stressed, and why naming the source gives you power over it.
• Tip 2: Why rushing and stress are inseparable, and what intentionally slowing down actually does to your nervous system.
• Tip 3: How narrowing your focus to one or two truly important things cuts through the overwhelm of a long to-do list.
• Tip 4: The discipline of simplifying, identifying what can wait and letting yourself cut it without guilt.
• Tip 5: How faith functions as the deepest stress barometer of all, and what it looks like to live like what you believe is actually true.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:53) Stress as a barometer

(4:13) Why stress has become epidemic

(10:15) Review of five previous tips

(11:57) Tip 1: Take a step back

(17:10) Tip 2: Stop rushing

(20:32) Tip 3: Focus on the important

(26:44) Tip 4: Simplify

(28:43) Tip 5: Engage your faith

Resources / Next Steps:

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Today we're revisiting one of the more meaningful early episodes from Space for Life, a conversation with friend and co-host Patricia Clark recorded shortly after a full year sabbatical he called a Year of Jubilee. Tommy reflects on why he needed to step away, what he discovered when God took the year in a completely unexpected direction, and how creating that space led to a health transformation he never saw coming. Whether or not a full year off is possible for you, this episode is full of wisdom on what it looks like to rightsize your life and recover the rhythm between doing and being.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• The biblical concept of Jubilee and why Tommy used it as the framework for stepping away from work he loved.
• Why Tommy believes he was heading toward burnout but needed a different word to give himself permission to slow down.
• The unexpected health transformation that came out of clearing his schedule, something he says categorically would not have happened otherwise.
• The surprising freedom and joy that came from realizing how small he and his work actually are in the grand scheme of things.
• Why halfway measures like cutting back on one thing never give you enough of a break to actually reset.
• What Tommy calls mini jubilees, shorter but fully committed disconnects that anyone can build into their life.
• The balance board metaphor, and why staying in rhythm means constantly adjusting rather than finding a permanent steady state.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:15) Tommy and Patricia reconnect

(2:01) What is a Year of Jubilee

(5:41) Approaching burnout

(9:21) The unexpected health transformation

(17:34) The freedom of being small

(23:48) What if you can't take a year off

(25:42) Mini jubilees done right

(32:37) Rightsizing life and finding rhythm

Resources / Next Steps:

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.