Christian Living, Family, Forgiveness, Parenting, Science, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Remember Not

As we wrapped up our five-day jaunt in a cozy extended-stay just inside Scottsdale suburbia I was on the verge of mental and physical collapse, whereas the boys, as the Energizer Bunny proffered, just kept going and going and going. I couldn't keep up. In fact I didn't. Their enthusiasm met my exhaustion. I raised my voice at the boys, and in an instant, their elation turned to fear and shame.  

Scientists argue that our brains have adopted a defense mechanism called the 'negativity bias' to help us avoid danger or avoid repeating past blunders.

Remember Not
Recommendations, History, Science, Theology
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. How much do you know about the US flag? Test your knowledge with this AP Quiz.

  2. A theology of awkwardness: Emily Stimpson Chapman says, “We are terrified of saying and doing the wrong thing, coming off the fool, finding ourselves humiliated through our own inadequacy, and not measuring up. Awkwardness is also what makes so many forms of technology—artificial and otherwise—so appealing.

This Week's Recommendations
Faith, Church, Culture, Heaven, History, Identity, Politics, Prayer
John Beeson
The Joy of Patriotism

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I was 22 years old when Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network al Qaeda orchestrated attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001. What followed was the most significant swell of patriotism I have ever experienced. 79% of adults displayed an American flag, “God Bless America” was inserted into every baseball game, and “United We Stand” was emblazoned on shirts everywhere….

If you are too young to remember the 911 attacks, you likely struggle to imagine a country so united in its patriotism. In our divided age, we’ve almost become numb to the possibility of patriotism.

The Joy of Patriotism
Church, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Relationships
John Beeson
A Healing Place

It was a long week. I felt sniped at by a handful of complaints from congregants. I was fighting for a spirit of gratitude as frustration grew in my heart. I stepped into a meeting and did my best to be present, but the inner critic’s voice was loud. I asked a simple question to kick things off: “Where is God growing you?” Tears welled in the eyes of the woman across from me. “New Life is my safe place, my growing place. New Life is my healing place. Every time I come to church, it feels like a hug.”

A Healing Place
Recommendations, Evangelism, Family, Leadership, Parenting
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Sitting down in victory: Beth Ferguson says, “When Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father, something decisive happened not only in heaven, but for us. When we lose sight of that throne, discipleship begins to feel heavier than it was ever meant to be.”

  2. Knowing yourself is not the same thing as changing yourself: The post begins, “Here’s a controversial fact: Despite their popularity as leadership development tools, personality assessments fail to make leaders better.”

This Week's Recommendations

Christian Living

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Remember Not

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Remember Not

As we wrapped up our five-day jaunt in a cozy extended-stay just inside Scottsdale suburbia I was on the verge of mental and physical collapse, whereas the boys, as the Energizer Bunny proffered, just kept going and going and going. I couldn't keep up. In fact I didn't. Their enthusiasm met my exhaustion. I raised my voice at the boys, and in an instant, their elation turned to fear and shame.  

Scientists argue that our brains have adopted a defense mechanism called the 'negativity bias' to help us avoid danger or avoid repeating past blunders.

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The Threat of Passivity

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The Threat of Passivity

Everyone loves a great reveal.

If you saw it, you likely haven’t forgotten the penultimate scene in The Sixth Sense, when everything you thought you understood was suddenly turned upside down. Or the final scene in The Usual Suspects, when the mystery of Keyser Soze turns out to be right in front of you the whole time.

Genesis 3 contains one of the most devastating reveals in all of Scripture. As the passage unfolds, Moses forces us to reread the whole scene with new eyes.

The scene opens with the serpent: “Now the serpent was more crafty…”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Jesus is awkwardly exclusive, radically inclusive, and stubbornly objective: Rebecca McLaughlin says, “Jesus never ruled an empire, raised an army, or even wrote a book. Most of his followers were poor. They weren’t the power brokers of their day. And yet, the Christian movement spread like wildfire after Jesus’s death, and it’s been growing ever since.”

  2. It’s not about you: Laura Story says, “We have to admit that oftentimes our spiritual lives tend to be self-centered rather than God-centered… If God answered every one of your prayers, would it change the world or simply change your world?”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Why so many Christians never grow up: Christopher Cook says, “Sound doctrine without obedience leads to intellectual pride. Obedience without truth leads to misguided zeal. Community without truth becomes sentimentality. Truth without love becomes harshness. But when truth, obedience, and love converge under the authority of Christ, something remarkable begins to happen: believers begin to grow up.”

  2. Spaghetti again: Andrea Sanborn reflects on the faithful life in the mundane. S

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The Madman

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The Madman

Has religion disappointed you? Has God let you down?

How do we make sense of God and the world when we feel so hurt by them? Doesn’t the world make more sense without a God who would allow the evil that we see and experience?

Friedrich Nietzsche, a prophet ahead of his time, saw the allure of the modern rejection of God. But he also recognized the serious consequences of such a conclusion. If Soren Kierkegaard demanded the Christian to take a “leap of faith” toward God, Nietzsche demanded that the atheist take a leap of faith into the abyss.

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Pest Control and the Human Heart

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Pest Control and the Human Heart

I never thought much about the pest control industry—until that Saturday. As we prayer-walked the neighborhood adjacent to our church, I found myself chuckling at how many residents apparently worked for pest control companies. I began noticing and counting the trucks parked in driveways: Truly Nolen, Northwest, Greenshield, Responsible, Action, Western, Aptive, SOS. Eight pest control companies represented in a single neighborhood.

There are more than 34,000 pest control businesses in the United States employing over 167,000 specialists. Together, they generate upwards of $22 billion in annual revenue, and the industry is projected to grow steadily at a 5.7% rate annually. 

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Happy wife, happy life? Cindy Pickett takes on a popular adage, “On the surface, this common saying sounds harmless—perhaps endearing. But dig a little deeper, and the message is clear: A husband’s job is to keep his wife happy to avoid trouble. Is this what Adam thought when he stood by and let Eve take the fall?”

  2. How do you counsel someone who feels stuck in sin? Pat Quinn says, “A basic principle of biblical counseling is that gospel indicatives (statements of what God has done through Christ to save sinners by grace) motivate and empower gospel imperatives (commands to respond obediently to gospel grace).”

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AI Isn't Your Mentor

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AI Isn't Your Mentor

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more and more people have begun turning to AI as a stand in for God when they want comfort, guidance, or even something that feels like prayer.

But let me say this gently and clearly: please don’t pray to AI. Claude is not God, and it cannot take his place.  No matter how advanced it seems, the ‘A’ in AI still stands for “artificial.”

For many, AI has become a conversation partner. It is reported that 75% of teens  use AI companions, and for some, those AI companions are beginning to function like mentors

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Friendship, Courage, and the Making of a Hero: Reflections on Project Hail Mary

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Friendship, Courage, and the Making of a Hero: Reflections on Project Hail Mary

Every once in a while, a movie surprises you: not just with spectacle or clever twists, but with heart. Project Hail Mary did that for me. Adapted from Andy Weir’s highly acclaimed novel, Project Hail Mary is one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen in a long time: funny, imaginative, and genuinely moving. What lingered with me most after the credits rolled wasn’t the wow factor of the production (although all $248 million of its production costs make the movie visually stunning). It was the friendship.

That might sound strange for a movie about saving the world from an extinction-level threat.

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Deepening Our Friendships

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Deepening Our Friendships

As I headed into a pastors’ lunch one afternoon, an older pastor I admired greeted me with a big smile and asked, “Can we chat afterward?” I wasn’t sure what Glen wanted to ask me. After the lunch concluded, we walked out to the patio together. Glen got right to the point. “Would you be interested in being part of a covenant group I’m forming?” He explained that he was inviting four other pastors to join the group. We would meet once a month and go on two retreats each year.

It was a significant commitment, but the answer was an easy yes.

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