Gratitude, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, Suffering
John Beeson
Thankful in 2024

Have you had hard 2024? Are you looking forward to the page turning to a new year? I think of dear people in our family at New Life who have lost loved ones, who are battling cancer, mental illness, whose marriages ended, or who have lost jobs. I’m so sorry if 2024 was a hard year for you.

May I invite James to one of the open seats at your Thanksgiving table? Let me warn you, though, James is the uncle who shoots straight. You might not like what he has to say. But you know he always speaks truthfully and with a heart of love for you.

Thankful in 2024
Christian Living, Culture, Politics, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Vulgar Authenticity

Who is your favorite celebrity? Your favorite political pundit? Your favorite politician?

Why are you drawn to these individuals? Maybe it is their personality. Perhaps it is because you respect their convictions. Possibly, it is because of their unique style.

Taylor Swift might be the most beloved celebrity in the world. Many have commented that one of the reasons that Swift has cultivated such a devoted following is her accessibility and down-to-earth qualities, from what she wears to the love stories she writes about in her music.

Vulgar Authenticity
Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Religion, Spiritual Growth, Theology
John Beeson
The Faith of Unbelief

Bart Ehrman has perhaps done more to undermine the credibility of the Bible than anyone else in my lifetime. But his story didn’t begin that way. Ehrman is a New Testament scholar and skeptic. Ehrman grew up in a Christian home, attended a conservative Bible school, and then found his way to a liberal seminary where his faith in the God of the Bible unraveled. That seminary happens to be the seminary I would attend a couple of decades later.

For Ehrman, everywhere he looks he sees holes in the biblical story. The inconsistencies that he sees have led him to determine that he cannot trust in the God of the Bible.

The Faith of Unbelief
Christian Living, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Don't Numb Your Feelings

“Don’t listen to your feelings; remember what Jesus did for you!”

“Don’t be guided by your feelings; listen to what God commands you to do!”

In just the past week, I heard both of these warnings. Two very different Christian speakers urged their audiences to shut down their feelings. These admonitions resonate. They contain truth. It is correct that our feelings don’t override truth, nor do our emotions negate what God has done. Neither do our feelings give us an out for what God commands us to do.

Don't Numb Your Feelings
History, Spiritual Growth, Suffering, Wisdom
John Beeson
Lord, Reach Your Justice Down

I had outsized emotions as a child. Games, especially, would get the best of me, whether cards or boardgames or sports. In response to a stroke of bad luck, a hot surge of anger would erupt, followed quickly by tears and then embarrassment.

Emotions are God’s gift to us in many ways. They are one of his kind ways of showing us where our deep attachments lie.

Our son started his freshman year at the University of Arizona this fall. It’s been a great experience for him, but not without its adjustments. The climate of a secular school is quite different than the Christian school he graduated from

Lord, Reach Your Justice Down

Christian Living

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Americans Aren't Sure They Can Trust Pastors: Aaron Earls begins, "In a Pew Research study of Americans’ views on institutional leaders, religious leaders are often in the middle of the pack among groups like police officers, public school principals, journalists, and leaders of tech companies. Almost 7 in 10 U.S. adults (69%) say religious leaders act unethically at least some of the time, with 10% saying they do so most of the time."

2. When Self-Preservation Becomes Our God: My friend Benjamin Vrbicek reflects on Peter and an issue that is ever-present for us all.

3. The Day the Phone Rang Out: Seth Lewis with a simple but powerful story.

4. The Beauty and Abuse of Empathy: We don’t typically think about empathy as something that can be misused. Abigail Dodds offers valuable insight for those with the gift of empathy and warns us of its potential misuse through isolation, cowardice, and manipulation.

5. How the Chair You See Everywhere Came to Be: I had never thought about the ubiquity of this plastic chair and why that was.

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We are Poor, Wayfaring Strangers

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We are Poor, Wayfaring Strangers

Two weeks ago, we watched the poignant movie 1917. The film follows two soldiers' one day mission to try to save 1,600 of their comrades from a trap the German army had sprung on the British forces in WWI. Filmed intimately through a single camera that follows the harrowing trek of the two young men, 1917 immerses you in the brutality and despair of war.

During one scene, having escaped death narrowly by jumping into a river, Corporal Schofield looks up to see cherry blossoms gently falling overhead. They swirl in the river's current and surround him. Schofield's eyes widen as he takes in the moment. But the heavenly reprieve comes to an abrupt end as Schofield floats into a mass of corpses.

As Schofield stumbles out of the water, he hears a single voice singing in the distance,

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world below
There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger
In that bright land to which I go

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Is God Motherly?

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Is God Motherly?

“Our Father in Heaven…”

If you know one prayer, this is the one. And for good reason: when asked how we should pray, this is how Jesus began his model prayer. God is fatherly. And what a mercy that is! Frederick Buechner says, “It is only the words "Our Father" that make the prayer bearable. If God is indeed something like a father, then as something like children maybe we can risk approaching him anyway.”

Throughout his ministry, Jesus calls the first person of the Trinity “Father.” It’s not without reason, then, that we refer to the three persons of the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Scripture teaches us that if we want to see what fatherhood was intended to be, we ought to look to God. But that doesn’t mean God is actually a father. Nor does it mean God is only fatherly.

What if the perfect model of fatherhood and of motherhood was God?

Scripture teaches us that if we want to see what motherhood was intended to be, we ought to look to God as well.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. My Son Did Not Live One Day More or Less Than God Planned: Erik Reed shares the powerful story of grieving over his 15-year-old son's death and holding onto the truth of God's sovereignty. He shares, "Before Kaleb existed in the womb, he existed in the mind of God. From the foundation of the world, God determined that Kaleb Reed be born on March 8, 2004. Not only is this true, but He wrote the days of Kaleb’s life in His book, before one single day came to pass. God wrote the days of his life in His book and He didn’t write it in pencil."

2. Medical Ethics, Gender Identity, and Children: Robert George and Ryan Anderson weigh in on this complicated issue. They conclude, "Prudent legislation is needed to prevent adults from interfering with a child’s normal, natural bodily development. “Gender affirmation” procedures violate sound medical ethics. It is profoundly unethical to intervene in the normal physical development of a child as part of “affirming” a “gender identity” at odds with bodily sex."

3. Come to Me All Who Have COVID Weariness: My friend Benjamin Vrbicek with a timely and poignant post. He says, “The flowing current of COVID sadness can drown the strongest swimmer. You might already be gasping for air. If you feel this way, come to Jesus. Pray to him. Read his word. Belong to his church... Come and enjoy the freedom found in being loved by the Savior, not controlled by a harsh slave master.”

4. Navigating Different COVID-19 Recovery Convictions: I have felt the heat of different convictions and share Costi Hinn’s concern that “one of the ways the enemy will seek to divide our ranks within the church is tempting us to use our opinions against each other. IF the Devil has his way, we’ll be throwing stones of accusation from all sides, calling the cautious people ‘soft,’ labeling the optimists of being ‘reckless.’”

5. Do We Really Want to Go Back to Normal: Trevin Wax considers some of the ways he hopes that COVID-19 re-shapes us. He says, “What if this period of forced isolation can help us see the end result of radical individualism’s trajectory, so that in the end we come out of our enclaves and homes with a stronger commitment to our communities, our churches, and our country?”

6. Behind the Scenes of One of the World’s Top Nature Photographers: I love the combination of skill, creativity, and perseverance Yarrow demonstrates in his craft.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Will We Remember Our Life in Heaven? Even the Trauma? Wyatt Graham answers this question well. He begins, "Imagine entering into heaven. Joy fills your soul. But you see some object that triggers a traumatic memory from your life. What happens to that joy now? Or say you had lived a life without trauma, yet your loved one did not share your faith. Can you rightly enjoy heaven when your spouse, child, or loved one perdures in eternal perdition?"

2. The Pornography Pandemic: Rosie Makinney reports on a much quieter spiritual pandemic sweeping the world. On just one porn site, traffic increased between 21.5%-95.3% worldwide.

3. Gaining Victory Over Temptation: H.B. Charles Jr. offers ten pieces of sound advice on how to be victorious over temptation in your life.

4. Religion and Households Around the World: Pew Research provides an interesting look at the difference of households around the world. The report begins, "Worldwide, Muslims live in the biggest households, with the average Muslim individual residing in a home of 6.4 people, followed by Hindus at 5.7. Christians fall in the middle (4.5), forming relatively large families in sub-Saharan Africa and smaller ones in Europe. Buddhists (3.9), Jews (3.7) and the religiously unaffiliated (3.7) – defined as those who do not identify with an organized religion, also known as “nones” – live in smaller households, on average."

5. How to Stack Playing Cards: I dare you to not want to try to stack cards after watching Wired’s profile of Guinness Record holder Bryan Berg.

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She Wanted Out: Navigating an Unwanted Divorce

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She Wanted Out: Navigating an Unwanted Divorce

I’m so glad to be able to bring you a guest post from my friend Wes Jackson today. Wes has been a friend of mine since Middle School and brings transparency and wisdom to this sensitive topic. I’m sure you will benefit from navigating his experience of divorce and I encourage you to share it with friends who would profit from his insight as well.

Grace and peace,

John

When Divorce Happens: Through a Husband’s Eyes

It was Halloween Day, 2017, when my ex-wife told me she wanted a divorce. This announcement didn’t come completely out of the blue. We were ten days out from our last big fight, and it was only eight days since she sat me down to let me know that she wanted to stay together through the holidays for our kids’ sake and then separate in the new year.

We had been married for about eight and a half years and they were very difficult years together. We had tried Christian counseling. We’d met and prayed with our pastor. I thought we’d tried about everything possible and maybe separation wouldn’t be such a bad idea. We could give each other some space so things could cool down while we continued to meet with our Christian counselor with the hope of reconciling the marriage.

When her desire for a separation changed to a desire for a divorce, everything became much more difficult.

What followed was six to eight months with attorneys and paperwork and appearances in the Arizona Family Court system. During this time, I made three separate overtures to try and reconcile the marriage, but all of them were refused. My wife made it very clear that she was done with the marriage and had moved on.

While I can honestly say that I didn’t want to divorce my wife, I can’t say that I should have been surprised that she wanted to divorce me.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. The Problem with 'Spiritual But Not Religious': This phrase actually masks what the person is trying to say, David Qaoud asserts. His argument is simple and helpful.

2. Think Maturity Rather Than Change: My friend John Starke offers wise counsel. He begins, "Many Christians want to change. We do not like what we are prone to do or the behavioral impulses we display. We long to be different. The New Testament gives us good reason to think we can. “Transformation” is the imagery it often uses."

3. Possibilities and Preferences as We Adjust Our New Normal: My friend Jeff Johnson tells the story of how the chicory root made its way into coffee and how that changed the taste of a long line of coffee drinkers. He concludes, “A crisis induces variation – which is the first step in a successful innovation process. Maybe necessity is not the mother of invention, but the mother of variation. It reshuffles the raw ingredients you have to work with, and the present crisis is doing just that. Not returning to the way things looked before, but to a better version, informed by what we’ve learned – we can hope that that becomes true along many dimensions of our society.”

4. The Handshake: A Eulogy: Tyler Grant believes that the handshake will be one of the victims of COVID-19: a social custom that may never return. He considers what a handshake meant, “There was an intimacy engrained in a handshake — one between people that was culturally acceptable, before now, and allowed you to look someone in the eye while skin-to-skin. This brief touch had always been instructive. Who exudes gravitas. Who projects safety. Who hasn’t worked with their hands.”

5. The Amazing Hummingbird: The engineering of the hummingbird defies the imagination.

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Two Passovers, Two Plagues

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Two Passovers, Two Plagues

This week I have the privilege of sharing a post from a friend of mine, Heather Johnson. Heather reflects on Passover, Easter, and the COVID-19 pandemic and what lessons God has for us in this season. I pray you’re encouraged and Christ is glorified. Thank you, Heather!

John

Two Passovers, Two Plagues

They were informed to go into their houses and shut the doors behind them. “Wait there, until the plague has passed over,” they were told. It looked bleak. They didn’t know what the plague would be, how soon it would pass, or if they would really be safe. As it rolled through the land, it looked upon the homes of the children of God, and they were found impenetrable.

What was it that caused the plague to pass over their homes? Was it their security gates? Their double-locked doors? Their political positions? Their anxiety? Was it the research they did to mask their fear with knowledge?

No.

It was simply the power of the blood of a lamb, dripping down the wood of their doorposts. The plague passed over them because of their obedience and trust in God. We still remember that Passover today. But that wasn’t the only Passover.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. The Virus Changed the Way We Internet: Unsurprisingly, since COVID-19 changed our lives a month ago, our internet habits have changed significantly. The NY Times looks into the data including the fact that Zoom usage is up over 300% and visits to ESPN.com are down over 40%.

2. What Skeptical Scholars Admit About the Resurrection Appearances of Jesus: New Testament scholar Justin Bass says that even cynical scholars admit that the followers of Jesus saw something. One scholar says it this way, “I know in their own terms what they saw was the raised Jesus. That’s what they say, and then all the historic evidence we have afterwards attest to their conviction that that’s what they saw. I’m not saying that they really did see the raised Jesus. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what they saw. But I do know that as a historian that they must have seen something.”

3. When Loneliness is Your Closest Companion: Kimberly Wagner talks about a chance encounter with a widow. It began, “I don’t cook much anymore, my husband past away a year ago, and my life is so different now. So very different . . .” Her voice trailed off to a past era of joy and companionship. My voice went soft, “I’m so very sorry.” And those four small words invited her to share more."

4. Historical Objects that Tell the Story of Easter: This is a great post by Tim Challies that grounds the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth in archaeological findings. The Alexamenos graffiti is so cool.

5. Stories of God’s Rescue: We were able to celebrate baptism at New Life this Easter. Here are the tear-inducing stories of those who God rescued.

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Crisis and the Creativity of God’s Church

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Crisis and the Creativity of God’s Church

If you were to list your top three most creative people, who would be on that list? Maybe Vincent van Gogh? Walt Disney? JK Rowling? Thomas Edison? Leonardo DaVinci? Marie Curie?

What would the world be without creatives in our midst? Creativity takes the mundane and makes it special. Creativity solves seemingly intractable problems. Creativity causes smiles, surprise, and thinking.

There was a time that Christians were those on the cutting edge of creativity. Take a look at a medieval cathedral and you can’t help but be impressed. Dig a little deeper at the imbedded symbolism and mathematic artistry in its design and your jaw will drop.

Today’s church doesn’t have a great reputation for its creativity. That is partially its fault (the offerings of Christian movie makers and mainstream visual artists, for instance, have been, for the most part, weak in their creative merits). This is not as it should be. Christians’ thinking ought to be characterized not by its safety, nor by its sentimentality, nor by its predictability.

Whoever tops your list of the most creative people in history is dramatically eclipsed by God. In the beginning, the source of all creativity was. And there was nothing else. And then, with a word, God formed electrons and stars and Loriciferans (look them up!) and Venus Flytraps and Baobab trees and Filbert Weevils and platypuses, and sunsets.

Undoubtedly, part of the way in which we image our creator is in our creativity. While God creates ex nihilo, we create from God’s creation and within the parameters of his order. And it delights him when we do so.

The church is often at her best in crisis. And I believe that the church has been at her creative best in the midst of this COVID-19 outbreak.

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