Biblical Studies, History, Religion
John Beeson
The Pillaging of Hezekiah

The aged prophet Isaiah showed up at the bedside of the middle-aged king. Hezekiah was only about 39 years old and terminally ill. But the prophet was not bringing good news, “Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover” (Is. 38:1).

The weak king cried out to God, “’ Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight’. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” (Is. 38:3).

The Pillaging of Hezekiah
Church, Culture, Book Reviews
John Beeson
The Long Journey of Self-Knowledge in a Culture ...

“We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined...but in the opposite direction.” This is the conclusion of the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America by sociologists Ryan Burge and Paul Djupe. In The Great DeChurching, pastors Jim Davis and Michael Graham unpack why and how over the past twenty-five years, forty million of those who formerly attended church no longer do so.

The Long Journey of Self-Knowledge in a Culture of Confusion
Christian Living, Prayer
John Beeson
The Air Raid Siren

Jerusalem, Israel

3:15 am, April 13

 

I sat up in bed to a wailing sound I had never heard before, but knew immediately: an air raid siren. Our building rattled to the booms of interceptors from Israel’s missile defense system hitting their inbound targets. I pulled back the curtains and watched as sprays of light streaked the sky.

 Iran launched 170 drones, 20 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s purported attack on an Iranian embassy in Syria.

The Air Raid Siren
Christian Living, Nature
John Beeson
The Ground Where Saguaros Thrive

Nothing is more iconic to the Tucson landscape than the saguaro. The emblematic cactus is to the Sonoran Desert what the palm tree is to Miami: hard to imagine without it. Saguaros typically live between one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five years, not sprouting its trademark arms until around thirty to seventy years of its life and growing to around fifty feet tall.

For those Sonoran Desert natives, we intuitively know where saguaros thrive. They love the rocky (both granite and volcanic) soil at the foothills of the five beautiful mountain ranges that surround Tucson.

The Ground Where Saguaros Thrive
Leadership, Wisdom, Vocation
John Beeson
Anger, Retaliation, and My Scion xB

I drove a little manual 2005 Scion xB for about eight years. It finally gave out after 230,000 miles. I loved that little car. It was fuel-efficient and required minimal maintenance. But it is undeniably close to the least powerful car on the road. I’m pretty sure that on its specs, next to 0-60mph, it says, “Eventually!”

Unless I was lined up against someone from a nearby retirement community, I was the last car to reach the speed limit coming off a stoplight. Unsurprisingly, more aggressive drivers with more powerful vehicles tended to treat my little Scion like a safety cone on the road, more like an obstacle than a fellow traveler.

Anger, Retaliation, and My Scion xB

Carey Niewhof

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Anxiety of Perpetual Yearbook Day: Eric Geiger likens social media today as a perpetual version of the day yearbooks came out. It’s a great analogy. He shares, “One of the most anxious days each year for me in high school was yearbook day – the day when yearbooks were passed out to all the students.”

  2. 3 Reasons for Hope in the Midst of Grief: Alaistair Begg writes, “You do not have to live long as a believer to discover that faith does not insulate us from feelings like grief and the fear of it.”

  3. 7 Healthy Ways to Resolve Conflict: Carey Niewhof opines, “I’m increasingly convinced many churches simply don’t grow because they suffer from conflict and that many teams never thrive because there’s simply too much tension.”

  4. Defending Sound Doctrine Against the Deconstruction of American Evangelicalism: Jonathan Leeman’s post is lengthy, but worth the time to read for those who are disconcerted by evangelicals deconstructing their faith. His conclusions are thoughtful and nuanced. Note his suggestion of having race consciousness but rejecting race essentialism.

  5. What’s Love Got to Do With It: Hope you’re not tired of my Walk off the Earth recs 😊!

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Dune is a Majestic Defense of Going to the Movies: Samuel James shares not only what makes Dune a great movie (I can attest it’s certainly that), but one that makes an argument for why the big screen can be better than the small screen. He says, “You only get films like Dune—ambitious, ponderous, beautiful films—when you have filmmakers who believe their audience can experience such a vision. And there is no such vision possible on a smartphone or laptop screen. Dune is an argument that cinemas are worth saving.”

2. Porn is Bad for You: Katherine Dee explains, “It’ll impact your taste; your openness to certain behaviors; the language you use to talk about sex; the lens you use to think about it. And for some people, like the kid who eats chocolate cake every day or the person who attends too many lavish parties, it might just start to bore you. You might desensitize yourself to sex all together.”

3. When the Beauty Never Leaves: A gorgeous piece of writing by AW Workman. It concludes by pointing us to God’s glory, “Steady on, my soul. One day the beauty will come – and it will never leave.”

4. How to Unite a Divided People: Carey Niewhof says, “The future doesn’t show any signs of uniting people automatically. In fact, left unattended, the divisions will likely only grow deeper and wider. One of the key tasks of leadership is to unite people around a common cause. That’s what leaders do.”

5. Best of the Beatles Cover in 6 Minutes: Another fun one from Walk off the Earth.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Dearest Ache: Loving a Teenager: Melissa Edgington shares about what the changing relationship with her daughter has looked liked as it has shifted into her daughter’s teenage years. Melissa captures the heartbeat of the relationship beautifully. She begins, “I remember when she was three. She confidently navigated the world with boundless energy, curls bouncing, so sure of herself. So sure of me. Those were the days when she radiated around me like I was the sun, and she was never too far from the safety of my warmth.”

  2. What Non-Christians Really Think About the Church: Carey Niewhof reflects on Barna research that reveals some discouraging information including the fact that only 21% of non-Christians have a positive perception of the local church. Niewhof offers some helpful encouragement of how to begin to shift the story.

  3. The Impact of Saying, “I’m So Busy”: Darren Bosch explains three problems of responding to the question, “how are you doing,” with “I’m so busy.” He says such an answer “reveals our leadership,” “drains our credibility,” “limits the God-story.”

  4. My Anchor Holds: Tim Challies reflects on how his anchor, Christ, has held him through the tragic loss of his son, “My faith, my anchor, has held, but not because I have been rowing hard, not because I have been steering well, not because I am made of rugged stuff, not because I am a man of mighty faith. It has held fast because it is held firm in the nail-scarred hands of the one who died and rose for me.”

  5. Rosaria Butterfield’s Conversion: Butterfield shares the story of God bringing her to faith from her context as an academic in a committed lesbian relationship.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Everything is Broken: Alana Newhouse considers why “flatness” and “frictionless” created a broken culture. You’ll have to stick with her and she puts the pieces together, but the payoff is worth it. She opines, “So, instead of reflecting the diversity of a large country, these institutions have now been repurposed as instruments to instill and enforce the narrow and rigid agenda of one cohort of people, forbidding exploration or deviation—a regime that has ironically left homeless many, if not most, of the country’s best thinkers and creators.”

2. 5 Ways Judgmental Christians are Killing Your Church: Carey Niewhof on just how serious an issue judgmentalism is, and how to foster the opposite. He shares, “Humility, by contrast, fosters empathy. It says ‘I’m like you. I get that. Maybe we can help each other.’ Many people would run to that.”

3. The Onliest Way: Glenna Marshall considers the challenge of telling the good news and the pressing reality of Jesus, “the onliest way.”

4. Homecoming: You’ll want to read this lovely reflection on adoption.

5. Understanding Why Jesus isn’t Praying to Himself: Helpful video from Red Pen Logic explaining the “who’s” and the “what’s” of the Trinity.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. You are What You Sweep: Andrew Wilson with an insightful post on the power that we are made from dust. "The language of dust also highlights our supernatural, God-breathed origins. In some of the Egyptian and Akkadian creation stories, humans are described as being made out of clay, which you can kind of imagine. Most of us, with a bit of practice, could form clay into something resembling a person. But you could never do that with dust. The most complex shape I could make out of dust would be a pile, and even then a gust of wind would instantly scatter it."

2. 6 Steps to Become an Effective Witness for Jesus: Ashley Unzicker’s post is both simple and profound. She says, “A common theory is more training is necessary to help boost our evangelistic efforts. Is the problem in our techniques? Maybe. Could it be simpler than that? I think so.”

3. 5 Things People Blame the Church for...but Shouldn't: Carey Niewhof begins with the fact that, "The church didn't stop you from growing spiritually." And he finishes his list with, "The church didn't make you lose your faith."

4. Never Read a Bible Verse: Tim Challies begins provocatively, "Greg Koukl often passes along a cheeky little tip related to reading and understanding the Bible. 'If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I’ve ever learned as a Christian? Here it is: Never read a Bible verse.'" He goes on to explain why that doesn't mean what you think.

5. What's Your Treasure? Three Questions to Ask Yourself: Cindy Matson's article certainly convicted me. Maybe it will help you uproot some sin in your heart. She shares, "God designed us to be active worshipers, and treasure is simply shorthand for the object of our worship. Since our hearts are always actively worshiping something, they’re not neutral; nor do they accidentally stumble into worship. They choose it."

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