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
Family, Leadership, Parenting, Marriage
John Beeson
The Top Ten Ways to Lead in Your Home (and ...

In the past post we considered the biblical priority of leading in our homes before stepping into leadership callings outside of our home.

When I was asked to speak to our Mom’s Matter group on leading well in the home I was a bit intimidated. I felt far from equipped to speak as a man to women on the topic of leadership. And so, I did the only thing I could think of: I asked wise, godly women who were also great leaders. Starting with my wife, I began to listen to the advice my female friends offered on leadership in the home and beyond.

The Top Ten Ways to Lead in Your Home (and Organization, Too!)
Christian Living, Family, Marriage, Parenting
John Beeson
Leadership In Your Home and Beyond

Who are the most influential leaders in your life? What made them such great leaders?

I fear that our cultural understanding of leadership is going further astray from true leadership. We Americans seem to have a bizarre attraction to two types of leaders: celebrities and powerful communicators with bold, brash opinions. We judge leaders by the size of their platform.

Some time ago I was asked to speak to the Moms Matter group in our church about healthy leadership in the home and beyond. One of the comments made by the leadership team was that many moms believe they “don’t need to be or can’t be a leader because they are just moms.” We can all similarly dismiss ourselves.

Leadership In Your Home and Beyond
Christian Living, Religion, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Jesus Responds to the Inclusivist

I bet you hold Jesus in high regard. Nearly everyone does, no matter their religious leaning. We’ve been considering the position of the inclusivist. Let’s invite Jesus into the conversation.

With love in his eyes, Jesus begins, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6).

Jesus is no inclusivist. How would he respond to the inclusivist?

The Bible claims that Jesus is our only rescue. Throughout the pages of the New Testament, writer after writer and Jesus himself claim that Jesus Christ alone connects humankind back to God. Jesus claims he is no mere human being, but is God himself.

Jesus Responds to the Inclusivist

slavery

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. When you long to know the ‘why’ behind your sorrow: Tim Challies asks, “It’s very hard to see why it has happened. Why would God allow this unremitting pain? Why would God permit this distressing sickness? Why would God take that person I love? If God cares and God loves and if God ordains and God controls, why would this be his will? How could this ever make sense?”

  2. Six things women in your church wished you knew about pregnancy loss: Mary Holloman offers us some wisdom in comforting those who have suffered loss (Angel and I are among the many who have suffered the loss of a child in pregnancy), “The overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters in Christ cared for me so well during that difficult time. However, I was shocked at the number of insensitive comments and platitudes I received from others

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       Let's Ban Porn: Ross Douthat with a bold proposal, "[W]e are supposed to be in the midst of a great sexual reassessment, a clearing-out of assumptions that that impose misogyny and impose bad sex on semi-willing women. And such a reassessment will be incomplete if if it never reconsiders our surrender to the idea that many teenagers, mostly young men especially, will get their sex education from online smut."

2.       Ten Lessons on Parenting Big(ger) Kids: Great advice from Tim Challies. All ten are good, but I particularly like his final piece of advice, " Focus more on sharing experiences than exchanging stuff. The things you and your children remember and celebrate as the years go by are far more likely to be experiences you shared together than gifts you exchanged."

3.       Wishing He Were Your Husband: Sabrina Beasley McDonald on the dangers of emotional infidelity and what to do when that wishing begins: " If you're thinking of a man right now and you're wondering if you're in danger of an emotional affair with him, then you probably are."

4.       Vocation in Retirement: Gene Veith, one of the best authors on vocation, considers what vocation means in his retirement: " Retirement underscores two important facets of the doctrine of vocation: the purpose of every vocation is loving and serving our neighbors. And the way we make our living is only one of our vocations and not even the most important one."

5.       Does the Bible Endorse Slavery? This charge is often made against the Bible by atheists and agnostistics that the Bible supports slavery? Is that true? Dr. Matthew Hall responds.

6.       Can a Christian Be Demon Possessed? Dr. Stephen Wellum says no in this helpful video.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       There Goes that Pesky Biological Reality Again: Matthew Hosier on when the trend toward progressive views on gender backfire, " It turns out that when it comes to health men and women are not the same. Contrary to popular opinion, men have a higher pain threshold than women (though older men feel pain more than younger men as their levels of testosterone decrease); women are more prone to knee injuries than men, because of the size of their pelvis; the male brain has more connections within each hemisphere while the female brain has more connections between the two hemispheres..."

2.       4 Reminders for the Weary Mom on Mother’s Day: You are loved, moms! These are healthy reminders. I love this one: “You are exactly the mom they need… Long before you actually had children, even before you rocked a baby doll and pretended to be a mommy, God knew the children He would place in your life. He could see what kind of mom you would be. Our God is not a random god. His works have purpose and meaning, and even before He made you a mother, He shaped you for motherhood. This motherhood.”

3.       How an Ancient Pagan Roman Saved an Atheist: John Woodbridge shares his story of deconversion, and then God's rescuing hand in his life. He shares the pivotal moment of his life, "Like a thunderbolt, the idea struck me that Jesus might very well have existed and walked this earth. After all, I reasoned, Tacitus was no Christian propagandist and had nothing to gain in reporting a myth... As I read the statement by Tacitus, it dawned on me that if Jesus had existed, it had potentially huge implications... Could it be that Jesus not only existed but that his message was true after all?"

4.       Godly People are Happy People: My friend John Starke reflects on this truth, " The longer I live as a Christian the more it becomes apparent that the holy life — a life lived with a conscience before God — is a happy life. Sadly, it takes some misery to see it. Sin not only offends God, it disrupts the Christian’s communion with God and forces him to sense his Maker’s displeasure."

5.       Why Raising Your Children to be Independent is a Bad Idea: Bob Kauflin reflects on why raising your children to be independent is a fool's errand, "...I began to consider the adults I respected. They didn’t do things on their own... Then it hit me. The most mature people in my life were not those who belittled the input and counsel of those around them, but those who welcomed and even pursued it. Their awareness of their weaknesses caused them to seek out other eyes and perspectives. That realization shed new light on our parenting goals."

6.       Billions of Birds Migrate. Where Do They Go? This graphic-rich National Geographic article is a must read even for those, like myself, who don't have a particular interest in birds.

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