Death, Suffering, Wisdom
John Beeson
The Ruin of Me

Today I have the pleasure of sharing a poem by my daughter, Camille (age 21). It is from the perspective of King Ahaz (see 2 Chronicles 28).

The Ruin of Me
Christian Living, Evangelism
John Beeson
Open Dumpster Living

Along the route from my house to the church is an undeveloped intersection on three of its four corners. Two medium-trafficked two-lane roads converge at a stop sign. A while ago, inexplicably, two massive forty-yard dumpsters showed up on one of the undeveloped corners. They sat empty for a few days, and then some observant neighbors, likely determining that the dumpster didn’t have another purpose, dumped a ragged armchair in the dumpster.

The proverbial floodgates opened. Old TV sets, broken dressers, bikes, and couches filled the two dumpsters to overflowing. Over the next two months, the dumpsters were emptied multiple times and then quickly filled.

Open Dumpster Living
Recommendations, Church, Counseling, Culture
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Understanding therapy culture from different generations: This article from Sheryl Jacob resonates with my experience in the counseling room with different generations. “Millennials (born 1981-1996) grew up with therapy as mainstream - encouraged to talk about trauma, set boundaries, process their inner child, and name anxiety. While this openness is good, this generation also normalised many struggles the Church should have addressed long ago.”

  2. Be drunk with love: J.A. Medders encourages, “We get filled with the Spirit—when bottles (barrels) of the vintage gospel hit our bloodstream, our Blood Gospel Content rises above the legalistic limit.”

This Week's Recommendations
Suffering
John Beeson
Ducking Suffering

"Forgive me for all the times I needed to suffer and I ran from it, I numbed it.” The prayer caught me off guard. I looked up. Aspens bent in the wind outside the window. A small group of pastors gathered in the small community center in the tiny town of Summerhaven, located near the summit of Mount Lemmon, 5,000 feet above Tucson.

Who hasn’t avoided suffering? I’ve avoided suffering in countless ways: I’ve dodged difficult conversations, evaded serving, neglected the spiritual disciplines of fasting and silence, overspent our budget, and skipped leg day. But how often have I prayed for forgiveness for shirking suffering?

Ducking Suffering
Christian Living, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Grieving God's Heart

Six chapters into the Bible and only three chapters after Adam and Eve committed the first sin against God, the hearts of humanity have turned in on themselves. They desire to please themselves alone. God’s heart is broken. Listen to the narrative in Genesis 6. It’s a remarkable glimpse into God’s emotional life,

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart….

Grieving God's Heart

Church

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       Where Did Family Come From? Tim Challies begins, "We are at an interesting and perhaps unprecedented time in history when our understanding of family is being confronted and our definition of family is being rewritten." He begins his answer to that question.

2.       God Created Family to Carry Out His Will: Tim Challies says, " The family was always meant to be the core social unit in the world and everyone is meant to be part of one. All other structures build upon family."

3.       God Created Family to Picture His Truth: Tim Challies begins, " First, family pictures the Trinity. If you don’t understand family, you can’t understand God himself. Why? Because God reveals the first person of the Trinity as God the Father and the second person of the Trinity as God the Son."

4.       5 Questions to Ask When You Don't Get Anything of Your Pastor's Sermon: Have you ever sat bored stiff through your pastor's sermon? Maybe I have been the perpetrator. Daniel Darling offers five great remedies. They are all great questions. I love this one: "Am I hoping the sermon hits others rather than me?"

5.       The Faroe Islands Running Pastor: What an incredible place!  "Sometimes, when Sverri Steinholm is in the midst of a particularly difficult trail run, he wonders why he puts his body through these feats of endurance in the first place. ‘Why are you doing this stupid thing?’ he thinks to himself. ‘I’ll never do it again." But he always does. "I have to do it. My body needs it, or my soul, or my mind. It’s something almost magical.’"

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       44% of Americans Believe that Clergy Have a Negative Impact on Society: Ouch! Meanwhile, teachers, doctors, scientists, and military members all have 75%+ who believe they have a positive impact.

2.       The Pros and Cons of Screens Regarding Learning: Nicole Beurkens, a Clinical Psychologist, weighs in on the impact of screen time. She says that "Research also shows  that while some cognitive skills can be strengthened with online  learning games, higher level skills such as critical thinking,  imagination, and the ability to reflect can actually get weaker."

3.       Busyness and Rest: Kevin DeYoung reflects on Jesus maneuvering the demands of the world in a godly way, "Don’t think Jesus is some kind of esoteric teacher who spent His life solely in contemplation. If Jesus ministered in the flesh today, He’d get more emails than any of us. He would have people and the media clamoring for His attention. Jesus did not float above the fray, untouched by the pressures of normal human existence. Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). And that includes the temptation to be sinfully busy. But He wasn’t."

4.       Your Capacity is Defined by Your Character, Not Your Competency: Grateful to Carey Niewhof for this word. "Nobody is going to ever pay you to work on your character. They’ll just fire you if you don’t. The same is also true in your life. Think about it. Nobody is ever going to pay you to work on your character. They’ll just leave you if you don’t. The truth isn’t pretty, but this is how divorce happens, how families fall apart, how kids end up disliking their parents and parents end up resenting their kids. It’s how you find yourself without many friends."

5.       Most Americans Want Little Influence from Religious Leaders: Yikes. This speaks to the steep hill we as religious leaders need to climb to speak into the lives of our neighbors and communities. We shouldn't assume that our voice is welcomed. 

6.       Kidnapper Ants Steal Other Ants Babies--and Brainwash Them: Isn't God's creation wild? You can't make this stuff up.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       3 Reasons Your Church Shouldn't Be a Perfect Fit for You: Daniel Darling concludes, "Too often our fights aren’t good fights. They’re over preferences and an unwillingness to die to our preferences in order to give, serve, and love our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Not only should you have things in your church you don’t like, you should embrace the privilege of the opportunity to grow in a community that will be used by God to sanctify you."

2.       I'm So Glad Our Vows Kept Us: Jennie Cesario is a masterful writer. Here she reflects on the difficulty and beauty of marriage. Please read this in its entirety. Here is a taste: " Our hearts are so very tender toward one another now with the long years, softened to a sweetness hard-won."

3.       5 Questions to Discern God's Will: Juan Sanchez with sound advice: " [W]e don’t have to fear what God wills for us. And thankfully, God has revealed His plan and purposes—His will—by His Word (Deuteronomy 29:29). We’re not in the dark about what God desires."

4.       How to be an Appropriately Transparent Leader (Without Oversharing): Carey Niewhof packs in a lot in this helpful post. He concludes, "I find often that the speakers or writers who overshare are people who are processing something for their benefit, not for the benefit of their audience."

5.       12 Fascinating Archaeological Finds in 2019: The finds include a $26.8 million Renaissance masterpiece that was hanging in an unsuspecting French woman’s kitchen and a perfectly preserved 32,000-year-old severed wolf head found in Siberian permafrost.

6.       An Unexpected Duet: Wait until 74 seconds in for the "what?!"

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Top Posts of 2019

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Top Posts of 2019

I’ve always written for others. Whether it was creative writing in elementary school where I was excited to share my stories with my teacher and classmates or college when I came home and shared my writing projects with my patient parents.

When I started The Bee Hive, I started it in part because I felt that I needed to steward the gift of writing God had given me. But gifts are stewarded not for our own sake, primarily, but for the sake of the recipient (1 Corinthians 12). My desire was to expand my pastoral reach beyond Sunday morning to serve the church.

If I were to be faithful in stewarding my writing gift but no one were to show up, it would be a struggle to feel the impact of that faithfulness. In my first year of blogging, 2017, I was so encouraged to have 1,767 unique visitors to my website with 3,939 page views. I was so glad that my writing was being read and hopeful that it was helpful. I was concerned, though, that maybe after an acquaintance reading a couple times, maybe the interest would diminish and the impact would wane.

That fear was answered in 2018, when I saw the first year’s numbers nearly double, with 3,463 unique visitors and 6,398 page views. This year I was shocked to have those numbers double again with 8,500 unique visitors and over 13,600 page views. On top of that are my faithful subscribers (thank you!) who read via email. This past year over 10,800 posts via email were read.

My five most-read posts of 2019 follow.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       The Worst Sales Promotion in History: You could say that this idea in the early 90's from the desperate leaders at Hoover totally sucked.

2.       Life After the Death of My Son: Simonetta Carr on the importance of ordinary faithfulness following tragedy. She says, "’[God's] not too busy to be with me in seemingly insignificant moments while he turns the wheels of history. This might not always be evident to my limited perception, but the same Christ who rose from the dead tells me it’s a reality on which I can count."

3.       Why I Wish We Hadn't Lived Together Before Marriage: Helpful article from Lisa Lakey. She concludes, " Doing things His way will always end better than me seeking my own will. No matter how right my way seems to me."

4.       4 Ways Conflict Can Help Your Church (and People) Grow: Dillon Smith packs in a lot of great wisdom here, " I’ve had to learn that minor moments of healthy conflict help you avoid massive moments of division that lead to disaster."

5.       Alive Again: I’ve just been introduced to Ahi and am loving getting to know his raspy, soulful voice.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       Americans Opinion of the Church Continues to Fall: Aaron Earls reports that "Today, 36% of Americans say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church or organized religion—an all-time low." Included in the report is a break-down on gender and generational opinions as well as the most significant young people leave the church: a political disagreement.

2.       Blood Calls to Blood: Samuel James reflects on how the messiness of God's redemptive crushes the siren's call toward the fuzzy spirituality of America. He begins, "This is embarrassing to admit, but here goes. If I were not a Christian, I’m pretty sure I would be a Unitarian Universalist, or something like one... For me, this exercise is hypothetical. For a lot of people, it’s where they actually are. A whopping 72% of Americans believe in heaven; 58% believe in hell. That 14-point gap is one of the most seductive places I can imagine. Who wouldn’t sell all they had to live in a world of just heaven, no hell?"

3.       6 Ways You Might Be Sabotaging Your Team: Daniel Darling asks important and pointed questions for us to consider. One of the six is "neglecting intentional encouragement." He says, " You’d be surprised how even seemingly confident employees or volunteers go home wondering, Do they like me here? Do they value my work?"

4.       4 Promises for Same-Sex Attracted Christians: Helpful and biblical wisdom from a partner on the journey, Christopher Asmus. He concludes, "If you’re a Christian struggling with same-sex attractions, know that you are not defined by your sin. Your identity is not determined by your temptations. “Embrace who you really are” by embracing Jesus Christ and your new life found in him (2 Corinthians 5:17) and enjoying the freedoms Christ purchased for you with his blood."

5.       Nature's Uprising: This video by Thomas Blanchard comes with my guarantee: if it doesn't wow you, you can give me a topic to write a post on and I’ll do it!

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.      How the Dad Joke Was Born and will Never Go Out of Style: Devika Desai with news that pops: "...dad jokes never go out of style — mostly because they’re so resistant to even trying to stay in style."

2.      7 Surprising Trends in Global Christianity in 2019: This report by Gordon-Conwell Seminary has some nuggets in it that will likely surprise most Americans. For instance, " In 1900, only 5.5% of non-Christians knew a Christian. Today, that has grown to 18.3%."

3.      Why Our Culture Still Accepts Abortion: Anthony Esolen boils his answer down to one word: money. He concludes, " Then let the pro-life movement be advised. We are really asking for a moral revolution. If the child lives, the mother’s life will not be the same, because if we accept the principles that allow the child to live, none of our lives can be the same."

4.      Who Owns Your Body? Andree Seu Peterson, a master with words, takes aim at the notion of our bodily autonomy. She begins, " In the mid-’70s my brother was being cute after I became a Christian: “You realize, don’t you, that now you have to submit to a husband?” He was saying I wouldn’t own my own body anymore. I didn’t take the bait: “You know, bro, I just stepped down from being lord of the whole universe; it is a very small thing to go one baby step further to submitting to a husband.”"

5.      A Tree Between Two Mountains: Chris Thomas reflects on the spiritual gifts of the spiritual deserts of life: " So savour Him on the mountain tops when He shows up with burning fire, and hear Him in the cleft of the rock when He gently whispers your name, but learn to see Him in the shadow of the Broom tree, as He lays out a feast of His sustaining goodness and bids you eat."

6.      Fantastic Fall Foliage... and where to Find it: Few things beat the beauty of beautiful fall foliage. I love this graphic-rich presentation of fall foliage.

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Why You’re the Best Church in the World (for me)!

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Why You’re the Best Church in the World (for me)!

The uber-mega church Willow Creek Church is currently hiring for their senior pastor opening. Willow Creek doesn’t require much of an introduction. 24,000 people meet at seven campuses in the Chicagoland area. It launched the Global Leadership Summit, which drew 118,000 people last year.

Last year, Mariners church in Southern California searched for their new Senior Pastor. Every weekend 17,000 crowd into its lush campus that could easily be mistaken for a resort.

And (not that if they would!) if they called me, I wouldn’t even pick up. Seriously.

New Life, you’re the best church in the world for me.

Our minds and hearts naturally wander. We ponder whether there is something better out there. Ingratitude makes our hearts grumble. Ambition turns our eyes green. “If only…” we think.

When my heart turns inward, when I allow my sin to go unchecked, I go to this place too.

But here is the reality: God has called us to Tucson. He’s called us to New Life Bible Fellowship. He’s decided to use my gifts in and for New Life. He’s given me the privilege of shepherding his flock, of caring for his sheep.

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Why I’m a Better Pastor (for you) than… (Rick Warren, Tony Evans, Tim Keller, Alistair Begg, Albert Tate, Matt Chandler, Joel Osteen, John Piper, or Andy Stanley)

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Why I’m a Better Pastor (for you) than… (Rick Warren, Tony Evans, Tim Keller, Alistair Begg, Albert Tate, Matt Chandler, Joel Osteen, John Piper, or Andy Stanley)

You have access to the best pastors in America.

You have at your fingertips access to a trove of virtually endless content by some of the wisest and most powerful thinkers and speakers on the planet. As soon as you finish this post you can have them piped into your office, car, or living room and be impacted by their words. And I hope you do!

What a ridiculous gift we have! If you were born five hundred and fifty years ago in Europe, in all likelihood not only could you not read the Bible, but it was likely that your parish priest didn’t own a whole copy of the Latin Bible and since he knew only a handful of Latin words, he couldn’t even read the Bible. Fast forward a few decades to the Reformation and now, for the first time, you would hear the Bible read in your own language and its words applied to your life.

Fast forward five centuries to today and not only do we (in the West) have unfettered access to the Bible, but we have almost limitless access to some of the very best Bible teaching. What a gift we have!

And yet, that begs a question: how is a normal pastor like myself supposed to compete? Why should you even bother with attending your local church? Why settle for the best I can offer when you can watch the best that Tim Keller and Albert Tate and (fill in your favorite preacher here) can offer?!

The truth is that I can’t compete. I’ll never be on an “America’s Best Preachers” list like this. And frankly, I have no aspirations for that.

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Why Not to Floss Before You Go to Church

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Why Not to Floss Before You Go to Church

“We’ve got just enough time. Let’s go!” My wife and I had run an errand on our day off and had a dentist appointment in 45 minutes. If we didn’t get caught in traffic we would just be able to get home, brush, floss, swish some Listerine, and then head to our afternoon dentist appointment. Why? Because in our world, you don’t show up to a dentist appointment without your teeth in their best condition.

Two days later I drop my car off at the shop. It has a strange squeak that has me nervous. I haven’t so much as popped the hood. The car isn’t washed and a fine powder of crumbs dusts the backseat.

When I go to the dentist I go hoping that I will get a good report. I don’t want any cavities, and I hope not to be scolded that I don’t floss enough. I have a strange desire to receive the dentist’s approval.

When I go to the car shop, I go messy. I go honest. I hope that they hear the squeak I keep hearing. I don’t know anything about cars and I hope that the mechanic can fix the problem. I know I sure can’t.

How do I go to church? Like I go to the dentist’s office or like I go to the car shop? Do we clean ourselves up or do we come messy?

Too many of us go to church like we go to the dentist’s office.

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