Christian Living, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Girl Math, Tariffs and Your Spiritual Life

Have you ever shared with a loved one how much you “saved” and omitted how much you spent? Have you ever “invested” in yourself by buying a shirt or a haircut? Do cash purchases not really count against your budget?

You may have fallen prey to girl math. A viral TikTok trend, girl math is meant to poke fun at illogical reasoning to justify purchases and make financial decisions seem less costly. Girl math playfully rationalizes purchases by minimizing the actual price of something or emphasizing the perceived value.

Meanwhile, the world is a bluster over tariffs. Tariffs are taxes levied on goods imported into a country from abroad.

Girl Math, Tariffs and Your Spiritual Life
Family, Identity, Parenting
John Beeson
The Freedom of Releasing your Motherhood (and ...

I sat across from Olivia. Her hands and her voice shook. “All my life I wanted to be a mom. I was so excited to get married, mostly because then I could finally be a mom. Six months after our wedding day we got pregnant. We were so excited! We began picking out names and preparing the nursery. At four months, I miscarried. I was so angry with God. How could he let this happen? Isn’t this what he made me for?”

She began to cry. I let the quietness sit in the room.

The Freedom of Releasing your Motherhood (and Fatherhood)
Recommendations, Church, Nature, Prayer, Religion
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

1. Don’t scratch the itch: Brittany Allen begins, “I have a weird problem. When I get in the shower, my legs inevitably begin to itch like crazy. I cannot for the life of me find the self-control it takes to not scratch. I have a condition called dermatographism that causes my body to react to scratching with hives. By the time I step out of the steaming hot water, my thighs are covered with wheals. I scratched the itch and the itch only intensified.”

2. Should Christians plead the blood of Jesus? Wanjiru Ng’Ang’A explains the history of this prayer and then offers a warning,

This Week's Recommendations
Culture, Church, Christian Living, Music, Religion, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
The Embarrassing Cry of Faith

The year was 1990. II was eleven years old, and skateboarding was HOT. Tony Hawk was soaring and Rodney Mullen was innovating street skating, popularizing tricks like the ollie. I watched in awe as kids jumped up and then slid down handrails (a grind). I dreamed of doing so myself.

At the top of my Christmas list was, of course, a skateboard.

I counted down the days until I would unwrap my rad new board. I bolted up on Christmas morning, raced down to the tree, and, to my dismay did not locate anything that looked like a skateboard.

The Embarrassing Cry of Faith
Recommendations, Family, Nature, Suffering
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. The dragon and the rooster: Heidi Tan shares the story of an apology, “Dad began to see that in spite of my ‘Dragon’ spirit, my love for him was always loud with quality time, words, and affection. I had to learn that in spite of his ‘Rooster’ demands, Dad’s love for me had always been consistent with hard work, service, and sacrifice.”

  2. Comforting the dementia sufferer: Matthew Rehrer says, “ Focusing on the temporal is overwhelming, but not when it is viewed in light of eternity. In many regards, dementia helps loosen the grip we have on this world.”

This Week's Recommendations

Culture

,

A Culture of Victimhood

,
A Culture of Victimhood

As a boy I was fascinated with pain. I often wondered how the pain I felt compared to pain others felt. I mostly kept this to myself, but I remember at least on one occasion getting into an argument with friends about who had experienced the most pain.

We all shared our stories: fractured limbs, concussions, road rash, and a hernia (that was my trump card). As each story concluded the storyteller would lean back, content with his sharing of the story expecting arms to be raised in defeat. But, in fact, each of us was disappointed with the reception of our tales of woe as the next storyteller would jump in, one-upping the last teller’s story of pain with his own.

I look back with embarrassment at the immaturity and narcissism this pain one-upmanship revealed in me. And yet, is the behavior of so many today any better?

, ,

Culture Making by Andy Crouch

, ,
Culture Making by Andy Crouch

Culture Making was a book I wanted to read but was afraid to read.  I suppose I've been a little worn down in recent years by evangelicals' obsession with all things culture.  Andy Crouch stands well above the fray, though.

What was perhaps most surprising about Culture Making to me was the scope of Crouch's vision.  Crouch takes on the whole thing in his book: what is culture? What would it mean for Christians to influence culture? What does the Bible have to say about culture? How we can make culture that will have a lasting and gospel-centered impact?

Each of these Crouch handles masterfully. 

, , ,

Why You Should Go on a Mission Trip

, , ,
Why You Should Go on a Mission Trip

I recently returned from a short-term mission trip to Senegal, Africa, where our church has had a partnership with a mission agency and a local village pastor for about five years. It was the twelfth short-term trip that I’ve participated in. Each has impacted me in different ways and they have collectively shaped me. I am significantly indebted to short-term missions. 

While there are all sorts of ways that short-term mission trip experiences can be tainted, whether by our own motivations, or by our expectations, or even by the planning of the trip itself, there is still an important place for these trips and good reasons to go on one.

, , , ,

Why You Shouldn't Go on a Mission Trip

, , , ,
Why You Shouldn't Go on a Mission Trip

In 1998 I went on a short-term mission trip to Honduras following the devastating impact of Hurricane Mitch. I still recall the stunning site of inches of mud caked over the entire cityscape of Tegucigalpa. Unbeknownst to me, sociologist Kurt Ver Beek was watching. He conducted a study surveying 162 short-term mission participants who, like me, traveled to Honduras in 1998. He later published a devastating report on these relief efforts.[i] Among his findings were that short-term groups spent $30,000 per home to build homes equivalent to homes built by local organizations for $2,000 apiece. There was no discernable difference between the homes or in the impact of them being built by short-term gruops. And perhaps, more disheartening, one year later there was no significant change in the generosity of those who had gone on the trips. Ouch!

Next week I’m going to tell you why you ought to participate on a short-term mission trip (full disclosure: I just returned from a short-term trip to Senegal). But today I’m going to explore why you shouldn’t go on a short-term trip.

, , ,

All In Orphan Care by Jason Johnson

, , ,
All In Orphan Care by Jason Johnson

There is a unique beauty in orphan care. Jason Johnson in All In Orphan Care puts it this way: “Caring for the marginalized, oppressed and orphaned is not only one of the clearest expressions of the heart of God but also one of the most tangible demonstrations of the gospel this world will ever see.” I’m so grateful that God has allowed our family to get a taste of experiencing our Heavenly Father’s love anew through our own journey in orphan care. And as we launch our first Orphan Weekend this weekend, I’m so excited to see others at our church get a taste of God’s love through this lens.

, ,

Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

, ,
Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

"In the beginning, then, God worked.” It’s from this simple platform that pastor and author Tim Keller begins his project of redeeming the goodness of work. It’s a simple platform, but its implications are far-reaching. Keller continues, “Work was not a necessary evil that came into the picture later, or something human beings were created to do but that was beneath the great God himself. No, God worked for the sheer joy of it. Work could not have a more exalted inauguration" (pp.34-35). Everything flows out this profound reality. Work did not come after the fall; no, humans were given the task of work before there was sin. And, in fact, our work uniquely mirrors back our God's perfect work from eternity.

, , ,

Consuming Worship

, , ,
Consuming Worship

Last week we took a more positive turn as we considered how our identity as consumers impacts our devotional lives. We continue in that positive direction as we consider our experience as corporate and individual worshipers in today’s consumeristic environment.

Throughout this series I have tried to provide a broader comparative historic context. The inclusion of songs in worship was present from the earliest days of the church. Paul incorporates what appear to be familiar songs in his writing, John shares songs in Revelation, and of course the Psalms provided a hymn book for the early church. The earliest house church discovered in Syria dates to the early 3rd century AD and is covered with beautiful frescoes. The church from the very beginning was worshiping artistically.

, ,

Bad Religion by Ross Douthat

, ,
Bad Religion by Ross Douthat

I was really surprised by this book. I wasn't expecting something as thoughtful and constructive in tone, but should have known better given Douthat's strong portfolio.

The first half of the book is a post-WWII history of American Christendom. In dealing with such a broad scope (Douthat carefully divides the history into three camps: evangelical, mainline, and Catholic) in such a small space, Douthat has to make some choices in winnowing the story down. There are some that I took exception to, but overall, I he writes a compelling history and even in his editorializing, he usually hits the target.

In the second half of the book Douthat takes on various heresies that have crept into all three of the camps in various ways (the gnostic gospel, the prosperity gospel, the gospel of self, the politicized gospel, etc).

, ,

The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak

, ,
The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak

A book on how to be a good neighbor? Seriously? What next? A book on how to pour a bowl of cereal?

But we need it. As simple and intuitive Jesus's simple command: "love your neighbor as yourself" seems, there is a huge gap between us agreeing with it and us living it out. That has certainly been the case for us. Of the eight places my wife and I have lived in our sixteen years of marriage, four of those locations we were flat out bad neighbors -- completely absent, and only two of those locations I can say we've been good neighbors.

,

The Cost of Dreams: La La Land Review

,
The Cost of Dreams: La La Land Review

I confess, I enjoy musicals, and not just because they make my wife happy. From “Singing in the Rain” to “Moulin Rouge” musicals that are done well are often able to punch a unique emotional punch. La La Land is no exception. But beyond being a movie that is profoundly successful in landing an emotional punch, La La Land also manages to deftly challenge the contemporary uncontested truth that following one’s dreams leads to happiness.

Sign up to get The Bee Hive delivered to your inbox and receive a free 50 Books That Changed My Life (and Might Change Yours, Too) download!