Prayer, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Is Jesus the Chaplain of Your Status Quo?

When was the last time you prayed for a miracle?

Do you ever find yourself struggling to pray boldly in your prayers? I do.

Recently the New Life elders had the blessing of praying for a man with multiple sclerosis. I found myself battling over how assertive my prayers for healing ought to be. Should I be praying more for physical healing, or more for strength and faith as he battles the autoimmune disease?

We hold both of these impulses in prayer. To only pray for the miraculous and neglect the formative aspects of suffering is to fall into the lie of the prosperity gospel…

Is Jesus the Chaplain of Your Status Quo?
Recommendations
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Some therapists aren’t telling you the truth: Christopher Cook begins, “Somewhere along the way, a cadre of therapists stopped telling people the truth. What began as a space for self-examination, emotional healing, and forward movement has slowly morphed into a mirror, one that reflects dysfunction and calls it authenticity.”

  2. School choice participation up 25%: Adam Wittenberg reports that, “These gains mark a seismic shift in how America educates its children.”

This Week's Recommendations
Christian Living, Prayer, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Listen to Your Life

My wife is very comfortable with quiet. I admire her ability to sit peacefully and listen to God. Me? Not so much. I work out with audiobooks or podcasts as my audio backdrop. I write with music on.

There are benefits to this audio soundscape that I live in. It means that I input quite a lot of information. I benefit from many wise voices and am grateful for the gift of music which inspires, soothes, and provokes.

The problem with a life of input is that it can choke out self-reflection and even the voice of God.

Listen to Your Life
Church, Prayer
John Beeson
Pray As You Ought

I was in the service, away at Boot Camp, and I'd discovered that the only place I could gain some reprieve from the grindstone was at church on Sunday mornings.  Much like the rest of the troop who figured it out, I squeezed into the pews, one bald head in fatigues among a throng of bald heads in fatigues.  The chaplain sermonized over the importance of perseverance, and at the end of the service, slapped a Bible in each of our hands. I took to reading that Bible every night after lights out—the first time I ever opened one intentionally in my life.

Pray As You Ought
Recommendations, Family, Culture, Marriage, Movie Reviews, Politics, Relationships
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Is Charlie Kirk’s assassination a turning point? Brett McCracken says, “From his Christian convictions he advocated for pro-life protections and traditional marriage when many older politicians in conservatism had abandoned these causes. On issues like transgenderism, Kirk helped the rising generation see the “reality-respecting” dynamics of conservatism in contrast to the more aggressively reality-denying tendencies of progressivism.”

  2. New study highlights widespread spirituality among non-religious adults around the world: Lots of encouragement and fodder for Christians as they pray for those who haven’t yet trusted Christ, ““Many religiously unaffiliated adults also express belief in God,” Pew reported, pointing to especially high numbers in South America: 92 percent in Brazil, 86 percent in Colombia, and 69 percent in Chile. South Africa shows a similar pattern, with 77 percent of “nones” affirming belief in a higher power.”

This Week's Recommendations
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Happy Dependence Day!

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Happy Dependence Day!

This week we celebrate Independence Day. I am grateful to be an American for many reasons. I appreciate the protection I have of writing without the fear of censorship hanging over me. I am thankful that we gather together weekly in corporate worship: an act for which I’ve never been threatened. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to vote for local and national officials at every election since I’ve turned 18. Democracy is a gift. There’s much to be grateful for this Independence Day.

But my national citizenship is not ultimate. When God rescued me, I was granted new citizenship. The Kingdom of Heaven is of infinitely more value than the United States of America. A perfect King rules the Kingdom of Heaven: its laws flawless, and its systems just. None live in poverty. Its citizens wake up every day with joy.

As an American citizen, I celebrate my rights and freedoms. As a citizen of the Kingdom of God, I celebrate the one to whom I have surrendered my rights and liberties. As a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom, I acknowledge my profound dependence, not independence.

If your faith is in Christ, you are a subject of the King. We are dependent on him for life, for hope, for all things. Independence, spiritually speaking, is spiritual death.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. How to Meet God at Your Lowest Point: Jane Marczewski guest posts over on Ann Voskamp’s blog. She has cancer and has been given only a 2% chance of survival. Jane recently auditioned on America’s Got Talent and received the golden buzzer. You’ll want to read her post and then watch her memorable performance. She writes, “I have heard it said that some people can’t see God because they won’t look low enough, and it’s true. Look lower.”

2. Not this Man, but Barabbas! Keith Mathison nails it here, “I hear and read Christians almost every day saying that their biggest concern is the direction in which the United States is headed. Or they are most concerned about the collapse of Western civilization. Granted, many people are concerned about these things because of their love for their children or grandchildren… The problem occurs when our main concern is fundamentally a political concern.”

3. 5 Cultural Shifts We Need to Know to Reach Our Neighbors: Mark Clark begins with this truth, “The highest good is now individual freedom and happiness.” All five are helpful in considering how to reach our neighbors with the gospel.

4. Romanticizing Death: A fellow Tucson pastor, Rod Hugen reminds us that to understand the power of Jesus conquering death we must come face to face with the ugliness of death. He concludes, “I live in the time when death is still the enemy, but with the sure knowledge that death is defeated and will one day be no more. It is an exhilarating time, freeing me to seize life and to take joy in the journey, knowing that Christ’s resurrection is a reality. Death defeated is far superior to death romanticized.”

5. PT Barnum’s 10 Most Famous Human “Freak” Show Attractions: If you’ve seen The Greatest Showman you’ll appreciate how this video humanizes the various people that Barnum promoted (and often exploited) in his show.

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50 Books That Changed My Life (and Might Change Yours, Too)

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50 Books That Changed My Life (and Might Change Yours, Too)

Books hold a unique power to change. Even the infrequent reader can remember the time when a book grabbed their heart. Whose eyes didn’t brim with tears as Wilson Rawls paints the picture of Old Dan’s sacrificial death in Where the Red Fern Grows? Who doesn’t remember the first time they went through the wardrobe into Narnia?

Through books we get to sit at the feet of some of the smartest and godliest men and women ever to lived and learn from them. Books have changed my opinion of myself and God. Books have taken me to places I’ve never been. I’ve grown in faith and empathy through what I’ve read.

Books have changed my life. Here are the fifty books I believe have changed my life the most. I offer them to you with the hope that they might change your life, too.

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Dads, First You're a Son

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Dads, First You're a Son

I’m a husband, a father, a pastor, a son, a brother, and a friend. If we lived in a world where an omniscient teacher handed out grades for our performance, I’m pretty sure I would get my highest marks as a dad. I love being a dad.

It’s supposed to be that way. God has granted us a gift in allowing us to take on the role of being a father. There is only one true Father. God graciously allows us to reflect his fatherly relationship with us to our children. What a weighty responsibility!

For some of you, that burden brings you shame this week. Father’s Day reminds you of the ways you have neglected your kids. Perhaps your neglect came through your cutting tongue, which spoke harsh words which hurt your children (Eph. 6:4). Perhaps you damaged your children by your poor example. Perhaps your kids were negatively impacted by your absence. The cloud of guilt and shame might lay thick on you this Father’s Day as you consider how you squandered the opportunity God gave you as a father.

This Week's Recommendations

This Week's Recommendations

1. 4 Romance Myths Couples Should Bust: Les and Leslie Parrott begin here, “Couples need to know that being in love does not mean their expectations align. In fact, each individual’s expectations may lead to tension down the road.”

2. If Necessary, You Have Been Grieved: D. Eaton reminds us that God has purposes for our trials. He says, “God never afflicts us without cause. He is always doing a good work.” There is so much encouragement for sufferers, here.

3. Pastoral PTSD: This podcast is helpful not just for pastors, but congregants too. Jeff Medders considers the ongoing impact conflict, stress, and other ministry hazards can have on the mind, soul, and body of the local pastor. I was grateful for his encouragement to both pastors and congregants near the end.

4. Music Maps: Stuck in a music rut? This is a great website to discover artists you might not find otherwise. Do you love Lauren Daigle? Maybe you will like Moriah Peters or Capital Kings. Is Frank Sinatra your favorite? Have you listened to the Inkspots or Sarah Vaughan? Is Ed Sheeran your jam? Give Birdy or Greg Holden a try.

5. 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards: This is sure to make you smile. I love #11 “Houston We’ve Had a Problem”—the expression on that poor fish is priceless. What’s your favorite?

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Moms and Dads: Show Your Need

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Moms and Dads: Show Your Need

“I have one regret of how I parented,” my friend David Towne told me. I leaned forward. David is a godly man married to a godly wife. He’s kind and gentle and wise. As an educator, he’s witnessed a lot of parenting, good and bad, in his day. His adult children have had their struggles but are good people. I would ask him for parenting advice in a second. What was his greatest regret?

“I wish I would’ve shown my kids my need for Christ more. I worked so hard to show them my godliness that I didn’t show them my need. I should have been more transparent. I should have shown them just how much I needed Jesus.”

In the early years of parenting it’s easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of strategies. You can parent with a positive approach, the whole-brain approach, the attachment method, the Montessori method or the Waldorf method, or the love and logic philosophy. The options can feel overwhelming. Proponents of each method tend to focus on methodology. As a young parent, it’s easy to think that your decisions around how to respond to your crying infant or how to discipline your disobedient toddler are definitive forks in the road.

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Dear Graduate, Where You Go Doesn't Define Who You Are

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Dear Graduate, Where You Go Doesn't Define Who You Are

Congratulations class of 2021! You did it! Few graduating classes have been through stranger years before they donned their caps and gowns.

As high school graduates of the class of 1997 and 1999, the most significant thing to happen during our high school years was probably the rise of AOL (ask your mom and dad about the joys of dial-up internet). Your COVID-19 years have us beat . . . by a long shot.

Whether you are graduating high school or college, you’ve been asked countless times and will be asked countless more: what’s next? Where are you going?

Maybe you have a set course. You are already rocking that U of A t-shirt and you are confident in four short years your photo will flash on the jumbotron at Arizona Stadium as you walk across the platform, Mechanical Engineering degree in hand. Or, as a college grad, maybe you’ve already said yes to that job offer from Tucson Unified School District and you’re ready to take on the world and 24 third graders.

Maybe you have no clue. You rack your brain to find clarity when Uncle Ryan prods, “So, what’s next?”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. When to Confront Another’s Sins: Brady Goodwin’s post is loaded with wisdom on this difficult question. He begins by sharing the importance of discerning the other person’s motivations, “If you are unsure of a person’s motivations, seek to cover their offense with love wherever possible. Extend grace, wait with patience, pray for insight and understanding, and strive to love them as Christ does.”

2. Nearly There: My friend Chris Thomas with a moving reflection on his son’s birth and recent departure from the faith. He says, “Two decades later and my son is gone. No gravestone marks his death, or memorial service to recall in our grief. Instead, my son lives apart from us. His path, he said, forked away from faith, and as he walked that wide way, it lead him away from us.”

3. Where and How Progressive Christians Differ from Jesus: I appreciate not just the content of Colton Hinson’s post, but also the tone. He says, “Most of the progressives I met were genuinely compassionate people who love Jesus (or at least their idea of him) and the Bible.”

4. 3 Crises Churches Must Address to Meet the Next Generation: Charles Holmes begins with the challenge of social media. He says, “We’ve often thought that providing students with better Christian media is the solution to winning their attention amid the barraging media of the day. But what if a better way wasn’t us trying to compete with secular content (in which, if we are honest, we will lose every time) but transcending it?”

5. Beautiful Numbers: Need some encouragement today? This is a reminder that, in spite of all of the challenges in today’s world, so much progress has been made (thank you God for your mercy to us, the undeserved!)

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Are Teens Influencing or Being Influenced by the World?

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Are Teens Influencing or Being Influenced by the World?

Are you encouraged or discouraged about teens? If you’re a teen, what is your perception of your peers? Are you hopeful? Or pessimistic? A massive global study on the state of teens worldwide was just released from One Hope.[i] In the report, we find reasons to be encouraged and causes for concern.

Spending time reflecting on what teens believe and do ought to help shape the way we pray for them and relate to them. I’ll process five sections of the report: Christian practice, struggles, social media, sexuality, and the meaning of life in teens’ lives and then draw some conclusions.

On Christian Practice:

  • 51% of US teens claimed to be Christian, yet only 8% display the beliefs and habits of a committed Christian.

  • 46% of Christian teens never read the Bible.

  • 58% of Christian teens believe they don’t have a responsibility to share their faith.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. The Solution to America’s Theological Salad Bar: Paul Peterson deconstructs the 2020 State of Theology Findings that leave any astute reader scratching their head. How is it the case that 72% of Americans agree that “There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” And yet, “52% of Americans claim, ‘Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.” The results are baffling. Peterson tries to make sense of the mess. He explains that, “It helps to know what most Americans believe, but even more so, we must grasp how Americans believe, if we might engage them with the truth. Those cultural Christians who attend church on Christmas and Easter can select orthodox-looking statements about God on a survey. Still, their approach to knowledge prepares them to depart from Christian teaching further down the salad bar line. A culture that ingests “Be yourself” will also absorb “Believe yourself.””

2. How Much Money is Enough? (And Other Wisdom from Proverbs): We just finished a series on the book of Proverbs. There are some excellent little gems Geiger has in here we didn’t even get to!

3. The Wait of All Waits: Brittany Lee Allen reflects on waiting and then asks these convicting questions, “All of our waiting points to the wait of all waits. Jesus is coming back. We will see him face to face and leaving all this world behind us, we will live in eternity with our Savior. Do we yearn for that day as much as we do for earthly things? Do I long for Jesus to return more than I do for another baby? Sometimes I wonder if I hope to see his face more than I hope for healing from chronic pain?”

4. Congregations of Bruised Reeds: My friend Benjamin Vrbicek shares that we all are the bruised, but serve a God who sees our bruising. He offers this pastoral wisdom, “Over the last decade of pastoral ministry, I have learned the time required to heal from abuse and other trauma is always longer than I would have guessed.”

5. Shadows in the Sky: I’m a total sucker for videos that display a sliver of the breathtaking glory and power of our Almighty God. Don’t multi-task when you watch this one.

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