Mark Beeson

Washed Up

I threw this shell back into the ocean. 

It washed up on shore during high tide but I tossed it into the deep, giving it a little more time to live. If I had not taken action, the hot sun would have made short work of it.

A little positive effort accomplishes more than its obvious result; it invigorates the soul. I shouldn't be surprised. We're made in the image of God so it feels "right" when we help the helpless, lift the fallen or rescue the perishing. 

And I'm not just talking about conch shells....

Proverbs 24:11  -  Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help.

Tangible Kingdom: I Love These Guys

          

Steve Stogdill (Greatest Chef on planet Earth and owner of The Victorian Pantry) and Ron Vandergriend (Trainer and Coach to thousands of church planters around the world) were at our Tangible Kingdom training this evening. Both are good friends to me and all of us at GCC.

Steve offered me a few choice morsels of food for the body.

Ron gave me life-giving food for the soul. 

I'm going home very well fed.

Joel 2:23b-24  

Be glad in your God.
He's giving you a teacher 
   to train you how to live right—
Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words 
   to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.
And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, 
   casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

Girls Semi-State 2012

Rob was preaching this weekend so I drove down to Warsaw on Saturday night and watched several of our Penn High School students play in the Girl's Semi-State playoff game.

I was impressed. Their skills are great and their attitudes are even greater. The way they played the game honored their coaches, their school and their community. They're more than great athletes; they're great young women.

They all run faster than me, jump higher than me and shoot better than me. 

I made a mental note: "You will be schooled, thrashed and physically damaged if you ever have the temerity to challenge any of these girls to a game of HORSE. Don't be stupid. You'll never be able to keep up with these girls. Stay off the court."

I had my camera so I shot a few pictures of the game.

 

          

 

 

          

 

 

          

 

 

 

          

 

 

1 Chronicles 29:11-12

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.

Rob's Sermon Topic: Forgiveness

"If you're keeping score on anyone, still counting how many times you've forgiven them, you're not forgiving. You're only delaying judgment and punishment." 

-  Rob Wegner 

"You only have two choices: forgiveness or bitterness. Bitterness brings death by slow suicide. Bitterness is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die."

-  Rob Wegner

"Forgiveness is very expensive. The only thing that costs more is un-forgiveness."

-  Rob Wegner 

 

"Forgiveness is not forgetting; it is not condoning; it doesn't mean you can reconcile; it is not a one time event."

Forgiveness is a gift. Trust has to be earned over time."

-  Rob Wegner 

 

"Forgiveness is when you set a prisoner free, and then you realize that person was you!"

-  Rob Wegner

 

Matthew 18:21-22  -  Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven."

Who Votes On The Future?

 

Let’s begin by recognizing my personal bias. I think there’s a big difference between a free-association society and a covenant community. 

• You’re born into one, whether you like it or not, but you make pledges and promises for membership in the other.
• In one you’re a member whether you contribute or not; in the other your participation is a membership requirement.
• One is yours no matter how you live; the other requires common culture, heroes, language, values and vision.
• In one membership has its privileges; in the other membership also includes duty and obligation.
• One gives a vote to anyone in the society, whether they share its culture, heroes, language, values and vision or not; the other limits votes to those who choose to accept responsibility for the future of the community.

When it comes to electing representatives, voting on budgets, strategies, buildings or the Vision of what could be - when you consider the future of your “community” (whether that’s a club, team, company, labor union, city, nation, denomination or local church) - whom do you want voting?

Every society whether modern or ancient (as reflected by this picture of me standing at The Treasury in long-dead Petra) is free-association or covenant. I suppose we could go off on a tangent about "coerced" societies, as would result when Attila the Hun overran a tribe and made slaves of everyone he allowed to live, but that's a topic for some other time. This post is about the challenge of shaping our future, and who we expect to step forward to bring it.

Many express strong opinions about what someone else should do. Some people are critical of others' attempts. Several folks offer counsel, whether it's helpful or not. But when it comes right down to it, who is entrusted to vote on your future?

What’s fair?

Micah 6:8a  -  But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just.

Frozen Out?

Some of us know how it feels; we've been frozen out and excluded.

But that's not God's plan.

God demands everyone be offered HIS love, so nobody is left out in the cold. God wants everyone included. All are invited to live in the truth - adjusting their lives to cooperate with HIS plan. Everyone can know the truth, and the truth can set everyone free.

But when does that happen?

• When does the truth set us free?
• How does that happen?

Jesus says we are first to live as faithful disciples: then we know the truth and then the truth sets us free. No one is frozen out; everyone is invited to live as faithful disciples inside the family of God.

Too many of us have had it backwards. We've believed we could know truth without living it. We've assumed we'd be set free whether we were faithful disciples of Jesus or not, and we've been wrong.

First we're HIS disciples, then the truth sets us free. 

John 8:31b-32  -  “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Fat Tuesday And We're Running Out of Options.

 

I had a professor in college who summarized a distinctive of America’s mindset by saying, “Europeans have all the time in the world and no land. Americans have all the land in the world and no time.”  He waxed eloquent on the topic, suggesting Europeans had to care for the small plots of land their ancestors left them while Americans were always able to “go someplace new and start over.” Whether it was homesteading or following pioneers into unsettled lands, we always had wilderness frontiers where we could go to begin again. We had to destroy millions of native peoples and their cultures to do it, but we always figured we had the option of going wherever we wanted to go.

Those days are coming to an end. 

On Fat Tuesday, a day that’s become synonymous with self-indulgence and inebriated excess, we’d do well to remember the days of imagining unlimited options are coming to an end.

How much longer will it be before we have nowhere to go?

Marriage:
How much longer before we discover we need to fix the marriage we have, instead of moving on to the next one? How many times can we bail on the marriages we’ve ruined before we run out of options? Do you really believe there’s an unlimited supply of wonderful people standing in line to be your next spouse? Eventually you’ll either fix the marriage you have, or you’ll have none. You’ll have nowhere to go.

Money:
How much longer until we stop spending out of control? When do we pay what we owe instead of trashing our financial future with more and more debt? Who can possibly believe someone will bail us out and pay our debts forever? To whom will you go for another bailout when you’re short-list is exhausted? Eventually no one will extend us credit and when that happens, irresponsible spending comes to an end. The only option left will be to fix the financial mess we’ve made. There will be no place to go.

Physical Life:
When will we realize there’s no place to run from our self-indulgent lifestyles? We’ve made our bodies soft and weak. Can you ruin your body and move to a new one? Maybe you can get a new knee; maybe not, but the sooner we face the fact we’re only going to get a new body when Jesus establishes a new heaven and a new earth, the sooner we’ll stop mistreating the body we have. Wake up. You ruin the body you’re in and you’ll have no place (in this world) to go.

Spiritual Life:
There are only a few hundred congregations within driving distance of your home. Move to a new congregation every week, looking for a local church that’s good enough for such a person as yourself, and you’ll quickly exhaust your options. Wherever you go, there you are, so where can you go? Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” He recognized going somewhere else couldn’t guarantee fulfillment; going to Jesus and adjusting his plans to follow HIM would.

We’re running out of self-serving escape options. As millions of Americans go crazy with gluttony and self-indulgent intoxicated intemperance the day before Lent, we face a sobering end to our fantasy of endless alternatives.

The unavoidable consequence to violating marriage vows is the end of marriage. The inescapable upshot of ignoring your children is losing them. Neglect your body (or over indulge it) and you’ll ruin it. The undeniable burden of ever increasing debt is the end of freedom. Rejecting the WAY that leads to life means life ends.

When there is no place else to go, we’ll have only one good option left. We’ll have to leave our old ways, turn to Jesus and adjust our lives to HIS will. Following Jesus is the WAY.

What we should have done in the beginning is our last best hope in the end.

 

Romans 14:11-12  -  Read it for yourself in Scripture: "As I live and breathe," God says, "Every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God." So tend to your knitting. You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

Hey Daddy, What's This?

Lydia met her little sister today.

Judging by the way she's looking at her daddy, I'd say she's feeling fine about it.

Ecclesiastes 5:19  -  We should make the most of what God gives.

Great White Egret / Casmerodius albus

"Gator holes" are wetland ecosystems in miniature. Each one is a dry-season oases tended by one of the top predators of the Everglades, the alligator. They provide much more than a nesting location for gators. They offer cover for wildlife. Wading birds come to gator holes to feed on small fish and snails and to take advantage of nesting and roosting sites. 

Sheila and I were in south Florida recently and she was thrilled when I learned of a path through a swamp that led to a gator hole. It was less than a mile from the road and we made the trek together: me carrying my camera and Sheila keeping an eye peeled for gators along the way. It was awesome.

When we got to the gator hole I shot this Great White Egret walking along the edge of the water. It's a huge bird; only the white form of the Great Blue Heron is larger.  

Obviously, we walked a good trail that day.

Proverbs 2:9-11

Find all the good trails!
Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, 
   and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, 
   Insight will keep an eye out for you.

I Met With Samar Yesterday

I met with Samar yesterday. We ate breakfast as he told me his story. 

I asked him if I could take his picture and he said it was OK, so I did. Seems pretty joyful, don't you think?

He was filled with hate for most of his life, but not any more.

He grew up studying the Quran and attending the mosque in a refugee camp in Lebanon. His devotion took him to a madrassah led by a radical sect from Saudi Arabia where he was taught all Jews and Christians were enemies. He was appointed by the sheikh to teach sharia law. 

His path was set.

But he was befriended by a Lebanese Christian. Samar intended to convert him to Islam, so when his Christian friend gave him a Bible he threw it on the ground in disgust. His friend didn't shrink back. Instead, he invited Samar to meet with other Christians. Samar wanted what those Christians had. He studied the Bible and eventually committed his life to Jesus.

Samar was baptized in 2002. That's when his difficulties began. Thinking they were doing Allah a service, his community tried to kill him. His own brother tried to kill him. He escaped to Beirut where he became known as a man who shows only love and respect for Muslims as he fearlessly preaches the Gospel to them. Four times he has been arrested and jailed for sharing Jesus; each time he shared Christ with his jailers.

I aked Samar if I could take a picture of his Bible. It's printed in Arabic and by all appearances, it seems that he uses it a lot. 

Samar now offers shelter to Beirut's "Muslim background believers" ("MBB's" as he calls them). He provides them relief and discipleship. Just as he needed a place to stay - and help in adjusting to new life as a follower of Jesus - so it is that many of Lebanon's refugees need the same. That's what Samar's life and ministry on the streets of Beirut delivers.

I'm sure you're concerned that I might be exposing Samar to unwanted public scrutiny. I understand. I was concerned too. I talked with him and offered to keep his story quiet so I wouldn't expose him to trouble. He told me his greatest joy is seeing people come to know Jesus. His story has already been publicized so anything I pass along only serves to advance Christ's Kingdom. He wants the Story of Christ's work in his life to be known, so I'm passing it along to you ... with Samar's blessing.

Galatians 1:10-13a  -  Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life...

 

Having A Baby Is Exhausting

- Ang & John holding Norah a few days ago -

I'm so happy Norah Dawn has been delivered!  She's great. Her mom and dad and sister are great. Memorial Hospital's wonderful doctors and nurses are great. Sheila is great. Me too ... but I've got to tell you, "Having a baby is exhausting."

It's just about worn me out.

Isaiah 47:13  -  I know you're exhausted but don't give up.

Welcome Norah Dawn Keim

Angela and John delivered their 2nd daughter, and our 4th granddaughter, late this afternoon. Norah Dawn Keim weighed in at 7lbs and 7ozs, arriving on the scene with loud cries and great enthusiasm. We couldn't be happier.

Mother and Father are fine. 

Norah is fine.

Norah's sister Lydia, now 2 years old, will be sharing her world from now on and I'm sure she's thrilled about it.

Today has been a very good day.

Judges 13:23b   -  He gave us this birth announcement.

The Danger of the Squabble

I don't know if you've ever seen a real squabble, but when I was on Kodiak Island, these Emperor Geese launched into a brouhaha and I couldn't help noting what seemed lost on them. The more they fought each other, the less time they spent eating. (You understand what I mean if you've ever tried to eat a meal while the family and friends around you are angry and fighting.)

I wanted to say: "Stop fighting and eat. Low tide only lasts for a while. You don't have forever. Don't spend this time attacking each other and squabbling. You're here for a reason. Stop fighting and do what you're here to do.

When you're squabbling, you can't do much else.

The surgery on my vocal cords was a success and I'm able to talk at last, so I'm wondering if I should say something - a few words to benefit our leaders, legislators and ourselves.

There is much to do. Maybe we'd all be better off if we stopped attacking and started cooperating.

It's just a thought....

Matthew 12:25b  -  A family that's in a constant squabble disintegrates.

Why Do Some Quit And Others Don't?

 

If you've been to the beach you've seen this happen, so this story won't surprise you.

A little kid was building a sandcastle on the beach. I'm sure it was a sandcastle because in spite of its appearance, he told me: "I'm building a sandcastle."
I believed him.
Under the watchful eye of his mother, his work progressed until some bad boys walked over and stomped his sandcastle, grinding it underfoot until all of the little boy's efforts were wiped-out and reduced to nothing. 

The kid with the stomped-on dreams sat there in disbelief. The kid's mom said all the things mothers say when bad boys stomp on their kid's sandcastles. The bad boys ran off to do mischief elsewhere. I refrained from entering the fray - a very good decision as I look back on it - choosing to hold firmly to my life-long conviction that adults shouldn't physically discipline children while they are feeling great anger. Everyone survived but I can't stop wondering about the little dreamer who got his sandcastle stomped.

Maybe you can help me with this one.

It wasn't ten minutes later when I looked over to see the little boy back at work, digging in the sand, building another sandcastle.

Why would he do that?
What did he have that enabled him to begin building all over again?

Some dreamers see their efforts come to naught, their victories overturned, their progress blocked and their success undone. They see the marriages they built fly apart. They see their businesses fail, their investments turn to dust and their health annihilated by cancer and disease. They watch as a trusted friend and teammate abandons the mission and walks out, leaving them alone to fix the mess that's left behind. They see their dreams stomped so thoroughly that any evidence they've been working is completely obliterated. 

So, they quit.

They pick up their bucket and shovel and go inside to eat some lunch and play video games. In other words, they leave their old life of productivity, effort and industry. They quit. Heartbroken and overwhelmed, they go hunker down and do their best to enjoy what they have while they have it. No more crushed dreams for them because they stop working to make their dreams come true. 

• Bad boys can't ruin my dreams if I stop trying to make my dreams come true. 
• Bad boys can't stomp on my heart if I don't attempt to do anything "with all my heart."

But others are different. They don't quit. 

Other dreamers experience all that pain and disappointment, then they shrug their shoulders, take a deep breath and look around for their little shovel so they can start building another sandcastle. It's as if they're unfazed by the brutal and merciless destruction of their dream. It's like it doesn't occur to them that if they dream a new dream, and work to make that dream come true, they could end up building another sandcastle and the bad boys might destroy it too. In the back of their minds, they know that, but it doesn't stop them. They choose to try again. They start digging, joyfully piling up the sand as if their next sandcastle will last forever.

Stomped-on people respond to smashed dreams, betrayal, cruelty, loss and heartbreak differently.

• Some give up and quit. 
• Some start over and begin to build again.

Why is that?

Romans 12:21a  -  Do not be overcome by evil.

A Word From Alan Hirsch

Alan Hirsch was reflecting on the astounding potential resident in the Church when he quietly offered a bit of insight at the conclusion of our sessions today. He mentioned the monumental movements we consider remarkable in our history and said, "Look at history and note the times when a few leaders got together around an idea and changed the world. It doesn't happen often. Trust what God is doing. It's happening now."

I pray he's right.

Acts 26:19-20  -  I couldn't just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change — this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life — right there.

SOMA Communities

This afternoon, Jeff Vanderstelt (Founder of the SOMA Communities) said,

"We need to define the Church in light of:

1. Who God is and what God has done,
2. Who God made the Church to be and what God saved and created Her to do.

We aren't defined by what we do. We're defined by what God has done in the person and work of Jesus Christ. What we do is based upon, and motivated by, what God has done and who God has made us to be."

Church is not an event; it's a community. Mission is not an event; it's a lifestyle.

I long to be faithful to the community of faith and God's mission for my life, so I'm going to bed this evening with two questions on my mind: "Where did I resist Jesus today?" and "Where did I cooperate with Jesus today?"

Romans 1:16  -  It's news I'm most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God's powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him ... 

My Father's World

Psalm 50:11  -  Every creature in the forest is mine, the wild animals on all the mountains.  

Superbowl Half-Time

 

I looked up from my book during the Superbowl Half-time show. Why not? I've seen Madonna perform since I was a kid in elementary school, so I assumed it was safe to look away. In fact, I figured it was actually safer to look away.

Anyway, the sun was setting and I thought Mt. Rainier looked pretty cool, so I balanced my camera on the widow ledge and grabbed a quick shot.

What was I reading? Probably today's best explanation of "liminality" and its essential role in our missional quest. In The Faith of Leap, Alan Hirsh says,

"It (liminality) is composed of any or a combination of danger, marginality, disorientation, or ordeal and tends to create a space that is neither here nor there, a transitional stage between what was and what is to come. As a result, it is experienced as a place of discomfort and agitation that requires us to endure and push into what is to come.  ...  It is the true context of a quest."

J.R.R. Tolkien understood that a quest is never a matter of one's own desire, but rather of one's calling. It is as if we are chosen, which of course, is the truth. We are chosen. We are called. 

If you're feeling the "liminality" of these days, and you're sensing God's mission will require nothing less than everything, I encourage you to "push into what is to come" and engage The Tangible Kingdom.

Sign up now.

Our quest begins Monday.

1 Peter 2:9  -  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Sunday's Sun Rising

 

It's Sunday. I'm sitting alone in my room, a couple of time zones west of home. I've got work to do here - but not yet. This morning I'm looking out the window of my hotel, watching my Father spin the planet around to offer us another day of life. Off in the distance, Mt. Rainier stands sentinel as the darkness gives way to the dawn. 

Watching the sun come up over the city of Tacoma moves me, but not as much as this weekend's service at GCC moved me. 

Jason's message this morning was inspired. Trace's monologue was astounding. The sacrament took the message out of the realm of theoretical possibilities and placed it squarely in the middle of our reality. 

Jesus is Lord.

The Light of HIS Kingdom is coming.

Your apprenticeship in HIS Kingdom is available here.

Psalm 65:8  -  The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.

What's Needed?

Ours is a world in need, a nation in need, and a community in need. 

You may ask, "In need of what?"

I think I know: "Apprentices of Jesus, that's what."

In Chapter Seven of Hugh Halter's Tangible Kingdom, you'll find these words.

"If you would have asked some of the first disciples what it was like being one of Jesus' students, they probably would have responded with, 'He always tested our faith and our motives. He always took us to places we wouldn't have gone ourselves. We became friends with people we would have hated before. Looking back, it was the most wildly transforming process I could have ever imagined. I'll never be the same.'"

Hugh goes on to write,

"Discipleship for the disciples was different from our idea in one major way. It actually involved following Jesus where he went and doing what he did."

The world is standing on tip-toe, looking for disciples of Jesus who are trained in action, not just in theory. Our world, and our lives, will change when our discipleship becomes apprenticeship again.

Become a world-changer. We start this Monday.

Matthew 5:1  -  When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. 

Bellowing

I was trying to write the words that would help Sheila understand how I'm feeling right now, when I remembered, "A picture is worth a thousand words." So along with this picture I took last year, I gave her a note that read, "If only I could, I'd bellow."

Sheila looked at me and said, "Not yet, Mark. No talking, no shouting and no bellowing. Shhhhh."

I feel like bellowing, but apparently I can't do whatever I want to do right now.

Maybe later.

I'll let you know.

Jeremiah 4:5  -  Blow the ram's horn trumpet through the land! Shout out—a bullhorn bellow!

Look What My Staff Just Sent Me!

 

 

I serve Jesus beside some of the greatest people on the planet!  

Check this out!
 

Philippians 22:a  -  All the Christians here would like to send their best wishes.

Silent Thoughts

 

Since my vocal cord surgery I've had a few silent thoughts. I'm a verbal processor so I really don't know what I think until I talk about my thoughts for a while, so I wouldn't put too much stock in this blog, but you're still welcome to read it.

I offer you a few unprocessed ruminations...

• Silence is golden. That's true, but its value increases with it's scarcity. You need it when you don't have it, but if it's everywhere in abundance, it's relative value plummets.
• Silence is misunderstood. A silent person doesn't explain why they're not speaking so interpretation is left up to others. This results in criticisms of being being stuck up, or angry or aloof. Yesterday someone near me was asked if I'm an introvert. Yiiiiii!
• I've been listening to Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" and still haven't figured out what "the sounds of silence" are, or why they matter.
• Surrogates and avatars are saying things for me. Did you know there are APPS that say whatever you type? They even sound a bit like I sound right now. 
• I wonder if God planned for me to say a certain number of words each day. If so, I'll have extra words to say when I can speak again. I'll need to say all the things I would normally say, plus all the words I would have said in the preceding days. Hmmm. Consider the potential impact on my preaching. Zow.

Needless to say, I'll know soon enough how my voice was impacted by the surgery. I'm not concerned. I like Dr. Brooks and I've known him for many years. He's a remarkable Otorhinolaryngology surgeon and he did a great job whittling on my vocal cords while wielding a hot laser in my throat. I was surrounded during the entire procedure with nurses, administrators and care-givers from GCC, all of whom helped me with their training, skill and words of support. (GCC folks are everywhere!)

The bottom line: The surgery went well. I'm to be totally silent for a few days. Duct Tape helps. I feel OK. I'm grateful for your kindness and support. I'm glad for Sheila's loving patience. I'm already sick and tired of saying nothing.

A few more days of silence, then I'm in voice therapy for a while.

I assume my new vocal cords will carry me to an easy victory on the next American Idol and I'll be able to pay cash for GCC's new chapel with the royalties from my first hit single, "I Had Nothing To Say To You."

That's the update. 

Thanks for praying.  

Psalm 30:9a  -  What is gained if I am silenced?

 

How Difficult Can It Be?

 

When Ron Vandergriend was coaching our leadership team for The Tangible Kingdom, he spoke of the requirements of missional living. He talked of bringing light to the darkness. His words were profound. I wrote them down.

"It doesn't take a lot of knowledge," he said. "It takes a little obedience."

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Psalm 112:4  -  Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.