Mark Beeson

Bravissimo!

 

 

 

Psalm 47:1-2 (Amplified)

Applause, everyone. Bravo, bravissimo!
    Shout God-songs at the top of your lungs!
God Most High is stunning,
    astride land and ocean.

 

 

Mutual Submission

 

 

"I find more and more that true humility consists in being submissive to those who are a little above or a little below us. Oh, when shall I come to rejoice in others' gifts and graces as much as in my own!"

George Whitefiled, from Sketches of the life and labours of the Rev George Whitefield (1850) 

 

Mutual submission is more than a fuzzy notion; it makes sense. 

Submission is simply "getting under (sub)" the "mission."
Submission isn't about coerced behaviors or forced compliance; it's about getting "under" the project or person you're engaging ... with your very best. 

• When someone is good at something, I pay attention to them.
• When someone knows something, I listen to them.
• When someone has demonstrated skills I don't have, and they leverage those skills to advance a noble enterprise, I follow them.

Mike Sill is on our team at GCC. He's a technical engineer and it's easy for me to submit to him.

• He is good at things I'm not.
• He knows things I don't.
• He has a number of demonstrated skills I woefully lack.

Mike's gifts are great and his humility makes those gifts greater.

  

Ephesians 5:21 -  Honor Christ by submitting to each other.

 

High School GSM and Me

 

 

I may have some kind of condition. You'd think I would have outgrown my love for teenagers, but the condition persists. I love student ministry; always have, and apparently, always will.

I jumped on an opportunity to speak to our High School students last night. They're in a Tough Stuff Series and my Tough Stuff topic was Suicide and Self-Harm.

Parents were notified that my talk would be live-streamed to them. GSM has always partnered with parents. We help each other every way we can. Parents on-line experienced the same event their kids experienced on-site and that resulted in many helpful conversations in homes across Michiana.

I got some pictures from GSM. My daughter Amber took the ones I'm in.

 

  

  

 

     
      

 

 

 

Our GSM Leadership Team is helping teenagers with the Tough Stuff they face all the time. Last week the topic was Drugs and Alcohol. This week addressed Suicide and Self-harm. Next week it's Divorce and then the topic is Depression.

Parents, you can log-on on Sunday nights for the rest of the Tough Stuff series and I hope you will. The Granger Student Ministry is designed to help your kids and you!

  

Philippians 1:20-21 (Amplified)  -  This is in keeping with my own eager desire and persistent expectation and hope, that I shall not disgrace myself nor be put to shame in anything; but that with the utmost freedom of speech and unfailing courage, now as always heretofore, Christ (the Messiah) will be magnified and get glory and praise in this body of mine and be boldly exalted in my person, whether through (by) life or through (by) death. For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity].

 

Learning to Study the Bible

 

I grabbed a few pictures of our experience with the scriptures on Wednesday.  

 

Hebrews 4:12  -  What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts.

 

 Dr. Bob served as our guide through the experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many people consider unread scriptures to be like a song unsung.

No doubt.

There is a similarity.

If you don't download a song, you won't hear it and you certainly won't be able to share it with those you love. And yes, you pay a price for every song you play; you pay for the privilege of experiencing all that music pulsing through those awesome little earbuds you're wearing. Your playlist is yours, right? You wanted those songs in your life so you picked them and you paid for them. And if you didn't pay for them yourself, someone else certainly did.

A song that's availible for download, that never streams through your audio system, doesn't have a big impact your life. Similarly, the words of scripture have more influence when they are experienced than when they are locked away in an unopened book that has a place on your bookshelf (because every sophisticated person has The Works of Shakespere and a beautifuly bound Bible somewhere in their library).

Most certainly.

Our real-life experience of the scriptures is much more influencial than a vague awareness of their existence.

The scriptures are available to us because a lot of people paid a huge price so we can access them. Others preserved them. Others translated them. Others experienced their worth and passed them along as the first and finest "retweets" ever posted by a user.

The scriptures aren't mere words inked onto paper; they are The Song that makes life worth living. If you don't download scriptures, you won't hear them and you certainly won't be able to share them with those you love. The scriptures influence our lives as they are experienced. 

So ... we're learning how to experience the scriptures as we study the Bible together.

 

Hebrews 4:12  -  What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts.

   

Learning Lessons @ Lunch

 

 

"Manhood at the most basic level
can be validated and expressed
only in action."
-  George Gilder, from Sexual Suicide, (1973)  -

 

My friend Braxston Cave (recently on Notre Dame's National Championship Team and now with the New England Patriots), was in town today. We grabbed some lunch and caught up on old times. I gave him a copy of Mansfield's Book of MANLY MEN because I really like Braxston and figure every guy who reads this book will be a better man.

I learned a lot at lunch.

I'll share four things I learned.

• I learned that all those nice people taking orders, refilling drinks and delivering food to hungry restaurant patrons are actually professional photographers, carefully disguised at waiters and waitresses.
  
  
• Seeing this picture on the screen on the back of my camera, I realized I am a petite and diminutive fellow. 
  
  
• I learned that I do not eat as much as an NFL lineman.
  
  
• I learned a few lessons on leadership because Braxston had gleaned great insights from one of the organizers of his small group Bible Study ... and he gladly passed them along to me.

I learned more, but I'm not listing everything now because several people have told me, "If your blog is too long, I just look at the pictures." 

 

Proverbs 4:13  -  Always remember what you have learned. Your education is your life—guard it well. 

 

Time With A Friend

 

 

 

 

Occasionally, lunch with a good friend is the very best way to spend an hour.

I'm sure of it.

 

Acts 2:46c  -  They shared meals with simple joy. 

 

Dark-Eyed Juncos / Junco hyemalis

 

 

I got home just in time to grab this picture of the Dark-Eyed Juncos at Sheila's Suet Feeder.

The snow is flying and the local news is predicting high winds and hazardous conditions. I'm think GOD already gave the birds a heads-up on the weather because our feeders are being swarmed!

Anybody ready for Spring?

 

Matthew 6:24  -  Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

 

The Lego Lowdown / King David

  

We launched our new weekend series at GCC with Dr. Bob preaching. He told us about the life of David and the salvation that's ours in Christ. Many were inspired by God's Word and many were captivated by the media GCC's brilliant Arts Team produced and delivered.

 

 

The Lego Lowdown | King David from Granger Community Church on Vimeo.

 

 

2 Kings 2:1-3  -  When David’s time to die was near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, "I go the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His precepts, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may do wisely and prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn."

 

You’re already aware of this…, right?

 

 

Sheila and I took Amber and her kids out to eat last night.

As we laughed, talked, colored and ate, I spent some time trying to figure out how to configure new settings on my camera. Actually, I spent way too much time trying to discover new ways to use my camera. 

Then it struck me ... 

“Someday I’ll share my last dinner with my family. That day may be distant; it may be near, but that day is coming and since I have no idea when, I think I’ll live as if this dinner with my loved ones is my last.”

That moment of clarity changed the evening for me ... and for everyone else too.

I stopped analyzing potential camera configurations. I stopped wondering about the collection of interesting possibilities buried deep in my camera’s Menu Options. I snapped a few pictures and jumped into the banter. We had a wonderful time together.

When we got home I thought, “I’m glad we had dinner. Our time together was wonderful. That mealtime covered it all: laughter, tears, kindness, encouragement, correction and love, lots and lots of love. If I die before I wake I don’t think any of them will regret how we spent this evening together … and neither will I.”

We have no idea when life will end. Live each day as if it’s your last … because it may be.

Enjoy your dinner this evening.

 

Philippians 2:4  -  Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

 

Too Few Pictures of GCC's 2014 Food Drop

 

"There is no more contemptible type of human character than that of the nerveless sentimentalist and dreamer who spends his life in a weltering sea of sensibility and emotion, but who never does a concrete deed." 

(William James, from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1. originally published in 1890.)

 

I wonder if GOD’s admonition to “be strong and courageous,” is less about extreme, intense, shocking YouTube-worthy feats, and more about the day-to-day actions of ordinary heroes that will never get a million VIEWS on YouTube.

I’m sure the jaw-dropping exploits, of YouTube's one-in-a-billion individuals, require courage. These are the actions those rare and courageous folks whom corporate sponsors line-up to finance so they can put a logo on their helmets, handlebars or hides.

I’m also sure enormous courage is required every time an ordinary person knows doing the right thing carries a hefty Price Tag ... and they do the right thing anyway.

Courage isn’t always your ticket to fame and fortune but it is always your ally when doing the right thing means taking action as Fear threatens to stop you in your tracks.

Fear is a monster.

I’ve met some grievously wounded single parents who fear they’re going to lose their minds, their friends, their homes and their happiness as they pick up the pieces of their broken family and raise their kids. It takes a lot of courage for a single parent to do the hard work of raising a child.

I’ve met girls who fear their boyfriends will dump them if they don’t sleep with them. They need courage to maintain their integrity, whether their boyfriends break-up with them or not.

I’ve met students who fear the promise of future success (resulting from a life of courage, honesty, hard work, kindness, diligence, integrity, faith and discipline) won’t be worth years of rejection by the cool-kids who decide who’s “in” and who’s “out” (based on a criteria of athletic prowess, physical beauty, family wealth, flirtatious sexual intrigue and the ability to leverage a magnetic personality for increased social status). It takes courage to stay home and study for your final exams when everyone who's anyone is going out to party all weekend.

Some fear they will fail. It takes courage to try anyway.

• "What if this new business doesn't make it? Will people think I'm a failure?"
• "If I do this studio recording and no one buys my music, what then?"
• "If I try this and fail, I'll never be able to show my face around here again."
• "Uproot my family and move to take a new job? What if I lose that job too?"

Some fear they will succeed. It takes courage to accept the fearsome burdens of increased responsibility that significant accomplishments always bring.

• "What if we actually do have a baby? Oh, oh. What then?"
• "If this new business grows, how will we build new production facilities?"
• "If I make the team, won't I lose all my free-time after school?"
• "If I get this promotion, will we need to move? What will that do to my family? What will that do to my marriage?"
• "Ugh. If we get this house, how will we afford maintenance and utilities?"

Every-day-heroes courageously step forward to do the next right thing, in-spite of their fears. Courage is about doing what matters, even when the Price Tag is fearsome and high.

I saw courage in the people of GCC when Fear whispered, “You don’t have enough money to give any of it way. You won’t be able to make a difference. Poor people should get a job and buy their own food. Why give your money away when you don’t have enough for yourself?”
In recent months, GCC’ers courageously gave their money to buy provisions for hungry people anyway.

I saw courage in the people of GCC when Fear taunted, “It’s cold. The wind is blowing the snow sideways. More than a hundred Michiana churches have already cancelled their weekend services. Are you crazy? Nobody is going to show up for the Food Drop. You’ll end up having to do all the work. You’ll be the only one there. You’ll never get those trucks loaded. Stay home and drink hot-chocolate by the fire.”
Ten days ago, GCC’ers braved the cold and courageously delivered food to 8,000 families anyway.

Feeding hungry people may not qualify for consideration as a YouTube worthy exploit. And a picture on my little blog doesn't bring YouTube fame. But the heroes of GCC's Food Drop helped thousands of Michiana's struggling poor ... and that's worth more than a million VIEWS on YouTube.

 

 

 

 

     

 

My deepest gratitude goes
to our wonderful Partners
in GCC's 2014 Food Drop.

IRBEN Foodservice Sales & Distribution

Northern Indiana Food Bank

Feed the Children

Dunkin' Donuts

The Eatery

Stanz Foodservice

ServePro 

 

 

     

 

 My appreciation goes to our elected representatives
for their enouragement last Saturday.

Senator Joe Donnelly

Congresswoman Jacki Walorski

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

Joshua 1:7 (Expanded)  -  Be strong and ·brave [courageous; resolute]. Be sure [careful] to obey all the ·teachings [law] my servant Moses ·gave [commanded] you. If you follow them exactly [do not turn from it to the right or to the left], you will be successful in everything you do.