Tag Archive for 'Faith'

Provision, Praise, & Prattle

Published on July 19, 2011 by Chris Bean in Celebration, Faith, Family, Finances and Personal.

My love for alliteration is no secret to many of you. Those who have ever tracked with my facebook statuses, tweets, or blogging realize that it’s simply something you’ll have to endure if you want to hang out with me…especially in the virtual realm.

Now let me reverse the order and begin with “prattle.” Since this word means: to talk or chatter idly, it might not be the perfect word for what I’m going to share. Today’s “prattle” is all about my little boy, Josiah. He is just over 7 months old now and bringing even more joy to our lives than we might have expected (if that is possible). Here’s a little video of a recent feeding.

Josiah squeals from Chris Bean on Vimeo.

On to Praise. God is good, right?! Generally speaking, I would say that I’m coming out of a season of life (the past 2 to 5 years) in which ‘praise’ has not been my default setting. Cynicism, critique, questioning, complaining, etc  These have been words that come to mind more naturally than praise. But over the past year, I sense that God has been rewiring my brain a bit…and giving me a new appreciation for Who, How, Why, and Where HE is. Psalm 103 is coming to mind as my default setting: Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

Provision may have something to do with my increased tendencies towards praise. As we continue to live out our new faith-stretching call to campus ministry…and daily depend on God’s provision, we are increasingly amazed at how God meets our needs. Just this morning, I made the painful and scary decision to approve $600 in repairs to my Ford Focus. Having just had a baby (in the past 7 months) and bought a house in the past month, our financial margin has all but disappeared. Within minutes of telling the mechanic to move forward with the repairs, we heard from one of our monthly ministry supporters who wanted to cover that expense for us. God’s ability to PROVIDE far exceeds my ability to gather resources. So we continue to trust and live in this exciting space of gratitude.

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Theology Throwdown

Published on March 13, 2010 by Chris Bean in Campus Ministry and Coffee and Third Place.

At the Edge House we’ve been hosting a monthly Friday night conversation that we call the “Theology Throwdown.”

Typically, this “throwdown” is just an opportunity to host a conversation and discussion which has some sort of theological or philosophical flavor to it. So far we have tackled such simple issues as…

  • The Problem of Evil
  • The Two Natures of Christ (humanity/divinity)
  • Who needs the Church
  • The relationship/tension between faith & science

Last night was probably my favorite conversation to date. In addition to a good topic, we had an interesting mix of students who all contributed fabulous perspectives and experiences. Everyone’s input combined for a really rich mixture of interaction.

A highlight moment for me was when one of the students (coming from a very atheistic/pluralistic worldview) commented on his experience at the Edge House so far. He said something like this,

It’s cool to have someone say, “I’m a Christian…so let’s talk’ instead of ‘I’m a Christian…and you’re going to hell.”

The atmosphere of hospitality and faith discovery we are developing at the Edge House should continue to grow. I hope we’ll have many more conversations take place like that one!

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Book #4: Manna

Published on March 6, 2010 by Chris Bean in Campus Ministry, Faith and Finances.

Not sure if you can read the subtitle on this image, but it is “the call to daily dependence on God.”

That has been a challenging posture to thoroughly condition into the muscle memory of our lives. Of course we would always give lip service to the notion of trusting God for provision over the years, and have certainly seen God provide in amazing ways in our first 15 years of ministry. But it seems like we’ve entered some new territory lately.

Raising most of our support as we’re on mission to transform the lives of college students in Cincinnati is revealing some head trash, bad habits, and trust issues. This book was a helpful read for Debbie and I both as we become determined to trust God more than anything or anyone else.

One of our temptations has been to put our trust in the provision rather than in the Provider. Jesus didn’t really do us any favors when He taught us to pray for daily bread. That essentially means we are to live in a posture of constant dependence on God. At one point the author correctly points out “We enjoy provision. But we detest daily provision.”  Our materialistic and consumeristic culture does not submit easily to this Kingdom notion that God’s ability to provide far exceeds our ability to gather.

Some other quotes which caught my eye in this quick read…

God wants to teach us that His presence is what provides safety, not our resources.

Can we follow Jesus if it means abandoning a value system committed to accumulation?

Is enough for today enough for me?

As we continue moving further up and further in…on this journey of trust and transformation, I want to be much more mindful of the “manna moments” which God uses to teach me about His unlimited capacity as Creator and provider.

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