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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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!

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.

It’s no secret that if I stop running and training regularly for marathons, several things will happen:

• Gain weight
• Lose endurance
• Perform poorly in the event
• etc

In the area of financial responsibility…careless spending, failure to save, and neglecting the behaviors which produce income will result in debt and financial ruin.

All these lessons are quite easily learned and without much difficulty can be applied.

Is it the same in the area of spiritual health? I often “preach” that it is…our spiritual health can appear to be directly proportional to the effort and time which we invest in appropriate Christian disciplines and behaviors:  prayer, bible study, worship, fasting, meditation, serving the poor, reading, etc. In fact, I was just discussing the need for “daily quiet time” with a student who has allowed me the privilege of discipling them in the faith. As I challenged him to incorporate this component of spending time with God, two issues began to irritate my own mind on the matter.

1. First of all, it was a reminder to practice what I preach. I’ve become lax, you might say, when it comes to my disciplined approach to a daily “quiet time” with the Lord over the years. That has been a reaction, in part, to the second issue.
2. There is a danger of cultivating a spiritual work ethic which can lead to pride and entitlement. A friend of mine shared a quote (or paraphrase) from Brennan Manning recently which suggested something to the effect of this…if he had his life to do over, he wouldn’t waste one minute on trying to develop his spiritual life.

So I come back to the analogy. Is developing our ‘spiritual’ life (as if we have a non-spiritual life??) similar to mastering our finances, or our health, or any other area which requires discipline? Is our spiritual health directly proportional to the amount of time we spend “with God” or engage in the disciplines of the Christian life? Or are we compelled to engage in those disciplines as a response to the overwhelming grace of God?

Resolving that tension is perhaps not  the right question. Maybe the right question is this:

How do I live within the tension of grace and working out salvation?

How do I push myself to lean further up and further in to the Kingdom while avoiding a tendency towards pride, duty, or entitlement?

Our hope is to connect the various college students and young adults in our Nazarene network of churches here into a community. As we connect and build relationships we also want to challenge, equip, and send these students into the world to make a Kingdom-sized impact on their world.

Element…

It’s about the basic elements of faith. In ancient times there were thought to be four basic elements which constituted the physical universe. We sometimes refer to someone or thing as being in their element. Perhaps you think of a heating element which connects and conduces heat or electricity. All of these ideas could contribute to or illustrate the purposes we have in mind.

JR Forasteros shared some insights from Matthew 25 which I found to be quite helpful. Recall the parable of the talents in which three servants were given a sum of money by their master. After some time the master returned (key point) and found two of the servants as faithful and productive. The third servant (out of fear, or laziness, or some other inhibition) buried his potential in the ground.

JR made the connect between this idea and the fact that most young adults are desperate to know what God’s will is for their lives. In fact, regardless of age and phase of life, we often want to ask the wrong questions. Our questions usually focus on specific felt needs or future developments in our life. God wants us to ask the kinds of questions which would lead to our transformation in the present. What are we doing with what God has entrusted to us right now?

As my mind was wandering a bit (not unusual) I began to think about how easily we bury ourSELVES in the ground. Often, we have a tendency in the church to bury ourselves in the world of church, programs, “ministry”, serving (the church/ourselves) and fail to see how God would have us invest our lives into others…especially those who are far from Christ. Instead of burying the master’s resources in a mayonaise jar in the ground…pour yourself out…and into the lives of those around you.

As I was reading a good post over at Jesus Creed here, I found this question.

How do you integrate your Christian faith with “secular” life and discipline?

The question itself reinforces the great chasm.

It’s one of those words the church came up with to talk about everyone/everything else and the idea works against a biblical worldview of integrating our faith with all of life.

As I read the passage a third or fourth time, an interesting distinction jumped out at me from verse 25: “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus…”

Notice that Luke did NOT say that large crowds were following Jesus…just traveling with him. They were near Jesus, but not necessarily engaged.

Within the context of evangelical Christianity (perhaps I could just say Christianity in general, but I’ll limit my observations to what I’m experientially familiar with) discipleship is seen as optional. Obviously, not many pastors or Christians would actually say that this is the case, but the ways in which we understand the Gospel, ‘share’ the gospel, and “do” church betray our core beliefs. Whether it’s because we think praying the prayer is enough or because we fear losing the crowds, we rarely challenge believers to a self-sacrificial Gospel-shaped understanding and pursuit of discipleship.

Do we distinguish, as Jesus did,  between “traveling with” and following?

Do we settle for the criteria of the crowd?

In so doing, we create an environment in which discipleship is optional. We expect discipleship to happen simply as the result of proximity to Jesus (and other believers aka attending church).

In my own ministry with students at the University of Cincinnati, I am determined to pursue models of biblical discipleship which will result in a steady stream (over the years) of  transformed followers of Jesus. More than likely, this is not going to look like a mass gathering of students except on the rarest of occasions. My hope is that it will look like a full week of one-on-one or one-on-two conversations, meals, front-porch encounters, etc. It will look like a few students enjoying a weekend of backpacking in the Red River Gorge, or kayaking down the Little Miami River, or playing disc golf.

Of course, the first step for me or anyone else committed to discipling is to BE a disciple. Discipling and the transformation of students will happen in the wake of my own discipleship journey and transformation.

But alas…the lengthy drive that I have to and from campus is giving me the opportunity to remedy this situation.

The typical line up of podcast preachers, prophets, and personalities I attempt to track with weekly (or monthly) would include:

Greg Boyd, Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN
Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA
Rick McKinley, Imago Dei in Portland, OR
Erwin McManus, Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, CA
Rob Bell, Mars Hill Church near Grand Rapids, MI
Francis Chan, Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA
The Village Church (Highland Village, TX…I’m experimenting with this one)
The Passion Podcast (Louie Giglio in Alpharetta, GA)
etc, etc

As you can see, it’s certainly more than I really have time to listen to or absorb…but I find these to be interesting, inspiring, challenging, frustrating, or some combination of these and more emotions.

Perhaps the personality above who I most struggle with and enjoy disagreeing with is Mark Driscoll. Although I often find Driscoll to be a provocative and effective communicator of Biblical truth and Kingdom principles, there are certainly times when I take issue with his teaching. For instance, in a recent podcast as he introducing a new series through which he’ll be leading his church for the next three years or so, he gives the impression that the gospels (and the Scriptures in general) can be read as biographical and historical works which are verifiable. The implication is made that Christianity can be proven with archaelogical evidence and by cross-referencing historical accounts which corroborate scripture. My response to this basic approach is one of caution. The scriptures, the life of Jesus, the life faith, and spiritual truths in general will not be empirically verifiable. To give anyone this impression is probably setting them up for a great disappointment. Although many people, places, and accounts in the Biblical narrative can be substantiated by digging up a few critical artifacts and serious research, there will ultimately always be a crisis of faith which is required to fully engage oneself in a covenant relationship with God through the cross of Christ.

Now I will admit that one of the things attracting me to Dricoll’s teaching is that he represents what some would call a “New Calvinism” and an attempt to re-frame Reformed theology for the modern (or actually post-modern) person. Coming from a theological background of Wesleyan-Arminian persuasion, I am enjoying this and other efforts to wrestle with and understand Reformed theology and the teaching of Calvin. In the context of a holiness denomination like the Church of the Nazarene I also find it very enlightening to hear various perspectives on sanctification, holy living, and the role of the Holy Spirit within the life of the believer. I believe that there’s actually much more common ground than contested when we take time to respectfully study the perspectives of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yet Christians seem to focus so much more on the contested issues rather than the commonalities.

Image: The Calling of St. Matthew by Nicolaes Berchem

Over the past few years I have wrestled quite a bit with the notion of ‘calling’ and vocation. I believe it is fairly easy to develop some confusing and unhealthy ideas about this concept.

As I anticipate many great conversations on this topic with college students in the near future, I was glad to come across this great article by Marc Baer on the Intervarsity website.

He shares some things that remind me of reading Os Guiness’ The Call a couple of years ago. Reading that book was quite helpful for me as I needed to re-orient myself around my primary calling in Christ and then allow vocation and work to flow from there.

I believe one of the most pressing needs in campus ministry and discipling college students is to help them discover the rich possibilities around a proper understanding of calling, vocation, faithfulness, and identity in the Kingdom of God.