Josh Benner

Category: Commentary

  • The great enemy of success: excuses

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    It’s common for people to blame officials for their team losing a game.

    It’s less common for people to blame officials for losing a game by 29 points. But I found myself in a conversation on Facebook recently with a person who was arguing that officiating cost Ohio State that game.

    I say this not to belittle that particular person but it made me think of society and how we approach failure.

    Many people struggle with pride and never take responsibility. The problem with that is if you never admit your own mistakes and your own contribution to your life situations, you’ll never be able to grow. (more…)

  • Reformation Day – the day that changed the future of the Church

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    501 years ago today, the history of the church, of Europe, and of the western world were forever changed in the town of Wittenberg Germany. Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses, a list of grievances against corrupt and unbiblical practices within the Catholic Church. The impact of this event continues to ripple throughout the Christian world.

    Luther was not the first person to call for reform in the church. (more…)

  • Michael Buble and the value of family, thanks Jesus for son’s recovery

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    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    Singer Michael Buble appeared this week on “Carpool Karaoke,” a popular segment on the Late Late Show where James Corden drives around with famous singers, sings their greatest hits with them and has a conversation.

    In this episode, the conversation came to the subject of Michael’s son Noah and his two year fight with liver cancer. Fortunately, the cancer is now in remission but it is still understandably an emotional subject for Buble. (more…)

  • My first year of marriage: How I Met My Wife

    first lookI got married a year ago today.

    It’s crazy.

    As I think about how we met, there’s always been a certain amount of fatalism in our story. We met on eHarmony. I was living in Minnesota, she was in Atlanta. The first time we ever talked was February 20, 2017. It was a Monday night, I thought she was cute and seemed nice. Never in a million years dreamed that I was messaging my future wife.

    A couple weeks earlier, she had gotten out of a relationship. Had that not happened when it happened, we might not have ever met. Because she was looking to move further into Atlanta to be closer.

    In the same few days the relationship ended, her dad accepted a job in the St. Louis area and was going to move from the south to the midwest.

    The rest of Kari’s family was living in Alabama at the time. Kari was teaching in suburban Atlanta, but she wasn’t from Atlanta and didn’t have anything keeping her there. So with her parents getting ready to move, they asked Kari if she wanted to go to St. Louis, live at home, save some money.

    She said yes and when she joined eHarmony, planning to move to St. Louis, she listed that as her city.

    For me, in western Minnesota (not exactly the world’s most populous area,) I had widened my eHarmony search parameters to include Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri. But not Georgia.

    So had that relationship not ended at the same time that her parents had decided to move, we wouldn’t have met. Had her parents not decided to move, she likely wouldn’t have moved to a different part of the country, away from family by herself. Had her parents not moved to an area that was within my search parameters, we would not have met.

    All of the things in our lives matter. They ripple out. They’re connected to each other. Ripples from one event impact other things happening in our lives which impact those around us, our families, our futures. Every day matters, every choice matters.

    When I was single, more than anything, I wanted to be married. There were setbacks along the way. Times of frustration. But I never doubted that it would happen. But a funny thing about marriage is that once you get married to someone, it’s almost like you forget life before ever being married to that person.

    Happy anniversary Kari! I love you babe.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Tim Keller on an underlying motivation for tolerance

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    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons @Frank Licorice

    I was reading an old sermon from Tim Keller, and was blown away by an observation he made regarding acceptance.

    “Some of us are extremely accepting. People will come to you and talk to you about their problems because you are so accepting. You are so non-judgmental. The reason you’re non-judgmental is … You’re gentle. The reason you’re gentle is because you have no self-control in your own life. You’re always falling down, and you’re always lapsing. You’re always breaking your own promises. You’re always breaking promises to others. That’s the reason why you’re so tolerant and accepting. You have no discipline of your own. That’s why you’re so open.

    In other words, your tolerance and your acceptance are not coming from humility and peace and joy. It’s just a way of dealing with your own conscience. Some people are incredibly unflappable. They seem to have peace, but they’re not gentle, and they’re not kind. Where did they get their peace from? They don’t care. They don’t care! That’s not real peace. These things will all break down.”

    -Tim Keller “New hope, new family”

    Acceptance and tolerance are popular ideas in our society. They’re basically the cardinal virtues of 21st century America.

    No matter what people do, accept and tolerate it. We call that love.

    I think Keller is onto something. We don’t want to acknowledge our own failures and sins and shortcomings and so we instead want to justify the actions of others so we can feel better about our own actions.

    The problem is that it doesn’t make us feel better. On the outside, it might, but we know our sinfulness in our own hearts. We know we often don’t even measure up to our own standards, let alone those of God.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

    Let’s connect!
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Instagram