The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Beyond All Doubt

December 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

On the eve of a new calendar year seems like a good time to be reminded of God’s will for our lives. Maybe you’re facing some big decisions this next month or in this coming year. Maybe you’re asking, “Is it God’s will that I stay in this job or look for another one?” “Does God want me to stay in this city or relocate to that one?” “Is it God’s will that I go to this college or that one?” “Does God want me to marry her now or wait?” “What is God’s will for me in this specific situation?”

I hope you are not paralyzed in seeking God’s specific will for your particular circumstance. I tell people all the time that God’s not nearly as interested in which job you take or what town you live in or who you marry; he’s much more interested in your faithfulness, in your character.

I know you want to follow God’s will, so when you’re facing a difficult choice or deciding on a new direction, you take discernment very seriously. You lay out some kind of fleece for divine confirmation. You fast and pray in hopes of increased clarity. You engage solitude hoping to hear God’s voice. You look for confirmation from a friend or your spouse. You squint at the sky, hoping for some holy handwriting in the clouds. What does God want me to do here?

If you’re not careful, while you’re seeking God’s will for your circumstance, you may overlook his will for your character. In your desire for certainty, you may become fixated on doing and become forgetful of being.

God does have a will for your life that is beyond all doubt. It is clearly stated. Crystal clear. His will is that you be sanctified, made holy, and conformed into the image of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:3, Ephesians 5:1).

You don’t have to lay out a fleece to know for certain that it is God’s will that you live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:12).

You don’t have to fast to be one hundred percent certain that it is God’s will that you be free of selfish ambition and vain conceit (Philippians 2:3).

You don’t have to look for handwriting on the wall to know beyond a doubt that it is God’s will that you set aside impurity and greed (Ephesians 5:3).

You don’t have to wait for confirmation from a friend or spouse that it is God’s will that you be slow to anger (James 1:19).

You don’t have to listen for a small, still voice to know without reservation that it is God’s will that you practice thankfulness (Ephesians 5:4).

You don’t have to search the sky for a message in the clouds to know without doubt that it is God’s will that you be holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4).

God has spoken to you with clarity through his Word. You are called to be changed. You are called by God, saved by Christ Jesus, and transformed by the Holy Spirit to seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, trusting your circumstances to his sovereign care and submitting your character to his gracious will.

Peace,
Allan

No Gift to Bring

December 29, 2025 / / 0 Comments

What an indescribable joy to have all the girls, all the sons-in-law, and all the grandsons for five nights and parts of six days over Christmas. We ate our favorite foods, watched the right movie on the correct night, worshiped together at GCR, walked the lights at Centennial Park, gave and received generous and fun gifts, survived a broken garage door and a busted exterior water faucet, played ping-pong, fed the boys their first ever bites of Blue Bell Cookies n Cream, and gave ourselves headaches laughing so hard during five rounds of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.

I thank God for our family and for the time he gives us to spend together. Blessings upon blessings of his grace. Thank you, Lord.

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The lyrics to The Little Drummer Boy are sparse. What words we have are so crowded out by all the “pa-rum-pum-pum-pums” that it’s hard to tell what’s really happening. But when the young boy peers into the manger, the newborn King he sees causes the drummer to say, “I am a poor boy, too; I have no gift to bring.”

We’ve all experienced that moment. We begin to seriously consider Jesus, maybe for the first time in a long time, maybe for the first time ever. We seriously seek Jesus. And something happens. We believe. Really. We understand. Truly. Something clicks. The dots are connected. The light bulb flashes on. And you realize your bankruptcy is totally exposed. You really see Jesus and you really comprehend his glory and you look at yourself and realize, “I am broken. I am empty and poor. I’ve got nothing to bring this King that even comes close to what is due him. All I have is this drum.”

Like the little boy in the Gospels who approaches Jesus and says, “All I have is my lunch, two loaves and five tiny fish.”

Like the widow and her two mites. Jesus says she gave more than all the others combined.

That’s us. We’re the ones who feel completely inadequate and, in some sense, we always will. When we see the King and we understand exactly who he is and his eternal significance, we can’t help but sense our own frailty. Our own poverty. All we have is this drum. What in the world could ever be enough for this King? I’ve just got this drum.

So you ask. “Do you want that? Do you want this stupid drum?”

And Jesus says, “Yes. Bring me your nothing. Play your drum.”

So you play it for him. You play your best for him–declaring that you are small, acknowledging that you are weak, knowing that he doesn’t need you or what you have or what you do. But with all that you are, with every ounce and speck of the nothing you have, you are giving it to him. Like Psalm 103, you are praising the Lord with all your inmost being! You are giving it to him!

“Then he smiled at me; me and my drum.”

The eternal King of Glory, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, comes here to us as a helpless flesh-and-blood human baby. He put aside his power and his status and his position to give to us. By his life of love, his sacrificial death, and his glorious resurrection. our King gives us forgiveness, he reconciles us to a righteous relationship with our God and with one another, he gives us his divine peace and joy and life. He gives us abundant life, life to the full.

“Apart from me you can do nothing… Remain in my love… I am telling you this so my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete… You are my friends… I have called you friends… You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last.” ~John 15:5-17

Without Jesus, you and I have nothing. We are nothing. But because of Jesus, because he came, because he was born in that stable in Bethlehem on that starry night, because of him, we are absolutely, completely, and wonderfully his. Me and my drum–all his!

Jesus is not nearly as interested in my presents for him as my presence with him. That’s all he wants. He wants me. He wants you. Give yourself to him. Give all of yourself to Jesus. And feel his smile.

May we all see the newborn King with fresh eyes and open hearts. And may we follow his lead. Let’s trade our cravings for power for a desire to sacrifice. Let’s be identified by our patience with others, by our service to the least of these, and by our unconditional love for our neighbors. And let’s adopt the humble attitude of the Little Drummer Boy and receive the gracious gift of Jesus.

Peace,
Allan

By the Chimney with Care

December 23, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We’re gonna need a bigger mantel.

My Christmas shopping is done, the sermon for our GCR Christmas Eve service is written and practiced and ready to go, the kids and grandsons and two dogs are coming in tonight, the egg nog is chilling in the fridge, and I’m ready for Christmas. To get yourself ready, give this video a watch. This is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performing their hit “Christmas All Over Again.”

The song was part of the “A Very Special Christmas” project in the 1990s that raised money for Special Olympics and this performance was during the “A Very Special Christmas” TV special filmed at the White House. It’s one of the very rare times Tom Petty sported short hair–maybe the only time. It’s a great song with a catchy tune, a nice hook, and subtle lyrics–like all Tom Petty songs. About the “distant relatives” he hasn’t seen in a while, Tom sings, “I kinda miss ’em; I just don’t wanna kiss ’em.” Enjoy.

Peace,
Allan

The Impossible Happened

December 22, 2025 / / 0 Comments

God accomplishes your salvation–the salvation of the whole world–through the birth of a baby. Immanuel. God with us. It is the single most remarkable thing that’s ever happened in the history of the universe.

It’s impossible.

God is immortal. God is eternal and holy and transcendent. He is infinite. It is impossible for God to become a human. To put on our flesh and blood and skin and bones, to eat and drink, to breathe air, to sneeze and get mosquito bites and hiccups–it is impossible. God Almighty cannot make his dwelling with us. We are human and frail and fallible and sinful. We are mortal created beings. God can only be us, he can only be with us, metaphorically. This is only symbolic. The barriers of time and space and divinity are too great.

Wrong! It happened! The impossible happened!

The incarnation of God, in the flesh and blood of a helpless human baby born to peasants in a barn really did happen. It is a most astounding and literal and historical and factual event. He came. He did! It’s real! The Creator became one of the created. The immortal became mortal. The eternally righteous became sin. God is with us to save us!

When we look at the baby Jesus in the manger, we realize this is not a messenger or an ambassador sent from God to earth. This is actually God himself in physical flesh. God doesn’t just send help from heaven, he actually comes here himself and bears our burdens in himself. He doesn’t just look down on us in love, he actually joins us here in our broken spaces. He walks our streets and touches our people. He hugs our kids and eats with us and loves us. And he brings with him the eternal Kingdom of God, this kingdom of everlasting peace, of which there will be no end.

Jesus comes and hurting people are comforted. Distressed people are encouraged. Hopeless people are given hope. Prisoners are released. Captives are given their freedom. Outcasts are brought in. Cold people are made warm. Hungry people are fed. Sick people are made well. Sinful people are forgiven. The devil’s grip on you is broken forever! Sin and death and all the things that steal your peace and your joy are obliterated forever! The weak are given power and the tired are made to soar on the wings of eagles!

All your fears, all your pains, all your sins and brokenness–it’s all met head-on in Jesus Christ and dealt with forever. All your hopes and dreams, everything you know as good and right and true–it’s all found in Jesus and delivered.

God has been born to us. He has come to us. He made himself subject to pain and suffering so he can comfort and heal. He makes himself open to loss while he is mighty to save. He is vulnerable to death in order to bring eternal life. He walks through your darkness, with you in the darkness, and shines his eternal salvation light.

It’s impossible. And it happened.

Peace,
Allan

The Light Will Shine

December 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned… You have increased their joy; they rejoice before you!” ~Isaiah 9:2-3

Maybe the darkness is too much. Maybe it’s too dark and there is no joy and you do not feel like celebrating. Maybe it’s been too dark for too long and the light’s just not getting through.

I realize more and more every year that Christmas is not great for everybody. For a lot of people, Christmas is hard. Because the darkness is so real. And constant. And deep. For you, maybe.

The lights on all the houses, the illuminated trees, the songs of glad tidings and good cheer, the sweet cookies and pies, and all the trimmings that go with the most wonderful time of the year–it can’t overcome the darkness.

There’s the literal darkness of December and January to deal with. Short daylight hours and bone-chilling cold don’t lend themselves naturally to joy and celebration. And it makes that other kind of darkness worse. Or it brings it more into focus.

Another page of the calendar is turning and the worries and anxieties multiply. Will this be the year everything falls apart and I’m ruined? Is my family going to stay an irredeemable mess? Will my depression ever go away? Will the pain of my deep loss ever subside? Is this the year the other shoe finally drops and crushes me?

Maybe, for you, the darkness wins every time. Every time. You can’t see over the horizon. The darkness is too pervasive to think a dawning light could drive away your shadows. That kind of hope is only for people who are already winners. People who already have it pretty good.

No. Not if you believe God’s promise. His promise.

God’s promise is not for the winners. It’s not for people who are already living in the light. It’s not for the whole and healthy or the powerful and rich. The promise is for those who are living in the darkness.

On THEM the light will dawn! The people walking in darkness–THOSE PEOPLE–have seen a great light! On THOSE living in the land of the shadow of death–On THEM!!–a light has dawned!

If you’re living in that dark land, it only takes a tiny mustard seed of humility and faith to embrace God’s promise. If you can admit that the darkness is inside you, then you are already in a position to receive the promise.

Jesus has come. He did. He came. The light has shone.

And the light will shine. He will come again. He is. The present darkness in this world, the darkness in your life, doesn’t stand a chance.

Peace,
Allan

December Inevitabilities

December 15, 2025 / / 0 Comments


December means Christmas parties, trips to see Santa, and the Cowboys being eliminated from the postseason. Let’s take those annual winter inevitabilities in reverse order.

If your quarterback is struggling and your offense stinks, just play the Cowboys. Once again, the Dallas defense made a bad offense look good and a mediocre quarterback look like Joe Montana in last night’s embarrassing home loss to the Vikings. Minnesota rookie J.J. McCarthy, in just his eighth start, threw for the most yards in a game in his career, averaged 10.4 yards per attempt, threw for two TDs, and ran for another. After beating the Eagles and Chiefs in back-to-back games, Dallas has now given up 78 points in two straight losses to demolish whatever hope a few Cowboys fans might have had.

I feel sorry for Dak. I really do. Prescott now becomes only the third quarterback in NFL history to start for the same team for at least ten years and not win at least one divisional playoff game (the other two are Tony Romo and Archie Manning). Dak is finishing his tenth season as the Cowboys QB, his fifth missing the playoffs.

It’s not his fault.

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The grandsons saw Santa Claus over the weekend and, by all accounts, killed it. Not a problem. Elliott didn’t fully embrace the experience the way Samuel did. But he didn’t cry. He endured.

In case you’re wondering, yes, the boys do own several pairs of shoes.

I was relieved to see that Santa is aware of Oklahoma. I’ve never been sure about that.

But it doesn’t matter because the boys are coming to Midland one week from tomorrow for Christmas and Santa and all that entails. It’ll be their first-ever trip to Texas. They might bring their parents.

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Our dynamic GCR youth group finished their progressive Christmas dinner at Stanglin Manor last night. Somewhere between 40-45 teenagers and a few brave adults (that’s only about a third of the people in that picture) crammed into our living room for desserts, hot chocolate, and an awkward gift exchange. It was another inspirational demonstration of the intergenerational nature of our congregation.

If our teenagers at GCR know anything, it’s that the adults in our church love them and support them and want the best for them and enjoy spending time with them. We work really hard to ensure our young people know they are a vital part of our community of faith. And these same teenagers are pouring into our children’s ministry, too. One of the coolest things I’ve seen at GCR was at the kids’ Christmas pageant Wednesday evening when four rows of our youth group showed up to support and cheer on the children!

I thank God for what he’s doing in and through our youth group. These are all fabulous kids who really do love this church and each other. I’ll continue to say that if you want your kids to truly be more like Jesus, if you’re really serious about the spiritual formation of your teenager, you want him or her to spend as much time with Jadyn and J.E. as possible. And with this group.

Peace,
Allan

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