The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

It figures, huh? The year the Rangers go to the World Series they’re not going to have home field advantage.

New Ranger Cliff Lee. One inning of work in last night’s All-Star Game. Three up, three down. Six total pitches. One strikeout. I’m just sayin’…

The second half begins tomorrow night in Boston. Now we really start paying attention. Kipi, are you with me?

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A quality I find most attractive in people is the willingness — even the joy — to laugh at oneself. George Steinbrenner was, by all accounts, an impossibly difficult man to work with and/or for. A narcissistic ego-maniac, for sure. Impulsive. Explosive. Irrational. Driven. Evil. There are plenty of words out there to describe him. But it’s hard to hate a man who seems to take such pleasure in laughing at himself and in watching others poke fun at him.

Steinbrenner’s old Miller Lite commercial with Billy Martin is hilarious. He reportedly took great delight in Larry David’s numerous parodies on Seinfeld (asking Costanza if it’s pronounced “Feb-U-ary” or “Feb-RU-ary” and calling Babe Ruth a “fat old man with little girl legs”; did you know he wasn’t really a Sultan?”). But the funniest thing to me is Steinbrenner himself playing a convenience store owner on Saturday Night Live. His character spent the entire skit trying to persuade his store manager that firing people all the time is a horrible way to run a business. “How can your employees perform at their best when you’re constantly looking over their shoulders?” It’s a great skit. A classic. And I can’t find it anywhere. I’ve looked everywhere today. Help! Somebody please find that old SNL skit and pass along the link.

You know, we should all learn to laugh at ourselves. We should all relax and be able to poke fun at our own idiosyncrasies and shortcomings. God’s Church would be a better place, more people would be encouraged, and more good for the Kingdom would be done if we’d stop taking ourselves so seriously all the time.

Please find that SNL clip!!!

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Dan Gilbert reminds me of George Steinbrenner. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner released an open letter to all Cavs fans on the team’s website Thursday evening in the aftermath of LeBron James’ defection to Miami. I certainly don’t condone the attitude or the name-calling in this letter. But you absolutely have to read it! If you’ve already read it, read it again (The Cavs pulled the letter off their team website sometime last night. Click here dangilbertletter.doc to read it today). It’s fascinating. It’s incredible. Team owners don’t say things like this. Not in public. Not even Jerry Wayne. Nobody does this. I’ve read it four times and I still don’t believe it.

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One of our shepherds here at Legacy, Russ Garrison, sent me this photo of his son, Kent. The band is Forever the Sickest Kids (yeah, I have no idea). Kent’s on keyboards and vocals. They’re signed to Universal Motown Records, they’ve got a #34 single with “Whoa-Oh,” they’ve been on Conan O’Brien, played halftime at the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game last year, and done a couple of world tours. This picture was taken at the Meadowlands during a show last month. Check out the Empty Tomb sticker in the foreground there. Cool.

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David Byrnes recently sent me an email with a whole bunch of “look-alikes.” A couple of them were striking, such as this coupling of Yassar Arafat and Ringo Starr.

A few of them were really funny, like Dalai Lama and Happy Llama.

But the reason David forwarded the email to me is because he knows my love of all things Van Halen and Simpsons. And this pairing of Eddie Van Halen and the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons was too much for him to resist.

It’s a very, very unfortunate picture of Edward. Taken at a really bad time in his life. Shame on you, David. Double shame.

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Finally, this, forwarded to me from an unnamed Legacy shepherd:

Peace,

Allan

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” ~Luke 1:28

The angel isn’t telling Mary, hey, the Lord is in the next room or the Lord is watching you from heaven. Gabriel’s not even telling the future mother of the Messiah that God is living in her heart. “The Lord is with you” is a biblical formula that means so much more.

“The Lord is with you” is what the angel told Gideon in Judges 6. Gideon balks at the divine instructions to fight so God himself jumps in to say, “Go in the strength you have! Am I not sending you?” The Lord is with Gideon and a great victory is won for God’s people and Yahweh is glorified.

“The Lord is with you” is a statement of promise. It’s a guarantee of God’s help in the assignment he’s about to give you. “The Lord is with you” means God is intervening in your life in a special way to fulfill his promises to you and his holy purposes through you.

In Genesis 39, the writer makes it clear that the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house and blessed Potiphar because of Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph in prison and blessed the warden and the cupbearer. The Lord was with Joseph in Pharaoh’s palace and blessed all of Egypt and the rest of the known world because of Joseph.

The angel tells Mary, “The Lord is with you,” and God works with her and through her to bring the prophesied Messiah to save the world.

Our problem is that we never get to hear the whole story today. The truth is that “the Lord is with you” today at work. And he’s blessing all the people around you, because of you. “The Lord is with you” today in your home. And he’s blessing your spouse and your kids because of you. You must understand that “the Lord is with you” when you preach on Sundays and he’s blessing all the people in your church because of you. “The Lord is with you” today at the grocery store and the post office and the soccer game. And he’s blessing everybody you contact. 

Our God is calling you to live for him in everything you do and say and think. And he’s promising to use you to fulfill his salvation will for the world.

“The Lord is with you” is a personal guarantee you can take to the bank.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have donated $870 in bail money in advance of my arrest and imprisonment at noon tomorrow. It’s all part of a fundraising event for MDA. I need to raise a total of $1,480 in order to get out of jail. We’re almost there. You have been hilarious in your comments via email and blog. And you’ve been overly generous in your contributions to the cause. Click here for more information, a clever little video, and to donate. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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If nothing else, the Rangers are fun to watch. Last night was another one of those games that dripped with drama on every pitch. Four lead changes and men on base in almost every inning. Twice the Rangers got down to their final strike and delivered the key hit to re-tie the game. There was a bullpen meltdown and some shaky defense in a couple of critical moments but, man, they just keep coming back. With guys we’ve never heard of before.

My regret is that, with a one-run lead heading into the 9th, Ron Washington decided to leave his well-rested ace closer in the bullpen for Darren Oliver. Big mistake. He admitted as much after the game. I’m still not sure Wash is a qualified good-decision maker. Period.

And all Rangers fans are concerned about the financial state of the team. It’s never been good. Ever. But it’s never been this bad. Not even close. By the end of the week, it looks like Bud Selig and MLB are going to take it over. It looks like there are going to be lots of lawsuits and hearings. And if Texas is still within a game or two of first place by the trading deadline, they still won’t be able to make a move. It’s frustrating. Again.

I can’t imagine they’d ever contract or re-locate the Rangers. That’ll never happen. This is a major media market. It’s impossible. MLB has to have a team here. But the last time Selig took over the day-to-day operations of a team, they moved the Expos to DC. I hope it’s just a coincidence that the Expos and Rangers logos look exactly the same.

Peace,

Allan

Allow me two or three quick shots here before we get into the meat of today’s post. I need to catch up from yesterday. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to post on Mondays and Fridays. I’m not giving up. But it’s getting tougher. Hang with me.

The Dallas Cowboys are spiraling around the bowl and they’re going down. And nobody should be surprised. This thing was headed in the tank long before Romo and Felix and McBriar got hurt. This season was doomed before it began. You can’t keep signing players like Terrell Owens and Tank Johnson and PacMan Jones and expect everything to go well. There’s a reason the Titans are undefeated right now. They canned PacMan. Kicked him off the team. Took a stand for right and reason. But not Jerry Wayne. The Cowboys are getting everything they deserve.

Watching Sunday’s game reminded me of the Dave Campo days. Senseless penalties. Turnovers. Sacks. Drops. Finger-pointing. No heart. No guts. It’s not Wade Phillips’ fault. It’s Jerry’s.

Somebody said yesterday Roy Williams (the safety) broke his forearm while deflecting blame. Great line. Roy Williams (the receiver) was shut out—no catches—for the first time in his five year career. Detroit has to be looking pretty good right now. The Lions never won a game. But they were never humiliated like this, either.

Jerry’s putting the finishing touches on a trade right now with the North Carolina basketball team to bring in their Roy Williams as a motivational speaker/special teams coach.

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Three observations on Sunday night’s great Game Seven in the ALCS: 1) I don’t know how Rays pitcher Matt Garza doesn’t dehydrate by the 3rd inning. I’ve never seen a human spit that much, that often; 2) MLB could cut their games from three hours long down to an hour and a half if they would pass a rule allowing a maximum of three batting gloves adjustments per at-bat. Did A-Rod start this mess? They all adjust their gloves three times in between pitches! and 3) does the Rays’ success mean that now Arizona State will simply call their teams the Sun?

I’m a Phillies Phan for the next ten days. My good friend Scott Franzke, who hosted our Rangers pre-game and post-game shows when we were together at KRLD, is now the play-by-play voice of the Phils. He’s a great guy who deserves all the fun he’s having right now. We spent many a long, long evening together disecting 11-4 Rangers’ losses. Go Phranzke!

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What a blessing to have as our guests at Legacy Sunday morning my great friends Dan & Debbie Miller! Dan’s one of the Four Horsemen, a great personal encourager of mine, and the most positive, optimistic, upbeat, man I know. He blesses my life in more ways than he could ever imagine. Dan seems to know exactly what our God is doing in almost every situation. And he points it out to me all the time. He and Debbie have shown great faith and endurance through her cancer and surgeries and treatments. They’re both an inspiration to everyone who knows them.

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For the first time in the storied history of the “KK&C Top Twenty” college football poll, we have a unanimous number one! The Texas Longhorns, fresh off their whipping of then #11 Missouri, receive all 14 1st place votes in this week’s poll. Even Jerry K put “ut” at the top “…for now.” Nine of the top ten teams stayed the same with very little shifting. The exception is BYU. The Cougars fell from #9 to #20 after being destroyed by TCU’s Frogs. Utah makes it Top Ten debut, moving up from #13. Michigan State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Vandy all dropped out of the poll, replaced by TCU, South Florida, Pitt, and Tulsa.

Pollster Richard A delivers the most uncomfortable remark of the week by referring to TCU’s win as the “Mormon Massacre.” Paul D gets in some denominational shots in his comments about Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley. Mark H’s comment about Virginia Tech’s “BC” is the most confusing remark of the week. And Charlie J delivers yet another golden Mangino reference. Beautifully placed. The subtlety makes it genius. Billy W, who’s taken it upon himself to keep an eye on the Sagarin Poll gives us this: “The fightin’ Texas Aggies are #110 in the latest Sagarin rankings, behind 12 Division I-AA schools and the other eleven Big 12 teams. The good news is that they are 85 spots in front of North Texas.” And panelist Steve F will actually be at the Alabama-Tennessee game in Knoxville Saturday night. He says he’s “requested the resume of Texas Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp to personally deliver” to the higher-ups at Tennessee.

You can find this week’s poll, released late every Monday night, along with all the comments by the pollsters, and their pictures and bios by clicking here or by clicking the green “KK&C Top 20″ tab in the upper right corner of this front page.

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“Through Christ, the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” ~2 Corinthians 1:20

Why don’t we say “Amen” in our Christian assemblies? Where’s the “Amen?” In the middle of, and after, our prayers? In the middle of, and after, our readings from Scripture? In the middle of, and after, our songs of praise? In the middle of, and after, our sermons? In the middle of, and after, our communion time around the table? Where’s the “Amen?”

Paul assumes in 1 Corinthians 14:16 that those in the assembly who are being edified, those who understand what’s being said or sung, those who are thankful, those who are in tune with what’s happening, are saying “Amen!” The apostle makes it clear in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that the congregation’s “Amen” is a response to the promises of God as they’re fulfilled in Christ. As the promises are revealed and understood and accepted, this congregational “Amen” affirms our salvation and redemption in Christ and brings glory to God.

So, where’s the “Amen?”

I can’t tell you how many times—at least four or five times a week since I’ve been here at Legacy—someone will come up to me following an assembly and say, “Boy, I really wanted to say ‘Amen,’ but I just didn’t.” Or, “I was saying ‘Amen’ in my heart today, just not out loud.” Men and women alike tell me things like this all the time. Although, about half the time our women add, “Of course, if I said ‘Amen” I’d get in trouble.” (sigh……..)

Why aren’t we saying “Amen” or “Right On!” or “Yes” or “That’s Right!” constantly during our time together in our Christian assemblies? Did we ever? Is this a Church of Christ thing? Is it a white suburban thing? Is it something we used to do all the time and don’t anymore? Or have we never been a people to verbally participate as a congregation in the things that are said from the front? What’s the deal?

I have tons to say on this. Admittedly, this thread or this conversation might last all week. There’s a lot to be said for the “homothumadon” throughout the book of Acts. Deuteronomy 27 gives us great insights into the verbal affirmation of a congregation. Saying “Amen” isn’t just to show approval of what’s being said. It’s not just to communicate agreement. Saying “Amen” or “Yes” or “Right On” affirms this is what we believe. This is how we live. This is truth. This is what I’m holding on to.

Our time together should always be spent as participants, not spectators. Always. Full participants in every prayer offered, every song sung, every Bible passage read, and every sermon preached. Never as spectators. It’s not Matt’s prayer, it’s the church’s prayer. It’s not Jim’s Scripture reading, it’s the church’s recitation of the words of our God. It’s not Allan’s sermon, it’s the church’s proclamation of the gospel of Christ Jesus! It all belongs to the church. We own it. And we participate in it when we raise our voices to say “Amen! Yes! That’s what we believe. That’s how we live. That’s where we put our faith.”

Together. Out loud. In the assembly.

Where’s the “Amen?” What’s the deal?

My own frustrations with this problem boiled over in a weird, and not entirely Christian, way in the middle of a sermon here at Legacy two Sundays ago. I apologized to the church this past Sunday, not for being enthusiastic about my God and my rescue from hell through Christ, but for accusing and judging the church in a way that set me up above everybody else. That was wrong. But the problem of our passivity and our spectator-stances in our assemblies remains. Needless to say, I’ve received a few emails and had a few conversations with our people about this over the past ten days. A couple of them have given me permission to post their comments here. Maybe this can foster some increased conversation.

“American culture has made us complacent and lazy — we don’t get out of our cars to get food or leave our houses to rent movies — and we bring this attitude on Sunday mornings. We confuse you (the preacher) with our favorite fast-food drive-thru and expect our religion to be preached quickly, with quality, not too hot or cold. We’re so used to our corporate worship setting, sitting in our assigned seats and being spoon fed from the pulpit that we get a little uncomfortable when we’re reminded that we just can’t sit back and absorb the faith.” ~Aaron G.

“The Creator of all things in existence, everything that was or is, sent his only Son to die for our sins. Every blessing, every dollar we have, every bite of food we eat is a benevolent act from our Father. If that doesn’t excite us and get us involved, I don’t know what will! We need, MUST, act like a people who embrace our inheritance in the Kingdom of God. We need to be a people excited about Christ coming again. Not like hourly working punching our Sunday morning time clock.” ~Rusty T.

“If you had been preaching that sermon to a poor, have-nothing, group of people, you would have been drowned out by the ‘amens’!!” ~Doug D.

Where’s the “Amen?”

Ready. Set. Go.

Peace,

Allan

Once again a Texas Ranger drives in the winning run in the All-Star Game. Michael Young’s game-winning RBI on a one-out sac fly in the bottom of the 15th at 12:37 this morning won it for the American League. And I’m paying for it this morning. Great game. Excellent pitching early and tons of drama late as both benches and bullpens emptied and both teams put runners in scoring position time after time but couldn’t bring any of them around. Last night’s mid-summer classic set all-time All Star Game records for longest game (290 minutes; 4 hours, 50 minutes), most runners left on base (28), most players in the box score (63), most pitchers used (23), and most strikeouts (34). I just wish once, just once, the Texas Rangers would figure as prominently on the national stage in October as they seem to in the middle of July. (Kinsler was safe at second in the bottom of the 11th. Bad call.)

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About three weeks ago I received a call here at the church building from a woman who lives in another city in another state, over 660 miles away from North Richland Hills and Legacy. This stranger introduced herself to me over the phone and proceeded to tell me all the details of several tragic things that had happened in her life over the past few months including, but not limited to, a teenage daughter who became pregnant out of wedlock, an unauthorized abortion, and an unwanted divorce. This woman was in tears—she was trembling, I could hear it—as she told me of the dark valley she was walking through. And the whole time I’m listening to her I’m trying to understand why she had called me. Why was she telling me these things? Who is she? What’s the connection?

And then she says, “Allan, your three sermons on Habakkuk are the only things that have gotten me through the past couple of months.”

My jaw hit the desk and chills ran up my arms and my back as she told me how she was just searching church websites, looking for some encouragment and comfort, when she came across Legacy’s site and the audio of our Sunday morning sermons. Accidentally. She can’t even remember what she googled to get there. But she appreciated the sermons. They provided her strength and comfort. They gave her hope. And she just wanted to call me and thank me and ask me to pray for her.

Wow.

Of all the amazing things that have happened to me over the past three years, I believe that was the absolute most unbelievable. I preach my guts out to a thousand people here at Legacy and those three sermons meant more and did more for a lady I’ve never met who lives three states away than they did for the people I’m actually preaching to.

Some weeks it’s kind of a hassle to get those sermons up on the website. I wonder sometimes if anybody’s really using that resource, if it’s worth the trouble. Suzanne and Bonny have to track everything down and load it and check it and all kinds of stuff. And this lady hits me between the eyes with a sledgehammer to remind me that, yes, our God is using those sermons!

Sometimes I wonder about this blog. Some days it’s kind of a hassle to get something written here. It’s time-consuming. It’s stressful, sometimes, in that I want what’s written here to be meaningful and important and helpful. And I wonder sometimes if anybody’s really using it, if it’s really worth the trouble.

And then I read all the comments on my post regarding Jade Lewis’ death last month. That simple request to pray for Hank and Janet has turned into an internet meeting place where all of Hank and Janet’s friends scattered from Texas to Florida are posting prayers and sympathies and well wishes for that precious family. The Lewises have been so encouraged by the response. Everyone who’s read Hank’s comment have been encouraged. And as I read and re-read all those comments, I’m blown away by the fact that our God is using this blog!

I’m appealing to our God today to use this blog to his glory again. And I’m asking you—personal friends and family of mine and Carrie-Anne’s, Christ’s Church here at Legacy, our brothers and sisters in Marble Falls and Mesquite, all you sweet people in Florida, Jim Gardner and Jimmy Mitchell’s church families in Arkansas and California—please pray for Debbie and Dan Miller.

As I mentioned yesterday, Dan is one of my nearest and dearest friends. He’s one of the main reasons I’m preaching God’s Word today. He means more to me than I can put into words. And I’ve tried over the past couple of days.

They just found out Thursday that Debbie has cancer. She underwent some emergency surgery at Medical City in Dallas Saturday. She’s still there, undergoing all kinds of tests, probably for the rest of this week. They still don’t know everything they’re going to know in the next couple of days. I spent a couple of hours with them both yesterday. Debbie is strong, of course. She’s prepared for the fight. She’s ready. She’s determined. Her faith and her trust is in our God. For the first time since I’ve known him, Dan seems shaken. Completely understandable. His faith is strong. But he’s asking tons of questions. And he seems rattled. And tired. And I love them so much.

Pray for them today. In the powerful name of Jesus, please ask our Father today to heal Debbie and to comfort her and Dan and their three precious children.

And, Lord, please use this blog to work an amazing thing in their lives. And may you, Father, receive all the power and all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.

And all God’s people reading this today say “Amen!”

Peace,

Allan

If you watched Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton in last night’s Home Run Derby at Yankees Stadium, you already know. If you didn’t see it, there’s no way I can explain it to you. Words are inadequate. Pictures don’t do it justice. It was simply the most amazing single display of power and grace I’ve ever seen on a baseball field. It was inspiring.

You can read ESPN’s Jayson Stark’s account by clicking here. SI’s Joe Sheehan’s story on Hamilton’s amazing night can be found by clicking here.

It wasn’t just that he obliterated the record by smashing 28 long balls in the first round. It wasn’t just that he hit homeruns on 13 consecutive swings at one point. Or that he hit 16 homers in 17 swings. 20 of 22. 22 of 25. It’s that they were long, tall, towering, majestic, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, oh-my-word-did-you-see-that rocket launches. Three of them went past the 500 foot mark. Nobody’s ever hit a ball outside the confines of the stadium. Nobody. Ever. Josh nearly did it three times, coming closer to doing it than anyone in history. He was bouncing dingers off billboards, off the top row of the black seats in center field, off the back wall in right. The exhibition stunned everybody inside the stadium—fans, announcers, All-Star baseball players, concession workers, ball boys, Madonna. They were chanting his name. They were chanting “M-V-P!” Other players were sending their kids over with balls and bats for Hamilton to autograph in between swings. Rangers teammate Milton Bradley interrupted twice to towel him off. It was incredible.

And the reclamation project who’d been suspended from baseball; who’d been to rehab eight different times as he battled drug and alcohol addiction; who’s now given his life completely over to our Father thru Christ Jesus; this prodigal son in more ways than one has come all the way back.

He gives all the credit for his salvation, publicly and privately, to our God through Jesus. He gives all the glory for his physical success and for his spiritual redemption to God. His teammates and his coaches say he’s the team evangelist. Hamilton’s apparantly talking about his new relationship with his Savior to everybody in that Rangers clubhouse.

Terry Rush is always praying that God will use the media to show people his power, to show people doing good things in the name of the Christ, to use the news to highlight God’s people doing and saying wonderful things that will inspire others to seek him and his Kingdom. I think about that prayer when the wife of one of the murdered Christian musicians in Garland openly forgives her husband’s killers and prays publicly that God will change their lives and forgive them and save them. And I think about that prayer when Josh Hamilton tears down the house that Ruth built on a national stage, when he captures the hearts and imaginations of baseball fans all over the country, when he becomes the lead story and the water cooler talk all over the nation, and continually and openly and publicly gives full honor and all the credit to our Father in Heaven.

If you know anything at all about his past and his story, you’ve probably fallen in love with Josh Hamilton this season. Knowing Hamilton’s story and watching Hamilton live as a “new creature” in Christ is also causing others to fall in love with our gracious God who believes in reclamation projects.

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Please say a prayer today — say several prayers today — for Debbie & Dan Miller. As many of you know, Dan is one of my dearest and best friends. In fact, I don’t have a better friend than Dan Miller. He’s one of the Four Horsemen, one of the greatest influences in my life, one of my greatest encouragers, a man of tremendous faith, one of the main reasons I’m preaching God’s gospel today. I just found out late last night that Dan’s wife, Debbie, has been diagnosed over the weekend with cancer. And it’s rocked them. Of course. I’ll see both of them at Medical City in Dallas this afternoon. And I’m going to write much, much more about this tomorrow. But please lift them up to our Father today.

Peace,

Allan

“One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His.”  ~Screwtape

It’s easy to sense the senior tempter’s frustration in C. S. Lewis’ masterpiece. Screwtape and the other devils in Hell can’t comprehend why in the world God would expend so much energy on loving and caring for all these dispicable humans. Instead of using people and exploiting people and sucking them dry of all energy and life, God nurtures them and provides for them and longs for actual relationship with them. We are God’s children and he wants us to be just like him. But he wants us to make those decisions on our own. He doesn’t “override a human will.” As Screwtape observes about God, “He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For his ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve.” And the devils don’t get it.

In working to conform our wills to our Father’s and in striving to be like him, his perfect son, Jesus, is our example. When we look at Jesus in the flesh, incarnate God, we see what God created when he created us. Or at least we see God’s intent. And we see our own high potential, our high calling.

As a baby in the manger in Bethlehem, Jesus is completely helpless, vulnerable, needy, dependent. A newborn baby is the absolute picture of total dependence. And as all the political and religious and military powers in Judea scheme to murder this innocent child, Jesus, as a baby, is completely dependent on his Father to protect him. What chance does Jesus have against the ruthless King Herod and the chief priests? His young peasant mother and his impoverished and unproven dad from the insignificant town of Nazareth are way overmatched. But we see clearly that the Father provides and protects. He thwarts the enemy’s plans. He rescues his child. He carries the child and his parents to a safe place and then destroys the enemies.

Our calling is to be just as dependent on our Father as Jesus was. The life of the Christ is a beautiful portrait of complete surrender to God, from the manger in Bethlehem and the temple courts in Jerusalem to the garden in Gethsemane and the cross at Golgotha. Total surrender. Complete dependence. Confidence that God will deliver. He will save.

“…we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord.”  ~2 Corinthians 3:18

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Excellent column by Gene Wojciechowski today asking the same questions I asked last night regarding Roger Clemens telling us he’ll address the steroid and HGH allegations in baseball’s Mitchell Report in “an appropriate way at the appropriate time.” What time could be more appropriate than right now? What way could be more appropriate than a common news conference? Click here to read the column.

Peace,

Allan

I don’t normally read all my favorite blogs every single day. Usually, once a week, I sit down for an hour or so and go through all of them and catch up. Jim Gardner’s blog is packed with insights and usually forces me to look something up in the Bible or in a book on my shelf or somewhere else on line. His blog takes me a while. With Jimmy Mitchell it only takes about three minutes since he only writes about once a month. (I miss you, Jimmy!) Our Youth Minister here at Legacy, Jason Brown, is only in his first month of full-time blogging. But he’s tackling some deep issues and asking some fairly heady questions. His takes me a while, too.

His Wednesday post on missions and mission trips meshed perfectly with my post from yesterday regarding the Rosemont effort in southwest Fort Worth. We had both gone to that kickoff and informational meeting together. So it’s no surprise that our thoughts were focused on the same things.

 Our thoughts center on the concept of seeing our own neighborhoods, our own zip codes, as huge mission fields for the Kingdom. The idea of seeing the people all around us as the lost souls that they are, no more and no less important than the lost souls in Africa and South America. Jason’s specific questions deal with the practice of youth mission trips. Why spend all the time and money traveling outside the state or even the country when there’s just as much, if not more, work to be done right across the street?

Here’s what I commented on his blog late last night:

“I was visiting with some brothers and sisters Wednesday about the wonderful work the Rosemont Church of Christ is doing in southwest Fort Worth. They’ve donated their entire campus, all their buildings, and the land it sits on to Continent of Great Cities to plant a huge Spanish-speaking congregation in the middle of what is a huge Hispanic population base in DFW. The discussion turned to our own outreach effort at which point one of our spiritual leaders said, “We don’t have any poor people anywhere near our building. And nobody like that will ever drive to our church.”

That grieves me.

Attitudes and talk like that are nothing less than a writing off of precious people made in the image of our Father. The truth is there are plenty of low-income and/or Spanish-speaking people a stone throw’s away from our building. But we don’t think they’ll fit in. So we don’t even try. And we actively seek to discourage anyone else from trying.

What makes us think that God plants us here, blesses us here, provides for us here, and saves us here — right here in the middle of hundreds of thousands of lost souls — in order to take the Gospel somewhere else?

What makes us think it’s commendable to spend a week or two overseas preaching the Word while we ignore or, worse, write off all our neighbors right here in our own city? What gives us the gall?

I know your post already asks all these same questions. They are real. They are urgent. And they do demand answers.

I think you’re clearly on to something when you speak about our comfort zones. Evangelism is messy. We’d rather create a mess somewhere else and leave, I think, than make one in our own kitchen and have to live with it.”

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It’s sad, very sad, that Major League Baseball’s All-Time Home Run Champion is Barry Bonds.*  He’s a lying cheat. But besides that, the holder of the sport’s most sacred record will spend time in federal prison and will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here’s how awful it is: I think it’s the only thing in the world that could ever cause me to root for Alex Rodriguez to keep hitting homers. That shows you how awful the Bonds* thing is. Go Pay-Rod!

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Cowboys-Redskins. The Beautiful Harvey Martin tossing a funeral wreath into the visitors lockerroom at Texas Stadium following a Dallas win over Washington. Diron Talbert calling Roger Staubach a dirty name across the line of scrimmage. George Allen accusing the Cowboys of spying on the Redskins practices with a helicopter. Staubach leaping into the arms of Ron Springs after that game-winning pass to Tony Hill clinched the division in Staubach’s last-ever regular season game. Doomsday versus The Hogs.

Jimmy Johnson’s first Cowboys team getting their only win of the season on the road at RFK—without Aikman. Clint Longley’s mad Thanksgiving Day bomb that sealed his “victory of the uncluttered mind.” Larry Cole’s TD returns. The Texas Stadium crowd singing Happy Birthday to Joe Theisman the night he threw five picks in a blowout loss on the date of his birth. Billy Kilmer. Art Monk. Drew Pearson. Chris Hanberger. Joe Gibbs. Too Tall. Everson Walls. The 1982 NFC Championship Game. Michael Downs and Dennis Thurman breaking up the Smurfs celebration in the Cowboys end zone.

Sunday afternoon will be special. All Cowboys-Redskins games are.

Peace,

Allan

Jeffrey MacDonald wrote an article in USA Today a couple of weeks ago regarding church websites and their use in attracting people to different faith communities. He pointed out all the numbers that show more and more churches are using websites — 20-percent of one California-based provider’s clients today are churches as compared to just five percent five years ago — and relayed mostly anecdotal evidence to say more people use websites to go “church shopping.”

The article quotes a webmaster at an Arizona church who says their website helps people feel a connection to the church. “Just like people do a lot of car shopping and major purchase shopping online, they see what they can find out about the church online before their decision to come.”

He also quotes a religious sociologist, Scott Thumma, who says websites are the number one tool today for churches. “Having a website allows the religious consumer to be a much more informed consumer. If people can find a congregation that fits their needs and their interests, they’re more likely to make a commitment.”

When did we begin referring to church and religion and Christianity in the same ways we refer to buying a TV or making a decision to join a health club? Why isn’t that notion challenged? And isn’t it that notion that’s killing us?

John West has done a tremendous job of remodeling and updating our church website at Legacy. If you haven’t been there in a while, please, take a couple of minutes and tool around http://www.legacychurchofchrist.org/.  If you’re a ministry leader or teacher at Legacy, or if you just have some great pictures, I encourage you to please contact John or Suzanne here at the office and let them tell you how to be involved in updating your specific area of the website. Our church website is, indeed, a valuable tool. It keeps us informed as a local body of believers. It aids us in connecting to each other as a church family. It provides that basic information visitors need. And it sends a powerful message about the Christ and his church to a desperate and dying world. I love our website, especially now. I urge you to visit it. Get involved with it. They’re updating it every day. Use it.

We’re hoping to, very soon, put audio sermons on the site. Maybe even someday stream live video of our Sunday assemblies. The sky’s the limit.

But may we never view the website or our programs — even Small Groups Church — or our ministries or our assemblies or our fellowship dinners as something to be bargained or negotiated when choosing a church. Or when choosing Jesus. Finding a congregation that meets my needs and serves my interests is not Christianity. It’s something else. It’s how we choose a restaurant or a movie theater, not a church. God’s church, the one he purchased with the blood of his Son, is a community. It’s a group of people united by the blood of the King helping and encouraging each other in our walks with Jesus. Christianity, discipleship to our Savior, is about submission — submission to God and to each other. Religion is an act of courage. It’s surrendering and being vulnerable to others and to Christ. It’s difficult. And it’s messy. And it’s uncomfortable.

If it’s entirely pleasing and simple and satisfying and comfortable, I’m afraid it’s not real.

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You have to read Mike Lupica’s column today to get a real feel for what the people in New York really think about A-Fraud. You can read it by clicking here. And if you click on that chart to the left, you can read more numbers and quotes that further illustrate the ideas in the column. He points out Pay-Rod’s postseason numbers — 4-15 with one RBI this season, 1-14 last year, 2-15 in ‘05. But he also speaks to Rodriguez’ demeanor and personality in the clubhouse that alienate him from his teammates, his coaches, the media, and pretty much all of baseball. Kinda like Barry Bonds, but in a different, maybe more subtle, way. I’m convinced there’s absolutely no way Hicks brings this clown back to Arlington. No way. He couldn’t give this guy even more money and then sell it to Rangers fans. The A-Fraud experience here was that horrible. We don’t have to worry about it happening again. But Lupica’s column is pretty good.

Peace,

Allan

OK. At the end of the game, as Nick Folk’s second 53-yard game winning field goal split the uprights, I was standing up in my living room, two feet away from my TV, laughing.

 Laughing.

 It was the craziest game I can remember watching. Ever. And regardless of what this game means to the Cowboys from here on out (more on that in a minute), there’s not a person who watched it who will ever forget it.

Tony Romo throws five interceptions and fumbles three times. And still wins the game. Four of his five picks were thrown right to the Bills defender without a Cowboys receiver in sight. Two of them were returned for Buffalo scores. Late in the fourth quarter, right after Terrence Newman had given Dallas some hope with his own interception deep in Bills territory, Romo responded by throwing his fifth pick, this one in the end zone. At that point, as I was visiting with a friend over the phone, our conversation turned to what this was doing to Romo long-term. Should a coach take him out of the game because every pass he makes is a disastrous one? What lasting damage is he doing to his own psyche and confidence and to the relationship he has with his 52 teammates? Should they pull him or keep giving him the chance to win it?

And as funny as I think it is when the Cowboys lose, I hated seeing Romo play the goat. He seems like such a great kid and he’s a genuine joy to watch. I hated that he was the one obviously giving the game away. But then Terrell Owens started dropping more balls. Roy Williams started missing more tackles. And it was clear that there was plenty of blame to go around. I can enjoy a Cowboys loss a lot more when T.O. is the one who drops the two-point conversion.

And look at how this thing was setting up to really implode. This loss to the Bills could have triggered the avalanche of despair that would drive Dallas straight to that 8-8 finish I’m hoping for. Owens was stomping on the sidelines in the fourth quarter. He was ripping his helmet off and cursing when he thought he was open and Romo didn’t get him the ball. They lose that game last night, go on to lose to the Patriots Sunday, and suddenly they’re 4-2 with a two-game losing streak and the finger-pointing begins. Doubt creeps in and sets up a tent. The bye week forces the media to create stories about the team, and they’d all be negative. The tough part of the division schedule is coming up and all the positivity is gone. Maybe they really were just playing lousy teams at the beginning. Maybe they’re not as good as everyone thought. Maybe Romo really is playing over his head. Maybe Phillips doesn’t know what he’s doing. Maybe.

But the Cowboys score 9 points in the final 20-seconds and win the game. When’s the last time you saw an onsides kick actually work? Hasn’t it been years?!? Do you realize that if Buffalo’s offense could have scored more than just three points they would have won? The Cowboys first lead of the game came with 0:00 on the clock.

And now this horrible nightmare of a game for everybody involved could turn into the very thing that propels this team to greatness over the next four or five years. Who can’t they beat? What can’t they do? Somebody joked with Jerry Wayne afterwards that he should have sent his contract proposal to Romo’s agent during the third quarter. And Jerry said, “he just went UP in value in my opinion.”

Of course he did!

The Cowboys gain more positive energy and confident vibe from last night’s miracle than they would have if they’d drummed the Bills by 17 like they were supposed to.

And what about the Bills and their fans? They live in that awful city (sorry, Bob Matuszak) with that horrible weather with all those factories and plants. The Bills and their hatred for all Dallas sports teams are all they have. And for 59:40 they completely control that football game. How do you get six takeaways in the NFL and lose? Come on. You gotta feel for those poor folks today.

And, (last thing on the game unless somebody else wants make an observation) the NFL probably won’t have to wait until this coming spring to change the rule on allowing a head coach to call a timeout a split-second before the ball is snapped on a game-winning field goal attempt. Just wait. Pretty soon some coach is going to pull that stunt and the opponent’s kicker is going to slice a 43-yarder into the benches. And then he’ll split the uprights on the second try and win the game.

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I can’t allow the Yankees to go away without another observation on A-Fraud. He’s #1 in the American League this season in RBIs, homeruns, and runs scored. Yet he goes 4-15 in the four game playoff series with the Indians with six strikeouts and a total of one RBI. I don’t have time this morning to look up his performance in the four games with runners in scoring position or how many runners he left on base against Cleveland. Somebody else look that up for us and let us know.

But it’s typical.

He’s a very good baseball player. I think anyone who uses the word “great” in reference to Rodriguez hasn’t done his homework.

Peace,

Allan