The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Four weeks ago we spent seven days with our great friends Jim & Mandy Gardner and Jimmy & Elizabeth Mitchell at the Northside Church of Christ in Benton, Arkansas (home of Cliff Lee). They always bring in a guest speaker for the adults during their Vacation Bible School. And I was honored to preach the Word from John 14-16 with a reflective and hungry group of disciples.

Side note: I was walking into our church building here at Legacy the Sunday I returned when Kent and Norma Robinson drove up and welcomed me back home. Kent asked me how it went and I told him it was great, but I was exhausted. I said, “They had me speaking twelve times in five days and I didn’t think I had that much to say.” At which Norma leaned over in the truck and responded, “I find that hard to believe!”

Of course, I had a wonderful time reconnecting with Jim and Jimmy. We were all three on staff together at the church in Marble Falls while I was getting my degree at Austin Grad. Jim always impresses me with his knowledge of God’s Word and the straightforward way he delivers it. He’s very confident and very bold in the way he preaches. And he’s so very kind and gentle with and to the people in his congregation. Always has been. After spending about 30-minutes in his study with an especially cranky brother in Marble Falls one morning, Jim finally stood up and said, “We can do this all day long and accomplish nothing for the Kingdom. I’m going to make some hospital visits. You’re welcome to come with me.”

And the man did.

Jim sees the big picture.

And then there’s Jimmy. I was reminded all over again about why I love Jimmy. He’s a nut. He’s crazy. He has no shame. He’s hilarious. He’s not afraid of anything. He’ll sing any song and do any voice and play any part. He spent all week in VBS playing a ship’s first mate with the voice and mannerisms of a cross between Conan O’Brien and Harry Caray. He’s sensitive. And loving. And every single thing he does — everything! — is motivated by his love for the kids. He loves them. He’s in their faces all the time. He’s at their schools. He’s in their homes. All he cares about is those young people. And they love him right back.

Jimmy sees the big picture.

Ernest Miller is a 33-year-old Harding graduate from New Jersey. He and his wife LaDonna and their two girls just moved to Benton six weeks ago. He’s the brand new preacher at the Johnson Street Church of Christ in Benton, the black church on the other side of the tracks. I had lunch with Ernest that week at a Chinese restaurant owned by a guy named Jerry Jones — not that Jerry Jones! And then I had the honor of Ernest showing me around the Johnson Street church building and surrounding neighborhood. I had the pleasure of meeting and shaking hands with 83-year-old W. K. Hannah, one of the founding members of that church from almost 60 years ago. He was working the food pantry last Tuesday, just like he does every Tuesday. Greeting people with a warm, “How you doin’?” Moving sacks of groceries into the trunks of cars. Praying with visitors. Telling them goodbye with a heartfelt “God bless you.” Ernest moved gracefully around the parking lot and the building, calling people by name, hugging little old ladies and jousting with the kids like he’s been there forever. He encouraged everybody. He smiled at everybody.

Ernest sees the big picture.

And they’ve all three committed to working on the biggest of pictures: reconciling their two churches, bringing together their two congregations, reuniting the brothers and sisters at the Lord’s table. They want to make the white church and the black church one. One Church. One family. One building. One set of elders. One mission. One purpose. One Body.

Northside actually planted that Johnson Street church — literally on the other side of the tracks — back in the mid 1950s. Jim’s grandfathers, both of them, were elders at the time. Jim showed me a copy of the church budget from 1962 that lists “colored congregation” as their second largest mission item. It’s not that the Northside church had evil intentions or bad motives 55 years ago. I believe that their motives were pure. They were just wholly misguided. And Jim is working with Jimmy and Ernest and Fernando, their hispanic minister, to make sure that the Kingdom of God in Benton looks like and acts like the Kingdom of God in Holy Scripture.

These two congregations are already working hard to rise above the ungodly distinctions of the artificial boundaries our culture and, sadly, our churches have built between us. They already worship together at monthly gatherings. They eat together at special occasions. They supported each other’s VBS. The ministers from both churches have lunch together once a week.

Christ Jesus came to break down all the barriers, to destroy all the lines, to obliterate our differences. The dream in Benton is that God’s Church there will be an impossible-to-miss example, a living illustration, that in Christ there are no language or ethnic or cultural divisions. We are, together, one body. And all the members belong to each other.

It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice for both churches. It’s going to take patience and understanding and gentleness and kindness. It’s going to require a Christ-like attitude of selfless giving. And it’s going to take time. But it’s a worthy endeavor. It’s what’s demanded of all of us who claim to be followers of our Savior who went out of his way and left everything and gave everything to impartially call everyone to the Father.

I’m excited that tonight Whitney and I are going to join Jim and Jimmy and the Northside youth group at the Rangers game in Arlington. I’m excited that Jimmy is going to lead our worship at Legacy this Sunday, just like the good ol’ days in Marble Falls. And I’m so inspired by what Jim and Jimmy and Ernest and the Church is doing in Benton, Arkansas.

God bless our brothers and sisters there. May they point all of us to greater unity in Christ.

Peace,

Allan

Mark 12 - Jesus is debating with the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders. They’re walking through the temple courts. I imagine they’re somewhere on the South side of the temple, probably on the huge steps that led up to the Huldah gates and the temple’s main entrance. If not, they were probably somewhere in the maze of courtyards below, the busiest and most crowded area of the temple grounds. They’re going back and forth on all kinds of things: Jesus’ authority, the rejection of the Messiah, politics and taxes, marriage and the resurrection.

Then one of the teachers engages our Savior in a topic that really matters. This question counts. “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Jesus answers with what he always said perfectly summed up every word of the Law and the Prophets: Love God and love neighbor. “There is no commandment greater than these.”

The teacher of the Law agrees. In a humorous way, only because we know Jesus’ true identity as the holy Son of God, he actually commends Jesus for his wise and true answer. “Well said, teacher. You are right.” (Duh! Jesus was there when the commands were given!) But he takes it a step farther. In fact, this teacher of the Law, a comrade of those who were questioning Jesus and attempting to trick him and trap him and get him out of the picture, takes it one huge, giant, leap forward. He makes the bold claim, to Jesus and in front of all his cohorts, that loving God and loving neighbor is “more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

I imagine this teacher actually pointing to and gesturing toward the people and the animals and the altars, the priests and the books and the chants, that surrounded them in this scene. Loving God and loving neighbor trumps all of this, he says to Jesus. Loving God and loving neighbor means more, it is more, than anything that happens in here!

And our Lord — does he smile? Does he wink? Does his face break out in a massive ear-to-ear grin? — looks this teacher right in the eye and says, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

I often wonder what Jesus was thinking at this point. “This man gets it! Here’s a guy who really understands! He’s in the middle of all the trappings of the religious establishment, he’s being blocked and detoured and slowed down and held back by all the rules and regulations and rituals and ceremonies, but he understands it’s not about any of these things! He gets it!”

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

When people asked Jesus about the Kingdom of God, not once did he ever say, “It’s that group over there that meets on Sundays for worship and Bible class.” When Jesus explained the Kingdom of God, he never once said, “It’s identified by those who take communion once a week on the Lord’s Day and sing acappella.” Jesus never told a story about the Kingdom of God and interpreted it by claiming, “You’ll know the Kingdom when you see two songs and a prayer and announcements either at the beginning or the end. Or sometimes both.”

No.

Jesus always says the Kingdom is about hurting people being comforted. It’s distressed people being encouraged. It’s cold people being warmed. It’s the outcasts being brought in and made a part of the family. It’s God using his people to help other people.

The true marks of the Kingdom have very little, if anything, to do with what happens inside your church building between announcements and prayers. Instead, the Kingdom of God is grounded firmly in the weightier matters of justice and mercy and love and faithfulness. The requirements of living in the Kingdom are not keeping the rules as much as they are about acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God.

Maintaining our institutional status quo is not necessarily the same as being faithful to Jesus and his mission. Being a member in good standing or a middle-of-the-road church is not necessarily the same as living under the reign of God.

Our King came into this world to sacrifice and to serve and to save. And that is the business of his subjects, too. When we get it through our heads that this calling trumps every other calling we think we might have as children of God and followers of the Son, then we are not far from the Kingdom of God.

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Carley’s ten. Or at least she will be Thursday. We had her party at the house Saturday. A whole bunch of silly 4th grade girls. Kate won the limbo contest. Elizabeth took the hula hoop prize (although Carrie-Anne beat her later in a head-to-head). And then Whitney and I beat it for the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and the OU-BYU football game.

Our great friend Glenn Branscum set up a bunch of guys from Legacy with seats in his suite for the game. And when I say seats in his suite, I mean huge, fat, oversized, reclining leather seats with armrests and cupholders. Most every one in the room was a big Sooners fan. That’s why they were invited. Of course, most every one of the 80,000 in the stadium were Sooners fans. And everything was great.

Until about halfway through the second quarter when it became obvious that OU has some serious offensive line problems and some major gaps in the secondary. It got really quiet in there when Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford went down with his injury near the end of the first half. Whitney was excited (”Darling, you can’t cheer an injury. He’s a real person” “But, dad, this is good for BYU!”), but most of the rest of our crew spent the last two hours of the evening in a dark, dark, depression. Brandon didn’t say anything or look at anybody. Paul chewed off all his fingernails and then started working on the coasters. Dillon was in a catatonic trance. Ken and Ada prayed the whole second half (I’m sorry, God is NOT an OU fan). And I spent those last two quarters trying to keep Whitney from rubbing it in.

Words can’t describe this stadium. I have a lot to say about it. Maybe nothing you haven’t already read somewhere else. But I’ll save it for later. My sincere thanks to Glenn and Karen and the Branscum family for setting us up with a fantastic evening together. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Always a blessing to see great friend Jimmy Mitchell. He and his youth group and sponsors from the Northside Church in Benton, Arkansas worshiped with us at Legacy yesterday after a weekend at Six Flags. “Hi” to Elizabeth and Jenniva. We wish we could have seen y’all, too.  And update your blog, Jimmy!

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Just six more days until the Cowboys kick off their season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the second-best player in Cowboys history to ever wear #6 is Tim Seder. He was a kicker from Ashland who played two seasons in Dallas (2000-2001). He converted 72% of his field goals (36/50) during his tenure here and never missed a PAT (39/39). The interesting thing about Seder, though, is that he scored rushing touchdowns on fake field goals twice, once in each of his two years. I don’t have time to look them up. Who cares?

Yesterday’s #7 is quarterback Chad Hutchinson. Sorry, I just can’t go with Randall Cunningham, just like I couldn’t give the nod to Harold Carmichael a couple of weeks ago. Hutchinson entered the picture during Jerry Wayne’s brief period of fascination with baseball-playing quarterbacks. He preceded Michigan’s Drew Henson in Dallas by a season.

Hutchinson had played the 2001 season as a reliever for the St. Louis Cardinals where he appeared in three games, allowing 16 baserunners on nine hits and six walks and a hit batter in a total of four innings of work. He gave up eleven earned runs and completed his MLB career with a 24.75 ERA.

And he didn’t fare much better with the Cowboys. Following a four-interception performance in a loss to Arizona, Jerry pulled Quincy Carter and handed his team to Hutchinson, promising that this pitcher from Stanford was the future. However, his first ever start, at Texas Stadium against the Seahawks on October 27, was overshadowed by Emmitt Smith’s historic breaking of Walter Payton’s all-time rushing mark. The Cowboys, as you recall, lost that day. And Hutchinson went 2-7 in his nine starts that year, completing 51% of his passes for seven TDs and eight interceptions. The second-best #7 in Cowboys history is just another mediocre quarterback in a revolving door of them since Troy Aikman stepped down nine long years ago.

Peace,

Allan

“Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbours was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times…that there is one God and that Jesus Christ is His only Son.” ~ C. S. Lewis, from the preface to Mere Christianity, 1952.

Our Tuesday morning men’s Bible study group today began what promises to be a rich discussion of C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. Rich and contemporary and provocative and difficult. Based on today’s session which covered only the book’s preface, our study will be all those things.

Today, I want to comment on something in the preface that, as disciples of our Savior, we should carefully consider. Of course, you can’t really get the full context of Lewis’ thoughts without reading the book yourself. But check this out:

Lewis writes that the questions which divide Christians from one another — and I’d say even divide Christians and congregations within the same faith tradition — are usually points of high theology or even ecclesiastical history. These points have very little, if anything, to do with the pure Gospel of Jesus. Lewis writes, “I think we must admit that the discussion of these disputed points has no tendency at all to bring an outsider into the Christian fold.” Who can argue?

My thought here is that, while our petty disagreements and arguments actually turn people off and repel them from our Lord’s Church — Jesus said it would — don’t they also stifle our own evangelistic efforts? When we draw lines of fellowship and put lids on boxes and erect other boundaries that are nowhere to be found in Holy Scripture, it keeps us from actively seeking and saving the lost. Because we can’t keep it all straight. We’ve complicated things to the point that only the perfectly schooled in our tradition or heritage can confidently teach others.

What if somebody I’m talking to about Jesus asks me a question about worship? Well, we’ve drawn so many lines and made up so many rules about what constitutes worship and what doesn’t, what is a worship service and what isn’t, depending on what room we’re in and what time of day, where the prayers fall and at what point we allow the LTC chorus to perform, we can’t confidently answer the questions. We’re afraid of contradicting ourselves.

How do I teach Jesus to a person who asks me about women’s roles in the Church? What about church music? How about communion practices? Bible versions and translations? Doctrine versus culture? Inference versus example? Innovation versus aid? How do I explain that we do this or that because of Scripture but we also do this or that despite Scripture? We’re afraid we don’t understand all the lines and the logic behind them.

What if somebody asks me why we claim we’re not a denomination but everything about the way we speak and act and teach, regarding one another and those outside our faith stream, looks and sounds denominational? I don’t know. That’s a good question.

The farther away we move from “Mere Christianity,” the harder it is to seek and save the lost. The harder it is to talk to my unbelieving neighbor. I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t want to give the wrong answers. So I don’t even try.

Mere Christianity. Unity among all disciples of the Christ. Is it impossible? Should we even make the effort?

What Lewis writes is at the very heart of our Restoration roots in Churches of Christ. We’re coming up on the 200 year anniversary of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address  in which he states, “Division among Christians is a horrid evil filled with many devils. All who are enabled through grace to make a profession of faith in Christ should consider each other the precious saints of God, and should love each other as children of the same family and Father.”

That founding document of our faith tradition claims that it’s heresy to pray for “that happy event, where there shall be but one fold, as there is but one Chief Shepherd” and not strive to obtain it.

Ending division among Christians was, at one time, the chief aim of our movement. It should be still. Mere Christianity.

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I don’t know Stephen McGee, the Aggies QB who just got drafted in the 4th round by the Cowboys. But I’m happy for him. Not because of Stephen. I’ve never met the guy. But because of his dad, Rodney. Rodney McGee was the head varsity basketball coach in Burnet during the seven years I served as the News & Sports Director at KHLB in Marble Falls. He had some great teams during those years, taking the Bulldogs all the way to the regional tournament down in Kingsville in ‘96. Coach McGee also served on the football staff and helped lead the team to the 3A State Championship game in ‘91. That year, the Bulldogs overcame Vernon, Marble Falls, and Southlake Carroll in back-to-back-to-back dramatic come-from-behind-ties (before the days of OT in Texas high school football) to finally come up one miracle short in a 7-0 title game loss to Groesbeck in the Astrodome.

And I love Coach McGee. He was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes coordinator for the Burnet School District. The kids always knew there was a Wednesday night devotional at Coach McGee’s house. And we all knew he was dedicated to our King. He was forever positive, optimistic about everything. Laid back. Always smiling (nearly always). Fair to a fault. Patient with everyone. Forgiving and kind.

I don’t know Stephen. I’m a little disappointed in his statements this past weekend guaranteeing he would have been a first-round pick if he hadn’t been forced to run Franchione’s option offense in College Station. I’m chalking it up to what has to be a mountain of frustration he’s been running his head against with the coaching changes and the injuries during his college career. And he’s young.

I don’t know Stephen. But if he’s ANYTHING like his dad, he’s a guy you can feel good rooting for.

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Go Mavs. Why not? 

Allan

“Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce?
This is what the Lord says:
‘Yes, captives will be taken from the warriors,
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you,
and your children I will save.’” ~Isaiah 49:24-25

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.” ~Mark 3:27

As Jesus teaches and loves and heals and drives out demons in Mark 3, he’s accused by religious leaders and his own family of being possessed by Satan. But Jesus makes it clear: what’s happening is not the result of some civil war within Satan’s ranks. This is a direct frontal assault from the outside. The strong man is Satan. His house, his domain, is this world which he’s trying desperately to secure and hold on to. His possessions are his victims, these people he’s taken captive. He’s trapped these victims. He’s imprisoned them with sin and fear and death and disease and demons. He’s holding them with divorce and crime and addiction and unemployment and cancer. He’s got ‘em. But then along comes the stronger one, Jesus. He comes from God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to cross the barriers of time and space, to smash through the walls of the devil’s house, to tie Satan up and carry off his precious possessions. To free the captives. To rescue the prisoners.

God himself overcomes the mighty one. He destroys forever the destroyer.

Satan uses our fears of the awful things we see all around us. Hebrews 2 says Satan holds the power of death and holds us in slavery, keeps us paralyzed, holds us in prison, by our fear of it. And then God himself breaks through, as the divine Son of Man. Jesus comes to earth, right into the middle of Satan’s house. He walks our streets. He teaches our people. He hugs our kids. He eats with us. He touches us. And he brings with him the eternal Kingdom of God! He wages war—not against the petty tyrants and selfish leaders and evil empires. He comes here intent on destroying THE Kingdom of Satan which has enslaved all of humanity. Christ Jesus, by his birth and life and teachings and ministry and death and burial and resurrection and exaltation, takes Satan’s plunder and rescues Satan’s captives and he ties Satan up and makes him watch.

We are that plunder taken. We are the captives rescued. This is us. We were the ones imprisoned by Satan. We were the ones held in slavery by our sins and paralyzed by our fears. We were the ones stuck, doomed, distressed, condemned. We were the hostages. We were the sentenced prisoners. We were headed to an eternity of death and despair. Damned by our own selfishness and sin. We were hopeless. We were already given up for gone.

But now we are rescued. We’re freed. We’re liberated.

We’re not just rescued from ourselves and our sins, we’re snatched from the life-choking clutches of Satan himself! We’re freed from the Kingdom of Darkness to walk eternally in newness of life.

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” ~Colossians 1:13-14.

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Several of you have been asking about Debbie Miller, the wife of one of the Four Horsemen, one of my dearest friends. Her surgery was yesterday. And it couldn’t have been more successful. It couldn’t have gone any better. And our Father couldn’t have answered our prayers in any more of an amazing way. All the cancer is totally gone! 100% gone! There wasn’t any in her muscle tissue. There’s not any in her lymph nodes. It was all contained in the tumors and the tumors are gone! Praise God!

I talked to Dan last night. He told me it was the greatest and happiest day he’s had since….and then he said it’s the greatest and happiest day of his entire life. Our God is great. He answers prayer. And he delivers his people. And we rejoice today with Dan and Debbie.

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We’re leaving Friday for Searcy, Arkansas to spend about 24 hours with my brother, Keith, and his wonderful family. And then it’s off to Benton, Arkansas to hook up with Jimmy Mitchell and the Benton Church of Christ. Jimmy was our Youth Minister in Marble Falls when we were there from ‘05-’07. I’ll be preaching for them in Benton on Sunday. Please keep our family in your prayers. And ask God to bless our time with great family and great friends.

Peace,

Allan

“O Lord, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.
May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
~Psalm 88:1-2

Please take a moment right now to lift up a prayer to our Father for some dear friends of mine, Hank & Janet Lewis. I just learned last night that their 18-year-old daughter, Jade, was killed in a car wreck Thursday evening.

Hank & Janet and their sweet family live in Smithwick, just a few miles east of Marble Falls, where Hank owns a construction company. The little church in Smithwick doesn’t have much of a youth group, so Jade and a couple of her buddies came to our congregation in Marble Falls most every Sunday night and Wednesday. As the default youth minister there for a little over six-months in ‘05, I got to know Jade by teaching her in Bible classes and worshiping with her at devotionals. We took her to WinterFest. She was in our home. A beautiful and talented young lady with big dreams.

I didn’t meet Hank and Janet until January ‘07 when we all spent two weeks together in Israel. Through friends they had at Austin Grad and the Brentwood Church in Austin, they had arranged to take Jade with them on our trip. Jade was the youngest in our group of 25. Janet was the sweetest. Hank was the funniest.

I fell in love with this couple, this family. Huge hearts. Giant faith. Generous spirit. Hank and I wound up working in the same corner of the 10th century B.C. fortress in Tamar during the archaeological portion of our tour. And we began calling him Hammerin’ Hank because of the relentless way he attacked the nine layers of 4,000-year-old dirt with his pick. There was no quit in Hank. He worked harder than all of us.

And he played just as hard. If I live to be a hundred I’ll never forget Hank picking up boulders the size of small cars and tossing them over the 600-foot cliffs at Mizpe Ramon and hollering with delight as we watched them tumble almost out of sight. You could hear him laughing and screaming a mile away. He was acting like a ten-year-old boy. And we fed off that.

Janet’s penchant for beautiful scarves almost caused an international incident at the Israeli-Jordan border. We had to negotiate with machine-gun-toting soldiers to secure her passage.

And Jade was the adventurous one. We lost her on a couple of ocassions, once for a little over an hour, when she hiked ahead of our group and took a wrong trail.

In May of ‘07, just two days before we moved from Marble Falls to Legacy, Hank and I shared a two-hour breakfast at the Bluebonnet Cafe. And we talked about preaching and construction and faith and hope and raising daughters. We talked about God’s Church and the eternal scope of his Kingdom. And we prayed for each other.

And I just found out last night that Jade is gone.

My heart is broken today. But nothing like theirs.

I just got off the phone with Hank. He’s hurting. But his faith is strong. He encouraged me more than I encouraged him. He’s prayed for years that our God would keep his daughter safe. And he and Janet realize that Jade is now in the safest place she could possibly be. There’s nowhere safer than in our Father’s arms.

Please pray for Hank and Janet today. Pray for their other children, Caitlin and Keenan, and the two kids they just adopted a few months ago from Ethiopia. (I told you they have big hearts.) Ask our God to comfort them with his peace and love. They are wonderful Christian brothers and sisters who are, right now, going through a deep, deep valley. The visitation is this evening. The funeral is tomorrow. Please pray for them.

And hug your kids a couple of extra times today.

Peace,

Allan

In 1 Samuel 1-2 we find the story of Hannah, ridiculed and disgraced, distressed and embarrassed by her barenness. But in answer to her prayers born of deep sorrow and steadfast faith, the Lord blessed Hannah with a son. And, in return, acknowledging that her child was a gracious gift from God, Hannah sacrificially gave him back.

As she sings a song of prayer and praise and thanksgiving to God, one clear theme emerges: the sovereignty of the Lord as evidenced by the reversal of fortunes.

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who are hungry hunger no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.
The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.”
~1 Samuel 2:4-7

 This reversal of fortunes theme is also used by Jesus to describe the coming of the Kingdom of God.

“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” ~Matthew 11:5

And isn’t this exactly what God through Christ has done for us? He has turned our lives completely around. He has totally reversed our fortunes.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression—it is by grace you have been saved.” ~Ephesians 2:1-5.

As a result, we sing today with the mother of Samuel, “My heart rejoices in the Lord…I rejoice in your salvation.” ~1 Samuel 2:1

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The family and I are headed down to Marble Falls this afternoon for a wedding tonight at the city’s beautiful Lakeside Pavilion. Jasmine and Brian, two great kids who were in our youth group down there when I was going to school in Austin, high school sweethearts (maybe Junior High, too, I’m not sure), and wonderful disciples of Christ are tying the knot and then heading to Lubbock where he’s stationed in the military and she’s enrolled at Lubbock Christian University.

Jasmine was two-years-old when Carrie-Anne and I first moved to Marble Falls in ‘91. When we left for Memphis in ‘98 she was nine. When we returned to Marble Falls in ‘05 for Austin Grad, she had turned into a beautiful, smart, talented, funny, high school sophomore. She babysat for us. We went to WinterFest together. We cheered her on as she marched and played in the Mustang High School Band. Our girls love her.

We met Brian for the first time in that summer of ‘05. And they were already well along in their courtship. Brian’s the most sensitive and caring and kind-hearted and generous young man you’d ever want to know. Very funny. Sarcastic with a dry wit. Self-deprecating at every turn. And he would say he doesn’t know what that means. Hard-working. The first to sign up for a service project and the last to leave. And I’ll forever remember Brian for being king of the duct tape. He put duct tape on and around everything. He used camo duct tape to decorate the door to the storage room in the church youth house. I’ll be shocked if part of his tuxedo tonight isn’t held together in some way by duct tape.

I’ll also be surprised if he’s not wearing the shirt you see in this picture. This was taken in downtown Dallas when I had set Brian up by pointing him out to a street vendor selling roses. I think Brian wore that shirt every other day during the entire two years we were together.

Brian and Jasmine both come from wonderful Christian families. Strong mothers and fathers who submit everything to our Lord. Loving and supportive siblings. Brian and Jasmine are also both dedicated to serving our God and his Kingdom all the days of their lives. And we wish for them nothing but God’s richest blessings as they embark on the rest of their lives together.

Jimmy Mitchell, our youth minister in Marble Falls when we were there, is performing the ceremony tonight. And it’ll be great to see him and his wife, Elizabeth, and their sweet baby girl again. It’s been almost a year. We’re actually all looking forward to the trip. We can’t wait to see all of our great friends and catch up with everybody down there.

Go Stars.

Allan

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Romans 12:3

There are certain passages of Scripture that I think should be read regularly in our public Christian assemblies because of the forming effect they have on us. Passages that speak to the loving and gracious nature of our God, his will for his people, and our mission as disciples of Christ serve to shape our mindset and our way of living with each other and in our world. The Word of God should mold us into the image of Jesus. And reading it together, especially passages that speak to these specific things, would go a long way in redirecting our focus from the little matters to the more important aspects of our lives of faith.

One such passage is the very familiar “living sacrifice” section of Romans 12. I’ve read Romans 12 out loud six times already today, once at our regular Monday morning staff meeting. It’s always had tremendous power to properly shape my perspective. In times of discouragment, or in times when I’m thinking too highly of myself, Romans 12 has always spoken to me, turning me towards the big-picture view of life in Christ and my place in it.

Let me share with you Eugene Peterson’s translation of Romans 12:4-21 from The Message:

“We are like the various parts of the human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

If you preach, just preach God’s message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, give him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”

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Legacy Worship Center Construction Update:

Dirt is moving!

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We had a fantastic time on our mini-family-vacation to Marble Falls. It was so great to worship with our dear friends at the Marble Falls Church Wednesday evening and to share, in some small insignificant way, the heartache of dealing with the flood of late June. We heard so many stories and saw so many amazing pictures. And the evidence of those horrible days is still all around: flood debris still clinging to power lines some 20-feet above the roads, washed out roads and bridges, creek beds that are permanantly now four times wider and deeper than they were before the rains. We wish nothing but all of God’s richest blessings for the good people of that great town, especially the Jamars as they rebuild their house, the Youngs and the Montgomerys as they continue to clean up, the Burdetts and the Longs as they recover from huge business losses, and the other dozen or so families of Christians down there.

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On the way to Marble Falls on Wednesday we made our bi-annual trip to the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco.

We did a little antique shopping in Salado

We stayed with our great friends Mike & Lee Ann Clark and saw nothing of Jennifer or Ashley, not enough of Logan, and too much of the cats!

We spent all day Thursday at Schlitterbahn and nearly froze our Schlitterbuns!

Friday we took in the Texas History Museum in Austin.

And then Saturday it was movie audition day for Valerie. We waited for almost two hours before they finally called her in. And she was only in there for about 60-seconds! All they did was take a couple of pictures and ask her one or two very general questions about her family and her summer on camera. There were at least 20-25 boys being auditioned from school districts all over central Texas. But Valerie was the only girl in the building. We were told later that they were looking at 300 or so boys, but only four girls. We have no idea what kind of movie this is, what the parts or the roles are, or what they have in mind for Valerie. They only told us it would be six months to a year before we’d be contacted. It’s not quite “don’t call us, we’ll call you,” but almost.

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There are only 24 days left until the REAL football season begins—none of this preseason mess. And today’s number 24 is Johnny “Lam” Jones from Lampasas High School. Johnny Lam wore #26 at the University of Texas where, as a Longhorn, he was a two-time All-America running back and flanker who scored eight touchdowns of 45 yards or longer. He wore #80 as the very first ever professional football player to sign a million dollar contract when the Jets traded two number one picks to the 49ers in order to select him second overall in 1980. But he wore #24 as a Lampasas Badger—the “Lam” stands for his hometown of Lampasas—where he wowed all of Central Texas on the football field and on the track. He won state championships, Southwest Conference championships, national championships, and an Olympic gold medal. And when he played for the Jets, from 1980-86, he was the fastest player in the NFL. I don’t have a picture of Lam Jones in his #24 Lampasas jersey. If you can find one, please pass it along.

#25 is Raiders great Fred Biletnikoff. He was an All-America reciever at Florida State before being taken second overall by Oakland in 1965. He was durable and tough. He had deceptive speed and amazing hands. He was the NFL receptions leader in 1971, made all conference four times, and went to four Pro Bowls. While he was a Raider, Oakland played in nine conference title games and two Super Bowls. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XI. And the Fred Biletnikoff Award goes to the best receiver in college football every year.

Herb Adderley is my all-time greatest #26. Drafted as a running back by Vince Lombardi and the Packers out of Michigan State, Adderley made the switch to cornerback late in his rookie season and had a Hall of Fame career with Green Bay and  the Cowboys: 48 picks, 1,046 return yards, five NFL championships, four Super Bowls, and five Pro Bowls.

The greatest to ever wear #27 is Oilers and Redskins safety Ken Houston. Out of Prarie View A&M, Houston was a ninth-round pick of the Oilers in 1967 and then traded to Washington six years later for five players. He had speed, quickness, and size, punishing runners and receivers with huge blows on every tackle. He finished his career with 49 interceptions and nine TDs, made ten Pro Bowls, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.

Finally, the greatest football player to ever wear #28 is Abilene Christian and Philadelphia Eagle star Wilbert Montgomery. He didn’t want to go to Jackson State where he’d have to play behind his cousin, Walter Payton. So he wound up in Abilene where he scored a 56 yard touchdown on his first ever carry and a 39 yard touchdown on his first ever catch. He took the ACU Wildcats to the NAIA National Championship in 1973, scoring 37 touchdowns that freshman year, and finished his college career with a national record 70 TDs.

As #31 with the Philadelphia Eagles he ran over the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game for 194 yards. Montgomery went 42 yards for a score on the second play of that game, setting the tone for what was a long, frigid afternoon in Philly for the Danny-White led Cowboys. Following his eight years with the Eagles, he finished up with two seasons in Detroit. Montgomery’s in the College Football Hall of Fame (check out his ‘do!) and the forty-second leading rusher in NFL history. The great Darryl Green deserves honorable mention, but Wilbert Montgomery’s the best football player to ever wear #28. Thanks to Kipi and Paul and Gary for helping me hunt down the pictures.

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I’ll close today with the words of a dear friend of mine, Charlie Johansson:

“Never doubt yourself because you are called and gifted by God. He will use the good times to encourage you and the bad times to humble you. Both are needed.”

Peace,

Allan

It wasn’t quite as dramatic as opening night when the thunderstorm broke out just as Elisha, the narrarator, was telling us how dry it was during the 3-1/2 year drought in Israel. But we did get another pretty heavy thunderstorm last night that ended just as VBS was beginning. One of my favorite ad-libbed lines from last night’s presentation of “Elijah: On Fire for the Lord” came from one of the Ba’al prophets who prayed, “Please let it rain like it’s doing in Texas!” And of course, the best well-rehearsed line was delivered by our own Suzanne West, whose cameo and single line every year has become a much-anticipated event. “Excuse me, sir. Who is this God you speak of?” She nailed it.

VBS is really a spectacular production here at Legacy. Elaborately decorated classrooms featuring everything from sumo wrestlers to running brooks and Israelite houses and a giant candy Mount Carmel. And tons of kids and young families, naturally. But a whole mess of our older members jump right into the middle of this thing, too. That’s one of the really, really impressive things about the Legacy family. They really do act like a family. (They. I guess I need to start saying “we.”) I see such pride and joy on the faces of our older members listening to our kids sing and scream and jump up and down with Jerry Karels. They’re helping with refreshments and registration. They’re aiding our many, many visitors as soon as they walk in the door. It’s just a terrific, church-wide experience. And I’m truly grateful for that.

Why do we love so much seeing our kids having a great time? Why do we enjoy so much watching them learn about Elijah and God’s great love and power? Why do our hearts thrill listening to them sing? Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” He tells us we must become like little children if we’re to enter the Kingdom.” Is it any wonder? Our kids are so enthusiastic, their faith so simple and strong, their love and forgiveness of each other so quick and deep, their joy in their Lord and his creation so genuine, their trust so real.

Let’s pay close attention to our young children here for the next couple of nights. Watch them. Listen to them. Let’s notice in them the qualities that our Lord finds so appealing. And then let’s try to be just like them.

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Jesse Villareal is getting his list together for the trip to Marble Falls next week. If you’d like to go with him and the Singles Group to help the Marble Falls Church clean out and clean up from last month’s floods, please get in touch with him soon or email me at astanglin@legacychurchofchrist.org. They’re leaving Thursday afternoon, August 2. They’ll work with the church down there in members’ homes and in other areas of the city—the lowest income areas of the town, probably—all day Friday and Saturday. And then they’ll come home Sunday afternoon after worshiping with the Marble Falls family that morning.

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Although the Cowboys report to San Antonio this afternoon for training camp and their first practice is tomorrow, there are still 37 days until football season. 37 days until the games count. No more scrimmages. No more pre-season. No more practices. The games count in 37 days. Don’t be distracted. Don’t lose focus.

#37 in the countdown is probably the best football player ever in the history of the Southwest Conference. The great SMU running back, Doak Walker, is the only three-time All-America selection in the history of the SWC. He led the Mustangs to conference titles in 1947 and 1948 when SMU went a combined 18-1-3. And those were his teams. He did everything. And everybody wanted to see him play. He ran, passed, kicked, returned kicks, and played defense so well that SMU was forced to move out of its small on-campus Ownby Stadium to play its games in the massive Cotton Bowl at Fair Park. Thus, the Cotton Bowl became “The House That Doak Built.” And it still is.

Walker became the first junior to ever win the Heisman Trophy when he took it in 1948. And he’s still the only Mustang to ever win the award as the best player in college football.

As a pro with the Detroit Lions, Walker won two NFL Championships, made four Pro Bowls, and finished with an unbelievable career rushing average of 4.9 yards per carry. For a career!

He made the cover of 47 magazines during his playing days and really was a national phenomenon. He’s still in the top five of several all-time SMU categories including rushing, passing, scoring, interceptions, punting, punt return, and kick return. And the award for the best running back in college football every year has been named after him since 1990. Doak Walker went to Highland Park High School in Dallas with Bobby Layne. And he’s the best player to ever wear #37.

Peace,

Allan

When the brook at Kerith dried up, Elijah found himself in the middle of the desert, in the middle of a 3-1/2 year drought, in the middle of a 3-1/2 year famine, #1 on the state’s most wanted list, hiding from a queen who was killing men just like him all over the region, and without anything to drink.

As scared as he might have been, Elijah was living right in the middle of his own answered prayer.

Elijah had prayed that it would not rain. He had agonized over the sin of God’s people for so long that he prayed for God to punish his people, to bring them to repentance. James says Elijah prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And as a result of his own prayers, here was Elijah, about to die in the desert.

Has that ever happened to you?

“Lord, make me a godly man. Please make me a woman after your own heart.” But in your mind, you’re thinking, “Don’t let it hurt.”

“God, make me stable and longsuffering and gracious and patient. But don’t take away any of my luxuries.”

“Lord, please make me strong. Increase my faith. But don’t let me suffer.”

Maturity in faith requires sacrifice and suffering. Growing in God is all about suffering. Physical pain. Emotional pain. How else would we ever learn to live by faith?

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What a fantastic kick-off to VBS last night with the opening presentation of “Elijah: On Fire for the Lord” and the big dinner. Of course, the entire 45-minute production began with Elijah’s dramatic announcement that there would be no rain or dew at the word of the Lord and centered on the subsequent drought and famine. And at the exact point Mason Scott (Elisha, the narrator) was detailing to the audience the impact of the drought, how there would be “no rain, not one single deop of moisture anywhere in the entire land,” there came a huge cloudburst right on top of the Legacy church building. The rain came in torrents, pounding the metal roof above our heads just as Mason was saying “no rain anywhere.”

It was a beautiful moment, one that was appreciated by the entire cast and every member of the audience. It reminds us that as much as we plan and prepare and go over and over again every little tiny detail of OUR plans, they’re all at the mercy of GOD’s plans.

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There are 38 days left until football season. And our football player today is one of the best college running backs ever. He didn’t pan out so well in the NFL. But George Rogers was amazing at South Carolina from 1977-80. He was a two-time All-America back who rushed for over a hundred yards in 27 of his 46 career games, including the last 22 in a row. With a deadly combination of power and speed, he won the Heisman Trophy in 1980 by leading the nation in rushing in with 1,894 yards.

Rogers was the overall number one pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1980. But he only lasted four years there and another three with the Redskins before he was done. He did win a ring with the ‘Skins in Super Bowl XXII. But George Rogers makes the list because of what he did as a Gamecock. Next to Herschel Walker, in my lifetime, I can’t think of a better running back in the SEC.

Catching up from yesterday, #39 in my countdown to football season is Dolphins fullback Larry Csonka. He was Miami’s top pick out of Syracuse in 1968 and he’s actually still the Dolphins’ all-time leading rusher with 6,737 yards. He averaged 4.5 bruising yards per carry in Miami, ballooning that average to 6.7 yards per carry in three Super Bowls. Csonka won the MVP award in Super Bowl VIII with 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Csonka wound up his career with the Memphis Southmen of the old World Football League and the New York Giants.

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Jesse Villareal and Karrie Graves and several other of our singles at Legacy are heading down to Marble Falls on August 2 to help clean out houses and clean up debris left over from the flooding of last month. What a wonderful gesture! I don’t know if they’re going to have four or five total make the trip or 40 or 50. They’re just putting it together. But what a wonderful way to show our love and concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ there in that terrific congregation in that beautiful city. I’m so grateful for Jesse and Karrie and for their hearts of love and service to God’s people in the Kingdom. Greg Neill and the folks at the Marble Falls Church will house and feed our singles (and anyone else who wants to take the trip) while they work in the community there for those three days. And then they’ll worship with the Marble Falls congregation Sunday morning.

Thank you. May we all be encouraged by the love of Christ and by the power of our God and his grace as it’s displayed in the lives of our people here.

Peace,

Allan

While I’m counting down the days to football season (43, by the way) most everyone else in the church is counting down the days until our Vacation Bible School (4). And I’m getting excited about it, too. The two-story stage is now finished and the nearly 30 cast members of the musical have been up here rehearsing every night for weeks. Everything’s almost completely decorated. And the energy in the air is unmistakable. We’re expecting over 900 here for the Family Kickoff and dinner Sunday evening. And then three evenings of study and performance centered on the life of Elijah for children of every age and adults! I’m even preaching Sunday morning on the very first mention we have of Elijah in Scripture: his pronouncement of divine judgment on Ahab and Jezebel in 1 Kings 17. I toyed with the idea of wearing camel skin and a leather belt. For about two seconds.

It’s odd to me that, as great as Elijah is, he didn’t say a whole lot. We don’t have too many of his words recorded in Scripture. He’s mentioned more times by New Testament writers than any other prophet. His influence and importance as a man of God and a critical player in God’s salvation plans is unquestioned. But I’m not sure he did a whole lot of preaching. If he did, we don’t have it. What we have are a few short sentences from just five or six episodes of his ministry.

Consider that initial mention of Elijah. He comes out of nowhere, lands on the front steps of Ahab’s palace, announces a drought and a famine, and then disappears for three-and-a-half years. He’s gone just as quickly as he came. After just one sentence. When he reappears, it’s just for a day. Three more times he reappears in history, but each time it is just for a day. And doesn’t do a whole lot of talking.

He lets his actions speak for him and his God. He declares himself in 1 Kings 17:1 as a servant of God, standing before the God of Israel as his slave, and that’s enough.

It reminds me of Joe Malone. As our preacher at Pleasant Grove when I was a kid he used to recite a poem ocassionally that spoke to a minister’s life outside the pulpit. The poem ended with the line “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one anyday.”

It’s been said that, in preaching, the thing of least importance is the sermon.

The truth is that a lot of people have learned to tune our sermons out. They know full well that words are cheap and that emotion can be simulated. They wonder how much of our discourse we really believe and practice ourselves. And they look to our lives outside the pulpit for the answer.

Unfortunately, we’ve all known preachers who “slash the throats of their sermons by their lives.”

“Nothing influences others so much as character. Few people are capable of reasoning, and fewer still like the trouble of it; and besides, men have hearts as well as heads. Hence, consistency, reality, ever-present principle, shining through the person in whom they dwell, and making themselves perceptible, have more weight than many arguments, than much preaching.”  ~ Heygate, from “Ember Hours”

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Quick update on postdiluvian Marble Falls: I spoke to Greg Neill yesterday and he tells me that 15 of the 17 families in the church who were impacted by the floods of three weeks ago are, for the most part, back in their homes. Please keep the Jamars and the Montgomerys in your thoughts and prayers, as they are still displaced and facing some very tough decisions in the coming days. As with most everyone there who didn’t have flood insurance, their homes were nowhere near the 100-year flood plain. I’m happy to report that the Marble Falls Church has received almost ten thousand dollars from other congregations to help those brothers and sisters, one thousand of that from us at Legacy. They’re not finished with it yet. But the focus has now turned more to cleaning and repairing the town.

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There are only 43 more days until football season begins August 30 with eleven college games and the SEC tilt between LSU and Mississippi State that night on ESPN. And today’s #43 is Dallas Cowboys great Don Perkins. As a three-time all conference running back at New Mexico, Tex Schramm and Tom Landry signed him to a personal services contract before the Cowboys franchise even existed. But it didn’t start out that well.

Perkins almost got cut on the first day of that very first ever Cowboys training camp, in July 1960 in Forest Grove, Oregon. Perkins had reported to camp 20 pounds overweight thanks to an offseason program of, as he says today, biscuits and gravy. And Landry opened up his camp with that now famous Landry Mile. It was actually a mile and a quarter and Landry had every single player run it on the first day of camp for 29 years. And Perkins couldn’t even finish it. He fell down several times and then quit. The Landry Mile was designed to weed out those with no pride or determination. But because they had so few good players on that first roster they gave Perkins another chance. And he broke his foot. Perkins had to sit out that awful inaugural season of 1960 and wasn’t able to play until ‘61. But he was definitely worth the wait.

Perkins was the NFL Rookie of the Year that season and finished in the top ten in the league in rushing every single one of his eight years with the Cowboys. He’s still the #3 all time leading rusher in Cowboys history behind Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett and #6 in all-purpose yards. Perkins literally carried the Cowboys from a winless expansion team to two straight NFL Championship Games. And when the Cowboys unveiled the famed Ring of Honor, Perkins was the second honoree to be inducted behind Hall of Famer Bob Lilly.

Cliff “Captain Crash” Harris gets a sentimental honorable mention. But Don Perkins is the best to ever wear #43.

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Is it weird to be sad about a weatherman retiring? After 31 years at Channel 8 in Dallas, Troy Dungan and his goofy bow ties are calling it quits. He had just arrived when my 4th grade class at Dallas Christian took a field trip to WFAA downtown to visit Troy. And we all decorated bow ties in recognition of his signature accessory as our nametags. Troy judged our nametags and declared mine third best behind Kristi Warmann and somebody else I can’t recall. Anway, my dad went with us as a sponsor and took his weather records to show Troy. (There’s not enough time in the day or space on our server to tell you about my dad and weather.) And Troy was kind enough and gracious enough to listen to my dad talk about his charts and records that he became our family favorite. Troy even recruited my dad and my aunt as his first weather-watchers — my dad in Pleasant Grove and my aunt in North Dallas. And dad stayed with him until they moved to Liberty City in 2000. It was not unusual for dad to have one of us call Troy at Channel 8 to report our rainfall amounts at the house or for Troy to call us if something really big was happening in the Grove. And we always thought that was cool. I remember C-A and I running into Troy and his family at the El Chico in Waco one Sunday afternoon and he recalled each one of us by name and asked about everybody. He’s always just as nice and friendly in person as he seems to be on air. Delkus and Fields and everybody else on Channel 8 seem so fake and cheesy compared to Troy. And I hate it that he’s leaving.

I know it makes me old. But does it make me weird?

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Finally got the Texas flag up on the house. Finally feels, and looks, like home.

Peace,

Allan