The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Dallas Stars (Page 4 of 9)

Don’t Miss This

May 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I don’t know how to do this. Nobody does. It’s completely unprecedented. How do I read all the stories and watch all the highlights? How can I possibly keep up with all the phone calls and texts? How do I keep the Mavs and Stars gear clean and ready to be switched out at a superstitious moment’s notice?

The Texas Rangers are the current World Series Champions and both the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks are playing in the Western Conference Finals. Last night’s dramatic come-from-behind win by the Mavs in Minnesota marked the first of at least twelve consecutive days when the Stars and Mavs will alternate games in their respective series. The Mavericks are slight underdogs against the Timberwolves, but Luka and Kyrie combined for 63 points last night to take Game One. The Stars are slight favorites in their series, and they’ll drop the puck this evening in Game One against longtime playoff rival Edmonton. And, by the way, did I mention, the Rangers just won the World Series.

You’ve got to understand, nothing like this has ever happened before.

Back when the Cowboys were going to and winning Super Bowls in the ’70s, they were the only game in town. The Rangers were a recently relocated Senators team playing in a minor league park out on the Turnpike and the Mavericks and Stars didn’t even exist. The last time the Cowboys won some Super Bowls, in the ’90s, the Mavericks were the worst team in the NBA, the Rangers had still never qualified for the postseason, and the Stars had just moved to Dallas from Minnesota.

We are right now in the middle of the greatest twelve months in North Texas professional sports history. This is it. It’s never happened before and it’ll very likely never happen again. This is the year, right here, August 2023-August 2024, when three of the four teams all played in the conference championship series and two of them (three? maybe?) won it all.

I was asked at lunch yesterday if I miss being in Dallas sports radio. The answer, this week, this month, is Yes.

Don’t miss this. Don’t let this moment get away from you just because you don’t fully understand hockey or because you’re got some weird beef with the NBA. Watch this. Let this be the week you began to appreciate the two-and-a-half-hour heart attack that is an NHL Stanley Cup playoff game. Let this be the week you first marveled at Luka Magic and Kyrie Clutch.

Don’t miss this.

Here’s the video to get you ready for Stars-Oilers tonight.

Peace,

Allan

Blended Worship

May 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Here’s my calendar for the next two weeks:

Wednesday May 22 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 1
Thursday May 23 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 1
Friday May 24 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 2
Saturday May 25 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 2
Sunday May 26 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 3
Monday May 27 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 3
Tuesday May 28 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 4
Wednesday May 29 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 4
Thursday May 30 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 5
Friday May 31 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 5
Saturday June 1 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 6
Sunday June 2 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 6
Monday June 3 – Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals Game 7 (if necessary)
Tuesday June 4 – Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals Game 7 (if necessary)

We’re a long way from this–we’re only halfway through both of these championship tournaments. But what if Dallas becomes “Title Town” and the Cowboys have nothing to do with it!

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Here at GCR Church we practice what a lot of people call a blended style of worship. Blended worship. Some people call it mutually miserable. With blended worship, we are equal opportunity offenders. Everybody’s miserable part of the time. There’s some part of this worship service you’re going to hate–we guarantee it!

I make fun of it. But, most of the time, I’m pushing for it. Because, if nothing else, it’s a way of driving home the point that we are not a monolithic church of just one style or one generation or one approach. We’re a diverse family of Christian disciples. So, every Sunday, we sing a pretty good mix of newer contemporary worship songs and older classic hymns. We do it all.

It helps us, I think, to emphasize that our Christian faith and our community of faith at GCR is not a one-track deal. We’re trying our best to foster a culture where everybody connects with God. We’re not perfect at this. But we try to communicate with our blended styles and practices that everybody is invited, that everybody is welcome, that everybody can hear and be heard, and that everybody can sing their song.

And that God will transform us when we sing somebody else’s song.

Peace,

Allan

The Table and the Way of Jesus

May 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We’ve spent all of this week in 1 Corinthians 10-11 because it is the only place in the New Testament that tells us how to eat the Lord’s Supper. We’ve detailed exactly what the church in Corinth was doing wrong; it was the way they were eating the meal. It wasn’t the types of foods or the amount of foods, it was that they weren’t waiting for each before they dug in, they weren’t sharing the food equally, the selfishness and “me/us first” attitudes were causing division.

So how does Paul correct the problem? He points to Jesus. He reminds them of Jesus.

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'” ~ 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

The table is shaped by the salvation work of Jesus. The Church’s meal reflects and demonstrates the Gospel values of sacrifice and service. The Lord’s Supper expresses the way of Jesus–selflessness, giving to others, considering the needs of others more important than your own.

“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” ~ 1 Corinthians 11:26

The Lord’s death broke down all the barriers between us and God and between us and each other. The Lord’s death unites all of God’s people together. Around the table on Sundays, and anytime we eat and drink together in his name, we’re proclaiming and practicing all the salvation things Jesus died for, everything that was accomplished at the cross: acceptance, fellowship, unity, forgiveness, peace.

How we eat the Lord’s Supper matters.

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The Stars have more depth and the better goalie. The Avalanche have more speed and more purely skilled scorers. This thing’s going seven and it’s going to be a two-and-a-half hour heart attack every night.

Peace,

Allan

Three Things

May 6, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Three unconnected thoughts on a Monday afternoon.

1) The Dallas Stars are doing what it takes to get to the Stanley Cup Finals. Last night’s opening round finale against Vegas was everything a Game Seven is supposed to be: a full-on-two-and-a-half-hour-heart-attack. Radek Faksa’s sublime backhanded tally early in the third period proved to be the game winner, but only after a spectacular shut-down by the Dallas defense, concluding with those last two-and-a-half minutes of a one-goal game when the other team has an empty net and a man advantage. Whew! Jake Ottinger is calmly brilliant between the pipes. Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson are leading the offense. Seguin and Benn are providing the veteran leadership. Stankoven is looking to be the postseason hero nobody saw coming. Stars coach Pete DeBoer is moving the pieces perfectly. It looks like everything’s in place. With the series win over Vegas, the Stars avenged last season’s loss to the Golden Knights in the conference finals and they exorcised once and for all the Adin Hill demons that were swimming around in their heads. Up next is the longtime Western Conference rival Colorado Avalanche whose scoring success in the first round against Winnipeg is frightening. But there’s no way they keep up with the Stars. Vegas was the toughest draw for Dallas.

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2) The new limited edition Coconut Cream Dr Pepper is the first tricked-up flavored Dr Pepper that didn’t disappoint me. I didn’t know anything about Coconut Cream Dr Pepper until today during a lunch with all our ministers. So, of course, I hit two grocery stores on the way back to the church building so we could all try it together. H-E-B had nothing and all I could find at United Market Street was one 12-pack of the Dr Pepper Zero. Good enough. In the great 10-2-4 Dr Pepper tradition, we gathered in the break room at 2:00 for the tasting. And I think it’s really, really good! Overall, the reviews were mixed. Unsurprisingly, the Dr Pepper haters hated it. Brenda said it was nasty and called it coconut-flavored prune juice. Jadyn declared it amazing. Kim called it yummy. Tim said Dr Pepper is a unique enough flavor on its own that adding anything to it only messes it up. And–breaking news–Ryan didn’t even try it. My problem with all the flavored DPs is that the added flavor isn’t strong enough, it’s barely there. But you can definitely smell and taste the coconut in this new one, and it’s truly wonderful. Jim says it tastes like suntan lotion.

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3) Church humor is funny. The HVAC system in our church offices blew a gasket late last week and for two days the AC was blowing extremely frigid air at a high velocity and nothing could be done to shut it down. We were all freezing. Once the situation was remedied, one of our ministers sent the church staff this picture of the thermostat in his office with this caption: “I told you it was cold as hell in here!”

Peace,

Allan

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