Category: Delta Gamma Sigma (Page 2 of 2)

Since Thursday

We gut-laughed until we were both crying. We laughed so hard we were hoarse the rest of the night and into the next morning. Jerry Seinfeld went an hour-and-fifteen-minutes Thursday evening in Midland/Odessa breaking our common everyday lives down to the finest hilarious details as only he can. The only way it could have been any better is if he had gone longer. Bathroom stalls, marriage as a game show, texting abbreviations, Swanson Hungry Man TV dinners, bucket lists, the U.S. Postal Service, buffet restaurants — he’s a genius! We were dead center, 50-yard-line, on the twelfth row; they were the best seats in the house! What a wonderful Christmas present from my fabulous wife!

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I was honored to speak at Oklahoma Christian University’s chapel yesterday, the most excruciatingly nervous 15-minutes of my year. I love public speaking — you know I do. I like speaking to small groups of a dozen or so in intimate settings, I like speaking in front of a couple thousand in a conference atmosphere, I enjoy speaking every Sunday at Central. I love speaking to little kids and older adults and people my own age. Speaking to a roomful of preachers, to the homeless people at Loaves and Fishes, to business professionals at a Rotary lunch, or to a ladies Bible class never gives me a problem. But talking to college aged young people in the middle of their school day is brutal. They let you know in no uncertain terms exactly how they’re receiving the message. They don’t hide anything. There’s no pretending.

It felt a little better this time than in previous years. I kept it much shorter than normal and I specifically mentioned some key buzz words that spoke to particular hot-button issues in society and tied my message as directly to those issues as possible. Valerie gave me some good advice. It looked like they were paying attention.

I was blessed to get caught up with my sister Rhonda and her husband Geoff. I was privileged to eat dinner Sunday night at Ted’s (!) with our middle daughter Valerie, her friend Paige, and my nephew Asa. And then yesterday it was lunch at The Garage with Rhonda, Valerie, and Delta Gamma Sigma sponsor Chris Adair, who sent me home with OC and Delta gear for the whole family.

I appreciate Jeff McMillon’s kind words of encouragement and affirmation; if I were an OC recruiter, I’d make sure every high school senior spent an hour with Jeff. And I’m blown away by our Lord who thinks it’s a good idea for me to speak at OC chapel. His grace reaches even me!

Peace,

Allan

Float Duty at OC

Our daughter Valerie surely knows a hundred guys in Edmond who drive pickup trucks. But I got the call last week to pull the Tri-Theta float in Saturday’s Oklahoma Christian University homecoming parade.

Valerie is Theta’s homecoming director — in charge of her club’s float, their window in the student center, and her club’s participation in all the homecoming week activities. The theme had something to do with unity in diversity or love around the world — I’m not certain. All I know is that Theta’s float and window and T-shirts revolved around the country of India. And Valerie and her friends killed it. Theta’s window banner won first place and their Taj Mahal float won second.


According to true Stanglin tradition, there was some controversy with the float that had to be discussed and fixed the morning of the parade. The OC administration took issue with part of the design and Valerie and her crew had to scramble to make it work. A little spray paint in some strategic places took care of the problem to the school’s satisfaction and we hooked it up and took off. We circled the Bible building twice, threw a lot of candy at a bunch of little kids, saw tons of people we knew from a long time ago, and nobody got run over. A tremendous success by any measure.

I’ll also share this picture of the Delta alumni breakfast held earlier that day. Two hours of sausage balls and war stories with guys like Scott Steward, Jeff Hyatt, Dewey Leggett, Paul Russell, Ted Norton, Alfred Branch, and Chris Adair. Mac reminded me of stuff I had forgotten and Paul brought up things I wish he had forgotten. I love seeing the charter members from 1972 sitting in their chairs down front. And I’m still puzzled at how OC President John DeSteiguer keeps making it into our club picture.

God bless Delta and Theta.

Allan

Palm Sunday at Central

We celebrated Palm Sunday at Central with palm branches and prayers, songs of praise and times for reflection, the sacred meal and the Holy Word.

We attempted to capture the enthusiasm and expectation of that day when our Lord Jesus rode that donkey into the Holy City, surrounded on every side by throngs of cheering followers. The people of Israel were looking for a king. They were expecting a divine liberator, a deliverer sent by God to free them from the yoke of the Romans. They were praying for a Messiah who would save them and restore the throne of David back to Israel and establish the Kingdom of God right there in that land. The prophets had spoken about that day and it looked like for all the world that long-anticipated day had finally come.

Jesus is that promised Messiah! Jesus is our King sent by God, empowered by God to save us! All the signs are there! He’s healing people, he’s teaching the Law, he’s raising people from the dead, and feeding people in the desert! These are the signs the prophets told us about! God is saving us!

All this energy. All this excitement.

Our great-grandparents always told us about this day, and now it’s finally here! Our synagogue teachers have been reading to us about this day for generations, and now it’s come! We’ve been praying to God about this day for as long as we can remember and, praise God, he’s allowed us to live long enough to see it!

That’s us. That crowd of disciples, walking with Jesus on his way to the Holy City — that’s us.

Jesus is our King. We know Jesus is sent by God, he’s empowered by God’s Spirit — we know he IS God! And he is saving us.

And like those Israelites then, we long for the day when our King returns to completely and fully restore the Kingdom of God in our land — right here in Amarillo! We praise God for the salvation he delivers in our Messiah Jesus. The “hosannas” are on our lips today as we recognize that salvation for us and for the whole world.

May our God bless us during this Holy Week to faithfully remember and reflect on our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the events of those last days before his loving and history-changing sacrifice.

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

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Valerie helped design a sweatshirt for the 21 female students at Oklahoma Christian University whose dads belonged to Delta Gamma Sigma. They’ve had an informal fellowship for most of the school year; now they have a formal sweatshirt. You’ll recognize Val on the far right in this picture. On the far left is Kenzie Minor, whose dad, Shawn, was a Delta freshman my senior year. The young lady in the middle is Savannah McMillon, whose dad, Jeff, was a great friend of mine, two years my senior, a Delta vice-president, and current OC Bible professor.

Good looking kids, huh? But then, again, everybody looks good in maroon and gold.

Peace,

Allan

Delta Dominates OC Chapel

DeltaGammaSigmaChapel

It’s always an honor to speak in Hardeman Auditorium on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. I consider the opportunities to speak at OC’s chapel a rich blessing and, yes, a delicious irony. Yesterday was especially nice as two Delta brothers, one from long ago and one current Bull, joined me on the stage to bookend my fifteen minutes.

DeltaChapelJeffMacJeff McMillon, a good friend with whom I’ve boxed-stepped in Spring Sing and snow-skied on Spring Break and a favorite Bible teacher now at OC, opened up the program with an inspirational welcome to the students. He followed that by introducing me, shouting out to my daughter Valerie, and then praying over me before I shared my thoughts on Christian love as the proof and expression of God’s nature in us. Then Morgan Wilson, a preaching major in Delta — not long ago that would have been oxymoronic; it’s still a little weird — led a beautiful closing prayer.

By the way, speaking in front of hundreds of teenagers is not my idea of a great time. I love hanging out with young people, but not preaching to them. I’m not good at it. In a Sunday morning church setting, the people in the pews will always laugh at your jokes. They’re trying to be nice, they’re trying to encourage the speaker. Teenagers? They don’t care. I learn a little bit every time I do it. I need to structure my message a little differently. You can’t build up to a climactic point; you have to start right out of the gate with something provocative and unexpected. Tell the joke later, I was told, not at the beginning. So, I’m learning.

It was a fabulous quick trip to OKC and back. I got to spend some really good quality time with my precious daughter, my wonderful sister and brother-in-law, and my super stud senior basketball star nephew, Asa. I got to eat at Ted’s, which, on its own, is worth any trip to OKC. I got to eat a greasy burger at The Garage with Dillon and Colton, a couple of great young men and Delta brothers from Legacy. I got to hang out with Chris Adair, who does more for Delta and Delta alumni than anyone before or since. And I got to tell Jeff McMillon how I praise God almost every day for people like him who are loving and teaching Valerie, helping her connect with the OC community, and inspiring her to live her life to the fullest for our Lord and for others.

Peace,

Allan

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