Category: High School Football (Page 3 of 3)

The Gift of Unity

November 13, 2009 / Allan / 2 Comments

Sometimes when we think about or talk about Christian unity, we do so in terms of what we can do to create unity or cause unity or foster more unity. What we need to understand is that we already have unity. It’s already been given to us.

All Christians are united. All Christians are unified. All believers are together. It’s a gracious gift of God. We can’t do anything to cause Christian harmony. Christian unity is already an eternal reality. It’s just a matter of whether we want to accept it or not. Will we live into it, or not? Will we embrace the God-given and God-ordained blessing of unity or reject it?

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.” ~John 17:22-23

Through Jesus we are given a profound spiritual intimacy with the Father and Son that changes all of human life. It’s a unity that encompasses the Father with the Son, all Christian disciples with them both, and, in turn, with one another. Jesus’ whole prayer in John 17 proclaims that unity is not something we maintain. Christian unity, this deep relationship and fellowship between all followers, is what God through Christ has already given us and continues to maintain through the power of his Holy Spirit.

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” ~1 John 4:13

Jesus lives inside us. We are part of that holy communion, that holy community, with the triune God. It’s not because of anything we’ve ever done, but because of this great gift.

“That I myself may be in them.” ~John 17:26

Those are the last words Jesus says to God before he’s nailed to the cross. His last desire is to indwell his followers, to fill them with his glory and joy, so we will all be one. Together. Unity.

John 17 shows us the intimacy and character of the relationship that exists between the Father and Son. We see clearly the unity — the community — that marks their very nature. This oneness is then given to us. Jesus says, “I’m giving them the glory you gave me that they may be one, just like us. I’m giving them the power of your name that they may be one, just like us. I’m living inside them by the Holy Spirit that they may one, just like us.” We have been given this oneness with the Trinity and with everyone whom God has saved.

As his children, this unity is our new nature. This is now who we are: one with Christ and one with his followers everywhere. What that means is that there is very little, if anything, outside of denying Christ as divine Lord by word or deed, that can ever separate us. And if that’s the case — and it is! — then living into that reality in a way that speaks to a lost and dying world requires that we make every effort to love one another. Serve one another. Build one another up. Bear one another’s burdens. Submit to one another. Defend one another. Give one another the benefit of the doubt. Speak well of one another. Protect one another.

Paul says that’s the difference between spiritual infancy and maturity. That’s the difference between being tossed about and held together. Between deception and truth. Between things of human origin and things of Christ.

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To all preachers: click here for a recent word of encouragement and discipline from Terry Rush’s blog, Morning Rush.

Elders: a similar exhortation here.

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Whitney’s Richland High School Rebels got blown out by Arlington Bowie last night in the first ever high school playoff game in Jerry Wayne’s new stadium. My alma mater, Dallas Christian, is hosting their/our bitter rival, Fort Worth Christian, in a bi-district playoff game this evening. Whitney and I will be there at Chargers Field tonight. I’ll have to bribe Valerie and Carley with the prospects of cotton candy or Sour Skittles to get them to go with us. Carrie-Anne couldn’t care less. I’m looking forward to showing the girls around the campus. I’ll probably spend most of the evening telling them old stories as the place and the setting flood me with wonderful memories. I’m hoping to see lots of old friends, classmates, teachers, and even a couple of coaches tonight.

Here’s a really strange thing: I’ll probably have more friends dressed in red sitting on the visitors side.

It’s weird living and working and ministering here in FWC’s community. I drive by Fort Worth Christian at least once every weekday taking Whitney to Richland. I know a few of the teachers and coaches. Several of our families here at Legacy attended FWC and/or have kids at FWC. One of our elders here used to be Fort Worth Christian’s superintendent. I play basketball at Cardinal Gym every Thursday. I speak to the high school at FWC chapel at least once a year.

Great people. Great friends.

Go Chargers!

Allan

Ask Not What Small Groups Can Do For You…

December 7, 2007 / Allan / 5 Comments

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” ~John 15:12

Jesus left everything. Jesus considered the glory he had with the Father in heaven nothing. Jesus came to earth to suffer; to be deserted by family and friends; to be ultimately, for a while, even forsaken by God; to be tortured; to be killed like a criminal for you. As lousy as you are. And for me. As lousy as I am.

That’s how the Christ loves us.

And his command—not his suggestion, not his recommendation, not something he said that only makes sense in his culture at his place in time—is that we love each other in the exact same way. John 15:12 and all the other commands to love just like Jesus in that last part of John are not a gray area of debate.

So the question is: are you loving like Jesus? Can you, will you, die for each other?

And we say we’re not called to die. Not in this country. Not in this age. If we were in a different country or living in a different time, maybe I could. But, thankfully, I don’t have to worry about it. Living in America in the 21st century, that’s a concept I don’t even have to consider.

Wrong answer.

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 2:1-5

Paul goes on to quote from the ancient church hymn that Jesus took on the role, the very nature, of a servant and humbled himself by dying on the cross.

And this is exactly how we die for our brothers and sisters. This is precisely how we die for each other. We die to ourselves. We kill off selfish ambition. We put to death vain conceit. We crucify our own interests. We suffocate those parts of us for each other. Like Jesus in the upper room the night he was betrayed, we have to continually find ways of making ourselves the least important person in the group.

Sign-ups begin this Sunday morning at Legacy as we continue our move from a church that does small groups to a Small Groups Church. And I would ask that we each consider our parts in small groups as our ministries of service to God’s people in the Kingdom. Let’s not choose our groups based on our own needs. Let’s not sign-up according to comfort zones and best friends. Let’s sign-up with hearts of service and ministry for others. How can I serve people? How can I love people? How can I reach lonely and struggling and hurting people with the mercy and grace of Christ? What can I do to put the needs of others over my own? As Peter would say, “To this we were called…”

Jesus did it. And he had more to give up than all of us combined.

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The Legacy teens are playing the Legacy family guys in a flag-football extravaganza tomorrow morning at 10:00 on the soccer field north of the building. I’ve always felt like I was a little too old to be in that Sunday morning Young Families Class. But Vic’s presence in there has always comforted me. However, it may be proven tomorrow morning that I really don’t belong with these guys who are ten years younger. By agreeing to play in the game, I’m afraid my brain has written a check my broken down body can’t cash. Like Jon Kitna maybe.

When we moved here this past summer I promised myself I was going to see lots of DFW high school football. And I’ve not seen a single game since the DC debacle at FWC in September. But I’m taking care of that tomorrow by taking in a playoff double-header at Texas Stadium. Hebron’s Hawks are tangling with Abilene, the team that knocked Southlake Carrol out last weekend. My great friend, Billy Whiteley, is the head athletics trainer for Hebron, and I’m anxious to see if they can recapture that state championship magic from two years ago. The second game features Trinity’s Trojans against Arlington Bowie. Lots of our Legacy kids here go to Trinity and so I’ll have a rooting interest in both games. But I refuse to do the Haka. Hocca? Hawka?

Peace,

Allan

Too Much High School Football?

September 14, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

Southlake Carroll has a stinking good football team. Since moving up to class 5-A in 2002, the Dragons have gone 80-1 and won four state championships. If they beat Northwestern tomorrow night it’ll be Carroll’s 50th straight victory, breaking the all-time consecutive wins mark set by Abilene High in 1954-57.

But about that game tomorrow night…

It’s on ESPNU. National TV, sorta. It’s at SMU’s Ford Stadium in Dallas. And it’s against Northwestern High School from Miami, Florida. It’s the mythical nation’s number one team against the mythical nation’s number two team in a showdown that’s being hyped and plugged like a BCS game.

This is the fourth straight year Carroll has played a game on national TV. Over a hundred media credential requests have been put in. High School Football in Texas has become a national industry with regular coverage in USA Today and Sports Illustrated. ESPN is televising 16 regular season high school football games this season and Fox Sports Net is broadcasting over a hundred.

At Carroll, and at other big name traditional powerhouse high schools with successful football programs, expectations are high. Through the roof high. National athletic wear brands are bidding for uniform rights. National soft drink companies fight for pouring rights. The money is flooding in in ever-increasing amounts. The stadiums are getting bigger and the practice facilities are getting nicer. The teams fly in chartered jets to out-of-state, made for TV matchups. Coaches angle for and get higher paying and higher profile NCAA jobs. The players are being wined and dined by college recruiters as 14 year old freshmen. Football money is being used to fund other school programs, a lot of them academic programs.

They’re just 15-17 year old kids.

What, if anything, are we losing here? Are we trading anything in for the exposure and the money and the recognition?

In 2004 a football dad walked into the coach’s office at Canton high school and shot the head coach, a former defensive coordinator at Mesquite, because his son wasn’t getting enough playing time. The man’s sister publicly defended his actions by calling him a “concerned parent.”

In that same year, two high school football stars in the panhandle were arrested and charged with assault on the afternoon of a state playoff game. Two boosters bailed the boys out of jail and had them at the stadium at halftime. And they suited up and played. One scored two touchdowns. The other had a bunch of tackles and an interception. And they won.

The team Carroll is playing tonight, in my opinion, should not be traveling out of Miami and most certainly should not be playing on TV. Bulls running back Antwain Easterling was arrested and charged last December with “lewd and lascivious battery” against a 14 year old girl in a high school bathroom. According to court records, coaches and principals and counselors covered it up so Easterling could play in the Florida state championship game. Easterling ran for 157 yards that day and Northwestern won the state title. But since then, an investigation has led to several indictments and the firing of 21 coaches and counselors who knew of the assault but failed to report it. Northwestern’s football team has also been placed on one-year probation. But apparantly that probation doesn’t keep the Bulls from flying a jet to Dallas for a nationally televised football game and all the publicity and hype and money that go with it.

What are we trading here? How much is too much? What’s the message to these 15-17 year old kids about priorities and what’s important and what’s not so important? And, on a broader scale, what’s being communicated to society and accepted as normal?

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The monthly Four Horsemen lunch is actually going to be a four day trip to Abilene for the annual ACU Lectureships. Dan and Jason have always gone. Kevin, I think, has made the trek a couple of times. But I’ve never been. And when we made our pledge to have lunch once a month as soon as I moved back to DFW, we also made the ACU Lectureships a priority.

And I can’t wait.

My time with my dear Christian brothers is always excellent. I’ve learned so much from Kevin about dreaming big and setting lofty goals and believing that God has in mind much more than I do. He believes in me more than I do. Kevin motivates me.

Dan has taught me so much about seeing the Kingdom of our Father in places I never look. His view of Jesus’ church as it relates to loving and serving Christian brothers and sisters living on the streets and in run down apartment complexes comes straight out of the teachings of our Savior. Dan’s passion and action for people challenges me.

And Jason shows me how to live the Word. He’s in it. In depth. Constantly. He talks it. He walks it. He is a godly man with godly principles and a godly focus. Jason inspires me.

We’re leaving from my house at about 9:30 Sunday night because Dan’s never been able to say no to a free breakfast in Abilene. And we’ll stay for all three days. The focus of the lectureships this year is on the Prophets. And I’m excited about that because I see gospel preachers as prophets — spokesmen for God. But the prophets of Scripture had such a close relationship with God, always talking to God, always being spoken to by God, always in communion with God, that they saw what God saw and felt what God felt. The same compassion God has for his people, the prophets felt. The same injustice God saw, the prophets saw.

And I long for that same vision and pathos of my God. I want to see the things he sees and feel the way he feels. I want sin to grieve me the way it does my God. I want poverty and inequality to break my heart like it does God’s. I want to have his joy and his sorrow and his viewpoint on everything. That’s the Scriptural picture of the prophets. And it’s one of the things I pray about every day. I’m confident this experience in Abilene, featuring some of the best teachers and preachers in our brotherhood, will be very encouraging and uplifting for me.

Peace,

Allan

FWC 13, DC 7

September 8, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

What does crow taste like? Humble pie, anyone?

Fort Worth Christian definitely showed up to play football and gutted out a pretty impressive home win over my Chargers. Despite what the final score might indicate, there were a lot of big plays. It’s just that all of DC’s big plays were overturned or brought back by penalties.

Dallas Christian did have a chance to make the Cards pay for a missed extra point and win the game at the end. They got the ball at their own 20 yard line with just under seven minutes to play and drove it all the way down to the FWC seven yard line at the 1:50 mark. First and goal at the seven. An incomplete pass on first down stopped the clock. But then, as a fitting capper to what had plagued the Chargers all night, a holding penalty pushed them back to the 17 yard line and they just couldn’t pull it off from there. With 45 seconds left they faced a fourth and goal from the five. But an incomplete pass in the end zone ended the DC drive and sealed the deal for the Cardinals.

We were walking across the field to get to our car after the game when Coach Thannum, the FWC Athletics Director, stopped me to take issue with my Dallas Christian T-shirt. I asked him if I could take at least partial credit for their win since my chapel talk obviously inspired the entire school community. And he told me I could take lots and lots of credit. He said my inspirational talk about being fully committed to our goals, about putting behind all the things that distract us from achieving our goals, set the perfect tone for the day. They apparantly talked about it all day long getting ready for the game.

D’oh!

We had a fantastic night. The Brownlows, our common-law members at Legacy, were the perfect hosts. It was so good seeing old DC classmates and teammates such as Jeff M., Mike M., Brian C., Todd S., and their families. We also got to catch up with some old friends from Mesquite like the Montanas, the Powers, and the Tollesons. And then, there are so many new friends on the Fort Worth side of things now. An almost perfect evening.

Congratulations to the Marble Falls Mustangs after their big win over Crockett last night! I’m sure Kyle and Stan and Cord are smiling this morning.

Peace,

Allan

Be Holy Because I Am Holy

September 7, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

Our Children’s Minister at Legacy, Kipi Ward, is the one who mischievously taped the Jerry Wayne Papa John’s pizza ad to my office door. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. She and I share a common disgust for the way he acts in public. Look at the expression on his face. Click on the closeup shot on the right and look at how his leg is hiked up in the Heisman pose. Are you kidding me? The owner of the Dallas Cowboys is in his suit and tie, in all seriousness, striking the Heisman pose, to sell pizza.

Forget the pizza. Deliver me!

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I just returned to the office from speaking at chapel at Fort Worth Christian High School. A very pleasant fellow, Mark Weathers, invited me a few weeks ago. And I didn’t realize until just a few days ago that I was scheduled to speak the very morning of the Fort Worth Christian – Dallas Christian football game.

Very weird.

As we were chit-chatting in the foyer the bell rang and here they all came, a couple of hundred high school students in an overwhelming sea of Cardinal Red. All the football players wearing their jerseys, all the cheerleaders in their uniforms, all the pep squad in thier red shirts, and everybody else with some kind of red shirt proclaiming their spirit and allegiance to FWC. I turned to Mark and I said, “There’s no way they can know I graduated from DC.”

I captured their attention, I’m fairly sure, with a little joke about the football coach and lots of sports analogies during a brief message on commitment taken from King Asa’s life in 1 Kings 15. And it’s not like I was wearing my letter jacket or my high school ring. But it was very surreal. I felt like they all knew I was not one of them.

For most of my 40 years on this earth, Fort Worth Christian has been the enemy. Now, I find myself in a church family that meets less than two miles from the campus. Some of my best friends now, I’m finding out, were playing football and basketball at FWC the same time I was at DC. And now their kids are Cardinals. I’m playing hoops at the Cardinal gym once a week. I’m so disoriented. Paradigm shift. Worlds are colliding!

We’re having dinner tonight with Andrew and Stephanie Brownlow and their two wonderful little boys who spent most of Wednesday night trying to put a FWC ballcap on my head. And then we’re going to the ballgame together. At Fort Worth Christian. The last DC football game I attended, I was suited up. That was well over 20 years ago. But I’m starting to get butterflies again.

My junior year we snapped a four game losing streak to Fort Worth Christian 14-7 at our place. We commemorated that victory with a special patch on our jackets. My senior year we beat the Cards on their field 63-14. The first team only played the first series of the third quarter and then we had the rest of the night off. I predict a similar outcome tonight. In fact, I predict the same score: DC 63-14.

I further predict that I will not be sporting any body paint tonight.

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For those of you who care (mom and the other two), the swelling has gone down a little but my nose is still very sore and very crooked. And I’m a little worried about the discrepancy in nostril size. Suddenly, I’m not concerned about popcorn lung anymore.

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“You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” ~Leviticus 20:26

The greek word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 and 4:7 is “hagiosmos.” It means a process leading to a state of holiness or holiness as the end result of a process. Either way, Paul is communicating a process. Continual conformity to God’s character. Becoming exactly like God.

And sometimes we distort this a little bit. We think of holiness strictly as separation from the world or separation from our culture. Paul’s idea of holiness is fundamentally a different concept. His is all positive. Holiness is a process of becoming more and more like our God who’s chosen us and who saves us.

Now, modeling ourselves after God does require some separation from things that don’t please him or things that conflict with his holy character. But to overemphasize or only emphasize the idea of separation hides or ignores the primary aspect of sanctification.

It is multi-faceted. You can view holiness as the gift God gives us at baptism. You can see it as a future goal to be realized on that last day when Jesus comes back to take us to Heaven. You can view it as an on-going journey. It’s past, present, and future. It’s all of that. It’s a one word summary of God’s will for his children.

And as God’s children, it’s our calling.

“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” ~1 Thessalonians 4:7

Peace,

Allan

Category: High School Football (Page 3 of 3)

The Gift of Unity

Ask Not What Small Groups Can Do For You…

Too Much High School Football?

FWC 13, DC 7

Be Holy Because I Am Holy

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