Category: Legacy Church Family (Page 24 of 37)

Shine Like Stars

December 1, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” ~Philippians 2:14-15

God’s purpose for you, what God is working in you, what transforms you into a blameless and pure child of his, what allows you to shine like a star, what enables you to hold out the word of life, it all starts with “do everything without complaining or arguing.”

You can’t shine like a star is you’re complaining or arguing.

Think about your life over the past week, maybe just today: at the restaurant, the customer service counter, the post office, the bank, on your street. Think about the people you’re complaining against, or to, or about. What happens if that person shows up next Sunday morning and sits right next to you on your pew? What will you say to them?

You’ll have nothing to say to them. But it won’t matter at that point because they won’t be listening anyway. Not then. Not anymore. Your Christian witness is hindered, if not completely destroyed. You have no credibility.

You claim to be a child of the almighty creator of heaven and earth. You claim to be a subject of the sovereign Lord who defeated sin and death and Satan and reigns at the right hand of God. You claim to be a citizen of an eternal Kingdom that can never be shaken. You claim to belong to a Father who provides and protects his children. But complaining and arguing says you don’t believe a word of it. Your behavior contradicts your belief. You live like those things don’t really matter, like they have no impact on your life. And it wrecks your testimony.

We’ve got to start taking this as seriously as Paul does. Holding out the very word of life is at stake here. Shining as pure and uncontaminated light-givers in a dark, dark world; becoming children of God without fault, especially as the world views us; living free from anything blame-worthy; beyond reproach; credible witnesses in a world that so desperately needs our resurrected Savior.

It’s a little thing. Complaining. Seems almost trivial. Especially maybe to people who complain all the time. But Paul ties it directly to our salvation and our Christian witness and our ability to fulfill God’s mission for our lives. We are God’s shining stars in the universe. And that universe includes the restaurants, the schools, the neighborhoods, the stores, and the banks we visit.

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Since March, I’ve been driving down to Waco once a month for a full-day of prayer and study and encouragement and reflection with a group of eight other preachers and an elder. Jim Martin put the group together and I’m eternally grateful he included me from the start. I look forward to these monthly gatherings as a real time of spiritual renewal and personal introspection.

Our time together this month will be even more special. We’re leaving from Waco at 4:30 this afternoon to drive to Lynn Anderson’s house in San Antonio where we will spend the night and then all day tomorrow at the feet of this great man of God. ( “KK&C Top 20” pollsters, your deadline’s been extended. I won’t get the new poll up until late Tuesday night. You now have until 8:00 pm Tuesday to decide whether OU really deserves to be ranked ahead of Texas.) Lynn, of course, is a fantastic preacher of the Gospel and an outstanding author. His They Smell Like Sheep is at the very front of the recent move by elders in God’s Church to re-cast their roles according to the biblical standard as shepherds and teachers, not governors and decision-makers. We’re going to spend all day tomorrow with Lynn talking about church leadership and preaching and ministering and God’s will for his people. I’m anticipating nothing less than a total re-energizing for me and my ministry. I’m expecting to come away more focused and more committed than ever to God’s great cause.

Iron sharpens iron. And I’m certain the sparks will be flying at Lynn’s house tonight and Tuesday.

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Last night was the annual “Legacy Family Christmas” performance and dinner. Over 500 of us came together to enjoy our young children singing Christmas carols, readings of Christmas memories submitted by our older members, songs from our singles and middle-married groups, burgers, and pictures with Santa. As usual, the church staff put together a Christmas song with which to bless the congregation. The songs that didn’t make our full cut included:

Deck the halls with tacky fences.

Out in the parking lot, near and far;
There’s no room for no more cars!

You better watch out, keep your head down;
Don’t look now, he’s coming around!
Kent needs men to move a few chairs.

Grandma got run over by a Wiggler
Walking way too slowly by Pod C.
Grandma says that we should be more careful,
Or we’ll be taking her to H-E-B.

Sung to the tune of “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” here’s what we presented last night: “Working for the Church at Legacy.”

Class bells ring, so annoying;
Coleman Ar-cher, candy throwing;
A service we lost, we love our new cross,
Working for the church at Legacy.

Gone away is the gray van;
Never gon-na get a new van.
The tires will blow, and we’ll need a tow,
Hitching our way back to Legacy.

In the concourse you’ll find lots of tables,
And free Bibles at the Lost and Found.
You’ll say where’s the coffee and the donuts?
We’ll say you can find it further down.

When it works, ain’t it thrillin’?
(mouthing words here only, no sound)
It’s out and it’s in; how much did we spend?
Working on the sound at Legacy.

In November we elected elders,
After Allan beat it in the ground (Amen!)
We’ll have lots of fun with our new elders,
Until the weekly meetings beat them down.

Later on, we’ll perspire,
Sitting by Todd’s fake fire.
We’re slightly afraid of the song that we made.
Working for the church at Legacy.
Hope we’re still employed at Legacy.

Peace,

Allan

Ode To Kipi

November 7, 2008 / Allan / 4 Comments

A lot of you already know by now that our Children’s Minister here at Legacy, Kipi Ward, has resigned her position this week. Next to Terry Heidecker and Jim McDoniel, Kipi’s our longest-tenured minister here at nearly seven years. She’s leaving us (I mean, here in the office; she’s still going to be a valuable member of the Legacy church family) to spend more time and energy on her studies and with her sweet girls. And, crud, we’re going to miss her around here.

Kipi has been a wonderful blessing from God to the children and parents at Legacy. She’s impacted many lives, eternally, by her excellent teaching and her humble heart and gracious spirit.

She’s also been a tremendous blessing to the other ministers and staff in our office. She’s a vital part of what, I think, is an excellent dynamic we share together. Kipi’s loving example of sacrifice and service, her open willingness to drop whatever she’s doing to help somebody else, set the tone around here. Her attitude fostered such a great working environment here. She led us by her godly living.

She’s also been an amazing blessing to me. Her endurance of me during VBS, her tireless efforts during Faith Builders, her patience with me on Thursdays and Fridays (No, I don’t have the questions ready yet!), her help with computers and scanners and printers, all of it has meant so much. But even more than that, I appreciate so much her firm grounding in the love of our Lord. Her life kept us all grounded. Kipi always draws us back to the big picture. She always reassures. She always encourages. She always calms. She always praises.

Kipi leaving us creates a huge hole for the other ministers and staff. She’s going to be missed terribly.

Kipi, may our God bless you and your girls richly. May he walk with you as you dedicate more time and energy to your studies and your family. May you be at peace in the knowledge that your time as our Children’s Minister will eternally be a “job well done!” And may our Father continue to use you in ways beyond your own imagination for his people and his Kingdom.

And may you make at least a cameo appearance around here on the Mondays after Cowboys losses so I won’t be celebrating alone.

Grace and peace from your co-worker and servant in Christ,

Allan

Quitting Church

October 27, 2008 / Allan / 5 Comments

Julia Duin, a religious reporter for the Washington Times, has written a book entitled Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do About It. I haven’t read it. But a friend of mine recently sent me a review by the Wall Street Journal’s Terry Eastland.

According to Eastland, church-quitting in the United States is characterized by Duin in her book as “epidemic.” The problem though, in her view, is not in the souls of the church quitters but in the character of the churches they choose to leave. Relying on her own reporting and surveys, Duin lists several things that are wrong with a lot of America’s Christian Churches.

~a lack of a feeling of community among church members, inducing loneliness and boredom
~church teaching that fails to go beyond the basics of the faith
~church teaching that fails to reach members who are grappling with suffering or unanswered prayer
~pastors who are out of touch with their parishioners or themselves unhappy
~pastors who fail to shepherd their flocks or try to control the members in high-handed ways

Duin’s conclusion seems obvious, that our churches need to become places where people feel eager to be. This goes straight to the “community” aspect of what we do and why we do it. In this regard, she calls for better teaching, better preaching, and better pastors who are in touch with the lives of their worshippers. I agree. For two-thousand years we’ve called the Church a Christian community. We need to be much more intentional about cultivating that community. And while a large part of that falls to our elders and preachers and teachers, let’s not forget we are called by our God to be a Kingdom of priests. We serve each other. We sacrifice for each other. We put the needs of others ahead of our own. It’s on all of us to treat each other in ways that form and sustain community.

Two, Duin says churches hurt themselves when they view their organization or allow their own members to view the organization as primarily functioning to meet the members’ needs. (So, there is at least a little theology in the book. That’s good.) The Lord adds us to his Body of Believers in order to serve, not to be served. I had lunch last week with a couple who are considering placing their membership here with us at Legacy. And they asked me three or four times, “Allan, what can we do to serve here? Where’s a place, what’s a function, what’s a service we could really perform here that would help this church and the people?” Wow! How wonderfully refreshing!

It’s not, “What can this church do for me?” It’s always, “How can I serve in this church?”

According to Duin, churches dedicated to this kind of discipleship mindset, this sort of serving and sacrificing in the manner of Christ, will “do well in this era of dumbed-down, purpose-driven, seeker-friendly Christianity.” That means teaching and preaching beyond the five (or six. or seven. how many are there now?) steps of salvation and first principles and deeper than the Christianity-Lite we find in a lot of places.

She says churches will prosper if they concentrate on making disciples. And that’s where Eastland makes his point. Churches like this aren’t always going to prosper—if we judge prosperity by church membership alone. He says, “A church might conscientiously carry out its biblical tasks and yet, by measures of popularity, do poorly in this world. Such a church would not be doing right if it adjusted its mission for the sake of higher attendance records.”

Amen.

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Trunk or Treat last night here at Legacy and there’s absolutely no way in the world to know how many people came through our parking lot and building. All four of the front sections of the worship center were full as we rehearsed together the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17 as a wild west shootout movie. Wade P saved the day when he provided the whistle soundtrack from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from his cellphone. Larry T blew it—or didn’t blow it—when I needed him most. And John W ad-libbed several lines during his evil Goliath laugh. Everybody, it seemed, had a great time with Sheriff Saul and “Ohhhh, David!” But hopefully we all left with a greater appreciation for the God of Israel, our God, who always delivers. He always wins. And those who belong to him always win. And we don’t win by sword or spear. We win by putting our faith and trust in the One who made us and promises to sustain us. David never doubted God’s deliverance. Because God always delivers. We should all feel so deeply and act so boldly.

After that, it was off to the parking lot where hundreds and hundreds of folks were already milling around the decorated cars, bounce houses, face-painters, balloon-sculptors, and food and drink booths. What a night! Cake walks and games and costume contests. Tons of people. I know we served over 1,100 hot dogs. And not everybody got one. I’ll bet 20% of the people here were not members of Legacy. It was fantastic. Truly a community event. Probably, including Give Away Day which brings in people from Fort Worth and points even further south and west, Trunk or Treat is our biggest annual event that draws the most people from our corner of Tarrant County. It’s probably time to do what we’ve done with Give Away Day the past couple of years and start concentrating on some outreach and follow up and evangelism with Trunk or Treat. Thanks to Kipi and Todd and all the dozens and dozens of volunteers!

I dressed up as Tony Romo for the Trunk or Treat, complete with the over-sized pinkie splint fashioned out of a toilet paper roll and lots of athletic tape. Instead of simply donning Valerie’s blond Hannah Montana wig, Carrie-Anne spent two-hours straightening her own hair to play Jessica Simpson. We were quite the pair.

Peace,

Allan

Where's the "Amen"?

October 21, 2008 / Allan / 4 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, where’s the “Amen?”

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

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

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

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

Together. Out loud. In the assembly.

Where’s the “Amen?” What’s the deal?

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

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

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

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

Where’s the “Amen?”

Ready. Set. Go.

Peace,

Allan

Legacy To The World

October 15, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

Between 60-70 of us turned out for a quick breakfast here at Legacy this morning and a send off of our missionaries to Ukraine, David & Olivia Nelson. David’s from New Zealand. Liv’s from Lubbock. They met in the AIM program at LCU. They’ve been married for a little over two years. And they’re committing to a six-year stint as Christian missionaries with a team in Kharkov, Ukraine. They’ve only been with us here at Legacy for about three months. But we’ve all come to love them as our own. And this morning’s send off was pretty neat.

We all told them how much we love them. We charged them with being strong and faithful. We reminded them that they were joining in what God is already doing there in Ukraine, redeeming his creation, his people, back to him. And we recognized that we are joining them, too. We circled close around them, put our hands on them and our arms around them and each other and lifted them up to our Father. We prayed for courage and faith and protection. And we commited them and their work to him. Our hearts and our prayers go with David and Olivia as they head to Europe.

You can keep up with the Nelsons via their blog by clicking here. I’ll also keep it posted on my blog roll on the right hand side of this front page.

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This Sunday is Friends Day at Legacy. And we’re hoping to break our attendance record of 1,349 we set back on August 17. Last Sunday we made available to the congregation ten thousand bags of microwave popcorn. Several volunteers had spent a few days putting Friends Day invitation stickers on the popcorn that say “Pop in for a visit.” The popcorn bags have our church address, phone number, website, and assembly times on them. And we’re trying to flood all our Northeast Tarrant County neighborhoods with these bags of popcorn. We’re calling it Operation Popcorn. Valerie and I figured out yesterday it takes two Wal-Mart bags full of the popcorn and about 30-minutes to do three streets. We’re going to try to do six streets later today. We still have about four thousand bags left in the concourse here at Legacy. I hope they’re all gone by the end of our worship service tonight.

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Valerie’s sixth grade choir gave their first public performance of the school year last night at Birdville High School. She was great, of course! Four different choirs sang at least one hymn or spiritual during their times on stage. Really cool. They all did a good job. Before the performance, the choir director pointed us to a list of rules posted on the back of the program the audience is to follow during a formal concert. She went over all the rules with us. All cell phones turned off or on vibrate. Absolutely no texting during the concert. No getting up and moving during songs. If you have to leave your seat, do it inbetween songs. No cheering or yelling or whistling or calling out names. Polite applause at the end of a number only. How is it we can all follow these rules at a middle school choir concert but not in a Sunday morning worship assembly? I need that lady to do our Call to Worship this Sunday. (The two girls with Valerie in this picture are the loud, crazy girls I took to see City of Ember Friday night. They’re great friends to our middle daughter. Good kids. And a lot of fun.)

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David B points out that Jerry Wayne’s zero-tolerance policy regarding PacMan Jones was obviously a “zero-tolerance-unless-you’re-a-superstar-or-Terrence-Newman-is-hurt” policy. How utterly embarrassing this must be for the Cowboys owner. The commissioner of the NFL has to step in and do what Jerry Wayne would not. Wow.

And Richard A tells me the reason the Cowboys traded for Detroit receiver Roy Williams is because they saw the Lions on the schedule, realized they had no way to cover him, and made a quick deal to get him in a Dallas uni. Look for Tori Holt to become a Cowboy today or tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

The Least Of These

October 13, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” ~Matthew 25:35-36, 40

The 22nd annual Give Away Day here at Legacy proved to be the biggest and best yet. God brought to us a record 517 families, a record 2,832 individuals. We gave them food and clothes and household appliances and shoes and toys. We prayed with them and studied with them. We held their babies and played with their kids. We hugged them. We laughed with them. And in a few instances, we cried with them.

It’s impossible for me to single out one part of Give Away Day as my favorite. Every minute of the day is a sacred minute, set apart for God’s purposes for God’s people in the name of his crucified and resurrected Son. From the 7:00 am meeting in which we dedicate every part of the day to our Lord to the final clean up and exhausted hugs twelve hours later, Give Away Day is a beautiful living breathing moving portrait of what it means to be the Body of Christ. One body, many parts, young and old, teens and senior citizens, singles and entire families, members working their 22nd Give Away Day and members who haven’t been with us 22 weeks, all coming together, sacrificing, serving, cooperating, exercising gifts of love and mercy and hospitality and teaching and generosity and compassion in a unified effort to join our God as fellow laborers in his Kingdom.

After Give Away Day, there’s not a member of our church family who couldn’t preach the sermon the next day. At the very least we all come together Sunday morning with our own set of sermon illustrations. Our own stories. Our own moving experiences of what it means to serve others in the name of Jesus.

I love taking the families through the building. Rita’s four children were angels. One of them is literally an angel. Or “Ahn-hel” as I was reminded. He’s 2-1/2 years old. And he was a handful for almost two hours. No dad. He’s never met his dad. And somehow we bonded. He kept grabbing my face with both of his little hands and pulling me close. We made noises together. Funny noises with our mouths and our tongues, clicking and spitting and sqeaking with each other to our own great delight. I lost him three times during that two hours, twice in the clothes racks and once after he’d been given a beautiful stick horse and “ridden” it to the top of the stairs in A Pod. We made each other laugh. I kept up with his water bottle. We chased each other out in the parking lot. We prayed together after we loaded up their car with everyday items you and I take for granted but for which they were so grateful.

Francine was shopping for her three children, two teenage girls and a three-year-old boy. I kept having to remind her to get things for herself. I kept having to steer her to the ladies sections and telling her to take things she liked. She kept apologizing. “I’m sorry,” she said over and over. “I’m just thinking about getting clothes for my babies.” Francine’s sister was there with us in the parking lot when we prayed. They were both overcome with emotion. And gratitude. They must have said, “Thank you” and “Praise Jesus” a hundred times.

Maria came through with six children. Six kids. Ranging in age from 17 to six-years-old. We loaded up two Home Depot baskets with clothes and shoes and toys. Nine-year-old Rogelio was showing off his brand new football. Rusty had found it for him. He wanted me to throw it with him in the parking lot. He told me this was his first ever football. Manuel had walked us outside to pray and asked Maria what she really needed us to pray for. And this obviously needy, poor, overwhelmed, hungry, poorly-clothed woman said, “Please pray for my husband. He’s not a Christian.” And we did.

And then Phyllis. Phyllis found out in May she has liver cancer. She has no husband. She’s the lone care provider for her severely physically and mentally handicapped 14-year-old son. He’s in a wheelchair. He wears diapers. She feeds him and changes him. She begged me to allow her to go into the Infants Section of our building, even though her son is not a baby. She needs baby wipes. She needs washcloths. She needs ointment and lotion. And Billye and Dianne and Ada loaded her up. And when they brought out a huge stack of blue changing pads, Phyllis lost it. “You have no idea,” she kept saying. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea. You have no idea.” And she’s right. I don’t.

I should have had other people preach yesterday. I tried to proclaim our rescue from the life-choking clutches of Satan. I tried to preach about how our Savior has delivered us from all the powerful tools the devil uses to separate us from our God and from each other. And I couldn’t do it justice. I didn’t even get close. If I were wise, I would have asked seven or eight of our members here to jump up and share their Give Away Day stories. That’s the sermon.

Our God is still in the business of redeeming people. He’s still on a mission to rescue people who are stuck behind the bars of sin and sickness. He’s still active in liberating those who are paralyzed by disease and death. Our powerful God is alive. And he’s defeating Satan. And he’s robbing hell.

And we are blessed to join him in that work.

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I take great personal pleasure in the failings of the Dallas Cowboys. In light of the way this team is built and structured and in relation to the gospel the owner lives and preaches, my position is certainly defensible. My great joy in yesterday’s disaster in the desert is tempered a bit by all the bad news coming out today. Romo’s broken pinky finger has him out for four weeks. McBriar’s fractured foot has him gone for at least six weeks. Felix Jones will miss at least two games with a hamstring. More surgery for Sam Hurd.

This team could very easily go straight into the tank, where it seems to be heading anyway. They could lose three of their next four and fall straight out of the picture. But some of the joy will be stolen because they’ll have the built-in excuse of missing these injured players. That takes some of the fun out of it. It lowers expectations. It’s not as dramatic.

It’s so much better when they fall apart at full-strength.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the first time since 1984, the Texas Longhorns are the #1 team in the regular season AP poll. They’ve never been ranked #1 in the history of the “KK&C Top 20.” Let’s see if that changes late tonight.

Thanks to Jesse V for the Give Away Day pictures.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Legacy Church Family (Page 24 of 37)

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Ode To Kipi

Quitting Church

Where's the "Amen"?

Legacy To The World

The Least Of These

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