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Category: Stanglin Family (Page 5 of 21)

RockHounds Fans

June 21, 2021 / / 0 Comments

We officially turned the corner as a family last night in becoming Midland RockHounds baseball fans, openly cheering for our new team in the friendly confines of the Sod Poodles ballpark in downtown Amarillo. Whitney and I wore our new RockHounds t-shirts and we loudly rooted for the Midland Nine as they routed Amarillo 13-3.

Stan Cox, our favorite usher who runs a very tight Section 109, told me he didn’t know what was more disappointing: that we were leaving Central or how quickly my baseball allegiance had changed. He agreed that my quick switch shows a real lack of personal integrity and character. When Stan came around with the garbage bag in between innings, he asked me to take off my RockHounds shirt and kindly place it in the trash.

Stan and Susan are two more of the really great people I’ve had the privilege to live, worship, and serve with here in Amarillo. I was honored to perform the wedding for their daughter Sara to Nick Lewis and I was blessed to spend ten thrilling days with them in Israel. Susan kindly volunteers at the church office when Gail is out. Nick and Sara’s beautiful daughters were both born here and are being raised in and by Central – one of the many wonderful families we’re really going to miss.

Needless to say, we were the only ones cheering for the RockHounds last night – we stuck out a little bit in the partisan Poodles crowd. Whitney came away with a foul ball generously tossed up by a Sod Poodles player and Midland pitcher Jared Koenig autographed it for her after the game – nice on both counts. As a family, we agree that the Sod Poodles name continues to be a disgrace to the very idea of professional baseball, but we do love their logos and fonts so much more than the late-80s vibe of the cartoonish RockHounds logos and fonts. And this downtown ballpark in Amarillo is the crown jewel of all AA stadiums – it’s the standard.

We’ll miss the insane Sod Poodles song during the seventh inning stretch (Sod Poodles! Sod Poodles! That’s right, they’re called the Sod Poodles!). The free parking on Fillmore. Dale Cooper’s awesome seats behind home plate. Ruckus entering the stadium to ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man.” The line for three-dollar refills at H-Tea-O. Frozen t-shirts and blindfolded Chick-fil-a cows. But we’re looking forward to everything minor league baseball in Midland has in store for us later this summer. When is Jared Koenig’s next start?

Peace,

Allan

The Gang

June 8, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Carley’s dog did not sign our group covenant, but he somehow managed to sneak into the team picture we took at our house Sunday night. Man, is this a good-looking group, or what? We love these people and cherish our friendships and are so thankful to our Lord for bringing us together the way he has. We still have a couple more dinners and a lot more prayers to share over the next several days. And, Andrew, I’m going to need about a case of your family salsa to take to Midland.

Peace,

Allan

Seeing What Others Can’t

May 24, 2021 / / 0 Comments

We took in our first Sod Poodles game of the new season yesterday, enjoying a 6-3 Amarillo win over Midland to secure a series split with the RockHounds. We sat in Dale Cooper’s seats, it was Buddy Reed bobblehead day, and I came up one ice cream helmet short of eating for the cycle. A wonderful day at the downtown ballpark.

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We’ve started a new sermon series here at Central on the life of David. And it’s complicated. David is chosen by God to be Israel’s king, but he’s a mess. He commits public adultery and proxy murder. He joins the enemy army and he’s obsessed with revenge. He doesn’t get along with his wives, his children, or his troops. He is responsible for some of the most atrocious acts of cruelty and selfishness in the Bible. Yet, somehow, he is a described as “a man after God’s own heart.”

It’s complicated.

One of the questions we’re asking each week during this series is How does David reflect God’s heart? Yesterday we looked at the familiar story of David’s battle with Goliath. And we determined that one thing David and our God have in common is that they see what others can’t.

Romans 4 tells us that God gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. That’s how David is, too.

David sees the giant enemy of God as small and weak and insignificant. The very sight of Goliath paralyzed the Israelites. His size, his strength, his words – the Bible says Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. But David looks at Goliath and he sees him as nothing. He sees him as already dead. He thinks about the lions and bears he’s killed in the past and he tells Saul, “This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them.” He says, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Yeah, Goliath is powerful; but God is much more powerful. Yes, Goliath is strong and mighty;  but compared to Almighty God, David sees Goliath as puny. He sees Goliath as already defeated. And that’s the way God looks at things.

2 Corinthians 10 says “You’re only looking at the surface of things.” Look deeper. Look bigger. When you see things the way God sees things, it empowers you to act with zeal, the kind of zeal and boldness and assurance that changes everything.

David makes things bigger. He sees more clearly. When everybody knows you can’t beat Goliath with a sword, David comes up with another way. When David can’t live in Israel because Saul is trying to kill him, he becomes a Philistine. When Jerusalem is just a hick-town with one red light, David sees a glorious and holy capital city. When the wandering Israelites are worshiping God in a tent, David draws up plans for a beautiful temple. David stays outside the box, seeing and creating new possibilities from the darkness and the void. Just like our God.

Samuel did not see David as a king, but God did. God sees possibilities we don’t always see. And he makes them happen.

Peace,

Allan

Caleb & Abbie

May 17, 2021 / / 2 Comments

We put 1,904 miles on Carrie-Anne’s Escape this past weekend to attend the wedding of our nephew Caleb and his beautiful bride Abbie in New Harmony, Indiana. Caleb is my sister Rhonda’s older son, a super-smart and determined young man with a killer three-point shot; Abbie is the hiking and biking fitness freak he met at Harding; and they are very very well-suited for each other. They make a really great couple and we couldn’t be happier for them both.

We took our time getting to this little community on the Wabash River. Carrie-Anne, Whitney, and I took advantage of Valerie and David being on their honeymoon (one year later; thanks, COVID) to stay in their apartment in Tulsa Thursday night. And on Friday, we took a 24-mile, 90-minute detour to catch some throwed rolls at Lambert’s Cafe outside Branson.

The day of the wedding, Saturday, we hopped in a couple of golf carts and did some sightseeing around New Harmony. The roofless church. The old abandoned bridge connecting Illinois and Indiana over the Wabash River. A couple of antique shops. Fields and fields of bright Peonies flowers. Several 200-year-old buildings. And a spooky burial ground. New Harmony feels like something straight out of a Stephen King movie: super old homes in a tight-knit community cut off from the rest of the world with a bit of a creepy vibe, like something’s going on here. Something horrible has happened here or could happen here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wedding, though, was perfect. Logan officiated an efficient ceremony on the banks of a Wabash tributary in the shadow of the New Harmony Inn, right after a brief rain shower that had us scrambling during the family pictures. The rest of the night was just as good: dinner, the dancing, the DJ, Asa’s really good toast, the shoe game, Joanna’s perfectly-timed leakage, blueberry popcorn, the new couple’s well-rehearsed exit, and three kinds of cake! The only miscue was Caleb’s throw of Abbie’s garter – a lame one-hopper that barely cleared two feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning we all went to church together at the Christian Church in Carmi, Illinois where Abbie’s family worships and where she grew up. And then we loaded up the Escape for the 13-hour drive back to Amarillo. Brutal. Straight through. We got home at 1:30am. Asa, Rhonda’s youngest, is marrying the lovely Addie in November in Destin, Florida. I think we’ll take a plane.

Congratulations to Caleb and Abbie! We were so blessed to participate in your wedding and to share with you your love and joy and expectations. May the Father’s love bless your relationship together and all your relationships. May the peace of Christ reign in your home with you and everyone you know. And may the Holy Spirit provide you with wisdom and guidance and patience and everything you need so your marriage forever reflects our God’s love and faithfulness.

Peace,

Allan

Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom!

May 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Praise the Lord and pass the chips and salsa! The newest Chuy’s location right here in ruggedly beautiful Amarillo, Texas finally opened yesterday and, yes, of course we were there!

Carrie-Anne, Carley, and I vowed to skip lunch yesterday and then meet at the brand new Chuy’s at 4:00pm to beat the opening night dinner crowd for a super early supper. We walked right in – no wait! – and took our seats under the Chuy’s hubcaps and among the Chuy’s palm trees and had our chips dipped in Chuy’s amazing made-from-scratch queso in about two minutes.

Carley and I went with the traditional Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom, the roasted pulled white meat chicken enchiladas with the famous Boom-Boom sauce, a spicy blend of New Mexican Hatch green chiles, tomatillos, cilantro, and cheese. C-A ordered up her favorite crispy tacos in those homemade shells. And we just had a blast.

I have mixed emotions about famous region-specific restaurants expanding their reach outside of their territories. Chuy’s is an Austin original. Carrie-Anne and I would eat at the original Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road when we lived in Marble Falls back in the ’90s and the Chuy’s on Lamar has been our go-to Tex-Mex spot in Austin ever since. It’s nostalgic for me. It reminds me of the Texas Hill Country and great friends, when our kids were little and we lived in our first house on Hackberry, when C-A and I were trying to figure out marriage together, and life. I remember thinking it was weird when I first saw the new Chuy’s on I-35 in Waco in 2008. Shouldn’t you have to go to Austin to eat at Chuy’s? Up until ten or eleven years ago, all fifteen Chuy’s were in Texas. But on a family trip to Disney World in 2014, we saw one in Orlando, Florida. We were appalled! And we ate there twice!

It’s like the Chicago company buying Whataburger and planning to expand all over the country. I think it’s great that folks in Detroit and Boston might someday get to enjoy a #1 with cheese and everything on it, dip their fries into Whataburger’s spicy ketchup, and wash it down with a Dr Pepper shake. But shouldn’t you have to be in Texas to do it? Does it water down the whole thing if you can get it anywhere?

It’s weird to have a Chuy’s in Amarillo. And it’s great! I just might see you there today at lunch.

Peace,

Allan

All the Girls

May 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

We drove hard and fast to OKC after church yesterday to clean Carley out of her on-campus apartment at Oklahoma Christian and move her back home. We were surprised when we arrived to learn that Valerie and David had driven down from Tulsa to help out. Beautiful! All three daughters with their mom on Mother’s Day! We loaded up the cars and the truck together and then celebrated at – where else? – Ted’s with my sister Rhonda and her family. It was a crazy day – we got home at about 1130p last night. But it was good to see all the girls. And it’s good to have the Bear back in Amarillo.

 

 

 

 

Peace,

Allan

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