Category: Whitney (Page 8 of 13)

And The People Rejoice!

December 20, 2011 / Allan / 2 Comments

The Incarnation of God is a most astounding, literal, historical, and theological event. The coming of our God in the flesh, as a helpless human baby born to peasants in a livestock stable, is real. It really happened. The Creator became one of the created. The Perfect became sin. The Immortal became mortal. God is with us!

And the people rejoice.

Jesus in the manger is not a messenger or an ambassador sent from God to earth to fix everything; he is actually God in the flesh. God doesn’t send his assistance from heaven; he actually bears our burdens in himself. God doesn’t look down on us in love; he actually comes here himself to join us.

And the people rejoice.

God comes to earth and he walks our streets, touches our people, hugs our kids, and eats with us. He laughs with us and he cries; he teaches and heals and protects. He loves us. He saves us. He brings with him the eternal Kingdom of glory, the Kingdom of everlasting peace of which there will be no end, and gives it to us.

And the people rejoice.

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Whitney got her senior ring last week. Her senior ring! She’s really going to graduate high school this coming spring.

It was quite the ordeal getting the ring changed. Of course, we had already ordered her Richland High School ring — and paid for it — before we realized God was shipping us up here to Amarillo. But with Carrie-Anne’s persistence, the Rebel red stone was exchanged for the Sandies gold, all the lettering was adjusted, and Whitney’s finally sporting her Amarillo High School ring. And she’s so very proud.

Whitney has really thrived here at AHS. This move has been good for her. She’s involved in FCA, Student Council, and the Key Club. She’s driving to and from a different meeting or party almost every week. And she’s making such good grades, she’s exempt from every one of her semester finals this week. Even Coach K’s Economics class!!!

I’m proud of you, Whit. You’re doing great with what, I know, has been a difficult transition to a new school in a new city with new friends right before your Senior year. But you’re doing great. And our God is also doing something great with you. In you. I can see it. It’s there. He’s changing you and shaping you into the selfless, sacrificial, serving nature of his Son. And it’s awesome!

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A very disappointing “blizzard” overnight. Just barely an inch of snow. Super cold temps and a brutal wind; but hardly any snow at all. Weathermen here are just as befuddled by winter forecasts as they are in DFW.

Peace,

Allan

I Will Carry You

September 2, 2011 / Allan / 4 Comments

“Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” ~Isaiah 46:4

God speaks through his prophet in Isaiah 46 about the foolishness of our idols. He shows his people the absurdity of putting our faith in idols. God’s people were worshiping Bel and Nebo, Babylonian and Canaanite gods, right alongside Yahweh. They were worshiping God, yes. But at the same time they were hedging their bets, covering their bases — political, cultural, agricultural — by including all the regional gods of the land, too.

Technically, it’s called syncretism. Practically, I’d call it materialism. Or consumerism. Or nationalism.

The picture painted in Isaiah 46 is graphic. God’s people are burdened by their idols, having to carry their idols, even as they’re marched off to captivity in Babylon for worshiping those idols. They’re being driven out of God’s Promised Land and they’re carrying their idols with them.

And God says, “Listen to me! I will carry you!”

You’re carrying these lifeless idols around, these idols that can’t save you or protect you. You’re carrying them. And you’re bent over and weakened by the weight. They make the idols and then are forced to carry them. And our Lord points out the insanity of that when he says, “I have made you and I will carry you!”

We’re all getting older. Our hair is going to turn gray. Or turn loose. Or both. The instability of the economy scares us. The tenuous nature of the world’s governments unnerves us. Wars threaten us. Healthcare seems to be increasingly lacking for us. Everything’s changing. Nothing much seems dependable. And Isaiah 46 shows us very clearly the utter foolishness and sin of trusting in politics and governments and technology and goods for our peace. In the midst of the change and the turmoil and the uncertainty that surrounds us and sometimes overwhelms us, our mighty God says:

“Remember this. Fix it in your mind. Take it to your heart. I am God. And there is no other. I am God. And there is none like me.” (46:8-9)

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I’m still not real sure what “Howdy Week” is at Amarillo High. But Whitney and Valerie have been in costume for the past five days. It was 80s dress for Time Travel Tuesday. Suspenders and thick black glasses for NerdsDay. But today they’re sporting their dad’s old maroon and gold for Frat Friday. Eggleston will appreciate this picture of my two older daughters wearing Delta jerseys. Byrnes and Frost will make some immature comments about it that will betray their pathetic Sigma jealousies. When John-Tern sees it, he will laugh out loud.

But it just makes me proud.

Go Sandies.

Allan

Whitney’s Milestone Moment

March 21, 2011 / Allan / 3 Comments

She did it. Friday afternoon at the DPS office in Lake Worth. Whitney expertly whipped the truck in between the two yellow poles like she’d been parallel parking for years. Then she took off with the trooper in the passenger seat and returned fifteen minutes later with her real State of Texas issued driver license. A banner day for the Whitster! And a weird day for her parents.

Our oldest child is driving now. A glorious day of freedom for us, right?

Well, yes. Absolutely. There’s tremendous freedom for us in that I didn’t have to get out at 10:45 Friday night to pick Whitney and Valerie up from the youth group movie thing at the church. Whitney drove them home. Yesterday afternoon, when it was time for LTC practice, Whitney drove Val and Carley to the church; not me. So, yes, freedom.

It’s just not perfect freedom.

When Whitney took off for the movie thing Friday night she had explicit instructions to text me the moment she arrived. Nine minutes. Ten minutes. Eleven minutes passed. Carrie-Anne and I just stared at my cell phone. We just stared at it. Why hasn’t she texted yet? Shouldn’t they be there by now? It usually only takes me eight or nine minutes. Should we have followed them? Why aren’t they there yet?

And then it came. “We made it. We’re here.”

I was in the yard yesterday Miracle-Growing our flowerbeds when all three girls took off for LTC. Once they turned out of sight, Carrie-Anne observed, “You realize all three of our children are in the same car at the same time. And Whitney’s driving!” She shouldn’t think that way. But I know I never fully relaxed until Whitney was safe at home 25 minutes later. I piddled around outside, right by the street, until she returned.

I’m sure this will get better. But, wow, it’s hard letting her just take off like that.

Of course, we’re very proud of Whitney. She’s overly careful and cautious behind the wheel which is far better than being underly careful and cautious. She has lane-change issues and still has a hard time maintaining a steady speed. But she’s an excellent observer and a master on the blinker. And she has a terrific sense of direction. She’s going to be great.

As for her mom and me: our cell phones just became a lot more important.

Peace,

Allan

Mutant Christianity

September 2, 2010 / Allan / 3 Comments

“Your child is following a mutant form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.”

That’s the first sentence in a recent on-line article from CNN that’s been emailed to me four times this week and seems to be making the rounds. The August 27 article tackles the topic of religion and teens from the viewpoint of Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of “Almost Christian.” Her book claims that lots of parents and churches are unwittingly passing on a watered-down, self-serving, imposter strain of Christianity to our kids. Our children today see God as a “divine therapist” whose chief goal is to boost our self esteem. God simply wants us to do good and feel good. Researchers for the book call it moralistic therapeutic deism. And Dean says, “If this is the God they’re seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust.”

According to the book, Dean’s research included in-depth interviews with more than 3,300 American teenagers between 13 and 17, and found that most who call themselves Christian are indifferent and inarticulate about their faith. Dean says three out of every four teenagers in this country claim to be Christian, but fewer than half practice their faith and only half deem it to be very important at all.

I wonder if those numbers wouldn’t also accurately reflect the beliefs and practices of the adults in our pews.

I haven’t read the book. I’ve only read this article. At least five times now. And the one sentence that keeps coming back to me, the one quote I can’t get out of my head, I think, sums up one of the major problems — if not the number one problem — in our churches and our church programs.

About a third of the way through this article, Dean is quoted as saying, “If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation.”

Amen.

The good news of salvation in Christ is not a “gospel of niceness” in which faith is simply doing good and not ruffling feathers. The Christian call is to take risks, to witness to the world, to sacrifice and serve others; to die to self and to live in a way that is radically — dangerously — different from the surrounding culture.

Preachers preach safe messages that will bring in more people and/or keep more people from leaving. Elders and other church leaders promise security and comfort and happiness at their congregations. We’re not challenging our people. We’re not teaching them or showing them that following Christ — living in the way of Christ and in the manner of Christ — means doing something to fix what’s broken in the world. Restore something. Cleanse something. Change everything. We don’t call our people to anything that’s bigger than ourselves. If all we’re doing is asking our people to sit in a pew, write a weekly check, and then allow the church to work hard to make them physically and spiritually and emotionally comfortable, we’re guilty of adding to the problem. We’re guilty of teaching and practicing a mutant form of Christianity.

We need to stop telling and showing our teens — and all our adults for that matter — that Christianity is all about following rules and drawing lines and adhering to boundaries. We need to immediately cease telling our members — and the world — that it’s OK to worship in that way over there but not this way in here, or it’s allright to sing that song in that room but not this song in this room, that there’s nothing wrong with worshiping God in that style on this day but not this style on that day. We can’t keep telling our kids that it’s OK for women to pray or read Scripture in our living rooms and classrooms but not in our worship assemblies. We need to stop this vain protecting of our comfort zones and comfort rules by insisting that weddings and funerals are not worship services. When you tell me that an assembly in the worship center in which the gathered men and women sing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God, prayers are offered to God in the name of Jesus, Holy Scripture is read, and a sermon is preached from the Bible is not a worship assembly, it makes no sense. Our kids are not stupid. They see right through this stuff. And I don’t blame them.

That’s not Christianity.

Biblical Christianity is bold. It’s huge. It turns whole towns upside down. It dramatically changes lives. It’s a call to rescue and save. It’s more about what’s happening in your community than what’s happening inside your church building. It’s more about what you do than what you believe. It’s more about how you live than how you sing. It’s about serving; it’s not about being served. It’s about dying in the name and the manner of our Lord. It’s all about doing things that make absolutely no earthly sense because God in Christ Jesus has broken through the barriers of time and space to deliver us from an eternity in hell. We don’t explain the faith; we courageously live the faith.

Which message is your church preaching and practicing? Is it a mutant Christianity of arbitrary rules and comfort? Or is it a Scriptural Christianity that goes out on a limb to make a massive difference in the lives of hurting and sick men and women in your community? Does your church love and serve unconditionally or does it model love and service with exceptions and fine print?

If you’re telling the teens in your church they can clap during the songs just as long as they don’t clap too loudly, they’re going to leave. And I don’t blame them.

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I need to apologize to Jerry K: you’re right, Cliff Lee is not the savior of the Rangers. I need to retract a statement I’ve made to Whitney: no, watching Lee pitch is not like it used to be watching Nolan Ryan pitch. Sorry. I know Lee says it’s his back. I know he’s getting treatment. But he’s started ten games now for Texas. And the Rangers are 3-7 in those starts. If the playoffs began today, I’d go with C. J. Wilson and maybe even Tommy Hunter in the opener over Lee. Hunter showed more of those gritty guts last night. David Murphy and Nelson Cruz made some unbelievable catches. And the Yankees are taking care of the A’s.

Peace,

Allan

I Owe You a Post

April 12, 2010 / Allan / 2 Comments

It’s been a full eleven days since my last post. Sorry. Thank you. Let’s get caught up.

(As always, click on the images to get the full size)

We had a fantastic couple of days at LTC over the April 2-3 weekend. Lots of gold, silver, and bronze brought back to Legacy from the DFW Hyatt. My favorite part of Leadership Training for Christ is going to as many of the events as possible and cheering on all our kids. Encouraging them. Telling them what a great job they did. Recognizing in them the great gifts they have from God and seeing in them all the wonderful ways our Father will use them to his eternal glory. I love laughing with them and patting them on the back and hugging them after a job well done. Our teachers and volunteers do a great job with LTC here at Legacy. And the kids always respond with award-winning performances.

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Our four-day Resurrection Renewal was a God-glorifying, Church-edifying, Gospel-verifying event that started Easter Sunday morning with 1,200 men, women, and children lifting our hearts and voices to God in praise and thanksgiving for the empty tomb. Four days of participating in the Resurrection accounts from Holy Scripture. Four days of basking in the power of the Resurrection and gaining new strength in our Resurrection hope.

Two brand new souls experienced their own resurrections Wednesday evening as they were buried with Christ and raised to walk in newness of eternal life. Five of our brothers and sisters publicly confessed their sins and asked for the prayers of their church family as they declared their own new beginnings.

I’m so proud of my Legacy family. We baked cookies and served refreshments. We greeted visitors and held doors. We organized and taught fun interactive children’s classes. We invited our friends. We wore empty tomb T-shirts and passed out flyers. We were/are the kind of church family — the kind of Resurrection Community — to which anyone would want to belong.

And it’s not over.

I’m so encouraged by the conversations I’m overhearing in the hallways during and following our Resurrection Renewal. We’re thinking and talking about the right things. Our attention at Legacy is shifting from an inward to an outward focus, from one of being served to one of serving others. This is just the start. We’re going to keep inviting our friends to Legacy. We’re going to keep talking about the Resurrection. We’re going to keep paying more attention to the lost than to the saved. And we’re going to remember that the Resurrection is not simply something we sing about or teach. It’s not something we merely believe. The Resurrection is who we are.

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By the way, many of you have been asking about the three-minute video we showed at the end of the sermon Easter Sunday morning. The audio was from a sermon preached by S. M. Lockridge called “The Seven-Way King.” The video images were produced and edited by Albert Martin. Jeff Walling has used the video on several ocassions at WinterFest and the Tulsa Workshop. You can check out the video again by clicking here.

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For the second time in three years, Whitney wound up winning the annual Stanglin Bracket Racket. She correctly picked Duke to win it all and edged me out by a total of six points in our family college basketball pool.

I kept hoping and waiting for the Hoosiers miracle. I kept wishing for Shooter to show up and coach the Butler Bulldogs into a picket fence play with Jimmy Chitwood / Gordon Hayward hitting the game-winner at the buzzer. Only in the movies, I guess.

Whitney also, last January, correctly predicted the winner and the final score of the Super Bowl. Seriously! She not only chose the double-digit underdog Saints to beat the Colts, she picked the exact final score! We’re taking her to Vegas tomorrow. Or maybe to the QT to at least buy a couple of lottery tickets.

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We got to see lots of old friends this past Saturday night at the annual Oklahoma Christian University Alumni and Fundraising dinner here at Legacy. It was the biggest North Texas dinner to date. Tons of money raised and pledged for the new Bobby Murcer Athletics center and for scholarships to deserving DFW kids. The highlight for me was catching up with my old Delta buddies and reliving our quests for All-Sports trophies and Spring Sing laughs. What OC event would be complete without a Delta Alumni photo?

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Whitney and Valerie were in Glenrose for a youth retreat. Carrie-Anne stayed in bed. So Carley accompanied me early, early, early Sunday morning to the Red Lot on the northeast side of Texas Stadium to witness in person the implosion of that iconic landmark. We woke up at 4:00am, got there at 5:15, (we handed the parking lot attendant $25, he handed us four boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese) and worked our way to the front of the barricades to hear — and feel — the concussions of the dynamite and suck the concrete and steel dust into our lungs.

I still can’t really imagine that Texas Stadium doesn’t exist anymore. My aunt LouAnn took me to my first ever Cowboys game in that building when I was twelve. I saw Drew Pearson’s consecutive-games-with-a-catch streak end in a close win over the Patriots there with Paul Barron. I wore my blue Roger Staubach jersey. Paul politely asked me to stop yelling so much through my Cowboys popcorn container which doubled as an effective megaphone. I think the people in front of us were giving us looks. When I was 15, Mike Cunningham and I got thrown out of an SMU-Texas Tech game there for dropping ice cubes off the second deck. When I was 16, Todd Johnson and I froze to death there in a miserable January Cowboys playoff loss to the Rams. I remember a two-touchdown fourth quarter performance by Chuck McSwain there in a pre-season win over the Dolphins. I remember a wild Sunday night shootout with the Raiders with five other high school friends. We jeered Marc Wilson and I ate too many bugles. And I was in the stands when a rookie Troy Aikman outpassed Dan Marino in a close loss in ’89.

I was also blessed to roam the sidelines, pressboxes, and underground tunnels at Texas Stadium for four seasons as a radio reporter for KRLD and AM 990. I ate my meals across the hall from the locker room. I ticked off Bill Parcells and made Terrence Newman laugh. I squeezed through the crowds to interview quarterbacks and linebackers and enjoyed leisurely conversations with offensive linemen and kickers. I rode elevators with movie stars and singers. I met Tex Schramm there. I shared work space with the giants in the sports media industry, some of them my heroes of the past and present. I was there when a Thanksgiving Day halftime performer caught on fire. And I was part of the standing ovation when Emmitt Smith passed Walter Payton.

Even after watching it completely collapse into a pile of debris yesterday, I still can’t really imagine that Texas Stadium is gone. I saw Tom Landry coach there. I saw Staubach throw and Tony run. I can still see the end zone scoreboard flash “Martinized!” after a huge Harvey Martin sack. I can still hear Tanya Tucker’s “When I Die” after every Cowboys touchdown. And I can still hear Tommy Loy’s trumpet playing the national anthem.

Thank you, Carley, for going with me and for screaming, “That was awesome!” at the top of your lungs when Texas Stadium was demolished. Forgive your dad for not feeling the same way.

Peace,

Allan

Happy Birthday, Whitney!

February 17, 2010 / Allan / 8 Comments

I’m way too young to have a 17-year-old.

Our oldest daughter, Whitney Leigh-Anne, turns 17 today. Actually, I’ve been kidding her all week that she really doesn’t turn 17 until 10:15 tonight. That’s what time she was born, after 17 hours of labor for Carrie-Anne, at South Austin Medical Center.

Since that long, long Wednesday in 1993, Whitney has brought such joy to our lives. She laughs at anything. She’s ultra-competitive at everything. She wins nine out of every ten games of Connect Four she plays against anybody. And she can go through a deck of cards in Solataire in about four minutes. She sings We Are the Champions, emphasizing the “no time for LOSERS!” phrase at the end of the chorus everytime she beats me at backgammon. She’s hilarious. She lives to play games. And she lives to watch games. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Super Bowl or a Western Louisiana and Idaho State basketball game, she watches every minute. And cares deeply about who wins and loses.

And she’s taught us so much over the past 17 years. How to love life. How to see the positive in every situation and everybody she meets. Whitney doesn’t see skin color or clothes or social status or money or cars or zip codes or hair styles. Everybody’s exactly the same in her eyes. When she was in sixth grade she was assigned to write a report about a black person she admired. She came home confused. I tried giving her some examples. I mentioned Dallas Mavericks guard Michael Finley, her favorite player at the time. She looked right at me and said, “He’s black???”

I love that about my Whitster.

Through every surgery, every stretch on crutches and in wheelchairs, every doctor’s appointment, she remains amazingly upbeat and positive. Nothing fazes her. I think she likes the attention, yes. But people give her the attention because she’s so sweet.

I had lunch with her today at school. Took her some Chick-Fil-A. The eight-piece Number Five with a Dr Pepper. The girl sitting across from Whitney shook my hand, introduced herself, and said, “You’re so lucky to have a daughter like Whitney. We love her.” The one sitting next to her said almost the same thing. These girls are varsity basketball players, varsity volleyball players. And they ask Whitney to sit with them. One of them texted her a Happy Birthday message at 7:00 this morning. They like her. Whitney makes them laugh. And I think God’s working through her to show these girls what a Spirit-indwelled person looks like.

Whitney blesses us beyond what I can even imagine to write here. I believe she’s a blessing to everybody who comes in contact with her. And I love her with everything I’ve got.

Happy Birthday, Whit.

Dad

Category: Whitney (Page 8 of 13)

And The People Rejoice!

I Will Carry You

Whitney’s Milestone Moment

Mutant Christianity

I Owe You a Post

Happy Birthday, Whitney!

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