See You In Two Weeks

The blog returns Monday August 10 

We’re picking up the younger girls today down at Three Mountain, coming back home to load everything up, and then heading out to Florida first thing tomorrow morning for Disney World and Cocoa Beach. And I’m taking a break from everything. This will be a true vacation. A sabbatical. A sabbath with my wonderful wife and our beautiful daughters. No email. No cell phone. No blog.

The Kingdom, The Kids, and The Cowboys will return Monday August 10.

To our regular readers here: please allow me to say “thank you.” I appreciate so much the fact that you read this several times a week. It blows me away. I don’t take any of that for granted. I hope that you’re encouraged. I hope you’re challenged. I hope the things that are written here serve in some way to build you up and increase your faith in our Sovereign Lord, our gracious Father, who is watching us and caring for us with tender mercy and amazing grace. Thank you. And thank you for understanding this need to take a short break. And thank you for coming back on the 10th.

When I began writing this blog 25 months ago, I really didn’t know what I was getting in to. I want it to serve you. I want it to encourage you and challenge you. I want it to celebrate the wonderful things our God is doing here at Legacy and in his eternal Kingdom world-wide. I want to link you up to our missionaries. I want to reinforce the things we’re teaching here. I want it to make you laugh sometimes. And sometimes I want it to make you think about what God is asking you to do with the blessings he’s giving you.

At times, this blog can be a cruel taskmaster. I’m a slave to this thing sometimes. But it’s a tremendous discipline. It’s a wonderful way for me to start my own day, by sitting down to reflect on a sermon just delivered or to openly wrestle with a difficult text or concept or just to celebrate something wonderful our God is doing in my life or with this group of disciples here at Legacy.

I pray over every entry that God will inspire and bless all that’s written here. I ask him every day to use this thing in any way he wants, that his will would be done in this blog as it is in heaven. I beg him to overcome my own weaknesses and shortcomings as a thinker and a writer to encourage and uplift other believers, to challenge and convict his Church, and to move us all to lives of greater faith and service.

And he’s doing that in spades! Praise God, who’s strength is made known in our weakness!

And I must say it’s much more personally rewarding than I ever dreamed. Telephone and email conversations, sparked by something written here, have been a wonderful bonus. Your notes of encouragement and gratitude for something I’ve written here always seem to come at just the most perfect time.

Thank you for allowing me to pour my heart out in this way every day. Thank you for your kindness and patience as I publicly struggle to grow with my God and my faith and my calling. I pray that my thoughts and writings give you the courage and boldness to live in the love of Christ.

And thank you for coming back on August 10.

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

#51I leave you with today’s #51 in our Red Ribbon Review. We’re counting down the days until the Cowboys historic 50th NFL season by looking at the second-best players in team history according to jersey number. #51 is center Dave Manders. He played ten years for the Cowboys, from 1964-1974, snapping and blocking for Don Meredith, Craig Morton, and Roger Staubach. He anchored the middle of the offensive line as Dallas went from expansion losers to “Next Year’s Champions” to Super Bowl winners. He made the Pro Bowl in ’66. And he played in two NFL Championship Games and two Super Bowls. Dave Manders is the second-best Cowboy to wear #51.

When we come back on the 10th, we’ll already be down to #34. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch us up.

Peace,

Allan

3 Comments

  1. Debbie

    I really enjoy reading your blog every day. Most of the time I completely agree with you and sometimes you make me rethink some things. I am often uplifted, encouraged and challenged!

    Enjoy your vacation with your sweet family!!

  2. Jesse

    Thank YOU for your commitment to this form of communication, and your openness to letting us see God perfect His power in your / our weakness.

    Enjoy your well deserved time off!

  3. Gloria

    I’ve only read a few blogs of yours since I came across it recently, but I can tell that God is really working through you. Your messages have totally helped me understand things better and I’m looking forward to August 10th. Have fun in Florida! I went there too when I was little. It was a great deal of fun but then again, I suppose every little kid thinks Disney World is fun.

Leave a Reply to Gloria Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For spam filtering purposes, please copy the number 1527 to the field below: