The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Tiberias Surprise!

November 6, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Our second full day in Israel began with a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galilee and a glorious surprise as we boarded the bus for Chorazim and Capernaum: Rhonda found three cans of Dr Pepper at the convenience store across the street from our hotel! Needless to say, she purchased all three and begged the clerk to describe in detail exactly when he expected the next shipment.

We are having a ball here with our celebrity guide, Anton Farah, pausing for handshakes, hugs, and selfies with admirers at every stop. We have surveyed the remains of Megiddo and marveled at the theater in Caesarea; we have seen the ceremonial washing jars at the church in Cana and walked the uneven steps at the synagogue in Chorazim; we have walked the streets of Capernaum and sailed the waters of the Sea of Galilee. We have contemplated the makeup of Jesus’ manger–wood or stone? We have pondered the age of the apostles, wondered about the presence of bacon and sausage at the heavenly feast , and heard a wild Ethiopian legend about Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. And we know more now about barley, wheat, and grapes then we could have ever dreamed.

Oh, and, “Skirt Alert!” Jason had to wear a Franciscan-issued “skirt” to cover up his legs at Capernaum. The Skirt of Shame.

The boat ride that ended our day was spectacular. We put out a couple of miles, right into the middle of the Sea of Galilee, worshiped our God together in song and Word, and reminded each other how our Lord Jesus showed us so much of God’s love and patience and grace on and around those waters. It was a little weird in that the wind was blowing in some dark clouds as we climbed into the boat, and we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. It was stirring our biblical memory in an uneasy way. But the weather cooperated, we were the only ones in our boat, and we all received some needed reminders and some welcome encouragement and assurance from the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

This is by far the smallest group I’ve ever taken to Israel. And we are having a blast. We have the massive tour bus to ourselves, the weather is ideal, and everyone is really bonding well together over these experiences. We’re opening up about our own faith in the Lord and growing together as brothers and sisters in him.

I’m not fully adjusted to the eight-hour time difference yet–not fully. Maybe by this time tomorrow.

Shalom!
Allan

Arrived!

November 4, 2026 / / 0 Comments

We have arrived safely and smoothly, if not a bit beleaguered and bleary-eyed, in Israel for a ten-day tour of the Holy Lands. It’s the smallest, by far, of the five trips I’ve taken here and the four I’ve led–it was understandably difficult getting people to put a deposit down on a trip to the Middle East this year–but what we lose in quantity, we more than make up for in quality. Along with me are three great friends from Midland: Patrice, Jana, and Stacy; six friends of my sister, Rhonda, from Edmond: and–Yes!!–my sister, Rhonda. Honestly, I think I’m most excited to share this Israel experience with Ro. I can’t wait to see everything through her eyes and her expressions and her reflections as she visits these biblical sites for the first time. We sat by each other during our flights and completely annoyed everyone around us with our loud catching up and over-the-top gut laughing.

We sleep fast tonight and hit it hard tomorrow with visits to Caesarea Maritima, Mount Carmel, Megiddo, Nazareth, and Sepphoris. These are full days and we’re going to be exhausted at the end of each one. And, I pray, also refreshed in our relationships with our Lord and one another, renewed in our knowledge and experience of all we have from our gracious God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and resolved to follow him and his ways closely until he returns.

Shalom!
Allan

The Dream of Community

October 29, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I’m skimming through my dog-eared and marked-up copy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together in preparation for a short series on church life we’re going to preach at GCR in January. And I’m convicted and challenged all over again by Bonhoeffer’s critique of those who love the idea of Christian community more than they love Christian community.

“He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” 

We should be pursuing the ideals of Christian community. We should think about and talk about and plan for a community in which everyone worships and serves and lives together in the name and manner of our Lord Jesus. But I can’t love that more than I love the actual community in which God has placed me. I can’t love the pursuit of the community more than I love the community itself. I can’t love preaching about the community more than I love the people I am in community with. I can’t love the dream more than I love the messy men and women right here in front of me.

I know Bonhoeffer has the pastor or the church leader in mind when he writes this. He’s talking about preachers who insist on their own way because they know better what the perfect church looks like.

“He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dreams bind people together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.” 

Yes, this is for the preacher. I stand convicted today–again–for the many ways I fall short of Bonhoeffer’s challenge. But this is for all of us. This is for everyone who complains about their church, who gripes about the perceived problems in their church, who fumes over the shortcomings of the people in their church. We all enter the fellowship of our congregations, not as demanders or consumers, but as thankful recipients of God’s gifts. We thank God for placing us with a group of people who all live by his call, by his forgiveness, by his promise. Together. We don’t complain about what God does not give us; we thank God for what he gives us every day. And we realize that embracing the broken people right in front of us in our church leads us more quickly, deeply, and richly into the transformation and spiritual formation for which our God desires.

Peace,
Allan

Turning 60

October 28, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Turning 60 used to be something old people did. Now, evidently, it’s something really cool people do.

So says one of the dozens of birthday cards that adorned my desk this morning. So many cards! From so many wonderful friends and Christian brothers and sisters in our church at GCR! What an overwhelming surprise! All the cards are really sweet, some of the cards are really funny, and several of them contained Whataburger gift cards–I think I’ve got enough in Whataburger gift cards to eat until I’m 70! Here are a couple of the funnier lines in the cards on my desk today:

~ If you were to take all the 60-year-olds in the world, and lay them end to end…
very few of them would be able to get back up. 

~ If ever there was a time to laugh and celebrate and dance the night away…
it was about 10 or 15 years ago. 

~ It’s the little things that remind us we’re getting older, like how young people have a hard time reading cursive…
but you don’t. 

~ And God said, “Let there be light.” Then, lo and behold…
there was your birthday cake!

 

 

 

 

I was also greeted by a few dozen Dr Pepper and Whataburger themed birthday cards from the kids in our GCR children’s ministry. These cards are everywhere–on my desk, behind me on the credenza, on my book shelves. A couple of them poked fun at my age–Margo and Lucy, I see you. My favorite is from Priscilla who wrote on the inside of her card, “Happy Birthday, Allan. With Gusto!” She’s alluding to the instructions I give our church every time we do a responsive Bible reading together–she’s listening! (as a reminder: you can always click on any picture to blow it up bigger.)

I’m still not sure who designed and hung the banner that’s on my wall this morning. Clever. How long am I supposed to leave this thing up?

Then, there’s this new picture of our awesome GCR youth group on my desk, all doing that heart-shape-thing with their hands. I assume they took the picture last Wednesday night. Super cool. I love those guys.

The Big 6-0 Birthday-Palooza started Friday afternoon when Valerie and Carley showed up unannounced in my backyard, each holding a twin grandson. They and Whitney and Carrie-Anne threw a big bash for me on Saturday, with some of our best friends from here in Midland and all the way from Amarillo! It was a Dr Pepper themed party with Dr Pepper t-shirts, Dr Pepper balloons and banners, Dr Pepper cake, and Dr Pepper presents. And the date was serendipitously perfect: October 24. 10-2-4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob and Judy Judkins stole the show in their Dr Pepper costumes. Lori Thomas gifted me with a box of Depends. And Valerie put a slide show on a loop in the living room that featured all of my life’s most awkward phases. The bowl haircuts. The teeth. The clothes. The feathered wings and braces of my senior year in high school. Yikes. It felt like the funeral slide show starter kit. They’re not throwing this away. They’re saving it. They’re putting it in a funeral folder. When I die, they’re going to tell the funeral home they’ve already got the slide show ready. A few of the pictures were so bad that people started waiting for them to come around again. “It’s coming. Two more slides. Here it is!” I think my sister, Rhonda, provided the most embarrassing of the pictures. Very helpful.

It wasn’t until everyone left that we opened up the cards and discovered Judy’s masterpiece. The front of the card is a gem–this is going to be framed and displayed prominently in our game room before the week is over. But the real work of art was inside where Judy included a personal poem she wrote just for the occasion of my 60th birthday. It’s about me as an embryo and developing fetus inside my mother’s womb, experiencing Dr Pepper for the very first time, when my mom popped open a can to wash down her lunch. The language is graphic. And hilarious. I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to publicly post the rhymes that describe “the party inside my mother’s uterus.” But we laughed out loud around the kitchen table Saturday night and passed it around and laughed some more.

Today, I am acutely aware of the hundreds of really good people our gracious Lord has placed in my life to love me, to encourage me, to teach me, to challenge me, and to walk with me. I am thankful for my family, for this GCR Church, and for the friends who have blessed me by sharing their lives with me for big chunks of 60 years now. I thank God. And I thank you.

Now, I’m off to read Dog-Man to four knuckleheaded 5th graders at Emerson Elementary. Those of you wishing me a good day today, it’s a really good day.

Peace,
Allan

Politicians and Biblical Authority

October 27, 2026 / / 0 Comments

James Talarico is in Midland today, quoting Scripture as his supporters wave signs that say “Love Thy Neighbor.” The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate is stumping in West Texas in the home stretch of what appears to be a super-tight race. Talarico is an intriguing figure who stands out in stark contrast to almost every other politician in our broken political system and our polarized culture. It’s compelling to hear a powerful politician quote the Bible so effortlessly, so knowledgeably. It’s attractive to us Christians to hear a politician talk about loving all people because they are created in the image of God, standing up for the marginalized in the name and manner of our Lord Jesus, breaking down barriers to bring people together in community, and “flipping tables” against the rampant corruption of our broken system.

But he is misusing the Bible. And Christians should call him out.

Talarico says he is David, Ken Paxton and Elon Musk are Goliath, and he wants Midland to be his slingshot. That’s fine. I get it. It’s okay to use biblical stories to illustrate earthly points. It adds to the overall biblical literacy in our society, and we can use all the help there we can get. It’s fine and good to seek out Scripture for Christian principles and ethics to guide policy points and political decisions. Quoting Scripture in analogies and allegories is fine.

But Talarico uses Scripture as his authority for specific policy positions. He uses the Bible to validate his party’s platform. He says he’s fighting for universal health care “on biblical grounds” because Jesus never asked for a deductible when he healed the sick. When Jesus fed the hungry, he didn’t price gouge to turn a profit, so he’s pushing for price controls “on biblical grounds.”

Wait. Different Christians can study the same Bible stories and come to different policy conclusions. All Christians can agree to love all people, stand up for the marginalized, and work for unity, and come up with very different ways of doing it. You don’t have biblical authority just because you’re quoting Scripture.

Talarico keeps saying that the Bible is silent on abortion. I believe the Bible spells out very clearly many eternal principles that should inform abortion policies. He downplays the issue because, the way he tells it, if the Scriptures don’t address it, we shouldn’t divide over it. Well, the Bible is silent on health care deductibles and price controls, too; yet he constantly and unapologetically makes that leap. But he won’t allow that same move for abortion. That’s a misuse of Scripture.

Pete Hegseth does the same thing. He quotes Isaiah 6, “Here I am, send me,” in reference to making war. Donald Trump ends a social media post calling for war and the destruction of an entire civilization with “Glory to God!” Quoting Scripture does not give you biblical authority.

I’m afraid Talarico is borrowing from Trump’s playbook, using Scripture and biblical language to unify Christians into a predictable and profitable voting bloc. The Republicans have done that to great political success for a platform that increasingly excludes the poor and the marginalized, and harms the minority and the immigrant. Talarico is using the same tactics, appealing to Christians as a voting bloc, to promote a platform that pushes gay marriage and abortion. Single issue voters have seen where that got the Pro-Life movement. Anti-abortion Christians elected Trump, and now there are more abortions performed in the U.S. than before he became President. You need a microscope to even find Pro-Life language today in the Republican platform.

Christians are not a voting bloc and quoting Scripture does not give a politician biblical authority.

Politicians get away with abusing Scripture because we rarely call them out or, worse, cheer them on. And we don’t have any prophetic voice in our culture if we call out one side for abusing Scripture but not the other. In that case, we have a faith formed by party partisanship instead of political views formed by our faith.

Peace,
Allan

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