The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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All In On the Stars

October 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Dexter Clinkscale…

If you’re the Cowboys and you’re trading for a starting cornerback, what better way to insure that your new player will fit in with your secondary than  if that player is already out with an injury? Jerry Wayne sent two draft picks to the Steelers last night for Joey Porter, Jr. He has three total interceptions in his three years in the NFL. He hasn’t played a down this year because of a nagging back injury and will not suit up against the Texans this Sunday. I’m not sure how this helps Christian Davis.

The Houston Texans are 0-3 and their quarterback, C.J. Stroud, looks absolutely lost. Good thing they’re hosting Dallas this Sunday. If there’s one thing the Cowboys defense can do, it’s make mediocre quarterbacks look like Joe Montana. Remember Russell Wilson throwing for 450 yards and three touchdowns against Dallas last year, a couple of weeks before the Giants cut him? Remember J.J. McCarthy lighting up the Cowboys for 250 yards and two scores? The Vikings demoted him to third string and then traded him to New York. Jordan Love aired it out for 337 yards and three TDS and Caleb Williams totaled 298 yards and four touchdowns in wins for the Packers and Bears. I’ll also mention Bryce Young’s three touchdown passes and Bo Nix’s four touchdown tosses to beat Dallas last year. And I’ll point to Jaxson Dart’s three touchdown passes against the Cowboys on opening night this year. Receivers are running wide open and wild through the Dallas secondary again. I’m thinking Stroud has a career game this Sunday. And then gets traded to Carolina in November.

I have no confidence in Arch Manning. None. He is still paralyzed in the pocket and looks like he’s never seen a zone defense before. Texas has plenty of weapons on offense but, because of their quarterback, they’re struggling to score 20 points. Manning holds the ball way too long, locks on receivers way too early, misses wide open targets, and takes unnecessary sacks. The Longhorns have a potential national championship caliber defense that should keep them close in every game, and Arch should get a little better as the season moves forward. But it’s hard to imagine him leading the ‘Horns to a title.

It came down to the Rangers and Astros. One of the two teams was going to be the first in Major League Baseball history to qualify for the playoffs with a losing record. It seems like that distinction would fit the Rangers’ history and narrative better than Houston’s, but the Astros were able to win their last regular season series and the Rangers couldn’t. Yikes. The Rangers have finished with a non-winning record in nine of the past ten seasons, the exception being their World Series Championship year of 2023. It’s more than obvious now that the 2023 Rangers, to a man, had career years they haven’t been able to match since. Their runs per game average was lower this year than it was last year! It’s time to blow this whole thing up. Past time. This isn’t working. I would keep Nimmo, Wyatt, Jung, Zeke, and Latz. That’s it. Everybody else is on the table. It will be difficult to move some of the pieces–no-trade clauses and bloated contracts are a barrier. But I’m guessing Chris Young is on the phone right now doing everything he can to remake this thing. Give Skip a break, man. Bless his heart.

I’m nauseated by the television networks and streaming platforms promoting their NBA games with footage and pics of Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson. Luka is the NBA’s scoring leader from last year and Brunson is the Finals MVP for the champion Knicks. They were both Dallas Mavericks. Together.

The puck finally drops on the Stars season tomorrow night against St Louis! Yes!! The one dependable, consistent sports entity in my life that never fails to thrill me with joy and hope and breathless expectation. This is the year, right? It has to be! If Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are both healthy, then everybody’s healthy! And rested! And hungry! This is certainly Benn’s and Seguin’s last chance to win the elusive Stanley Cup. Why not? Robo is playing for another contract. Mikko is motivated after last year’s postseason disappearing act. Wyatt is faster and stronger. Otter’s as good as there is in the NHL. This is it! I can’t wait for all the poke checks, trapezoids, face washings, five-holes, top shelfs, flying Chiclets, drop passes, hat tricks, power plays, slap shots, one-timers, biscuits in the basket, Razor Reaugh’s linguistic largesse, and grinders and goons getting chippy and chapped in a jam-packed barn!

Go Stars.
Allan

HE PASSED!

September 10, 2026 / / 0 Comments

OUR SON-IN-LAW PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!! OUR SON-IN-LAW PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!
WHEW!!!
HE PASSED!!!

Congratulations to David for this official recognition and validation of his hard work and for the immediate and substantial salary increase with the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office. Hooray! Now they can afford those twins!

David was notified of his success at 12-noon today and I was on the phone with them at 12:20. I told David that he had now increased his standing as my favorite son-in-law. David asked, “Even though I’m a Sooners fan?” I reminded him that he and Collin are both OU fans so “y’all started out tied in last place.” David inched ahead of Collin last summer with the glorious gift of our grandsons. But today’s bar exam success, coupled with Collin’s job moving Carley to Phoenix last month, puts David solidly at the top of the rankings. I think maybe an all-access pass to Rangers Spring Training in Surprise, complete with lodging and restaurant recommendations, would really help Collin’s case.

Speaking of Collin and the Bear, Happy Birthday today to Carley. I’m sorry that David has stolen her thunder. She and Collin are headed to San Diego in the morning for a combination work/birthday trip. They’re driving. Not flying. San Diego is only five hours from Phoenix. That’s a benefit of moving to Arizona I can understand.

The Purpose of Marriage

September 8, 2026 / / 0 Comments

This picture is almost 37-years-old. Two pretty good lookin’ kids. Very much in love. Clueless. Inexperienced. Naive. But very much in love.

The Bible addresses the purpose of marriage at the end of Ephesians 5. We should love our spouses the same way Jesus loves his Church, we should imitate the humility of that love and the sacrifice and service of that love in our marriages. But we should also practice the goal of that love, the whole point of the mutual sacrifice and service. Why did Jesus love us and give himself up for us?

“…Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” ~ Ephesians 5:25-27

Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us in order to change us! To cleanse us! To remove all our stains and flaws and sins and blemishes in order to make us holy and glorious and blameless!

Everything that God is doing in our lives through Christ and the Holy Spirit is geared toward changing us. Transformation. Sanctification. That’s our salvation, that’s the goal. That’s the purpose of Jesus’ marriage to his bride, the Church. And the Bible says that’s the purpose of your marriage to your spouse: to commit to each other, to serve and sacrifice for each other, to help each other become more and more like Jesus.

I was honored Friday night to officiate the wedding of Jimmy and Logan, a great young couple in our church at GCR. They got married in the beautiful Cypress Creek Church in Wimberley, where Logan was baptized. When I do weddings today, I look at the bride and groom standing in front of me–all dressed up, so young, so beautiful, so put together–and I’m tempted to say, “Man, y’all look great, but it’s all downhill from here. You’ll never ever look as good as you do right now.”

But that’s not true. Not if you and your spouse are both committed to the transforming work God is doing with both of you in your marriage. If you can see your husband the way God sees him, if you can see in your wife what God sees in her, and if you can both work by his grace toward that goal together, you will become more beautiful day by day with an ever-increasing glory that comes from the Lord.

Carrie-Anne and I took this picture Friday at Jimmy and Logan’s wedding. We’re a little wrinkled. We’re both gray. Our skin is not as tight. We’re not quite as sleek as we were 37 years ago. The world looks at us, both in our late 50s, and sees us declining. The world says we are becoming less and less every day in several important ways. But that’s not true. Carrie-Anne and I are trying to see each other becoming more and more beautiful in Christ. We’re trying to cleanse each other and wash and clothe each other, we’re trying to see what God sees, we’re trying to join him in his transforming work.

Someday, we’ll see it clearly, this glory that will be revealed in us.

What we should say on our wedding day is, “As great as you look today, someday we’re going to stand together in the presence of God and you’re going to be so eternally perfect. And I promise to work with God for you as he makes that happen.”

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Carrie-Anne headed straight for Tulsa super early Saturday morning to get some time with the boys. She took them a couple of Texas flag sippy cups that we bought on the square in Wimberley, and they took to them pretty fast. You can’t be too diligent when your grandsons live in Oklahoma.

Peace,
Allan

The Space for Love to Grow

August 31, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I spent parts of three days with Val and Dave and the twins this past weekend and it was beyond a blast. Sammy is still content to crawl around on the floor while Elliott walks laps all over the house. But Sam’s got a new dance move, an impressive shoulder-shimmy he does on command, that is stealing Elliott’s thunder right now. They’re both big enough now to ride on my shoulders while we walk around downtown Tulsa, which is really cool. And they both love to wrestle with me on the couch, they love getting slammed into throw pillows and smashed into couch cushions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday at GCR we preached the second sermon in our “Marriage Matters” series: “The Essence of Marriage.” Here’s the video that introduced the sermon, featuring our very own Brat Pack of GCR’s celebrity brides and grooms. The music bed at the very beginning is super loud, but after those first ten seconds, you’ll need to really crank up the volume.

The essence of marriage is the wedding vow, the eternal promise, the legal oath—the thing that makes our marriages covenant relationships and not consumer relationships. And that’s the thing that creates the space for love to truly grow.

When you’re dating or “living together,” you have to constantly be “on.” You have to prove every day that you’re worth it. You have to always impress and entice. You have to prove that the chemistry’s there. Again. You have to prove that the relationship is fun and fulfilling. Again. Or it might be over. When you’re dating or “living together” you’re still in a consumer relationship. You’re having to constantly promote and market yourself.

The legal bond of marriage, however, creates a safe space of security and unconditional love and acceptance so we can relax and open up and finally reveal our true selves.

When the vows are made, we can be vulnerable, we don’t have to pretend anymore. We don’t have to keep selling ourselves. We can lay our defenses down and be completely naked, physically and in every other way.

If love between a husband and wife is going to be everything God wants it to be, you have to have that vow. It’s the only way true love can really grow.

I’m not going anywhere. Relax. It’s you and me. Forever. I promise.

That’s the way Jesus loves you. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I’m not going anywhere. Relax. It’s you and me. Forever. I promise.

The wedding vow guarantees that we’re safe together. We can be ourselves with each other and neither one of us has to worry about whether we’re loved and accepted. We are! We got married! We signed government documents! We made vows to each other and to God in front of his holy witnesses!

We can be our true selves with each other and grow together honestly and authentically. The vows give us that space.

Peace,
Allan

The Video

August 24, 2026 / / 0 Comments

What a great start yesterday to our “Marriage Matters” series at GCR! We had great attendance, an uplifting song service, an inspiring time together around our Lord’s table, a beautiful moment of prayer for our marriages by one of our shepherds, and a brilliantly crafted and executed sermon.

But all anybody wants to talk about is the video!

Yes, the video. From Eddie’s speeding ticket to the Kincaides’ cabin and Bill’s toilet seat, the video featuring our own married couples was quite the hit. Our thanks to Bill & Deannie, Rob & Linda, Eddie & Carol, Herman & Patti, Chuck & Bonnie, and Alan & Dianne for their (mostly) willing participation. And our plea for their forgiveness for the five other videos that are in the works.

In case you missed it yesterday or in case you want to be mesmerized all over again by Chuck’s facial expressions, here it is:

The series continues this coming Sunday with “The Essence of Marriage.” And, yes, another video.

Peace,
Allan

We Are Viral

August 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

 

Whitney and I were about twelve rows up from the on deck circle at Globe Life Field as we watched Jacob deGrom become the second fastest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to 2,000 career strikeouts. And, if you are a Rangers fan or even a casual sports fan, you’ve probably watched us watching that historic moment.

The Rangers Sports Network cameras caught us standing and applauding deGrom and, evidently, those three seconds were attached to the highlights shown by every sportscast in the country for the past 24 hours. I began receiving texts and screenshots from friends from Amarillo and Arkansas before the first inning had even concluded–friends who saw us live when it happened–and they have continued all day today. Click on that link below for the video:

deGrom2KStrikeout

I have a two-fold theory as to why Whitney and I were highlighted by the Rangers Sports Network. One, we had excellent seats, way down front, very close to the action and the cameras. The seats were affordable because it was the Nationals and it was a Thursday. Two, I think we were the only ones in our section who were paying attention. Not everyone around us realized deGrom was just two strikeouts short of the milestone, and he accomplished it by striking out the first two batters of the game. Most folks weren’t even in their seats yet when it happened. So, I think we might have been the first ones in that area of the stadium to stand and clap.


 

 

 

 

Our mugs have shown up on all the official recaps, tweets, posts, and videos by the Rangers, MLB, ESPN, Fox Sports,  NBC, and something called Sports Today. I’m getting texts about it from family and friends and friends of family. It’s been a weird little thing that’s happened, completely out of our control.

This is more authorized picture of us enjoying the closing moments of what was a riveting game. deGrom went six innings, struck out ten, and allowed only one base hit in the 2-0 win. Seager went deep in the third and Nicky Lopez added the cushion with a sac fly in the eighth, refusing to leave Zeke Duran stranded at third base for what would have been the fourth time. We also watched the out of town scoreboard with great delight as the Angels humiliated the Astros down in Houston 18-2. I hope L.A. got it out of their system; I hope they’re completely worn out from running around the bases all night and won’t have anything left for tonight’s weekend series opener in Arlington. Whitney and I making tonight’s game, too. But our seats will be a little farther up.

Just remember as you’re viewing these screenshots from last night, the camera adds about ten pounds. It looks like I had about three cameras on me.

Peace,
Allan

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