The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Open the Curtains!

April 16, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I believe God calls us to regular and serious self-examination, but my experience with this is that serious self-examination can be both difficult and dangerous. It’s very easy for the enemy to turn my thoughts against me. I avoid silence and solitude–just me and our Lord–because of what gets very quickly revealed about me and my soul. I find it easier to pray about others and minister to others and work harder and produce more than to deal with my own stuff. It’s better when I remember that the enemy is a big fat liar. But I do struggle with this.

Introspection and self-reflection is hard. It can be confusing, maybe even chaotic. Are these gifts from God or is it arrogance? Am I passionate or am I a bully? How mixed are my motives? Am I really making any kind of a difference in our church? Is my own level of discipleship to Jesus too inconsistent to be a preacher? Man, I can get twisted up inside myself pretty fast.

Thomas Chalmers, a 19th century Scottish pastor and theologian compared self-examination to walking into and sitting in a dark room. You can’t see what’s inside the room because the room is dark. So how do you see? How do you brighten the room? Not by straining your eyes or looking harder. Not by sitting longer in the dark and taking more time. Not by squinting. Not by concentrating.

You can’t see yourself more clearly just by focusing more intently on yourself.

Chalmers says you must go to the window and open up the curtains! Let the light of Christ, he says, break into the darkness of whatever’s going on in your soul. And Chalmers says the light is the Word of God.

“If we derive no good from the work of self-examination, because we find that all is confusion and mistiness within, then let us go forth upon the truths which are from without, and these will pour a flood of light into all the mazes and intricacies of your soul, and at length will render that work easy, which before was impossible.”

Self-reflection is difficult and dangerous. Don’t attempt it without soaking in the sunshine of God’s Word. Listen to the voice of the Lord. Learn to look more at Christ than at yourself. You’re not changed by focusing on yourself, but by focusing on Jesus.

God knows the very worst about you, and he still loves you. He does not deal with us according to our sins. He promises that if we confess, he will forgive us and cleanse us and transform us. You must be secure in the love of God for you before any self-examination can be confident or fruitful. Know how precious and honored you are in God’s sight, know the glory of who you are in Jesus, know the guaranteed future you have with God in Christ. Remember that God is for you!

Now.

Now you can identify where God is at work in you. Now you can keep going with the assurance that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
Now I can identify where God is at work in me. Now I can keep going with the assurance that he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion.

This post is more about me than you. Let’s both try to be better at this.

Peace,
Allan

4Midland Plus One

April 14, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Two Thursdays ago, almost our entire GCR Church was inside the Methodist church building, worshiping with the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians. Four years ago, almost none of us had ever heard of Maundy Thursday, but now, for many of us, it has become a vital component of our walk with Christ.

Last month, some of our GCR singers teamed up with singers from the other three churches to sing at the funeral of a Midland High School student. His mom requested the combined choir because she and her family are so inspired by our 4Midland partnership.

Now, our four churches have come together to bless a Spanish-speaking congregation just south of downtown Midland.

Temple Penial, a small church with a huge outreach ministry in Mexico and Central America, suffered some terrible vandalism at their building near the Salvation Army. It was a random act of destruction by a young man who lives on the streets and struggles with drug abuse and mental health issues. He’d been charging his phone on the outside of the church building and, when his phone went missing, he took it out on the church. He threw bricks and rocks through 18 large windows on the church property, doing thousands of dollars in damages. Temple Penial does not have building insurance and the cost of repairs is way more than they could afford.

So the 4Midland churches went in together and paid for the whole thing. The windows were all measured and ordered and they were installed at Temple Penial yesterday!

I’m not sure yet how, but we are certainly going to celebrate this together — all five churches! — soon. We know that all five of our congregations are, by God’s grace, working to love and serve our Midland community in the name and manner of Jesus. So maybe God has something even bigger in store for us than just windows. It’s something to pay attention to, something to pray about and carefully discern. Regardless of where this might or might not lead in terms of cooperative ministry here or in Mexico somewhere, what a joy and a privilege from our God to be able to come together as disciples united by our Lord to help bear our brothers’ and sisters’ burden.

I continue to thank God for the blessings of 4Midland.

Peace,
Allan

Stories Along the Way

April 10, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Scattershooting on a Friday morning while wondering whatever happened to Efren Herrera. And then a preview of our new sermon series at GCR Church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If last night’s 5-4 come from behind win over Minnesota is any indication, the first round Stanley Cup Playoff series between Dallas and the Wild will not be for the faint of heart. It wasn’t a physical game; it was violent. Bodies were flying, haymakers were landing, teeth were scattering, and superstar players were getting tossed–at one point early in the third, there were five players in the penalty box at the same time. With home-ice advantage on the line for their already locked-in playoff pairing, it was fast, it was furious, and it was desperate–it may as well have been Game One. Dallas all but clinched the number two playoff seed and the home arena advantage for what might be a Game Seven, but a couple of question marks remain from the thrilling win: how do they stop Minnesota’s lethal power play and how badly injured is Miro Heiskanen?

The Rangers have officially now unveiled their new City Connect uniforms, which feature a darker, richer, almost crimson red, and pay homage to our Mexican roots and culture in the Republic of Texas. I don’t love it. I get the “Tejas” across the front, which is Spanish for Texas, but also goes further back to the O.G. Caddo word for “friend.” And the big block “T” on the cap hearkens back to the 1970s, which is pretty cool. But this whole look feels weird to me. The lace doily on the upper sleeve is strange and the cream-colored pants give the uniform an OU feel. Regardless, it is still a massive upgrade over the Peagle unis we’ve been subjected to the past three or four years. I only hope that monstrosity has been buried for good. The new “Tejas” uniform will debut on Friday April 24, two weeks from today. Meanwhile, the ten-game road trip that starts in LA tonight will tell us a lot about whether the Rangers offense is fixed or not.

Here’s the Easter picture of our two grandsons, Elliott and Samuel, and their parents taken after church in Jenks last Sunday. Clearly, Elliott was not inspired by the resurrection sermon. The boys turned nine months old this week and they are both crawling all over the place, they both have teeth, and they are both becoming very… um… verbal. Loud. Elliott is the instigator and, I’m afraid, Sammy is very easily influenced. They are hilarious, incredible fun, and a lavish gift of grace from our God.

I have failed to report on our family and church March Madness brackets, mainly because I’m embarrassed by my own personal showing. It was a very unpredictable tournament–everybody’s scores were lower than most years–but that’s no excuse. Carley’s husband, Collin, won our family bracket by one point over Whitney, so his winning entry is now prominently featured on the front of our refrigerator for one full year. I finished in a tie with Carrie-Anne behind Whit and Carley. We were all a little Duke and Houston heavy. I’m certain Collin will choose Texas Roadhouse for his celebratory dinner.

On the church side of things, Brenda won our ministry team bracket pretty easily. See what happens, Brenda, when you don’t pick Texas Tech to win it all? I wound up in the middle of the pack, which isn’t that unusual. But I finished behind Cory, who’s never watched a college basketball game in his life! Humiliating! Not only that, Ashlee finished in last place, behind Andrew, who picked Virginia Commonwealth to win the title! One of the most unpredictable tournaments in recent memory, but Brenda had it figured out.

We’re beginning a new sermon series this Sunday at GCR that we’re calling “Stories Along the Way,” featuring eight parables our Lord told while traveling on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem during the final days of his life. The stories are all found in what scholars call the “Travel Narrative,” ten chapters in Luke 9:51 – 19:27, detailed material about this journey that we don’t find anywhere else in the Bible.

Jesus tells these parables while he is on his way to Jerusalem, as he walks along the way to his death. These are the last stories Jesus told and he told them to show us the Kingdom of God.

The way our Lord teaches is not the way we’re used to learning. Jesus doesn’t hand out information as much as he re-shapes our imaginations. He uses metaphors and aphorisms, idioms and exaggerations, informal conversation and common slang. And Jesus spins these stories not to give us something new, but to get us to notice something we’ve overlooked for years. He talks in parables to get us to take seriously something we’ve dismissed for most of our lives.

He tells stories about farmers and judges, wedding banquets and runaway sons, growing trees and building barns. Some of these stories are very familiar and some are completely obscure. Some of these stories already dwell deep inside your heart and soul and some of them have only seared giant question marks in your brain. These stories shape us to live in the way of Jesus while we’re on our own ways from home to work, from breakfast to dinner, from a friend’s house to the grocery store, from Monday to Sunday.

So, pack your bags, strap on your best walking shoes, and bring an open mind. Open eyes and ears. An open heart. We’re following Jesus. And we’re being changed by his stories along the way.

Peace,
Allan

Should We Not Be Concerned?

April 8, 2026 / / 2 Comments

“Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” ~Jonah 4:11

The last line in the short story of Jonah reveals very clearly our God’s heart and his will. The closing question is extended by God to his nationalistic prophet who has expressed in both word and deed that he cares much more about his own comfort and security than he does for the welfare of the people he calls “enemies.” God’s question challenges the way Jonah thinks and acts. And it should shape our attitudes and transform our hearts to be more in line with those of our Lord.

American Christians have always tended to confuse our religion and faith with our country and our patriotism–this is nothing new. Country singer Neal McCoy sang the national anthem at the Texas Rangers home opener Friday, but he started by asking the baseball fans in attendance to recite the Pledge of Allegiance first. And he ended the pledge–“…with liberty and justice for all!“–by saying “Amen!” Like it’s a prayer. Like it’s sacred or holy.

Again, this is not new. Neither is invoking God and faith and religion to justify a government’s acts of terrible violence and war. Constantine did it early in the fourth century and every emperor, king, prime minister, and president before and since has done the same thing. Generals and kings and presidents have always ginned up support for their wars by telling us that God is on our side.

But the conflation of patriotism and faith in the U,S. has accelerated to such a degree over the past 15 years that many Christians today are uncritically supporting a president who uses increasingly profane language to make over-the-top threats of violence and annihilation against an entire civilization in the name of our Savior. The president and his newly designated “Secretary of War” continue to insist daily and sometimes hourly that killing our country’s enemies is God’s holy will. Donald Trump ends a social media post from the White House threatening to rain “all hell” down on Iran with “Glory be to God!” Pete Hegseth asks our God in public prayer to “help every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.” He prays in the name of Jesus for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy” and for enemies of America to be delivered to “the eternal damnation prepared for them.” Then on Easter Sunday, again Monday, and into the afternoon yesterday, in an obscene act of bullying and bluster, in a torrent of vile words and images, the president threatened to completely destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges, to take out their water treatment plants, to bomb Iran “back into the stone ages,” and to end their entire civilization.

“Should I not be concerned?”

Iran has more than ninety-three-million people. Should I not be concerned about that great nation? Iran has almost two-million Christians and, for more than ten years, the world’s fastest-growing Church. Should I not be concerned?

“As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” ~Ezekiel 33:11

The American Empire and the Kingdom of God are not the same thing. The will of the U.S. president and the will of our God are not the same. To endorse the attitude, the words, and the actions coming out of the White House as God’s will toward Iran is to deny our Christ and his Gospel. After all, our Lord died for us (you and me) while we (you and me) were his enemies. Doesn’t supporting this administration’s assertions that indiscriminate violence against the people of Iran is God’s will deny just about everything Scripture teaches us about the nature and will of our Father? Doesn’t refusing to speak out loud against it make one complicit? Just listening to the president speak like this has an effect on us. It shapes us. It forms us.

Christians do not celebrate the death of human beings made in the image of our God and loved by our Father. No matter how ruthless and evil some of those leaders in Iran are, we love our enemies. We pray for our enemies and their families. We do good things for our enemies. We show concern. Should we not be concerned?

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” ~Luke 6:27-28
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” ~Matthew 5;44-45

It is good for followers of Jesus to grieve with and weep for the people of Iran who have been abused, terrorized, tortured, and killed by their government. It is proper to mourn the loss of soldiers and civilians who are trapped in the middle of this terrible conflict. It’s okay to acknowledge God’s sovereign use of nations and armies to enact his justice. It is right to join the faithful lament of the prophets and the groaning of the martyred souls under the altar and cry out to our God, “How long?!? How much longer are you going to allow this to continue?!? When will you finally put all things to right?!?”

This is a time for prayer. Reflection. Meditation. Thanksgiving. Mixed feelings. It is not a time to hate. It is not a time to insult or gloat. It is not a time to defend a world leader bent on killing so many people and destroying so many lives in the name of our God who, even Jonah confesses, is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love.”

For Christians, this is a time to be concerned.

Peace (not as the world gives it),
Allan

 

Christian Ethics Apply Only to Christians

April 2, 2026 / / 0 Comments

For those of us who live in the Basin, our annual 4Midland Maundy Thursday service is at 7:00 this evening at First Methodist Church. Our four churches–GCR CofC, First Baptist, First Methodist, and First Presbyterian–are coming together to remember our Lord’s last supper with his apostles in that upper room. It’s a powerful experience and a great joy to see a nearly 100-member choir made up of singers from all four of our congregations and to see and hear the Scriptures read and re-enacted by folks from all four churches. But it is a somber service. It’s a service that grabs your heart and soul and all of your senses. The sounds of the thirty pieces of silver hitting the plate, the nails being driven into our Savior’s hands and feet, the impending darkness of the whole scene. The betrayal. The sorrow. The grief. The suffering. And the love; oh, the matchless, limitless love!

Over the years, Maundy Thursday has become a very important part of my walk with Jesus. This is one of the ways I follow him. If you live in Midland or anywhere close, I invite you to this powerful assembly this evening. You’ll be so blessed by the experience. Maybe even transformed.

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Why are some Christians trying to force society into conforming to our values and ethics? The Christian life is only for Christians. The Gospel does not make sense outside of Church.

Thou shalt not kill. Blessed are the poor. The last shall be first. Love your enemies. Protect the foreigners. Don’t repay evil with evil. Obeying the teachings of Jesus and living the life of Jesus only makes sense if there’s a strong community of faith to back it up. We do Church and Christianity a great injustice when we say our Christian ethics do make sense in the world. I hear some Christians say that all people, whether they’re believers or not, should affirm and adopt our Christian ethics. Because they make sense. The governments and schools and all rational people should be forced to accept our Christian attitudes and practices and then America will be a better place to live.

No.

Following Jesus does not make sense. It’s not logical or rational outside the community of faith and the social support and habits and vision of God’s Church. The Church is different. The Church does not mirror the world, of course; and we don’t wring our hands and get too worked up over the world. By the grace of God and the power of his Holy Spirit, we live in HIS world–the real world that’s already arrived in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the eternal world that’s coming.

We have to submit ourselves to the revelation and receive Church as the gift it is. The Church is the gift of Christ as he embodies himself in the world, as Jesus calls and restores, as he redeems and re-creates. And it’s so much bigger and wider and deeper and higher than anything we can manipulate or take charge of. We don’t start church or establish church or run church. We enter church and participate in church: the acceptance of a new born-again water and Spirit identity in baptism, the resurrection meal, the reading of and obedience to holy Scripture, prayer, confession and forgiveness, welcoming the stranger and outcast, speaking and working for justice and peace, healing and truth, beauty and redemption.

There are the world’s ways and there are the opposite ways of Christ Jesus. His ways don’t make sense for non-Christians.

Peace,
Allan

Too Much Holy Spirit?

April 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I’m leading off with a couple of pictures from the 25th Annual Horsemen Campout last weekend at Cooper Lake. The festivities began with a massive barbecue lunch on Dan Miller’s back porch: brisket, turkey, sausage, ribs, all the trimmings, and peach cobbler, provided by the legendary Mesquite Barbecue. Perfect. We ate too much, laughed too hard, and almost stayed too long. We concluded the traditional opening ceremonies with a time of intense prayer for our brother, who’s just not physically able to make it to the lake anymore. And he returned the favor over us. Each of us got the “hedge of protection.” And then Dan had to tell us to scram.

The weather Thursday was perfect. The cold front blew in early Friday afternoon, prompting Kevin and I to channel our inner Dan-O and rig up a wind break with a giant tarp and 72 bungee cords. It must have raised the wind chill at our picnic table by ten degrees! We sent Dan the picture. He was proud.

Steak and potatoes for dinner. Breakfast tacos in the mornings. Coffee out of Ol’ Blue. Lots of chips and snacks. A little less hiking than in years past. A few more conversations about our physical health and ailments than I’m comfortable with. Deep discussions into the night about church membership, baptism, parenting and grandparenting, women’s roles, congregational leadership structures, and Wolfgang Van Halen. And more prayer. Lots of prayer. For our families. Our churches and ministries. For Dan and Debbie. For each other.

I thank God for these three great friends. For Dan’s inspiring faithfulness in the middle of the Parkinson’s Disease that is robbing him of his physical abilities, but not his spirit or trust in the Lord. For Kevin’s enduring tenacity and hope, for his faith to always see what’s on the other side and point it out to us. And for Jason’s humor and love, his uncompromising love for the least of these that amazes everybody except the people who know him best.

And I thank God for these weekends that help me re-set my calling and my heart.

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I hear Christians say the funniest things in Bible class. Or in the foyer after church. During a Bible class series on the Holy Spirit, or following a couple of sermons about the Holy Spirit, I’ve heard disciples of Jesus say things like, “You can talk too much about the Holy Spirit.” “You can put too much focus on the Holy Spirit.” “You don’t want to overemphasize the Holy Spirit; that might lead to who knows what.”

Wait.

It won’t lead to “who knows what.” We know exactly what it will lead to. If we’ll pay more attention to the Spirit, if we’ll listen to the Spirit, if we’ll give God’s Holy Spirit total control over our church, we know the result.

“Live by the Spirit… The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” ~Galatians 5:16, 22-23

I don’t know about your church, but my church could use more love and joy and peace. We need more patience in our church, and kindness and goodness. Where I worship and serve, we could use more faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. When the Holy Spirit accomplishes that in the church, it’s so much more powerful than speaking in tongues or healing! When the Holy Spirit produces that kind of fruit in God’s Church, the whole world will know the Kingdom of God is here!

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” ~Galatians 5:25

Peace,
Allan

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