The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Happy Birthday, Whitney!

February 17, 2010 / / 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.

Whit loves her ‘HornsSince 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.

With Mavs Man    Blue Eyes    A long time ago in Abilene  

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.

The Big One    Hoops    New Specs

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.

At Rangers    At Cowboys    At Aerosmith 

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. Seven Years Old

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

Created For Community

February 16, 2010 / / 1 Comment

There’s an old story about D. L. Moody visiting a businessman in Chicago when the topic of church membership and involvement came up. This man told Moody, “I can be just as good a Christian outside the church as inside it. I don’t have to be involved in church in order to be right with God.”

Moody reportedly said nothing. He just calmly walked over to the fireplace, removed one red-hot burning coal from inside the fire and placed it on the hearth. Community

The two men sat together and watched the ember die out.

“I see,” the other man said.

None of us were ever intended to do any of this alone. We were created to be together. We desperately need each other. I need you. And whether you admit it or not — or like it or not — you need me. You need me to love you. I need you to encourage me. You need me to challenge you. I need you to correct me. I need your strength when I’m tired. You need my support when you’re down. I need your patience when I have none. You need my joy when you have none. We all need to remind one another about the story and our parts in it. We need to be able to look around and see clearly that we’re not in this thing by ourselves. We’re together.

I’m convinced that’s why Christ gave us his Supper in bread and wine. You can’t do it without being within arm’s reach of each other. You don’t email the crackers or download the juice. It’s not a drive-thru thing. We have to sit by each other and touch each other to make it happen.

We were created for holy community. To bear one another’s burdens. To rejoice together and mourn together.

Communion. Community. A big, burning fire. Countless coals feeding off one another’s energy and light and warmth.

Jump right into the middle of it. It beats doing this thing alone.

Peace,

Allan

White, Green, and Bright Pink

February 15, 2010 / / 2 Comments

Thursday NightI’ve been alive for a little over 43 years. And not once, ever, never has it even occurred to me that it might be a potential possibility — ever! — that I might have to shovel snow. I’ve never even entertained it as a possibility. Never! But there I was Friday morning: an inclined driveway covered with nearly a foot of snow, one car in the garage, and one truck stuck. I just stared at the mess. What in the world am I going to do? And I looked three doors down and saw my neighbor shoveling his driveway.

The backs of my legs are still sore.

Angels   Carley & Dad   Snowman #2

We measured anywhere from nine inches to eleven-and-a-half inches in various places around our yard Friday. So beautiful. So crazy. The biggest single snowfall in DFW history. It started at about 3:00am Thursday morning and didn’t stop until a little over 24 hours later. The girls and I built three snowmen, made six snow angels, threw 300 snowballs, and soaked through twelve total pairs of jeans.

Friday Morning  Poolside  House

And, true to form, most of it had completely melted by Sunday morning. Snowman #3

What an amazing couple of days, though, it was. So beautiful. So crazy. So unexpected. So thoroughly enjoyed by all of us. Thank God for his gracious and unforeseen blessings. Thank God for these marvelous displays of his power and love. And give him praise for the opportunities to bask in those blessings through the eyes and the energy and the joy of our children.

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Bizarro Aaron Green

School district websites were busy Thursday morning as most every parent of a school-aged child was checking to see if classes were going to be disrupted by the weather. It so happens that, at the time, the Hurst-Euless-Bedford I.S.D.’s website was featuring a front-page story about an elementary school fundraiser at an area McDonald’s a couple of weeks earlier. C-A and the girls and I had gone to that MickeyD’s that night to support (rag) Cori Brown. And I wound up in the background of the picture on the school’s website. Lots of Legacy folks emailed me that morning, commenting on the picture with their own personal brand of humor.

The funniest comment though came from Jason Wolfe who observed that the employee actually featured in the photo looks like the bizarro Aaron Green.

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 Then

Here’s a picture that’s been floating around various Facebook pages recently. (I don’t do Facebook; I’m going to be the very last person in this country to join Facebook.) See if you can pick out Carrie-Anne and Shanna (Corley) Byrnes. They’re standing right next to each other in this 20-year-old photo, wearing almost the exact same dress. They were both at Oklahoma Christian at the same time. Same club. Even dated the same guy. Now we’re co-leading a Small Group Nowtogether here at Legacy. Cooking together. Praying together. Raising kids together.

Thank God for family and friends, for holy relationships that encourage and build-up, for Christian love that supports and sustains.

And for giving us all the ability to enjoy life and laugh.

Peace,

Allan

Expectation #6

February 13, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Every Family, Every Member, Everybody in God’s Service!“…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” ~Ephesians 4:12-13

Paul makes it very plain in the middle of Ephesians 4 that each of God’s people is to be actively working in service to God and the Body of Christ. If everyone who confesses “Jesus is Lord” is gifted by the Holy Spirit, then every Christian should be using those gifts in selfless service to Christ and his Church.

I think, like Paul, that all works of service, when done in submission to the Savior, are equal. There are no greater gifts and lesser gifts. There are no important works and unimportant works. No act of service is bigger than another. They are all coordinated by God for the benefit of the Church. And I believe that if even one member of Legacy (or your church) is not actively involved in some area of Christian service, we/you are not operating at full strength.

Scripture says these works of service build the Body up, bless us with unity and knowledge, and grow us into mature disciples. It’s this selfless and sacrificial service that is the difference between spiritual infancy and maturity, between being tossed about and being held together, between deception and truth, between things of human origin and things of Christ.

The Church should work harder to equip the saints by giving them more and more opportunities to serve. We should empower all Christians by not throwing wet blankets on their ideas and projects. And we should better educate all disciples of Christ until we all fully understand that our individual talents and abilities and passions, when given over to Christ Jesus and his will and used to his eternal glory, are our spiritual gifts. And they all serve a vital purpose in God’s Kingdom.

Peace,

Allan

Pat Collins on a Jackhammer

February 11, 2010 / / 2 Comments

Legacy’s PinesWe woke up this morning under an incredible blanket of the prettiest snow we’ve seen around here in a long time. Not like the Christmas Eve snow when it was blowing sideways at 50 miles per hour. These are big, fat, fluffy, wet, sticky flakes falling peacefully to earth. The scene here at Legacy today is beautiful. And the mood is playful. Snow like this always seems to put everybody in a great mood. Bonny and Suzanne actually brought snowballs into the building to peg me in the hallway. That was after I had hidden Bonny’s breakfast in her office. Lance is taking tons of pictures. Jason is talking about building a huge snowman out on Mid-Cities Boulevard. The kids down at Circle of Friends seem to have a little more energy and are making a little more noise than normal. And I’m not sure if anybody’s going to get much work done today.

   Legacy Entrance   Legacy Trees   Legacy Back Porch  

As always, click on the pictures to get the full size. We already have over four inches on the ground here in North Richland Hills. And it’s supposed to keep snowing all day and into the night. I think there will be at least one snowman in our front yard by nightfall. I love the snow. And I love what it does to people here. Praise God for the beauty of his creation and the grace in his blessings.

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…to prepare God’s people for works of serviceWhy perform works of service? Why selflessly give to others? Why spend time and energy helping other people? Paul gives us very specific answers: “…so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).

David Hirsch widening the bathroom  Wayne Steele laying tile  Paul Brightwell on sheetrock  

Steve Prescott has been suffering with foot and leg and hip problems since long before we arrived here at Legacy. It’s a bone deterioration problem that I don’t fully understand. And neither do his doctors. Steve had one foot amputated almost a year ago. And now, on the heels of another injury and similiar concerns about deterioration in his other foot, he’s in a wheelchair, using a walker, and wearing a bulky protective boot. To make Steve and Pat’s long story short, their home in Watauga just isn’t wheelchair or walker or bulky boot friendly. Narrow doorways. Cramped bathrooms. Wall-to-wall carpet. And not enough time or money or energy to fix things the way they need to be.

 This is what George looks like when he’s teaching class, too.  Bob Justice uses his “good” shoulder to hold the flashlight  Chris Roof was allowed in the house to provide comic relief  

That’s where their circle of brothers and sisters here at Legacy has just absolutely taken over. The money has poured in from several Bible classes. Volunteers have been working for the past two weeks on ripping out carpet and toilets and door frames and making things smoother and wider for Steve. New tile. New facilities. New doors. New paint. New wiring.

There’s a great difference between doing church and being church. This, my friends, is being church. Being church to one another. Showing the Prescotts’ neighbors what being church looks like. Expressing Christian love and concern for one another. Sharing resources and strength. Coming together in the name of our Savior to rescue this family.

I know Steve and Pat are blown away. So am I. I’m so grateful to be a part of this body of believers. I’m so thankful to belong to this loving and sacrificial group. They understand that this is the very thing that fosters and proves Christian maturity. This is the kind of thing that reflects real knowledge. This is what it looks like to attain “to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

I also know the real reason you read down this far was to see a picture of Pat Collins on a jackhammer. Well, I don’t want to disappoint.  Pat Collins on a jackhammer!

I’ve read something just this week that fits well here. I can’t remember if it was Eugene Peterson or Marva Dawn or Josh Graves. It was one of those three. (I’ve got to stop reading three books at a time!) He or she said the essence of a thing is in its doing. Not knowing. Not believing.

Doing.

Peace,

Allan

Fertilize Somebody

February 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Incarnational Church“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” ~John 1:14

Eugene Peterson translates this well-known verse as “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.”

What does it mean for the Holy Son of God to become flesh and live with us? What does it mean for God himself to walk our streets, to eat our food, to breathe our air, to hug our kids, so suffer and die for us — suffer and die with us?

It means everything! The Incarnation of God means everything in that it shows the lengths he goes to redeem us and provide for us what we cannot provide ourselves. It means everything in that he was not content to save us from his throne in heaven. Our Father came here, where we are, to experience everything we experience. He brought heaven down to us.

And we’re commissioned by our baptisms into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus to do the same thing. We walk the streets with our neighbors. We share meals with the homeless. We breathe the air in the government housing apartments. We hug the kids at Fortress and Walker Creek Elementary. We suffer with those in the hospitals. And we die everyday for and with the orphan, the widow, and the stranger in the gate.

Luis Palau says the Church is like manure: Pile it up together and it stinks up the neighborhood; spread it out and it enriches the world.

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Jenny BizJenny Bizaillion is doing so much better today. She’s down to just one blood pressure medicine now and her numbers are doing OK. Her breathing is better. Her color is better. In fact, they are actually going to take her off the ventilator at 8:00 tomorrow morning. They’re going to wake her up. The doctors have told David and Rick and Beverly that they really can’t explain Jenny’s improvement over the past 48 hours but whatever the family’s doing, keep it up.

The family. That’s all of us. You, too. And we’re not doing anything. Our God is doing it all. Give him praise for Jenny’s improved health. And keep praying that our merciful Father will fully restore her with strength and healing.

“Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies [flu, pneumonia, disease, fear, death] cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name.’
Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in [Jenny’s] behalf.”
~Psalm 66:3-5

Peace,

Allan

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