Author: Allan (Page 476 of 493)

Whitney Update

October 17, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

The tests at UT Medical Center in Dallas only took about an hour and a half. It seemed like the same kinds of tests Whitney’s already done. But they also took a couple of vials of blood for some other testing. An MRI is being scheduled for either Friday or Monday. And we’re set to meet with doctors one week from tomorrow, Thursday the 25th, to go over all the results. So it’ll be at least one more round of tests — hopefully only the MRI — and maybe several days before we know anything at all about Whitney’s swollen optic nerves.

The neuro-opthamologist did tell Carrie-Anne today that Whitney’s eyes, her actual eyeballs, appear to be normal and healthy. So that’s pretty good news.

Whitney appears to be in her normal good spirits, as well. Please, keep our oldest daughter in your prayers. And I’ll keep you updated here.

May our God bless us and all our kids.

Allan

THE Call to Discipleship

October 17, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

As disciples of the Christ, what we want to know — what we need to know — is not what this or that man wants us to do or what this or that church wants us to do. What we want and need to know is what Jesus wants of us. When we assemble as followers of Jesus and listen to a sermon, we want to hear the Word of Christ; his Word, not man’s.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in the introduction to his The Cost of Discipleship:

“The real trouble is that the pure Word of Jesus has been overlaid with so much human ballast — burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations — that it has become extremely difficult to make a genuine decision for Christ. Of course it is our aim to preach Christ and Christ alone, but when all is said and done, it is not the fault of our critics that they find our preaching so hard to understand, so overburdened with ideas and expressions which are hopelessly out of touch.”

I’m teaching a Wednesday night class, beginning this evening, on the Sermon on the Mount as recorded by Matthew in Matthew 5-7. It’s so rich and it’s so deep. It’s so broad and huge and meaningful and life-changing. And it’s so simple. And it’s so demanding. And it’s straight from the mouth of our Lord and Savior.

And it’s not some list of unattainable high ideals that are neat to talk about and hope for but ultimately impossible to achieve while we live in this world. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ call to discipleship to him. The Sermon on the Mount, when internalized and taken for what it is, the teachings of our King, transforms us into his image.

Again from Bonhoeffer:

“When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ. But does this mean that we ignore the seriousness of his commands? Far from it. We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when his command, his call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety.

The command of Jesus is hard — unutterably hard — for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light.”

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***Legacy Construction Update***

Sparks are flying! Here are some pictures of all the welders and welding today at the Youth and Benevolence Center here at Legacy.

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At 12:30 today our oldest daughter, Whitney, will see a neuro-opthamologist in Dallas regarding her swollen optic nerves. They’ve promised three or four hours of tests. And then, who knows what?

I know Lance and Keith and Tonia and the entire Legacy Junior High Youth Group lifted her up in prayer at last night’s Bible study. Our brothers and sisters here at Legacy are also praying. I know so many of our dear friends in Marble Falls are lifting her up to our Father. And all of our family and friends from Austin to Fresno and everywhere in between are doing the same. Thank you. Thank you for all the prayers and cards and kind thoughts. It means a lot to Whitney and it means the world to us.

Cynthia, thank you for the comment you left this morning. And for the passage of Scripture that speaks so perfectly to us today. “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” Psalm 68:19.

Peace,

Allan

The Anti-Christ Church

October 16, 2007 / Allan / 6 Comments

The title of today’s post is taken from Eugene Peterson’s The Jesus Way.

We had another of our wonderful Small Groups Planning Committee Meetings last night, a beautiful blend of young and old, men and women, the practical and the creative, thinkers and doers, all committed to helping our Legacy church family become more closely connected with each other and our God. At one point our discussions last night turned to the Lord’s Supper. Communion. The Eucharist. The purpose of that fellowship meal. How it works. And the power of sharing that meal with God’s people around a Christian table.

The Lord’s Supper is a living, breathing metaphor that portrays our complete unity with each other and our total submission to our Father. God calls us to the table — in a congregational setting on a Sunday morning with several hundred other disciples or with a dozen brothers and sisters in Jim and Pat’s kitchen — to enter into that four-fold liturgy that we find in the Passover and in the Last Supper and in each of Jesus’ resurrection meals: taking, blessing, breaking, and giving.

In our communion together, the life of Jesus is taken and blessed and broken and distributed. And that shapes our lives as we give ourselves to each other and to our community. Christ in us is to be taken, blessed, broken, and shared in our testimony and service. Christ in us was distributed to over 2,300 needy people here Saturday — economically disadvantaged children, single mothers, jobless fathers. And it’s around the table where that style of living is nurtured and taught.

But that’s not the American Way. Sharing a meal together in the name of Jesus in someone’s house isn’t enough. It’s not nearly “enough” for the American Christian. We need bigger and flashier and better and louder. We’re a nation of consumers. And so we try to get people into our churches by giving them what they want. Eugene Peterson writes:

“We identify what they want and offer it to them, satisfy their fantasies, promise them the moon, recast the Gospel in consumer terms: entertainment, satisfaction, (I would add “experience”), excitement, adventure, problem-solving, whatever. This is the language we Americans grow up on, the language we understand. We are the world’s champion consumers, so why shouldn’t we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?

Given the conditions prevailing in our culture, this is the best and most effective way that has ever been devised for gathering large and prosperous congregations. Americans lead the world in showing how to do it. There is only one thing wrong: this is not the way in which God brings us into conformity with the life of Jesus and sets us on the way of Jesus’ salvation. This is not the way in which we become less and Jesus becomes more. This is not the way in which our sacrificed lives become available to others in justice and service. The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, ‘deny yourself’ congregation. A consumer church is an anti-christ church.”

With the “end” in mind: the giving of our lives fully to Christ and his Kingdom, the “means” really do matter. In fact, aren’t the end and the means really the exact same thing?

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Larry Tolleson has sent me a bunch of pictures he took while we were at Texoma a couple of weekends ago. I was mostly interested in the shots of Tate rounding second during the kickball game. Larry provides pictures of Tate running to third(notice Shanna in the four-wheeler in the background that started the tragic chain of events) and of Tate immediately after he separates his shoulder. He missed the actual slip and fall that resulted in the injury. Or maybe he just chose not to forward that picture, proving that his feelings toward Tate and his situation are much more sensitive than mine. But he also got a clean shot of Jennifer trying to cram his arm back in the socket. Ah, memories.

Here are some other random shots of us and the kids that weekend.

Peace,

Allan

Let the Turmoil Begin!

October 15, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

I thought it would take much more than a single blowout loss to the dynastic Patriots. I was hopeful throughout the entire Bills game last Monday night that, two losses in a row — against Buffalo and New England — would really show us what this Cowboys team is made of. It would be at that point we’d recognize that a brand new head coach, two brand new offensive and defensive coordinators, and a quarterback starting a season for the first time in his career can’t be any good. Not to be mention T.O.’s presence in that locker room. The fingerpointing would begin, the doubt would start to creep in. Questions.

And then, maybe, possibly, they’d lose to Minnesota and go into the bye week on a three game losing streak. Writers and reporters have to make up stories during the bye week. And all those stories would focus on what’s wrong with this lousy team.

Bingo. Turmoil.

But that Bills win nipped all that. A single blowout loss to the Patriots means nothing. It’s out of conference. It’s to a Super Bowl caliber team that whips everybody. No big deal. It’s just one loss. They’re still 5-1 and in the driver’s seat.

But I’m reading and hearing some of the stuff coming out of the Cowboys locker room last night and I think they might be already cracking at the seams. They may be even more fragile than we thought they were.

Terrence Newman was asked about the coverage on Kyle Brady’s TD catch that completely turned Roy Williams around in the end zone. Newman’s response was, “We had some guys doing some things that weren’t that smart.”

Tony Romo blasted Kyle Kozier on the field and on the sidelines for his holding penalty that negated a first down run on 4th and 1. That’s all well and good. As the quarterback, that’s Romo’s job. But Romo tells reporters last night the game was lost on that one play. The game was over when Kozier held.

Nice.

Romo also made it a point to say repeatedly last night that the Cowboys offense was playing under a lot of pressure because their defense couldn’t stop New England. He compared it to the way it felt playing quarterback at the end of last season when they couldn’t stop anybody and the Cowboys had to score tons of points or lose.

Nice.

When Wade Phillips was asked about the decision to kick the field goal on 4th and goal from the five, down 14 points with ten minutes to go, he said, “If we had a play that could score, I would think we’d have run it on 3rd down.” When told of Phillips’ comments, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said he did have a play in mind, but he wasn’t asked.

Beautiful.

One loss. And already the back biting and finger pointing.

The Cowboys have played two games this year against playoff-caliber offenses. And they’ve been ripped apart by both of them. Eli Manning threw for 312 yards and four TDs in the opener. Brady yesterday threw for 388 yards and five scores. And both of those games were at Texas Stadium. After Minnesota’s Tarvaris Jackson next week, they face Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Brett Favre, Jon Kitna, and McNabb again. It’s not too late to make a quarterback trade for your fantasy league.

48 points is the most the Patriots have scored in a game in 23 years. The Patriots scored six offensive touchdowns. The Cowboys scored two. The Cowboys haven’t scored a first quarter touchdown since the middle of last December. How are you going to get down 14-0 to the Patriots and expect to win? You can’t play catchup all game long with New England. The Cowboys offense never got on the field. New England went 11-17 on third downs. After the game, Roy Williams, the most overrated player maybe in Cowboys history, berrated reporters, “Just because we couldn’t stop them on third down doesn’t mean we’re a bad defense!”

Isn’t that the very definition of a bad defense?

One more quote. Terrell Owens made a big show by saying he wouldn’t talk with reporters, specifically about Randy Moss, until after the game. The two times reporters asked a question of Owens about Moss his reponse was simply, “Next question.”

Nice.

Let the turmoil begin.

Go Vikes,

Allan

No One Leads Alone

October 12, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

God’s call is never misunderstood. It’s not vague or ambiguous. The question in Scripture and in our own lives is never in discerning God’s call. It’s clear.

He tells Abram, “Go!” He tells Moses, “Speak!” God tells Joshua, “Lead!” He tells Gideon, “Fight!” He tells Samuel, “Serve!” God tells Isaiah, “Prophesy!” He tells Jeremiah, “Preach!”

And none of it’s easy. None of it’s appealing. And they balk at first. They throw up excuses and reasons for not answering the call. And every single time God tells them, “Hey! It’s not about you. It’s about me.”

“If I call you to do something,” God says, “I’m the one who’s going to do it. Not you. Don’t be afraid. I’m with you. We’re in it together. I’m God. Trust me.

The question in God’s call on our lives and in the life of his Church is never “Can you hear me now?” It’s always, “Can you trust me now?”

Sunday morning at Legacy we’re looking for 100 men and their families to sign up as Small Groups Church co-leaders. We’re establishing 50 Small Groups to meet weekly on Sunday evenings beginning in January. Each group is to have two co-leaders — no one leads alone — and so we need 100. Building up to those sign-ups, we’re going to explore God’s call to Moses here at Legacy Sunday morning.

But let me point out this today. If you’re a member at Legacy, think about this in terms of your place here in the body and your role in the opportunities the Lord is setting before us, specifically as it relates to our clear mission as the church to Apply the Word, Connect as a Family, and Evangelize our Community. If you’re reading this from somewhere else, chew on this in terms of whatever it is God is calling you to do right there wherever you are.

The task Moses was given to confront Pharaoh was not to be undertaken alone. Rather, he and the elders were to go to Pharaoh and demand the release of the Hebrew slaves (Exodus 3:18). At the same time, God provided Aaron as a helper to carry out God’s plan. Both Aaron’s role and that of the elders emphasize the role of the group in carrying out God’s will. Moses doesn’t do any of it by himself. He works for the group by working with the group.

Moses’ problem is that he looked at God’s call on his life only in terms of what he, Moses, could accomplish. Instead of viewing the call in terms of God’s power and will to accomplish the task, Moses saw only his own gifts or talents, or lack thereof.

Consider the call of God to serve the body of Christians and the community in the name of Jesus. And if we reflect on God rather than ourselves, we’ll approach that call with a peace that passes all understanding.

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We’re less than 24 hours away from Legacy’s 21st annual Give Away Day. And it looks like everything’s just about ready. The concourse is crammed with rows upon rows of racks loaded with clothes, sorted and sized for whoever needs them. It looks like we have more blue jeans than ever before, most of them brand new! We’ve had dozens of volunteers up here for the better part of two weeks sorting through all these things. But it’s still beyond me how it all comes together.

Every one of our downstairs classrooms is a designated “shopping” area. Some for shoes—again, most of them brand new—some for dishes and household appliances, and the others for more clothes.

We’ll have over 2,000 folks from our community in here tomorrow morning before 7:00. Everything’s given away free of charge. Everyone’s welcome. No questions asked. So many people will be touched by the love of Jesus. The stories we’ll be telling and re-telling for the next few weeks will be heart-warming. And I’m certain, just like last year and all the previous years, we’ll be impacted for the good much better than the ones we serve.

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As always, I’m not cheering for the Cowboys Sunday. But, at the same time, I can’t root for Bill Belichick and the Pats. It’s a combination of never wanting to root for the overwhelming favorite and current dynasty and some of that wanting to see history thing at work. It’s like rooting for the opposing pitcher in the 9th inning when he has a no-hitter working against your team. It probably would be really cool to see the Cowboys do something NOBODY expects them to do.

But I’m not rooting for them. I just want to see a good game. Part of me thinks the Pats will win 45-10. But I’ve been wrong on most things so far this season.

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Our dear sister in Christ, Sue Godwin, passed away at her home yesterday afternoon, surrounded by her family and great friends. What an inspiring picture of Christian perseverance and character. What a truly wonderful model of faith in her Lord. The times I visited her and prayed with her, she always told me she was ready to go, but scared. She knew exactly where she was going, but she was worried about getting there. In the name of Jesus the Christ, we again commit the care of her body and soul to our God. The One who calls us is faithful. And he will do it.

Peace,

Allan

Imago Dei

October 11, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-27

What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

The question has been debated since almost the day God breathed life into Adam’s nostrils. And I can’t pretend to have the definitive answer. But chew on this for a while……..

If you take your clues just from Scripture, it’s clear that “image of God” does not mean man has an eternal soul. Or, I should say, the fact that man will live eternally is not the reason he’s said to be created in the “image of God.” The Hebrew term in the verse about God breathing life into Adam, Genesis 2:7, is “nepesh.” And it just means “life.” Period. It has nothing to do with a soul or a spirit. It just means man is able to breathe air. Just like the animals. No difference. In fact, Adam is formed from the dust by the hands of God, exactly like all the birds and animals. It seems that the way Adam is created and the physical or spiritual qualities he possesses have nothing to do with this “image of God.”

What sets man apart from the animals in Genesis is that God has given him dominion over creation and that God has given him a woman to live in community with him. Those two qualities or characteristics make man exactly like God.

God is only described in the Bible by what he does. We’re never told what he looks like or what he’s made of or where he comes from. God is described by what he does, by his activity in and with his creation. He creates. He sustains. He provides. He controls. And he lives in community.

Wrap your brain completely around the doctrine of the Trinity and get back with me. I don’t think it’s possible. But our God lives in community with himself. I can’t explain it. I don’t even understand it. But John makes it clear that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit give life to each other.

And when we participate in that creating, sustaining, providing, controlling, and living in community, we are participating in what it means to be God, to be made in the “image of God.”

Man and woman are brought together by God to live in community with each other, to need each other, to sustain each other, and to create new life together. We can make kids! Generating life through reproduction is the way we participate in creation. And our existence together in community — in fellowship — ministering to one another, sustaining each other, providing for each other, and protecting each other is the obvious way we all participate in the “image of God.” And the more we do those things, the more like God we become.

God is described in Scripture by what he does. And to be “in his image,” we must do the things he does.

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***Legacy Construction Update***

The work is all focused right now on the two story youth and benevolence center off to the west side of our fellowship hall. The steel is being lifted into place by a huge crane. And it seems to be progressing very quickly. The new parking spaces should all be available for us this coming Sunday. Lance Parrish took these latest pics, several of them from the roof of the fellowship hall.

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There’s a reason Terrell Owens isn’t talking to reporters this week. And it has nothing to do with Randy Moss. It has everything to do with his numbers. That’s what he doesn’t want to talk about. He knows the questions this week would revolve around the fact that in the past two games he’s had more drops than catches. He has five catches for 58 yards over the past two games and no touchdowns. In fact, he hasn’t scored a TD since week two. He’s also on pace right now for his worst season since 2000. He trapped a catchable ball on that last drive Monday night. He dropped the potential game-tying two-point conversion. We all saw him yelling in frustration and throwing his helmet around on the sidelines against the Bills. He’s not Tony Romo’s go-to guy. That guy seems to be Jason Witten. And that’s what Owens doesn’t want to talk about.

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Interesting story by Evan Grant about the Rangers’ interest in the developing A-Fraud situation in New York. Not that they’re thinking of bringing him back. Goodness, no! But if Rodriguez opts out of his deal with the Yankees, it would save the Rangers about 21-million dollars over the next three seasons. Again, not that Tom Hicks would spend that money on a proven power hitting free agent or a good starting pitcher. At the same time, if A-Fraud jumps ship in New York, he could easily wind up with the Angels or M’s and playing against Texas 20 times a season.

I’m not worried about that.

But if he leaves NY, won’t that be because he can’t hack it? He can’t handle the pressures of playing with those high expectations in the Big Apple. His playoff numbers the past three years prove it.

And finally, this sobering news. The Rangers are one of only two teams in Major League Baseball history to have never won a playoff series. Tampa Bay is the other.

Great company.

The DevilRays just finished with the worst record in baseball and have placed last in their division nine of the past ten years.

Peace,

Allan

Author: Allan (Page 476 of 493)

Whitney Update

THE Call to Discipleship

The Anti-Christ Church

Let the Turmoil Begin!

No One Leads Alone

Imago Dei

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