Category: Cowboys (Page 35 of 53)

Knowing Christ, Knowing God

August 27, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you.” ~John 15:15

When you meet a stranger, when you shake somebody’s hand for the very first time, you’ll probably tell them your name, what you do for a living, and how many kids you have. When you bump into a friend, you might tell them a little more about your job or your spouse or your children. But when you sit down for a talk with your very dearest and closest friend, you tell him everything. Everything. You don’t hold anything back. You talk to him about the burdens of being who you are at work. You share with her the intimate details of your marriage, the wonderful things and the awful things. You open up to him your deepest feelings and your wildest dreams for your children. No reservations. No holds barred.

Everything.

Jesus totally opens himself up to us. He completely pulls back the curtain on his thoughts and motives so we can fully know him. Through Jesus, we’re able to fully know God. And that’s huge. That deserves serious and careful consideration.

Trust and love and loyalty — true friendship — is what leads to really knowing one another. In a marriage. In any kind of relationship. In EVERY kind of relationship. In the same way, knowing one another is what leads to trust and love and loyalty and true friendship. And when people really share that, there’s nothing they can’t survive together. There’s no situation, no circumstance, no event that can destroy that relationship.

I think that’s why Jesus prays, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Doesn’t this sum up everything? All our problems and all of God’s solutions in this one sentence: Knowing God and knowing God through his Son.

When Jesus calls us his friends, he’s telling us, “I want you to know me. I’ve held nothing back from you. I’ve given you everything I have. There’s no door I won’t open for you. There’s nothing I won’t do for you. I’m wide open to you. You don’t have to worry about any surprises with me or any sudden changes with me. I’ll never pull the rug out from under you. You know me too well for that. You are my friends.”

Jesus loves you. He defends you. He protects you and gives to you. Jesus saves you and gives you access to the eternal riches of our Father in heaven. He died for you.

It’s good to have a friend like Jesus

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The Red Ribbon Review is my attempt to pass away the days until football season. We’re looking at the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. And today’s #17 is backup quarterback Jason Garrett.

Garrett was an undrafted free agent out of Princeton, bouncing around from the Saints to the World League and the CFL, before landing in Dallas where his dad, Jim, was a scout for the Cowboys. And for seven years, Garrett was one of the most popular Cowboys in town.

Garrett played in 25 games as Troy Aikman’s backup from 1993-1999. He started nine of those games, going 6-3 and keeping the team together during Super Bowl and playoff runs. And while his numbers aren’t gaudy (come on, he was a backup!) he had quite the penchant for the big play.

An 80-yard touchdown pass to Billy Davis in a big win over the Giants in ’98. A 43-yard scoring strike to Ernie Mills in a victory at Washington that same season. A 37-yard TD to Rocket Ismail in a home win over the Packers in ’99.

Of course, his biggest win came on Thanksgiving Day against Green Bay in 1994. The Cowboys were down 17-3 early in the second quarter, 17-6 at the half. But Garrett, who started that day in place of an injured Aikman, rallied Dallas to 36 second-half points for a huge 42-31 win. Garrett racked up 311 yards passing that day, including two second-half touchdown bombs to Alvin Harper (45 yards) and Michael Irvin (35 yards). He also won the eight-legged turkey or the metal turkey or whatever the network was giving away that day.

Now Garrett serves as the Cowboys offensive coordinator / assistant head coach, pulling down almost three-million-dollars a season. His career track reminds me of Danny Reeves’. I don’t think Garrett will be a head coach in Dallas. But he’ll always be the second-best #17 in Cowboys history.

Peace,

Allan

With All My Heart

August 26, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”
~Psalm 9:1-2

I am so blessed to be the preacher for a church that really understands the congregation’s worship of God. When considering the emotional hot-button issues that sometimes, unfortunately, characterize our corporate worship, I’m surrounded here by people who do comprehend — or are honestly wrestling with comprehending — that to worship the Creator of Heaven and Earth is to give him our all.

When Holy Scripture speaks of praising and worshiping God with all our hearts — or doing anything with all our hearts — it’s talking about all of the wholistic will. Not just our emotions. Not just our heads. Not just our feelings. Not just our reason and logic.

With all my heart.

God is worthy of my / our eternal adoration. So, we worship God intentionally, deliberately, and mindfully, even when we don’t feel like it. We put everything we have into it everytime.

I am privileged to “eavesdrop” on a couple of on-going cyber conversations within our church family. I was struck (inspired, moved to thanksgiving, convicted) by a couple of comments made late last week regarding our Sunday morning worship here at Legacy. With their permission, consider this from Don Garrett:

“I have found that my worship has intensified as my awareness of God’s forgiveness of my sins has increased. Those times when I lose sight of the fact that God has forgiven me of a LOT of sins, my worship begins to lose its intensity and other, worldly things begin to encroach on my worship. When I have a deep sense that my Father has forgiven me of a lot…I have little trouble concentrating intently on my worship to him. I also find myself LESS affected by things like song selection, or heating / cooling problems in the building, or too many babies crying, or someone worshiping in a slightly different way than me, or all the other mundane things that can detract from our personal worship. I also find myself having less patience with those who gripe about such things (that is probably more a part of getting older and more grumpy).”

And this from Mason Scott:

“I will admit that I have been one to come into the worship center and anticipate to sing my favorite songs, hear the right sermon, and be engrossed with an uplifting worship experience. When I look for the right songs, the right sermon, or complain about the song leader, the song selections, the Scripture reader, or the sound booth, I’ve turned God’s time into ‘Mason Time.’ Yes, I feel small. The Lord is molding my mind and heart this week to come this Sunday with my offering. The offering I’m talking about is my heart. I will come this Sunday with the desire to give my heart, my mind, my adoration, and my money to praise and worship our Creator.”

Can’t you see why I love being Legacy’s preacher?

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Only 18 days ’til the Cowboys kick off their historic 50th football season. And today’s second-best player in team history according to jersey number came down to back-up quarterbacks. And the Red Ribbon Review is going with the only man to back-up both Roger Staubach and Danny White, UNLV’s own Glenn Carano.

Wade Wilson played for five teams and lost his only start for the Cowboys. Bernie Kosar played only one season in Dallas and lost his only start. Carano, a second-round pick in 1977, played his entire seven year career for the Cowboys and won his only start, a 37-13 whipping of the Colts in 1981. He suited up for five NFC Championship Games as a Cowboy backup and two Super Bowls. And he threw only one interception in his 57 career attempts.

My only memory of Carano is from the end zone seats at Texas Stadium on Thanksgiving Day 1981. I was 15. I can’t remember who was starting for the Bears that year —Bob Avellini? — but Vince Evans had replaced him that week. Danny White got knocked out early in the first quarter, and we wound up watching Evans and Carano duel to a sloppy 10-9 Cowboys win. It was only the third or fourth Cowboys game I’d ever attended. And I was disappointed. My team had won. But I was bent.

I was clearly already developing the cynicism and negativism that would serve my sports radio career so well.

Peace,

Allan

Don't Be A Navin

August 25, 2009 / Allan / 1 Comment

My favorite scene in the old Steve Martin movie, The Jerk, is right at the very end when Martin’s character, Navin Johnson, is having everything taken away. All his money, his house, his cars, his business, his possessions — he’s losing everything as the result of a class-action lawsuit against his invention. (The Opti-Grab, remember?)

Navin finally loses it in an argument with his wife (“I just heard a song that reminded me of the way we were.” “What was it?” “The Way We Were.”) and he walks out of the house declaring, “I don’t need anything! I don’t need any of this! I don’t need the money! I don’t need the house! I don’t need anything!”

“Except this.”

And he picks up an ashtray from the corner of his desk. And then he picks up a paddle ball game from the floor. And he screams, “I don’t need anything” and picks up a remote control. “I don’t need anything!”

“Except this.”

And he picks up a box of matches. And a lamp. “This is it! These five things. This is all I need! I don’t need anything!”

“Except this.”

And he picks up a chair as he walks out the door and into the yard.

Navin walks down the road carrying these possessions, carrying these material things, burdened by the physical things he just can’t let go of.

I admit, this is high-brow stuff. The stinging social criticism of The Jerk goes over most peoples’ heads. But I’m convicted by the image of this man clinging to these worthless possessions with no regard for the bigger picture of what’s really happening.

We believe that everything we have comes from God and is to be used for God’s purposes and to God’s glory. We know that God promises to make us rich in every way. He promises to give us everything we need. We teach it. We sing it. “I Surrender All.” Everything I have belongs to God! I give everything to him!

Except this money I need for our vacation. And except this money I need to buy the 96-inch HDTV. The vacation and the big screen. That’s all I need. Everything else belongs to God. I give everything else to God.

Except the money I need to upgrade the family’s cell phones. And we want to re-do our kitchen. And we’re going to invest in our retirement. And buy a new car. And save for a rainy day.

Next thing you know, you’re walking down Main Street in your bathrobe, like Navin Johnson, hanging on with a white-knuckle death-grip to material things, temporary things, which Scripture says reveals a lack of faith in our God who promises to provide for your every need.

It’s a radical thing to declare that God — not me! — is responsible for everything we are and everything we have. It’s huge. It’s an insight that’s so simple, yet, it’s absolutely life-changing. God gives us everything and promises to give us everything. So it’s not that we care less about our material goods, it’s that we care much more about God’s purpose in giving us these material goods. Ironically, his purpose is that we, in turn, give these things away to others. That kind of mindset and living and giving demonstrates our continuing confidence in our God’s faithful promises to his people.

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Nineteen days until the Cowboys season begins in Tampa Bay. And we’re counting down the days with a look at the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. And #19 is a punter. John Jett. He kicked for Dallas for four years, from 1993-96. He averaged 42 yards a punt. He never had one blocked in 253 kicks. And he won two Super Bowls.

Boring.

The other #19s in Cowboys history have much more interesting stories. They’re more fun to talk about. Lance Rentzel. Clint Longley. Keyshawn Johnson. And while they’re more talented than Jett, even at their positions, they each played a role in ripping apart the Cowboys’ lockerroom. And none of them won any championships.

Jett’s the guy. Deal with it.

Peace,

Allan

More Than Enough

August 24, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Faith is living in the knowledge and confidence that our God is always going to give us everything we need in order to live. But it’s also knowing that the truly important things — the eternal things, the things that really matter — he gives us in abundance. We have more of those things than we know what to do with.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul uses hyperbole to describe these great spiritual gifts. In fact, the actual greek word he uses over and over is pronounced “hyperballo.“ It’s translated into the English words “incomparably,” “immeasurable,” and “surpassing.” It’s extravagant! It’s over the top! It demands exclamation points!

Ephesians 1:19 – “his incomparably (hyperballo) great power for us who believe” Overflowing power! Overwhelming power! More than enough divine Holy Spirit power within me to annihilate sin and death and Satan and everything that works so hard to separate me from God!

Ephesians 2:7 – “the incomparable (hyperballo) riches of his grace” Through the kindness of Christ Jesus! Buckets of grace! Grace in spades! More than plenty of grace to be saved and to join God in doing good works!

Ephesians 3:19 – “love that surpasses (hyperballo) knowledge” Incomprehensible love! Love that cannot be fathomed! Heavenly love up to here! God’s love coming out my ears! A surplus of love that fills me to the measure of all the fullness of God himself!

God’s love! Christ’s grace! The Holy Spirit’s power! Lavished on us! More than we need! Why? Why does God give us so much?

“To the praise of his glory” ~Ephesians 1:14

“To do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Ephesians 2:10

“Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” ~Ephesians 3:21

Some of us are having to pinch pennies right now. Some of us are having to pinch half-pennies. Economically, some of us are struggling right now. What a blessing to realize that the eternal things, the things that will not fade, the rich blessings of divine power and grace and love are piled so high on top of us by our God, that inspired writers don’t quite know how to say it.

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The three girls started back to school today. Whitney’s a sophomore at the all-new-and-improved Richland High School here in North Richland Hills. We attended the ribbon cutting and open house yesterday afternoon and were blown away by how nice the place is. It almost looks like Mark Cuban built the place with huge HDTV screens placed about every 20-feet throughout the campus. It’s now, by far, the high school with the nicest facilities in the district. Not sure if that’ll add up to another football win over Birdville this year. Valerie’s a 7th grader at Northridge. And Carley’s in the 4th grade now at Green Valley. Three girls at three different schools. Yeah, it takes 30-minutes taking them in the mornings and almost a full hour to pick them up in the afternoons. Carrie-Anne starts her second year at TWU next week.

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20 days now until the Cowboys begin their 50th NFL season. And we’re counting them down with the Red Ribbon Review, a look at the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. #20 on our list is running back Ron Springs. You already know the moving story of Springs’ Type 2 Diabetes and how former teammate Everson Walls donated one of his kidneys to Springs three years ago. But do you also remember that he was a pretty good football player, too?

Springs was drafted in the 5th round out of Ohio State in 1979, mainly to back up Tony Dorsett. In that rookie season he was fifth in the NFL with an average of 9.8 yards per touch. And the Cowboys were forced to think up other ways to get him the ball. So Springs lined up at fullback. He lined up as a wingback. As a tight end. In motion of the backfield and then in the flats for a pass. He was big enough to stay in and block blitzing linebackers on third-and-long and quick enough to run a draw play up the gut for 12 yards and a first down. In his six seasons in Dallas, Springs racked up 2,180 yards rushing, 2,028 yards receiving, and a total of 38 TDs. He played in 3 NFC Championship Games.

The image, though, that’s stuck in my mind is of Roger Staubach joyfully leaping in Springs’ arms after throwing a fade route for a touchdown to Tony Hill in the back-right corner of the end zone at Texas Stadium to complete a 35-34 come-from-behind win over the Redskins that simultaneously clinched the division title for Dallas and knocked Washington out of the playoffs. Dallas actually overcame two separate 17-point deficits that day in a win that turned out to be Staubach’s last ever victory. I love the picture.

Catching up from yesterday, #21 in the Red Ribbon Review is probably a backup running back you’ve never heard of. Doug Dennison was an undrafted free agent out of Kutztown State in Pennsylvania. (I couldn’t make that up.) He made the team in 1974 and only carried the ball 16 times that rookie season. But four of those runs resulted in touchdowns. He had a nose for the end zone. So he was able to hang on until his big break in ’76 when he filled in for an injured Preston Pearson. Dennison led the team with 542 yards that season. He scored a team-leading seven touchdowns the next year. But in ’77 the Cowboys drafted Tony Dorsett and that pretty much ended Dennison’s career in Dallas. Dennison only got a total of 26 carries in ’77 and ’78 and was traded to Cleveland before the ’79 season.

Peace,

Allan

More Than Enough

August 24, 2009 / Allan / 1 Comment

God’s love! Christ’s grace! The Holy Spirit’s power! Lavished on us! More than we need! Why? Why does God give us so much?

“To the praise of his glory” ~Ephesians 1:14

“To do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Ephesians 2:10

“Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” ~Ephesians 3:21

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Peace,

Allan

To The Preachers

August 21, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Actually reading Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, which he started writing 200 years ago this week, is eye-opening to someone who’s only familiar with the superficial “Bible-only” and “Christians-only” bumper sticker slogans we’ve harvested from our movement’s founding document. This work is a passionate plea for Christian unity as described in our Scriptures and prayed for by our Savior. It so clearly outlines the breaking down of denominational barriers and the demolition of anything that would keep us from calling one another brother and sister and communing with each other around our Lord’s table as our God’s holy and perfect will. And it calls on each and every member of the Lord’s Body to work diligently toward that end. The Declaration and Address is saturated with the question, why pray for something if you’re not going to work to make it happen?

Good question.

But Campbell especially appeals to preachers as the ones who must step forward to carry Christ’s mission of unity for his Church.

“Is it not then your incumbent duty to endeavour, by all scriptural means, to have those evils (divisions) remedied. Who will say that it is not? Does it not peculiarly belong to you, who occupy the place of gospel ministers, to be leaders in this laudable undertaking. Much depends upon your hearty concurrence and zealous endeavours. The favorable opportunity which Divine Providence has put into your hands, in this happy country, for the accomplishment of so great a good is, in itself, a consideration of no small encouragement.”

(Of course, much more was expected of preachers back then than is now. At the end of the Declaration portion of the document, in article VIII, Campbell makes it clear that “each meeting of the society be opened with a sermon.” Can you imagine? What if the elders of your church insisted that every elders meeting start with a sermon?)

Campbell calls on preachers to do the will of Jesus

“…whose express command to his people is, that there be no divisions among them; but that they all walk by the same rule, speak the same thing, and be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. Let us attempt it. Are we not all praying for that happy event, when there shall be but one fold, as there is but one chief shepherd. What! Shall we pray for a thing and not strive to obtain it! Not use the necessary means to have it accomplished!!

Let the ministers of Jesus but embrace this exhortation, put their hand to the work, and encourage the people to go forward upon the firm ground of obvious truth, to unite in the bonds of an entire christian unity.”

Usually it’s the obvious truths that get us all in trouble.

That’s why Campbell’s encouragement is so needed. And that’s why he and Stone and the rest of the leaders of our Restoration movement are such heroes.

May we work hard to uphold the ideals of those who’ve gone before us as they reflect the perfect will of our Father in heaven. May God bless us with boldness and courage and power from his Holy Spirit to lead his people in the paths of greater unity for the salvation of the world!

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23 days until the Cowboys open up their regular season against the Bucs in Tampa Bay. And we’re counting down the days by honoring the second-best players in team history according to jersey number. #23 in our Red Ribbon Review is backup cornerback Robert Williams. As an undrafted free agent out of Baylor in 1987, Williams played on some of the worst teams in Cowboys history. But he hung on long enough to collect two Super Bowl rings in 1992 and 1993. He carries the distinction of having scored two TDs in a Cowboys uniform, both of them on blocked punt returns.

Tomorrow’s #22 is a no-brainer. He’s a Hall of Famer, a Ring of Honor member, an olympic gold medalist, and he holds 22 Cowboys team records. Hard to believe he’s still only the second-best player to wear #22. Bullet Bob Hayes was taken in the seventh round of the 1964 draft out of Florida A&M and wound up changing the game of professional football. Known as the fastest man in the world after breaking four records at the 1964 Olympics, Hayes blew right by everybody who tried to cover him on the football field. So defenses were forced to try brand new things. Like zone coverage. Unheard of.

It barely mattered.

Hayes played ten seasons in Dallas and finished his career with an astonishing 20.0 yards per catch average. He averaged over 18 yards per catch in seven of his ten years, including league-leading averages of 26.1 yards in 1970 and 24.0 yards in 1971. He finished in the NFL’s top six in yards receiving five times and was named to three Pro Bowls and twice as a first-team All Pro. Hayes racked up 7,295 yards on 365 catches with the Cowboys and 71 touchdowns. And he’s the only man to have ever won an Olympic gold medal AND a Super Bowl ring.

None of this information came from Lucille Hester. And I’ve got a letter from Bob to prove it.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Cowboys (Page 35 of 53)

Knowing Christ, Knowing God

With All My Heart

Don't Be A Navin

More Than Enough

More Than Enough

To The Preachers

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