Category: Cowboys (Page 46 of 53)

Living Like Jesus

December 31, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

Living like Jesus is not something we do to get salvation. It is our salvation!

After Jesus was born we know that he grew in wisdom and stature in a normal God-designed way. We see in the life of Jesus decisions made and actions taken as a result of his education in Scripture. His regular fasting. His continual praying. The time alone he spent with God. The time he spent in Scripture. The time he spent in the synagogues, helping the needy, healing the sick, blessing the downtrodden, teaching his disciples. All of these things were formative experiences for Jesus.

And if we’re going to look like that, individually and as a church, we have to realize that there aren’t any shortcuts. Prayer, study, reflection, instruction, and experience all play a vital role in maturing us and transforming us more and more into the image of Christ. God designed these processes. And he’s so commited to them that he became human and went through them himself. To show us how.

We have to take very seriously the call to collaborate with God in this. We have to design and pursue on-going programs of spiritual formation.

Baptism should never be seen nor ever taught as the last rung on the steps to salvation. We have to go beyond simple conversion and ask the church to commit — to be resolved — to a lifetime of growing in our relationship with our Father; growing in prayer and study and the other spiritual disciplines; growing in our love and service to one another in Christ. Living like Jesus. This is our salvation.

I know you’re going to lose weight. I know you’re going to give more. You’re going to spend more quality time with your family in 2008. I know. But as we’re making our spiritual resolutions for the coming year, let’s find ways to join our God as partners in redeeming the world back to him.

May we pursue God’s Kingdom plans in humility and submission. May we reach out to others without distinction. May we honor and celebrate our differences in the Body of Christ. May we grow and mature in the faith through the spiritual disciplines of prayer and study and service to others. And may our God bless us by completing in us his work of salvation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cowboys needed to win yesterday to achieve the highest single-season victory total in club history. They lost. Jason Witten needed six catches to reach 100 for the year. He got two. Marion Barber needed 19 yards to hit a thousand for the season. He lost six. The Cowboys lost their regular season finale for the eighth year in a row in miserable fashion. They finished with a franchise record low one total yard rushing on 16 carries against the Redskins. They went 0-11 on third downs, eight of those tries needing at least eight yards for the conversion. They allowed a one hundred yard rusher for the first time all year with Clinton Portis’ 104.

Yuck.

It’s been weeks since this team looked any good. Wade Phillips said they were uninspired and took the blame himself. But yesterday’s loss in Landover reflects the poor-to-mediocre play of this team for the past month and a half. You always want to be playing your best ball heading into the playoffs, but the Cowboys are in the middle of their worst four week stretch of the season.

And there aren’t any more warm up games before the postseason. They go into the next two weeks with a horrible taste in their mouths and nagging doubts about their legitimacy as a Super Bowl contender. Five weeks ago they were a lock to represent the NFC in Arizona. Now nobody would be shocked if they lose in the divisional round to Seattle or these same Redskins.

Romo’s thumb. The Gurode, Newman, Ratliff, and Owens injuries. The disappearance of the running game. Poor tackling in the secondary. Wade Phillips’ record as a playoff coach. All of these things now become magnified in the wake of yet another December swoon.

And to think (this is the part I really love!): most of all this hinges on Terrell Owens.

The Cowboys have not scored a single touchdown since he was injured against Carolina. Without Owens, Jason Witten’s drawing double coverage. Patrick Crayton’s drawing attention. Defenses are stacking the box to stop the run, unconcerned with the prospect of Austin Miles or Sam Hurd beating anybody deep. Without Owens, the Cowboys offense can’t go. And Phillips said last night that Owens is “iffy” to make it back onto the field for that first playoff game on the 13th.

That’s usually how it happens, Jerry. When you sell your soul to the devil, the payback usually comes at the end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congrats to the Patriots for their 16-0 season. It’s very difficult to get wins in the NFL. And they put 16 of them together in a row. That is an amazing accomplishment. In fact, it’s a unique accomplishment. And I don’t want to take anything away from that. But I do want to make this observation: the Pats racked up six of those wins within their own division, the lousy AFC East. That division would have to improve just to stink. The Bills, Jets, and Dolphins combined to win only 12 games this year. The Pats won 16, six of them against these awful teams.

They do not belong in the same class as that 1972 Miami team that went undefeated and won the Super Bowl. Not yet. That Don Shula squad is still the only frachise in the nearly 100 year history of the league to go without a loss all the way through to the championship. When Brady and Co. overcome the tremendous pressure and fight through the impossible expectations that do appear to be giving them trouble lately to win the Super Bowl, then and only then can the argument be made that they are the best team ever.

Plus, I do have a difficult time rooting for Bill Belichick, mainly due to his background with Bill Parcells.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of the Dolphins, Bill Parcells met with the team’s GM, Randy Mueller, this morning and promptly fired him. He also canned the director of player personnel and the college scouting coorinator. He’s meeting with the coach tomorrow. If I were Cam Cameron, I’d be spending all day today updating the resume and downloading files. Won’t the Almighty Tuna conduct a three-month coach search and then declare at the end of the Spring that he’s actually the best man for the job himself? Won’t he use some sort of variation of the cooking-dinner-and-buying-the-groceries explanation?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, two more Cowboys notes: my otherwise sane little sister, Rhonda, gave me a Tony Romo jersey for Christmas. It’s the super nice one, too. Everything’s stitched on. And it’s the 1961-63 bright blue and white throwback style with the single star on the shoulders that I absolutely love. But I can’t wear it. It doesn’t say Lilly or Staubach or Howley on the back. It says Romo. And while I have nothing against Romo, he does represent the current configuration of the franchise which I cannot support. I’m not sure what she was thinking. But here’s the deal. If they win the Super Bowl, I’ll wear it for a week. Every day for a week. But that’s it. That’s the deal.

And if you’re still super bummed about the Cowboys loss yesterday and the fact that the Redskins are going into the postseason as the NFC’s hottest team, click here. It’s the old Tom Landry American Express commercial from 1982. Classic. If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, you’re hopeless.

Hidey,

Allan

Salvation + Creation = Incarnation

December 18, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

I think as children of God we’re usually more concerned with the destination than with the journey. “Heaven holds all to me.” So much so I’m afraid that a lot of the time we separate salvation from creation. Being saved, to a lot of us, means being rescued out of this world. To many Christians, the world and whatever is of the world or in the world is worthless and useless. We don’t care about the world. We’re being delivered from the world.

But the Incarnation drastically alters that viewpoint.

The birth of Jesus, instead of separating salvation and creation, connects salvation and creation. It joins the realities of heaven with the ordinariness of life on earth. It brings together the human and the divine. By becoming one of us, God reaffirms the original goodness and purpose of creation. Our human condition, even with all its flaws and shortcomings, even with all our weaknesses, this world and everything in it is not so sad and worthless that God himself is above becoming flesh. In fact, it’s Jesus taking on our everyday human condition that is the means for our salvation! God reclaims us as his own by becoming one of us.

God created the world and all the people in it. And that world and that people—all of creation—have been groaning, Paul says in Romans 8, as in the pains of childbirth to become what we were truly created to be. We were created to be truly divine children of God, just like Jesus. We look at Jesus, God in flesh, and we see what the Father created when he created us. Or at least we see his intent. We see our potential, our calling.

John writes in the opening lines of his Gospel that when we receive Jesus, when we believe in the name of the Christ, God gives us the right, he gives us the power, he gives the authority to become children of God, “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Just like Jesus.

Yes, Jesus preached about the Kingdom of Heaven. But all his teachings had to do with how to live here on this earth. How to get along as a child of God here in this world. Here in the middle of God’s creation.

Seeing Jesus as a human helps us understand why God made us. And it empowers us to reclaim that purpose for our own lives. It enables us to live our lives fully here on earth, with each other, in all of our mundane ordinariness, as children of God. Just as he intended from Day One. To live like him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whitney experienced her first ever live Mavericks game at the AAC last night, compliments of our good friend and Small Groups Co-Leader, David Glover. (The Mavericks were able to pull out a nail-biter over Orlando, despite the fact that David’s been to two Cowboys games this year: Patriots and Eagles.)

I love experiencing things through my girls. I’ve attended a couple of hundred Mavericks games through the years—pre-season, regular season, and playoffs. But I saw things from an entirely different perspective last night. Whitney was genuinely thrilled by the things I’ve always taken for granted. The player introductions, the drum line, the T-shirt cannons, Mavs Man, Champ (that thing still looks like a Dragon Tales character, not a horse), chanting “De-Fense” and “Let’s Go, Mavs!” (didn’t they rip that off from the Spurs?), souvenir cups, thundering dunks, a three-on-one break, player interaction on the bench, the guys who continually distribute and clean up all the towels and water bottles, even P. A. announcer Billy Hayes and sideline shill Chris Arnold. Everything that is the spectacle of a Mavericks game. She was completely involved from before the opening tip to well after the final buzzer. She was trying to distract Orlando free throw shooters from our seats, which were not anywhere close to behind the backboard. She yelled throughout the fourth quarter for the Mavericks to “get it to Dirk!” She never sat still. She never stopped screaming. She never stopped laughing. I’m sure right now, even as she’s probably in the middle of some math or social studies class at school, she hasn’t stopped smiling.

And usually I would just sit there.

I saw it differently last night. It was a different game for me last night because I was sitting by Whitney.

And our Savior says unless we become like little children we can’t enter the Kingdom.

May our God grant us the vision, the humility, and the grace to be wowed by his creation and by his goodness and by his blessings. May we pay attention to all that is around us and recognize every bit of it as a wonderful blessing from our Father. And may others experience their daily lives differently as a result of watching us experience ours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 2004, Cowboys safety Roy Williams tackled Titans receiver Tyrone Calico from behind by grabbing the back of his shoulder pads and yanking him to the ground. As a result, Calico suffered torn cartilage in his left knee and a sprained ACL in his right knee. That same season Williams took out two Baltimore running backs with the same style of tackle. Jamal Lewis suffered a sprained ankle and Musa Smith a compound fracture of his right tibia. That same season Williams broke the right fibula of then-Eagles receiver Terrell Owens with the same horsecollar tackle. In May 2005, the NFL made that kind of tackle illegal. It was called the Roy Williams Rule.

Going into this past Sunday’s game against the Eagles, Williams had been fined $27,500 by the NFL this year for making two illegal horsecollar tackles. The NFL sent Williams a letter two weeks ago telling him he would be suspended if he did it again. And he did. His tackle on Donovan McNabb is the very reason that style of takedown was outlawed. He was flagged at the time. And last night the league suspended him for one game. Williams can’t practice with the team and he can’t play in what is now a critical game Saturday night in Charlotte. It’ll cost him at least $35,000 in salary. It’ll cost the Cowboys one of their best run-stoppers against a Panthers attack that is running all over opponents.

I saw a quote from Wade Phillips this morning claiming that in Sunday’s situation with McNabb, and in all the others this season, grabbing the back of the shoulder pads is the only way Williams can make the tackle.

Isn’t it because Williams is always running behind the ball carrier? None of this would be an issue if he could just get in the proper position.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson and Austin Grad Professor Michael Weed the same person?

Peace,

Allan

Jessica Ono

December 17, 2007 / Allan / 4 Comments

Tony Romo went to the lockerroom at halftime of yesterday’s loss to the Eagles carrying a quarterback rating that was the same as his jersey number. He finished the game with three interceptions, two fumbles, four sacks, one bruised thumb, and a 22.2 QB rating, the lowest of his brief career. The Cowboys failed to score a touchdown for the first time since November 2004 when a team that finished 6-10 and seemingly started a new quarterback every week lost to the Bengals.

Are you blaming Jessica Simpson?

Is she going to be the Yoko Ono of the Cowboys as I heard someone say this morning?

How much time did Romo have to put in Saturday night and Sunday morning arranging for tickets, transportation, meals, and other stuff related to the game for the Simpson family? Was he trying to show off for his new girlfriend and wound up pressing too hard and blowing it? If he was distracted by her being at the game, what was it specifically?

The theories are numerous. Did her pink Cowboys jersey offend the football gods? Is spending time with Jessica rubbing off on Romo in a way that’s making him dumber every day? She can’t tell the difference between chicken and tuna. One month with her and he can’t read a tackle-stunt or a corner blitz. Coincidence?

All I know is that the beautiful girl has always brought down the superhero. Everytime a superhero gets in trouble, you can always trace it back to the distraction of a pretty girl. It happened regularly to Indiana Jones. Indy and Superman both spent way too much time and energy trying to rescue the girl who was distracting them from the big picture of what they were supposed to be doing, mainly because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the way. It happened to Batman. It happened to Spiderman. It happened to Frank Drebin.

If it’s not Jessica Simpson, what was it? Romo’s never looked as awful as he looked yesterday. Ryan Leaf never looked as awful as Romo looked yesterday.

There is one other theory out there. And I must give the credit for this one to Norm.

He claims it’s Avery Johnson’s fault.

Avery Johnson, the Dallas Mavericks coach, was also at yesterday’s game, also sitting in a very prominent place at Texas Stadium. And the Cowboys spent all day settling for 3s.

Coincidence?

Peace,

Allan

Rick Romo Rules!

November 30, 2007 / Allan / 9 Comments

Random thoughts on last night’s really weird game. Was it really great or was it really awful? Most of the following thoughts revolve around the inconsistent and contradictory messages I kept getting while watching the Packers and Cowboys.

The hype and the buildup for the past two weeks has been Super-Bowl-esque. And rightly so. It’s been years since I looked forward to a Cowboys game like I did this one. The championship history of the two franchises. Favre and Romo. Homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs. And those 1960-63 Cowboys throw back unis! Love those uniforms. It’s hard not to root for whoever’s wearing those uniforms. They just drum up such wonderful images of Don Perkins and Don Meredith and Bob Hayes and Bob Lilly. Those are my all-time favorite Cowboys uniforms.

(Side note: the most disappointed I’ve ever been with the Cowboys, aside from the signing of Terrell Owens, was in 1994 when the NFL first encouraged its teams to wear throwback uniforms as part of the league’s 75th anniversary season. The Cowboys announced that they would wear their uniforms from the early ’60s for a Monday Night Game against the Lions. A buddy and I got tickets. We drove up from Marble Falls that afternoon. I couldn’t wait to see those clean blue and white uniforms in person, the ones I had only seen in pictures in old programs and in old TV clips. And the Cowboys came out in those horrid double-star monstrosities with their same silver helmets! Never mind the hideous nature of the double-star look that is nothing like what the Cowboys had ever worn in their storied history. None of it matched! Jerry Wayne exclaimed that the throwback helmets would each cost over $300 and that was too much to spend on something they were only going to do once. I was sick. I thought it was embarrassing. It’s the same kind of thing that led to this look for assistant coach John Blake. It’s about that time, the Barry Switzer era, when things began to turn for me.)

And before I mention anything about the game itself, can I please comment a bit on the NFL Network?

Are you kidding me?!?

Jerry Wayne and the NFL Network don’t have a case against any cable company that doesn’t want to air that stuff. Who would want to put that on their system? I couldn’t tell if I was watching the NFL game of the year between two great franchises for home field advantage or the local access presentation of the junior college scrimmage. The sideline microphones were so overmodulated I couldn’t understand a word Deion Sanders was saying. Although I’m certain it had something to do with Deion Sanders. We must have missed at least three extra-points because the cameras were somewhere else or they were airing a promo. I saw an old promo for the Thanksgiving Day matchup between the Colts and Falcons run at least once. The referee’s mic kept cutting out and I’m sure the NFL Network had something to do with that, too.

And Bryant Gumbel. Have you ever heard anyone do a worse job? It was like he’d never called a football game before. He kept calling the Cowboys the Packers, several times in the first quarter. As the Cowboys came out of the tunnel before kickoff he said, “Here come the Packers!” When the Cowboys had a first and goal he said it was the Packers. He called Marion Barber the “heart beat of the Packers.” At the end of the 3rd quarter when Dallas was in the red zone again he went to break exclaiming that the Cowboys were leading and “barking at the door.” I don’t think Fox or CBS would ever use this guy, not even on their D-Team calling the Cardinals and Dolphins. Brian Baldinger does a better job. It was amazing. And then Gumbel tops it off by telling his audience at the end of the game to stay tuned for the “Wendy’s Post-Game Show, I mean the Home Depot Post-Game show” where we hope to get a few words down on the field with Cowboys quarterback “Rick Romo.”

I can’t believe the most powerful professional sports league in the history of the world, this league that does everything with excellence and class, that pays excruciating attention to the smallest of details, is being represented by this low-budget, duct-tape-and-twistie-ties network.

And then you’ve got the golden voice of NFL Films doing all the ins and outs to and from commercials. Talk about contradicting messages and conflicting signals.

How about the officials’ black winter pants? They look so much like NBA warm-up pants that I kept thinking, again, I was watching something that didn’t count. Is this practice or is this a real game in late November between two conference powers?

As I watched Aaron Rodgers, I couldn’t help but think about the Magic Man, Don Majkowski. His hair, his eyebrows, his nose. Yeah, maybe Barry Manilow, too. I don’t know.

I was surprised by the huge and loud numbers of Packers fans at Texas Stadium. Just the noise reminded me of a regular season game against the Steelers in 2004. Down on the sidelines, I was blown away at how the Steelers fans were louder than the Cowboys fans. It was like an away game that afternoon for Dallas as they lost a heart breaker to Ben Rothlisberger in his rookie season. Seemed that way again last night. And that’s very rare at Texas Stadium. But, imagine, that’s the way it is for every team that hosts the Cowboys in their stadium. Every time.

I love Geico commercials.

Tony Romo goes for over 300 yards again. He throws for four touchdowns again. And his line would say five TDs and zero interceptions instead of the 4 scores and one pick except for Terrell Owens’ inexplicable lateral to Al Harris in the end zone. That was weird. Being stripped by Harris on that first drive and his other two drops last night look like the Owens of last year and earlier this season. Did you see in the current issue of Sports Illustrated that T.O. was voted by his peers in the NFL as the number one easiest wide receiver to intimidate? Interesting that he has that kind of game last night, huh?

Lot of weird plays and crazy bounces. Those two plays with Owens were wild. But what about Green Bay’s onside kick in the first half? Every Cowboy on the field and even those on the bench had turned tail and run to set up the wedge. Nobody stayed home. The Packers could have let it roll 20 yards and been OK. But the ball bounced up and glanced off somebody’s elbow, negating what would have been a huge momentum play.

And then Favre. Even though his play was ridiculously horrible during the 20 minutes he played, I hate it that the game was decided with him on the sidelines. His QB rating for last night is officially 8.9. But doesn’t it take some of the luster off the win for Dallas that they didn’t get a 60-minute duel with the one guy who’s made the Packers what they are this season? Doesn’t it cheapen it a little? A little? I think you have to put an asterisk by this game because of that.

Weird game.

Rick Romo Rules!

Peace,

Allan

Favorite Day

November 19, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

Sunday is still my favorite day of the week.

I had to actually think about that three weeks ago when Carrie-Anne and I filled out a personal inventory / survey in the Young Families class here at Legacy. One of the questions in the “just getting to know you” section that included queries about favorite colors, books, vacation spots, etc., was “What is your favorite day of the week?” And I put Sunday. One of the other questions was “Employer, City” and I wrote “God, Heaven.” But Sunday really is my favorite day of the week because it’s the one day I get to spend with a thousand different Christian believers all in one building at one time. And, to me, that, just as much if not more than anything else, speaks to the power of our God. It testifies to the miracle of our Savior. It’s amazing to me that so many of us, from different backgrounds and different mindsets and worldviews and opinions and beliefs and customs and traditions and circumstances can be brought together as family in one place to submit to each other and love each and serve each other in the name of Jesus. Amazing.

God creates us, brings us together, and sustains us to be family. And it can be really messy.

As we make the move here at Legacy from a church that does small groups to a Small Groups Church, we talk all the time about how we don’t believe for a second that Small Groups is going to solve all our problems. If anything, it’s going to create a whole new set of problems. When a thousand people make the decision to get intimately involved in each other’s lives, it gets messy. None of us is perfect. We’ve all got our baggage and issues and viewpoints and struggles and faults. It won’t be easy.

Eugene Peterson—by now, you know, one of my favorite authors—writes about the church as a messy community in his book The Jesus Way.

“Community is intricate and complex. Living in community as a people of God is inherently messy. A congregation consists of people of various moods, ideas, needs, experiences, gifts and injuries, desires and disappointments, blessings and losses, intelligence and stupidity, living in proximity and in respect for one another, and believingly in worship of God. It is not easy and it is not simple. Not every situation can be anticipated. Novel combinations of circumstances take us by surprise. No community worth its salt has ever existed very long without attending painstakingly to particular conditions.”

All of this is true. And it’s never more true than when we all get together on Sundays. Despite our differences, we unite together in the blood of Jesus to worship our Father and love each other and serve each other.

Sunday is still my favorite day of the week because I get to see all of it up close. I stand in the back of the worship center during that closing song and benediction and look out over all my brothers and sisters and I’m moved at what God is able to do with his children. How does this continue to happen? I see the faces and the families while I’m preaching, recognizing my brothers and sisters who are hurting, rejoicing, worried, rebelling, working, arguing, and healing. How is that God keeps this thing together? It’s incredible to me.

Every Sunday is a roller coaster for me. A different roller coaster every week. I know every Sunday morning that there will be ups and downs and dangerous turns and even a couple of loops. But the ride is a little different every time. The good and the bad, the rejoicing and the mourning, the praise and the complaints, an exhilerating acceleration I didn’t expect, a gut-wrenching turn I didn’t see coming, all of us in the same car, all in the family of God. Every Sunday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9-1. How do you argue with that? 9-1. It speaks for itself. And it doesn’t matter who they’ve beaten or how small or large the margin of victory. 9-1 is what it is. It says the Cowboys are a very good football team. And there’s no other way to see it. Even if their pass defense is ranked 24th in the league. Even if Andre Gurod makes every shotgun snap a wild adventure. Even if Flozell Adams moves early like he’s got some kind of false start incentive clause in his contract. Even if Tony Romo throws sidearm. Even if Roy Williams couldn’t cover you on a post route. Even if their number one receiver is a proven ticking time bomb of a quarterback killer and a lockerroom cancer. Even if they don’t have a solid number one running back. 9-1 speaks for itself.

In a league in which it’s extremely difficult to win, the Cowboys keep winning. It’s very impressive. Things bounce their way. They make big plays when they have to. They make up for their mistakes. Their mutual confidence in their coaches and in each other is rare. They really, truly believe they can get to the Super Bowl and win it, regardless of whether they meet the Patriots or the Colts or the ’78 Steelers.

Yesterday’s win over the ‘Skins was impressive. Romo struggled. The secondary got lit up. Nobody appeared to be in sync. Coaches seemed a little confused. Play-calling was suspect.

And they won. They beat a division rival that was desperate for a win, much more desperate than the Cowboys were. Washington needed that game. But the Cowboys wouldn’t let them have it. Very impressive.

I just wish it could have been anybody — ANYBODY — other than Terrell Owens with the four scores.

Peace,

Allan

Go Ye Means Stay!

November 16, 2007 / Allan / 2 Comments

I don’t normally read all my favorite blogs every single day. Usually, once a week, I sit down for an hour or so and go through all of them and catch up. Jim Gardner’s blog is packed with insights and usually forces me to look something up in the Bible or in a book on my shelf or somewhere else on line. His blog takes me a while. With Jimmy Mitchell it only takes about three minutes since he only writes about once a month. (I miss you, Jimmy!) Our Youth Minister here at Legacy, Jason Brown, is only in his first month of full-time blogging. But he’s tackling some deep issues and asking some fairly heady questions. His takes me a while, too.

His Wednesday post on missions and mission trips meshed perfectly with my post from yesterday regarding the Rosemont effort in southwest Fort Worth. We had both gone to that kickoff and informational meeting together. So it’s no surprise that our thoughts were focused on the same things.

Our thoughts center on the concept of seeing our own neighborhoods, our own zip codes, as huge mission fields for the Kingdom. The idea of seeing the people all around us as the lost souls that they are, no more and no less important than the lost souls in Africa and South America. Jason’s specific questions deal with the practice of youth mission trips. Why spend all the time and money traveling outside the state or even the country when there’s just as much, if not more, work to be done right across the street?

Here’s what I commented on his blog late last night:

“I was visiting with some brothers and sisters Wednesday about the wonderful work the Rosemont Church of Christ is doing in southwest Fort Worth. They’ve donated their entire campus, all their buildings, and the land it sits on to Continent of Great Cities to plant a huge Spanish-speaking congregation in the middle of what is a huge Hispanic population base in DFW. The discussion turned to our own outreach effort at which point one of our spiritual leaders said, “We don’t have any poor people anywhere near our building. And nobody like that will ever drive to our church.”

That grieves me.

Attitudes and talk like that are nothing less than a writing off of precious people made in the image of our Father. The truth is there are plenty of low-income and/or Spanish-speaking people a stone throw’s away from our building. But we don’t think they’ll fit in. So we don’t even try. And we actively seek to discourage anyone else from trying.

What makes us think that God plants us here, blesses us here, provides for us here, and saves us here — right here in the middle of hundreds of thousands of lost souls — in order to take the Gospel somewhere else?

What makes us think it’s commendable to spend a week or two overseas preaching the Word while we ignore or, worse, write off all our neighbors right here in our own city? What gives us the gall?

I know your post already asks all these same questions. They are real. They are urgent. And they do demand answers.

I think you’re clearly on to something when you speak about our comfort zones. Evangelism is messy. We’d rather create a mess somewhere else and leave, I think, than make one in our own kitchen and have to live with it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s sad, very sad, that Major League Baseball’s All-Time Home Run Champion is Barry Bonds.* He’s a lying cheat. But besides that, the holder of the sport’s most sacred record will spend time in federal prison and will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here’s how awful it is: I think it’s the only thing in the world that could ever cause me to root for Alex Rodriguez to keep hitting homers. That shows you how awful the Bonds* thing is. Go Pay-Rod!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cowboys-Redskins. The Beautiful Harvey Martin tossing a funeral wreath into the visitors lockerroom at Texas Stadium following a Dallas win over Washington. Diron Talbert calling Roger Staubach a dirty name across the line of scrimmage. George Allen accusing the Cowboys of spying on the Redskins practices with a helicopter. Staubach leaping into the arms of Ron Springs after that game-winning pass to Tony Hill clinched the division in Staubach’s last-ever regular season game. Doomsday versus The Hogs.

Jimmy Johnson’s first Cowboys team getting their only win of the season on the road at RFK—without Aikman. Clint Longley’s mad Thanksgiving Day bomb that sealed his “victory of the uncluttered mind.” Larry Cole’s TD returns. The Texas Stadium crowd singing Happy Birthday to Joe Theisman the night he threw five picks in a blowout loss on the date of his birth. Billy Kilmer. Art Monk. Drew Pearson. Chris Hanberger. Joe Gibbs. Too Tall. Everson Walls. The 1982 NFC Championship Game. Michael Downs and Dennis Thurman breaking up the Smurfs celebration in the Cowboys end zone.

Sunday afternoon will be special. All Cowboys-Redskins games are.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Cowboys (Page 46 of 53)

Living Like Jesus

Salvation + Creation = Incarnation

Jessica Ono

Rick Romo Rules!

Favorite Day

Go Ye Means Stay!

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Allan's Links