The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Dallas Stars (Page 2 of 8)

Not Up to the Task

April 17, 2025 / / 2 Comments

The title of today’s post is about preachers on Easter Sunday, but it’s also an appropriate description of the Dallas Stars as they begin the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs the day after tomorrow. The Stars closed out the regular season in Nashville last night by losing their seventh straight game. It’s the longest losing streak in more than a decade for a team most considered favorites to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

They’re in a bad way right now. Through these dreadful seven games, the Stars have been outscored 34-18 and out-shot by an average of 36-26 per game. They got Tyler Seguin back last night after he’s missed almost five months following hip surgery, but they lost Jason Robertson for the last half of the game with a fluke knee injury.

I don’t think you can just flip a switch Saturday and immediately remedy everything that’s gone so wrong the past three weeks with the Stars’ defense, their power play, their penalty kill, and blowing third period leads. I think momentum means something heading into the playoffs, especially when you’re facing the dreaded and feared Avalanche.

I’m hoping Robo’s knee issue is minor and won’t limit him for the postseason. I’m also hoping that my attitude and expectations will improve between now and Saturday night’s playoff opener. Right now, none of it feels very good.

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Reinhold Niebuhr is quoted as saying that he would always attend a “high church” on Easter Sunday where there would be great music but very little preaching. In his view, “No preacher is up to the task on Easter.” I think he’s probably right.

John Updike wrote a poem called “Seven Stanzas of Easter” that perfectly and beautifully captures every preacher’s frustration leading up to Easter Sunday. One of the lines is “Let us not mock God with metaphor and analogy / sidestepping transcendence / let us walk through the door.”

It is a waste of time to try to explain the resurrection of Jesus. Some things can’t be reduced to an explanation and are greatly diminished in the process of trying. The task on Easter is proclamation, not explanation. On Easter, we preachers should offer an invitation to walk through the door, into a brand new world, where the ultimate reality is not death and dying, but everlasting life in the God Almighty of love and grace who brought our Lord Jesus out of the grave.

Proclaim the resurrection–that’s what the apostles did. And that’s what we need to do Sunday.

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I’m really looking forward to our annual 4Midland Maundy Thursday service this evening, hosted this year by our brothers and sisters at First Methodist. We’re changing things up a bit tonight with more of a Tenebrae vibe than a Maundy Thursday vibe. We’re not sharing the communion meal, deciding instead to focus on the events following that last supper, from our Lord’s prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, through the trials and the crucifixion, to his burial. The service will flow from the Scriptures, lots and lots of Scripture, punctuated with dramatic visual and audio effects to immerse us in the sacred story. The combined choirs of our four churches will bless us with some special music, but we’re also going to sing some old familiar hymns together like O Sacred Head, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.

Anytime our four churches get together for worship or service, it’s a powerful witness to our city that our Lord lived, died, and was raised to eternal life to break down all the barriers between us and him and between us and one another. That will happen again tonight and it will be glorious. By God’s grace and his Holy Spirit, we’re also going to be drawn closer to our Lord this evening. And to each other.

If you live anywhere in the Permian Basin, I invite you to join us at 7:00 this evening at First Methodist in Midland.

I thank God for our 4Midland partnership, for the holy friendships I enjoy so much with these three pastors, and for the ways our churches are learning from one another and growing together in Christ.

Peace,

Allan

Falling Stars

April 13, 2025 / / 0 Comments

My longtime theory that a night at a Dallas Stars hockey game is better than a night almost anywhere else was stretched to it’s thinnest limit Thursday night as Winnipeg blasted our team 4-0. Our youngest daughter Carley and her husband Collin joined Whitney and me for the late-season matchup between the Central division’s top two teams, but it felt incredibly one-sided from the opening faceoff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took our pictures in front of the amazing Mike Modano statue in Victory Plaza. We loaded up on all-you-can eat popcorn buckets and limitless souvenir cups. And we got absolutely creamed.

When the score went to 3-0 early in the third period, somebody two rows behind us shouted, “Plenty of time, boys!” And the guy in front of him said, “Too soon!” Remember, just 48-hours earlier, the Vancouver Canucks had scored three goals in the final one-minute of regulation to tie the Stars and send the game to overtime where Dallas eventually lost. Yes, too soon.

When Winnipeg scored to make it 4-0  midway through the third, some lady one section over shouted, “We’re sorry about the tariffs! Four goals is enough! We’re sorry!”

It was that kind of night for Dallas.

Now they’re on a season-long five game losing streak, there are only two more games remaining in the regular season, and they can’t catch the Jets. The Stars are locked in to the number-two seed and will face the hated Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs that begin this weekend. I just hope they’re doing it on a two-game winning streak and not a seven-game skid.

Officially, I’m blaming Stephen Lowery for the slump. He went to the Pittsburgh game that started this five-game slide.

Peace,

Allan

Play Pantera!

April 10, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Our GCR church family observed our monthly MidWeek at the movies last night, taking in the premier of the new animated flick “King of Kings.” The movie was fine, but the best part of the evening was just eating popcorn, drinking Icees, and hanging out with 150 of our brothers and sisters, almost half of them little kids. Thank you to to all who came out and made last night such a blast!

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Whitney and I are leaving right now for the Stars-Jets game in Dallas. I am fearful that the Stars might be hungover from Tuesday’s historic meltdown against Vancouver. It feels like there’s a lot less to play for tonight–they are four points behind Winnipeg, not one or two. First place in the conference and the top seed in the upcoming playoffs is not on the line tonight, only a chance to pull to within two of the division leaders. It would be disappointing, but completely understandable, if the team dragged a bit coming out tonight. But, man, you don’t want any kind of dread or fate hanging over your hockey team when you’re less than two weeks away from the postseason. A huge statement win over the Jets tonight could be a massive boost of confidence and adrenaline for the Stars. That’s my hope.

For the road trip, at least a dozen times hitting ‘play’ on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EMtjHz4bVY

Go Stars!

Allan

His Glorious Riches

April 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The Stars lost a heart-breaker last night in a way no team has ever lost before. Dallas was leading the Canucks 3-0 heading into the third period and, after Vancouver scored two quick goals to pull to within one, the Stars scored two more, including an empty-netter with 2:20 to play, to go back up by three. With one minute left in the game, Dallas led 5-2. One minute later it was tied and headed to overtime. For the very first time in NHL history, a team trailed by three in the final minute and scored three goals to force overtime. It’s never happened before. It was stunning. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it hurt bad.

Dallas has lost three straight now for the first time all season and they had a third period lead in all three games. They’ve left a lot of points in the standings on the table the past week or so. Instead of being one or two points behind Winnipeg and tomorrow’s game against the Jets being for first place in the division and the number one seed in the Western Conference, it’s only for how far behind Winnipeg they’re going to finish. Whitney and I bought tickets for tomorrow’s game, hoping it would be for the division title and the top seed. But the Stars are four points down and reeling. Whit and I will see in person tomorrow how the team responds to the historically impossible meltdown. It all but guarantees a first round matchup with the Avalanche in a week-and-a-half, and nobody wanted that.

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The prayer at the end of Ephesians 3 is loaded with hefty theology. It’s packed with soaring adjectives and lofty descriptions of God’s eternal promises and our unshakable confidence. I’d like to focus today on one simple phrase at the beginning of the prayer that sometimes goes overlooked.

“Out of his glorious riches…”

The prayer asks God to strengthen us with power out of his glorious riches. The literal Greek words in the original text are “his wealth of glory.” It could be translated “glorious wealth” or “the riches of God’s glory.” One translation says, “God’s unlimited resources.” Either way, what it means is that God is never going to run out.

God is never going to run out of what he has for you. Do you think God’s going to run out?

He is never going to run out of love for you. It’s part of his glory, his nature. God is not going to run out of mercy or goodness or comfort or peace for you. Knowing that should give you strength. Having direct access to all of who God is and his glorious riches for you gives you power.

But he won’t keep forgiving me for the same thing over and over, not for this long.

Yes. He will. He won’t run out of forgiveness for you.

But God won’t take me back again. He won’t let me come back after what I’ve done.

Yes. He will. You can’t use up God’s goodness toward you, his desire to be in relationship with you. His love for you is without limit. Out of our God’s glorious riches, he strengthens you with power.

Peace,

Allan

A Matter of Relevance

June 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The number of times each professional team in Dallas has played in a conference/league championship game/series since 1995:

Dallas Stars – 7
Dallas Mavericks – 5
Texas Rangers – 3
Dallas Cowboys – 0

The Hardest One

June 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The final two-and-a-half minutes of Game Six were gut-wrenchingly glorious. Dallas needing one goal to tie, Oettinger off the ice for the Stars’ man-advantage, furious shot after furious shot, pinging off the pipe, bouncing off Skinner’s pads, juicy rebounds crawling across the crease–a frantic flurry that ended with Edmonton hanging on and advancing to the Stanley Cup Final and sending the Stars back home for the offseason.

The Stars outplayed the Oilers at Rogers Place for all 60-minutes last night. They outshot Edmonton 35-10; it’s the first time in NHL history a team won a playoff game with just ten shots on goal. Dallas owned the puck for more than 75% of the minutes. You can make the case that Dallas played their best game of the Western Conference Final last night. And they came up short. By one goal. By a couple of inches.

And it’s over.

Here are my thoughts in the immediate aftermath of this terribly disappointing development.

Lord Stanley’s Cup is the absolute hardest trophy to win in all of sports. It’s a grueling gauntlet. To win the NHL Championship, you’ve got to breeze through at least one of your playoff series. You’ve got to sweep at least one of your opponents or win a series in five games. It’s too physically taxing, it’s too emotionally draining, it’s too hard otherwise. Dallas had to chase last year’s champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, after dropping the first two games at home, and took seven games to finish them off. They dispatched the previous year’s champs, Colorado, in six games, but the finale took two overtimes, so it was like a seventh game. And it caught up to them. The draw was difficult, yes–Edmonton had a much easier path to the Conference Final. But if the Stars are going to fight so hard through the season for home ice advantage, then home ice needs to be an advantage. They dropped Game One in each of the three series and were chasing things from there on out. It’s too hard.

In a seven game series, the better team is going to win. Dallas suffered too many injuries to key defensemen and exerted too much energy in playing from behind in every series. It was obvious by the end of Game Four that the Stars were done. At this point of the postseason, the Oilers are the better team. Now, understand, this is NHL hockey. It’s not like other sports. One thing we love about hockey is that things can change so quickly. Most of it’s quite unpredictable. If the Stars get one little break last night we’re playing a deciding Game Seven at the AAC tomorrow and, in Game Sevens, anything goes. That’s how close it is. That’s what makes those last two minutes so incredibly wonderful and crazy. The thing about a seven game series, though, that you can’t deny is that the better team almost always wins.

Last night’s loss is especially painful for longtime Stars veterans like Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Ryan Suter. The window is closing for these loyal Stars and you just don’t know how much longer they can keep it up. The Stars have 13 players under contract for next year and most of them are entering the prime of their young careers. Miro, Roope, Borque, Logan, Wyatt–these guys have all played in back-to-back Western Conference Finals and they are going to break through to a Stanley Cup soon. I’m guessing at least 30 of the NHL’s 32 teams would trade rosters with the Stars right now and love it.

I’ll say it again: NHL playoff hockey is the best thing in sports; yes, it’s better than football. It’s lightening fast, requires incredible skills, ultra-physical, and the only sport that offers a true “sudden death.” It’s the two-and-a-half-hour heart attack. The Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win. And the Stars gave us a dynamic run for it again.

Peace,

Allan

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