The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Grandchildren (Page 4 of 6)

Accept Without Judgment

November 17, 2025 / / 0 Comments

This is our older (by 45-seconds) grandson Elliott, showing off his brand new teeth after his Saturday night bath. He and his brother, Sam, aren’t even four-and-a-half months old yet! This seems early for teeth, right?

As always, you can click on the pic to get the full size. While you’re at it, look at those eyelashes. Man, that’s a good looking kid.

I’m way behind on posting pictures here of Elliott and Samuel, so I’m going to post at least one a day this week, no matter what.

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My posts this week will mainly be excerpts from the sermon we preached here yesterday at Golf Course Road Church on Christian unity from Romans 14-15. As we make plans for our annual “4 Midland” pulpit swap and Thanksgiving service this next weekend, it occurs to me that we have no problem putting aside the doctrinal differences that divide our Christian denominations for the sake of our God-ordained unity in Christ. But we allow disputable matters or matters of opinion to divide us within our own congregation. Why is that? And what do we do about it? Romans 14-15, I believe, has the answer.

The apostle Paul distinguished the disciples in that church in Rome as strong Christians and weak Christians–those are his words, not mine. Romans 14 details the problems Paul is addressing in his letter. The weak believers are vegetarians; the strong believers enjoy a good steak. The weak brothers and sisters keep all the Jewish holy days; the strong brothers and sisters don’t. The weak Christians are developing elaborate worship and lifestyle theologies and drawing lines in the sand over what’s right and what’s wrong; the strong Christians don’t have very many lines and they’re not as concerned about which worship and lifestyle practices are good or bad. The weak are criticizing the strong for being spiritually insensitive; the strong are looking down on the weak for being spiritually immature. The strong proclaim freedom in Christ; the weak say, “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything goes.” The weak tell the strong, “You’re wrong;” the strong tell the weak, “Grow up.”

Over what? Over food. Over worship styles and religious traditions. And… keep going?

Over women’s roles and deacons and divorce and remarriage. Song selection and church budgets and Lord’s Supper prayers. Small groups and creeds and Bible translations and politics.

Over… you name it. There are all kinds of issues and beliefs and practices that Christians in the same church argue about.

The Bible makes the solution to this problem easy because it gives both strong Christians and weak Christians the exact same instructions: Accept all Christians and don’t judge any Christians.

“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. One person’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another person, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not look down on the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not condemn the one who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.” ~Romans 14:1-4

Nobody look down on anybody. Nobody condemn anybody. For God has accepted him. Accepted who? Whom has God accepted? This brother or sister in Christ who disagrees with you about some church thing. This group of Christians who don’t see eye-to-eye with you on some disputable matter, some matter of opinion, that in no way should ever divide Christians. You are not that guy’s master. You’re not in charge of that Christian.

Whether he stands or falls is up to the Lord. Whether he’s right or wrong is up to the Lord. Paul says we can’t judge that. But then Paul goes ahead and makes the call. He judges it anyway.

“He will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” ~Romans 14:4

He’ll stand. He’s fine. Whether y’all agree or not, whether y’all are on the same page or not, he’s good because he’s in Christ. Jesus died for him, Paul says in verse 9. That’s the whole reason Jesus died, so he could be the Lord over these things and not you. So you accept him without judgment. Because God accepts him in Christ.

Peace,

Allan

Trick or Treat

November 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Obviously, I’m going to post a couple of pictures of our almost-four-month-old twin grandsons on their first Halloween. The picture above is Elliott and Samuel in their outfits for the day. Super happy. Excited to be alive in a place where there’s a day devoted to giving little kids lots of candy. The pictures below were taken right before the Halloween party–not quite as thrilled; the hats, probably–and then after all the friends went home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, as the timing would have it, my brother Keith is here in Midland to present a seminar on baptism for Center for Christian Studies. It’s a three-hour thing at Downtown Church of Christ on the who, how, and why of the gracious gift of baptism. So, he and Amanda and Keith’s colleague Todd Hall and his wife Cara are hanging out with us at Stanglin Manor.

Keith and I have both aged a bit. It’s been a tough year.

Happy Halloween!
Allan

The Twins & Tom Petty’s Birthday

October 17, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Carrie-Anne, Whitney, and I are in Tulsa this weekend for our monthly trip to see the grandsons. And their parents. And it’s pretty great. At three-and-a-half-months-old, they make eye contact so much easier now. And when they do, it is awesome. So awesome. They’re really locking in and grinning at exactly the right times. And trying, really trying, to talk. Sammy has a sly little smile that melts your heart and Elliott smiles with his whole face, like he’s gut-laughing in silence. And it’s heaven to hold ’em.

We’re running errands together, decorating the yard for Halloween, and mainly just enjoying these precious gifts from our God.

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The great Tom Petty was born on October, 20 1950 in Gainesville, Florida, almost 75 years ago. To celebrate and to remember one of the greatest American singer/songwriters of all time, I’m posting below a live performance of King’s Highway from the Into the Great Wide Open album. To me, this song kinda captures everything I’ve always loved about Tom.

Tom Petty always communicated a realistic look at the problems all around us. His songs never hold back when it comes to pointing out faulty power structures, political corruption, senseless violence, and unfulfilled promises. And we love that about Tom. But what I love even more—and this may be what draws us to Tom Petty—is that he underscores most of everything he writes and sings with HOPE.

I wouldn’t carry this too far, but Tom’s work is like the Psalms in the Bible. In that sense, I mean: Here’s what’s going on in my life, here’s what’s happening in this world or in my country or in my relationships that feels wrong and broken and bad. And things look bad and they feel bad. But that’s not the end of the story. That’s not the last line.

There is something better for us right around the corner; “there’s something good, waitin’ down this road.” Even on “Hypnotic Eye,” in “American Dream Plan B,” the main character doesn’t have a chance, everything’s stacked against him, “But like a fool, I’m bettin’ on happiness.” The last lines Tom sings on his last album, he ends the song and, yes, his life catalogue, by expressing and renewing our hope: “Waiting for the sun to be straight overhead, til we ain’t got no shadow at all.”

That’s why I just love “King’s Highway.” The music, the tempo, the words—it’s about hope. It FEELS like hope. There IS something left for us to believe. This song, to me, reflects so much of the attitude that I think drove all of Tom Petty’s writing and singing and playing. It’s what kept him going so well. For so long.

From Tulsa. Have a really great weekend.

Peace,

Allan

House Divided

October 11, 2025 / / 0 Comments

It’s the first Texas-OU game for the boys and David and Valerie have them decked out in opposing unis. Elliott is wearing Sooners red while Samuel is sporting the burnt orange of UT. Val sent us the picture this morning from their home in Tulsa and labeled it “House Divided.” But I’m not sure how divided it really is. It looks to me in this picture that Elliott is attempting to “Hook ‘Em” with his right hand.

C-A and I think the onesies should be switched. Elliott looks more like our side of the family, while Sammy looks more like David’s side.

Here’s hoping Arch Manning looks more like his uncles today.

Hook ‘Em,
Allan

Hard-Found Humility

October 8, 2025 / / 1 Comment

Pastoring a church can sometimes be a brutal business. Congregational ministry is richly satisfying for me, but it’s also by far the hardest work I’ve ever done and sometimes kicks the stuffing completely out of me. Being the preacher means getting cut. Deeply. By people you love very much. Such sharp and painful cuts. Friends who leave. People who are lost. Unfounded accusations. Jumped conclusions. Confusing complaints. A million different betrayals. When I encountered one of my first set backs in my first year of preaching, a long time ago, someone told me that the church never loves the preacher as much as the preacher loves the church. I didn’t know what he meant back then. Stan Reid, the president of my seminary, wrote on my graduation card in 2007, God will use the good times to encourage you and the bad times to keep you humble; both are needed. Indeed.

But it’s not just what others do to us, it’s our own mistakes and mess-ups that keep us humble. Eugene Peterson wrote this in a letter to his son about being a pastor:

“We make far more mistakes in our line of work than other so-called professionals. If physicians and engineers and lawyers and military officers made as many mistakes as we do in our line of work, they would be out on the street in no time. It amazes me still how much of the time I simply don’t know what I’m doing, don’t know what to say, don’t know what the next move is… But I had a sense much of the time (but not by any means continuously) that ‘not knowing what I am doing’ is more or less what it feels like when I am ‘trusting in God’ and ‘following Jesus.’ 

I’ve never been so dependent on my time alone with our Lord in Word and Prayer every single day than since he’s called me to be a preacher. I find that more and more of what God is asking me to do and what the church expects me to do is completely impossible for me to do. I cannot do it. I have already messed it up. I am listening to you, Lord. I am following you. And we both know only you can do this.

Lastly, we preachers are humbled by trying to shepherd our churches in the name and manner of Jesus. He teaches us how to stoop, how to give, how to work with a bowl and a towel. He teaches us to lean in to the interruptions, to make the hospital visits, to listen for a really long time, to write the card or the letter, to ask for forgiveness, to show mercy, to exercise patience–the whole time looking for that little opening into someone’s soul.

I was invited to speak at First Baptist’s annual minister appreciation lunch here in Midland on Monday. Those pastors I already knew and some of the ones I met on Monday all concur that right now today may be the most difficult time to be a pastor in our lifetimes. It kills some guys. It makes them hard. They wear masks and lose their authenticity. They get guarded and stiff. Others graciously embrace the hard-found humility. They become more patient, more kind, more full of grace for others and for themselves.

I thank my God for the tremendous honor and for the lessons in humility. May my gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

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Our most wonderful grandsons are three-months old today and they are even more incredibly awesome than you can begin to imagine. Look at these guys!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those two pictures were taken yesterday. The official  month-day pictures are always on the giraffe. Those came today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re gonna need a bigger giraffe.

Peace,
Allan

Shepherding at GCR

September 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I finally got these awesome Texas Rangers onesies up to the boys in Tulsa–Elliott and Samuel are ten weeks old now–just in time for our baseball team to be officially mathematically eliminated from the pennant race. The grandsons are right on the edge now, in the very first stages, of responding to us with their eyes and smiles. Even a little intentional noise here and there, a distinct sound that might could be interpreted as an attempt at a word. I spent a good chunk of my weekend trying to get them to laugh and say “Grandpa.” Carrie-Anne had much more luck getting grins–she’s sweeter than I am and they know it. We ran some errands together and ate out a couple of times on Friday–that’s Elliott with the travel drip and the shades. And it doesn’t matter what you call these things they wore to church on Sunday, those are two cute little guys!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By God’s grace, we just concluded a smooth, drama-free, Holy Spirit led, and healthy shepherd selection process here at GCR Church. We ordained six new elders on Sunday–Eric Augesen, Lan Bundy, Craig Dawson, Roy Geer, Mark Helferich, and Jarrod Hutchinson–to join the current group of eight, to give us a terrific team of godly men committed to shepherding this church in the name and manner of our Lord Jesus. By all accounts, Sunday’s ordination ceremony was a beautiful and inspirational moment for our whole congregation.

We want these services to feel like the whole church is participating in ordaining these new shepherds and affirming and blessing the whole leadership. We want the charges and pledges to go both ways–the elders make promises to the church and the congregation makes promises to the elders. And I believe we have developed a model ordination ceremony that any church in our CofC tradition would find lovely.

 

 

 

 

First, we gathered around our elders and prayed thanksgiving and blessing over them. We asked all fourteen of our shepherds and their families to step out into the aisles so we could get to them, and we got out of our seats, put our hands on them and our arms around them, and talked to the Lord about them. We thanked God for the dedication of these men and their wives to seeking the Lord and following Christ and serving his Church. We expressed our love for them to the Father. And we lifted each of them–these men, their wives, their kids, their ministries, their service to our congregation–to the Lord in faith and trust.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we brought all fourteen couples to the stage and their children and grandchildren presented the new guys with beautiful shepherds’ staffs as symbols of godly leadership. We want these staffs to serve as reminders that they are called to lead us with the same priorities our God lays out in Ezekiel 34: lead us to good pastures where there is peace and rest, keep the big strong sheep from running over the smaller weaker sheep, keep all of us from butting heads with each other, search for the lost and bring back the strays, and bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.

And then we charged our elders with the specifics. I started the charge, but we had our other members of the church stand up in the middle of the congregation to also address the shepherds with our expectations. It went like this:

Allan: On behalf of the church family here at Golf Course Road, in the presence of our God, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit; believing that we have not acted in haste, but have prayerfully depended on our God; we charge you men to be faithful shepherds of our flock.

Then Chuck and Bonnie Sohl stood up from their seats on the east side of the Worship Center: Believing that the Spirit of God has called you this ministry and that you are a gift of his grace to our congregation, we charge you to accept this calling with humility and compassion. We charge you to devote yourselves to prayer, to commit yourselves to the ministry of God’s Word, and to consecrate yourselves to the earnest shepherding of our church.

Elders: By God’s grace, we will.

Then Alan McGraw stood up on the west side of the room and read the next lines: As you shepherd us, will you submit to the Lordship of Jesus and to his example by taking the very nature of a servant and considering the needs of others more important than your own?

Elders: By God’s grace, we will submit to the Lordship of Christ, to his church here at GCR, and to one another. We will sacrificially serve the church with humility and compassion in the name and manner of Jesus.

Then Colton Rau, one of our teenagers, from the front pews, representing our young people: Will you diligently seek the Lord in ways that we can follow, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ?

Elders: By God’s grace, we will train ourselves for godliness; we will pursue the way of righteousness, faithfulness, gentleness, and love.

Next, it was Allison Brown from way in the back: And will you guard this church as the blood-purchased possession of Christ?

Elders: By God’s grace, we will teach and admonish in humility, encourage and support in love, and faithfully lead and protect our brothers and sisters at GCR as our Lord’s most prized possession.

At this point, I asked the entire congregation to stand and I asked them two questions, to which they responded in unison. First, do you acknowledge and publicly affirm these godly men as your shepherds and receive them as your elders as gifts of God’s Holy Spirit to this church?

Congregation: Yes, we acknowledge these men as elders ordained by God and we receive them as our shepherds and as gifts of God’s Holy Spirit to this church.

Will you love and pray for these men, will you work together with them, in humility and unity and good cheer, will you give them all due honor and support in the leadership to which our God has called them?

Congregation: By God’s grace, we will obey and submit to these men, so that their work will be a joy and not a burden.

Then I asked all in the church who agreed to affirm by saying, “Amen.” We all did. And then Eddie Lee, one of our former long-serving elders, led us in a beautiful congregational prayer of thanksgiving and blessing over the whole thing.

It wasn’t just six guys on the stage and a prayer. It was our whole church, from the youngest among us to the oldest, in the aisles, on the stage, asking and answering questions, making eye contact, making promises, giving and receiving blessings and hugs, saying prayers and being prayed over.

We do not “install” elders; that’s what you do with dishwashers. We ordain them. We affirm them. We charge them and bless them and use holy words to lift them up to the Father. It’s relational. It’s between a church and its spiritual leaders in the presence of God. It’s not an “installation.” It’s a sacred moment in the ongoing story of what the Lord is doing in and through his people in this place. Treating it as such will inspire your church. It will bless your shepherds. And it will honor our God who brings us together in Christ Jesus.

Peace,

Allan

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