Category: Jesus (Page 53 of 61)

In Christ Jesus

Salvation In Christ“You are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” ~1 Corinthians 1:30

All the doctrine of the Bible is made personal is Jesus. God’s wisdom is Jesus. Our righteousness is Jesus. Our holiness is Jesus. Our redemption is Jesus. Our resurrection is made personal and real in Jesus. Everything we need, and indeed have, for salvation and a right relationship with God is in Jesus.

When you’re down two scores in the fourth quarter you need a Pro Bowl quarterback, not a good playbook. When you’re being sued you need a good lawyer, not a comprehensive law encyclopedia. When you’re sick you need a good doctor, not a user-friendly medical website. And when you’re facing your greatest enemies — sin, death, Satan — you need the Savior of the World!

God’s wisdom and righteousness and holiness and redemption are gifts to you from him. They are benefits, yes. But they’re more than that. They are actually aspects of a relationship with Jesus. It is him in you. For all of us who were baptized into Christ have clothed ourselves with Christ.

When you belong to Christ Jesus you have all you’ll ever need in life and death, in time and space, and for eternity.

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 Unity

A look back at Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address which he began writing in August 1809, 200 years ago this week inspires the reader to carefully and prayerfully consider our Lord’s call to Christian unity. Scripture’s picture of unity. Our God’s will for unity.

The opening lines — one sentence with tons of commas — goes like this:

“That it is the grand design, and native tendency, of our holy religion, to reconcile and unite men to God, and to each other, in truth and love, to the glory of God, and their own present and eternal good, will not, we presume, be denied, by any of the genuine subjects of christianity.”

The whole thing is a call to unity. Reconciliation. The kind of reconciliation Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 5. Reconciliation between God and man. Between man and man. The kind of reconciliation that drives God’s eternal plans. The very ministry he’s given those of us who’ve professed our faith in him and put his Holy Son on in baptism. Campbell’s words in this document are bold. Aggressive. And they ring with beautiful and undeniable truth. The Declaration and Address, the charter document of our Churches of Christ, calls for a swift end to all divisions among those who claim to be followers of Jesus.

“Has the Captain of Salvation sounded a desist from pursuing, or proclaimed a truce with, this deadly enemy that is sheathing its sword in the very bowels of the church, rending and mangling his mystical body into pieces. Has he said to his servants, let it alone? If not, where is the warrant for a cessation of endeavors to have it removed?”

Campbell claims that tearing down the walls and uniting again with our brothers and sisters in Christ is a “matter of universal right, a duty belonging to every citizen of Zion, to seek her good.” And while the work will be difficult and the opposition will come mainly from within the church establishment, Campbell says it is God’s will. It is the Church’s will. It is the will of those who’ve gone before us. And our efforts will be divinely rewarded.

“…both the mighty and the many are with us. The Lord himself, and all that are truly his people, are declaredly on our side. The prayers of all the churches, nay, the prayers of Christ himself, John 17:20-23, and of all that have ascended to his heavenly kingdom, are with us.”

I thank God for the Campbells and the Stones and other giants of the faith who latched onto God’s holy will as revealed to us in Scripture and. would. not. let. it. go. They lived to obey God rather than man. They swore to use only the Bible as their guide. And they vowed that, despite the opposition, they would remain loyal to their King and his Kingdom. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. We owe them the effort to carry on the difficult work they started 200 years ago.

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Red Ribbon Review24 days until the Dallas Cowboys kick off their historic 50th NFL football season. 24 days from now they’ll be battling the Bucs down in Tampa. And we’re counting down the days with the Red Ribbon Review, a look at the second-best players in Cowboys history, according to jersey number. (This countdown becomes much more important with every Rangers loss. If they lose tonight, I’m blaming it on Lewin’s “1999-ish” comments on Tuesday.)

Larry Brown #24The second-best ever #24 in Cowboys history is a Super Bowl MVP, cornerback Larry Brown. The Cowboys stole him with a 12th round pick in 1991 and got a starting right corner for five straight seasons, three of them Super Bowl championship seasons. Brown is best known for picking off two Neil O’Donnell passes in the second half of Super Bowl XXX which led directly to the points the Cowboys needed to win their third title in four years. Yes, the balls hit Brown right in the chest. Yes, it looked like one of them would have to be surgically removed after the game, O’Donnell threw them right at him so hard. But a lot of people forget what a great ’95 season Brown had leading up to that game.

The former TCU star collected six picks that season, racked up 124 return yards, and ran two of them back for TDs. All of this just a few months following the tragic death of his young son. It was a great story that year. But most people have already forgotten.

Brown used his three rings and his MVP trophy to cash a huge paycheck in Oakland with the Raiders. That only lasted two years. He came back to Dallas in ’98 and played just parts of four games for the Cowboys before hanging it up for good. He finished his Cowboys career with 13 total picks and 279 total tackles. He played in 13 playoff games, four NFC Championship Games, and three Super Bowls as a Cowboy. And he’s the second-best #24 in Cowboys history.

Peace,

Allan

The Great Exchange

The Great ExchangeThe Gospel is all about changing places. It’s about substitution. Someone taking my place. Me filling in for someone else. Christ paying a debt he didn’t owe. Me bearing the burdens that belong to my brother. An exchange. A switch-out.

The Gospel is this way because our God is this way.

God is love. And love — real love, intimate love, liberating love, gospel love — is all about this great exchange.

Think about your Small Group that meets Sunday nights. Think of the emotionally wounded person in that group. There is no way to listen to and love that person and stay completely emotionally put-together yourself. As you listen to him and attend to him, he will probably begin to feel better and stronger. But that won’t happen without you being emotionally drained yourself. There’s an exchange. And it takes its toll.

Parenting is the same way. We sacrifice and give and serve in order that our children may live. We decrease so they will increase.

God’s salvation through Christ works the same way. He submits to man. He leaves his heavenly home. He serves. He suffers and sacrifices. He takes on shame to give us glory. He dies so we can live.

John Stott wrote:

The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God puts himself where we deserve to be.

If we’ll open our eyes and look for it, we’ll see that the exchange is all around us. We live in the exchange. Praise God for the great exchange!

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Faith Builders Day Camp is always crazy. Hectic. Continuous noise. Non-stop energy. Interactive. Responsive. Hilarious. Meaningful. Life-changing. Momentous.

For three days Lance and I double-teamed 40 of our 5th, 6th, and 7th graders, engaging them in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. The young people studied hard for three hours each morning. And then after lunch we enjoyed off-site activities together like bowling and swimming and even Ice Age at TinselTown. But then it was back home for 30-minutes of homework with mom and dad.

Girls on one side  Faith Builders ‘09  Boys on the other

The conversations were happening. What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Why did Jesus have to die? When were the dinosaurs created? What happens if I sin again after I’m baptized? Why does God let bad things happen? Bibles were being read. Light bulbs were going off. God was reaching out to his children. And the faith is being passed on from generation to generation.

Thank you so much to those parents who trust their most prized possessions with us for those three days. It was our pleasure. We had a blast. And thank you for taking the time and effort to have these important faith conversations with your children at night. Thank you, too, to all the volunteers who helped prepare and serve the meals, write and apply the name tags and Bible stickers, drive our children to the afternoon events, stuff the folders, and stick on the Band-Aids. It couldn’t have happened without you.

Mark your calendars now for Faith Builders Day Camp ’10, August 9-11 next year!

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I’ve gotten behind on the Red Ribbon Review. Let’s catch up now on the countdown to Cowboys season by recognizing the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. After last night’s pre-season opener, it’s pretty clear why we’re targeting the first game of the regular season and not these exhibition stinkers.

Timmy NewsomeThere are 30 days left until the Cowboys open up their historic 50th season (no 50th season patches on the Dallas unis last night?). And the second-best player to ever wear #30 for the Cowboys is all-purpose back Timmy Newsome. He was drafted in 1980 in the 6th round as a tailback out of Winston-Salem. But the Cowboys already had a Hall of Famer in Tony Dorsett and a solid fullback in Ron Springs. So Landry used Newsome as a backup to both positions and sometimes even lined him up as a tight end. As a running back, Newsome actually finished his nine-year Cowboys career with more receiving yards (1,966) than rushing yards (1,226).

Brock Marion#31 in the Red Ribbon Review is safety Brock Marion. George Teague gets honorable mention for trying to take off Terrell Owens’ head when he was posing on the star at midfield. But Marion was a three-time Pro Bowler who played five years in Dallas (’93-’97) and helped the Cowboys win two Super Bowls. He was a great special teams player, too. Full of energy and hustle. Marion ended his career in Miami with the Dolphins. But only one other Cowboy to wear #31 was better.

Dennis ThurmanDennis Thurman gets us caught up with #32. An 11th round pick out of USC in 1978, Thurman played eight years for the Cowboys and racked up 36 interceptions. As a rookie, he recovered an on-side kick for the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII. As a starting corner, he made plenty of big plays and had some huge games. His most memorable, perhaps, a 1983 playoff game against the Packers in which Thurman intercepted three passes and ran one back 39 yards for a score. As an aging veteran, Thurman turned player-coach, playing alongside and mentoring youngsters like Everson Walls, Michael Downs, Ron Fellows, and Dextor Clinkscale. In a Monday Night Football game against the Redskins, the Cowboys picked off five Joe Theisman passes in a nationally-televised blowout. Theisman was celebrating his 36th birthday that night. The Texas Stadium crowd serenaded the ‘Skins QB with “Happy Birthday” as he trudged off the field. And it was in the lockerroom after the game that Danny White dubbed the Cowboys secondary “Thurman’s Theives.” The name stuck. Dennis Thurman never missed a game during his NFL career. And he’s gone on to become a pretty well respected defensive backs coach with the Jets and the Baltimore Ravens.

May the Rangers keep things interesting until the pre-season is over,  

Allan 

Love Each Other

“My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.” ~John 15:12

“Love each other as I have loved you.”I’m blown away by the fact that Jesus showed his apostles how much he loved them by washing their feet the night he was betrayed. The Lord and Master of all got up from the meal, took off his coat, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a bowl, and washed their feet.

He washed their feet.

The King of the Universe knelt down and scrubbed 120 filthy, stinky, sweaty, dirty, disgusting toes. And all the stuff in-between the toes. He even washed the feet of Judas.

Knowing what Judas was planning to do — what he was about to do — Jesus still humbles himself and washes his feet. Jesus loves Judas that much. And then hours later he dies for Judas, this one who betrayed him. He dies for Peter, this one who denied him. He dies for all the apostles who fled and disowned him. He dies for the Jews who demanded he be killed. He dies for the Romans who carried out the execution. He dies for me, who’s just as guilty as any of these men in Scripture.“Love each other as I have loved you”

That’s a Savior’s love. No ifs, ands, or buts. Jesus never says I’ll love you if you treat me right. He doesn’t say I’ll love you when you get your act together. He doesn’t say I’ll love you when you grow up. Jesus’ love is not conditioned by right behavior or a good performance. It’s not based on your IQ or money or skin color or clothes or education or bloodline or status. Jesus actually says I’ll die for you when you’re my enemy. I’ll serve you while you’re sinning against me. I’ll give my life for you when you’re only thinking of yourself.

Because I love you this much.

And then he says, “Love each other as I have loved you.”

We don’t think about that enough. We don’t take it seriously enough.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is more important than preaching and giving and good works. Incredibly, he even says love is bigger than faith and hope. And if love is really more important than those things, then our conclusion must be that love is more important than everything. Love trumps our worship assemblies and worship styles. Love is bigger than our business meetings and budgets. It’s bigger than our doctrine and our tradition. Love is bigger and more important than any thing else out there that could ever possibly divide us.

“Love each other as I have loved you.”If so — and I believe it with all my heart — then why aren’t we as committed to loving each other as we are to those other things that divide us and lead to arguing and fighting? Seriously. If love is the most important thing — and if you don’t believe that, then we’re not reading the same Bible — why do we fuss and complain?

As children of God and disciples of his Son, we must place unconditional, God-ordained love in the supreme position of our hearts and our minds and our church. All of our time and energy and strength should go into loving each other as Christ loves us.

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Red Ribbon Review52 days until the Cowboys begin their 2009 regular season against the Bucs in Tampa Bay. Of course, training camp and pre-season games are right around the corner. But, honestly, who can watch that? We’re all pointing to Sunday September 13. And to help us get there, we’re recognizing the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number.

Today’s #52 is tiny linebacker Dexter Coakley.

Dexter CoakleyOK, he’s not exactly tiny. 5’10” and 236 pounds is good for a small 1-AA school like Appalachian State. And despite setting all kinds of national tackle and interception records there and winning every defensive award there was, Coakley slipped all the way to the Cowboys in the third round of the 1997 draft.

And they got a steal.

Coakley wound up starting in his rookie year and played eight seasons in Dallas before giving way to Bradie James and Bill Parcells’ 3-4 defense. He was named to three Pro Bowls playing on a Cowboys defense that was built on speed and pursuit. And he wound up all over the Cowboys team record books. Coakley racked up a team record seven consecutive seasons of at least 100 tackles. He’s got the fourth highest total tackles record in team history with 1,046. And he’s tied with Dennis Thurman for the most defensive TDs in a Cowboys career with five.

Despite his size, Coakley was durable, too. In his eight seasons in Dallas, he only missed one game. He started all 127 games he played for the Cowboys. None of those games, by the way, were playoff wins. But he’s still the second-best #52 in Cowboys history.

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I’m still looking for information regarding the commemorative patch the Cowboys are going to wear on their uniforms this season to mark their 50th year. Anyone with info on that?

I’m also thrilled to share this bit of news with you: the NFL is going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the old AFL all Oilers / Titans 50 Year Patchyear long. The original eight teams of the old American Football League will wear 1960 throwback unis for three games this season, several of them matchups between AFL alums. Of great interest to me is the old Houston Oilers. Yes, the Titans are going to throw on light blue jerseys with light blue helmets and white derrick logos and gray facemasks for three games this season. Plus, they get the bonus game at the Hall of Fame on August 9. I can’t wait to see that.

The Original Eight AFL teams and their throwback unis for special games this season

Of course, the Jets will be sporting their New York Titans uniforms and logos this year. And the Boston Patriots will be giving us the classic triangle-hat wearing-Revolution-soldier-snapping-the-ball look on their helmets.

The Cowboys will also be involved in something pretty neat. When they travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs, they’ll actually be lining up against the old Dallas Texans. The Chiefs will be wearing bright red jerseys and helmets with the all-white Texas-shaped decal, including the gold star that designates the location of Dallas. Some Chiefs fans are upset that their team will be wearing a huge map of Texas on their hats this year, especially in a game against the Cowboys. But I think it’s super cool. The Cowboys and Texans never played a regular season game against each other before Lamar Hunt moved his team to Kansas City. Too bad this one’s at Arrowhead and not at the Cotton Bowl.

Peace,

Allan

Pruning Pains

Pruning Pains“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener….every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” ~John 15:2

What about this pruning? Trimming back parts of the healthy branch to make sure the greatest energy of the branch goes into making bigger and better fruit? Cutting parts of the branch in an effort to produce more quantity and quality?

Ouch.

If the branches of the vine could speak, they’d tell us, yes, it’s painful. Yeah, it hurts to be cut. But they’d also rejoice Bearing Fruitbecause they’re able now to produce more and better fruit as a result of that painful pruning.

I can look back on my life and see how God has pruned me. You can, too. I can feel, I can point to, even now — this past week, today — things God is using to prune me, to trim away distractions, to really focus my life. Let’s not ever forget — and I need to be reminded of this all the time — that God uses painful and unpleasant things to prune us.

Pruning“You have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.” ~Hebrews 12:5-7

What’s keeping you from bearing fruit? What is it in your life that’s distracting you or gets in the way of producing righteous fruit? Now, how is the gardener working, today, to prune it away?

Our trials and tough times need to always be appreciated as part of God’s pruning process. Pruning is the gardener’s job. And we need it. We don’t ignore it or curse it. And we shouldn’t be surprised by it. We grow from it.

John Bunyan wrote: “There are those that grow ill and well again like beasts, learning nothing from it.”

Let’s not let that be us. Submit to God’s pruning. And learn and grow. It’s a sure sign that God has accepted you and is actively working to transform you more into the image of his Son.

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Red Ribbon ReviewWe’re into the linebackers now as our countdown to Cowboys season heads into the 50s. There are 59 days left until the Cowboys kick off their historic 50th NFL season. And our Red Ribbon Review honors the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number.

Today’s #59 is the first Vietnamese-American to ever play in the NFL, Aggies linebacker Dat Nguyen. Highly decorated in the Big XII and across the nation — he still holds the A&M record for career Nguyen Picktackles at 517 — Nguyen was still considered too small to be an impact player in the pros. So he slipped all the way to the third round where the Cowboys selected him in 1999. Nguyen led the Cowboys in special team tackles that rookie year. And by the middle of his second season, he had become the starter at middle linebacker.

Dat NguyenA variety of injuries, mainly a neck injury in 2005, forced his retirement after just seven seasons. But Nguyen wound up with 665 total tackles and seven interceptions for his Cowboys career, including 172 stops in 2001, the second-highest season total in team history. His hustle and determination and huge smile made him a fan favorite. His work ethic and brains have made him a current Cowboys assistant coach. (His involvement in Michael Irvin’s “Fourth and Long” causes me to question his brains. And the advice he’s getting from counselors.)

I was there in the Dome, on the sidelines in St. Louis as a sports talk show host at WHBQ in Memphis, when Dat’s Aggies came from 17 down to beat K-State in double OT for the Big XII Championship. And I was hosting a morning show on KTUB in Wichita Falls by the summer of ’99 when Dat made his Cowboys debut there at training camp at Midwestern State. Super nice guy. And the second-best #59 in Cowboys history.

Peace,

Allan

For The Sake Of His Body

For the sake of his body…Preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God is going to involve some suffering. Picking up a cross and following Jesus, as our Savior demands, is certainly a call to suffering. It’s a sharing in the sufferings of Christ, a participation in what he endured. It makes us more like him. It shapes us and molds us to be more like him.

Jesus’ afflictions are not complete. They’re not done. They’re not finished. They are “lacking.” The sufferings of the Christ are still being carried out in those of us who follow him.

“I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church.”

The Colossians 1:24-29 context in which we find this sentence is all about preaching — proclaiming the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. Preachers, I think, are called to die. To die to self, to die to the world, to die to any other way of life, to model in a “the-medium-is-the-message” kind of way what it looks like to live in Christ. To take on the sufferings, to bear the burdens, to carry the weight. And to do it for the sake of the Church.

There’s a teenager in your church who will come alive if you’ll only die for him. There’s an older woman in your congregation who will blossom like never before if you’ll die for her. There’s a sick brother, a depressed sister, a spiritually immature Christian, a stubborn believer, a wounded soul, a damaged disciple who has no hope of living unless someone dies for him or her.

I need to be reminded of this constantly. My role as a proclaimer of the Good News is to preach it and live it the way Christ did. Even with the sufferings. Accepting the sufferings. Embracing the sufferings. Welcoming them as a way of joining my Lord in his mission to redeem the world.

“I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” ~Colossians 1:24-29.

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Red Ribbon ReviewToday’s #60 in our Red Ribbon Review countdown to Cowboys season is a downer. Twelve players have worn #60 in Cowboys history. And it’s a less than stellar group. The noteables among them include the likes of Jackie Burkett, Ben Noll, Lee Roy Caffey, and Dean Hamel. You don’t remember them. You can’t tell me what position they played or when. This is a tough group. Only two of these 12 played for Dallas longer than two seasons. One of them is the second-best #60 ever to play for the Cowboys. And he is defensive lineman Don Smerek.

(I can’t even find a picture of the guy. All I’ve got for you are these career stats. If you find a picture of Smerek please send it to me. Still looking for a picture of our Red Ribbon #69, Ben Fricke, too.)

I do remember him, though. Smerek played 69 games for the Cowboys as a backup defensive lineman from 1981-87. An undrafted free agent out of Nevada-Reno, Smerek finished his career with 14.5 quarterback sacks, six of those in 1983, probably his finest season. Smerek is remembered for his time in Dallas, mainly, for two things.

One, he was shot in the chest one night by a Dallas motorist who claimed the 6′-7″, 260-pound Smerek kicked his car and challenged him to a fight. A Dallas grand jury refused to indict the shooter for attempted murder. They ruled it self-defense.

Two, Smerek was riding shotgun with Randy White when they famously crossed the Cowboys players’ picket line to participate in practice on the first day of the 1987 NFL players strike. Tony Dorsett stood in front of White’s pickup in a tense standoff in front of TV cameras and nearly got run over by an angry “Manster.” Of course, Dorsett actually joined the “scabs” two weeks later, along with Too Tall Jones and Danny White. I’m not sure the Cowboys ever got over what happened during those six weeks. But Smerek and Randy White were the first two to cross. And Smerek is the second-best player to ever wear #60 for the Cowboys.

Peace,

Allan

Never See Death

Never See Death

Why doesn’t the roadrunner ever die? I’ve watched the coyote chase him all over the desert, I’ve seen him ALMOST Roadrunner & Coyotecaught by the coyote a million times, I’ve seen him in countless situations that look impossible to escape, but I’ve never seen him die. He always lives. Why?

It’s not because the coyote is inept. He’s a genius. It says so right on his business card.

The roadrunner never dies because the roadrunner has an agreement with the writer.

CoyoteThe writer has already determined that the roadrunner will never die. Regardless of how many trips the coyote makes to the ACME dry goods store, no matter how many rocket launchers and catapults and gallons of invisible paint are purchased, despite the coyote’s hours and hours of planning and scheming, the writer has decided the roadrunner will always win and the coyote will always lose.

Jesus says in John 8:51, “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

See, our Savior holds the power of life and death in his hands. He is the Creator of life. He is the master over death. He’s defeated death in his Resurrection. Death has nothing on our Lord. He obliterated death and reversed death’s effects. And he promises us that if we believe his claims and keep his word, we will never die.

If we truly believe it, our lives will show it. Our attitudes will reflect it. The ways we deal with people and events and circumstances will prove it. The way we handle financial crises and health issues and death and disease will testify to our life in Christ. God’s Son personifies life and victory and resurrection as powerful realities for his children. Death is not the bottom line for us. Death is not the final word. Christ Jesus is the ultimate power with the ultimate authority. And he always writes the last chapter.

It’s good to have an arrangement with the writer.

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Mary Hollingsworth, one of our newer members here at Legacy, is seeing sermon illustrations in her back yard. Our focus this past Sunday on the holy stumps and the holy seed and the salvation shoot prompted Mary to email me yesterday with a couple of pictures and this message:

Mary’s Stump“Last year a tornado in Bedford broke two of our huge oak trees in half, leaving only stumps. We thought they were toast and gone forever, which broke our hearts because we’re tree huggers to the core. I’m happy to say that we were wrong. Both stumps are now growing like crazy. ‘A new branch will grow Salvation Shootfrom a stump of a tree.’ It’s still happening! And even though I know the Root of Jesse has already come, he does promise to come again. Perhaps these new branches are good reminders for us to keep growing, in spite of tough times, and be ready when he appears again.”

Thank you, Mary, for the pictures and the reminders.

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Red Ribbon ReviewThere are 66 days left until the Cowboys kick off their 50th NFL football season in Tampa Bay against the Bucs. And to get us there, we’re counting it down with the Red Ribbon Review. We’re honoring the runners-up, the almost-weres, the also rans, the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number.Kevin Gogan

Today’s #66 is versatile offensive lineman Kevin Gogan. A bargain as an eighth round pick (206th overall) in 1987, Gogan toughed it out through those last two horrible Tom Landry seasons and the transitional phase into the Jerry Wayne Era, resulting in two Super Bowl rings and a huge fat contract with the Oakland Raiders. Gogan spent seven years in Dallas, but he got all his Pro Bowls and national recognition with the 49ers. At one point late in his career, Sports Illustrated put Gogan on the cover of an issue dedicated to dirty players in the NFL. Again, in a 49ers uniform. Still, he beats out Burton Lawless and Jesse Baker. He’s the second-best ever.

Beep-Beep,

Allan

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