Category: Texas Rangers (Page 28 of 33)
“Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” ~Matthew 18:20
I had always heard and understood that verse to mean that anytime Christians get together for any reason, Jesus is there. Generally, we use that verse to justify skipping church. Going camping or fishing or staying home to watch the Cowboys is OK if we’re doing it with other Christians. “Where two or three are gathered…” Right?
Over the past few years, I’ve come to see the full context of that Matthew 18 passage. It’s about putting aside differences. 
It’s about making peace with one another. Forgiving each other. Making right the things that are wrong between people. In light of all the bickering and arguing and debating and dividing and judging and pettiness among Christ’s disciples today, I’ve come to hear that verse 20 as Jesus saying, “Man, if two of y’all can agree on ANYTHING, I’ll show up just to see it!”
The passage is really about prayer.
“If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” ~Matthew 18:19-20
Jesus is talking about prayer. He’s talking about people being of one heart and one spirit, coming together to pray about common concerns, to praise God for common blessings, to ask with one voice for his holy will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Praying together bonds us to one another. It eliminates the boundaries between us. It destroys the walls. It obliterates the divisions. Praying together allows us to see past the exterior differences between us and stare right into one another’s hearts. Sometimes the only times we really get to see and hear and feel what one another is all about is when we pray together. There are no divisions in a prayer circle. There are no false distinctions. No one is better than anybody else when we come together to pray. We’re all equals in the throne room of God.
When Christians pray together, the Spirit is at work. When we come together to reach for God’s will, his presence is with 
us.
Our annual 24 Hours of Prayer here at Legacy begins at 8:00 tomorrow morning. It’s a men’s ministry thing, although it looks like it’s going to be a church-wide thing next year. Open and honest and humble prayer before God and one another. More than 80-men. Close to 3,000 different prayer requests. Continuously, in one-hour shifts, through the day and night, into Saturday morning. It makes us put aside our differences. It forces us to focus on God’s will, not mine or yours. It pushes us to see the world and the people in it through God’s eyes.
I’m meeting my brothers Greg and Jerry and Larry in the worship center at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Herb and Dennis and Gary and James are showing up at 9:00. Elvin and Sam and Jimmy arrive at 10:00. On and on in our worship center. Brothers in Christ crying out to our Father. I’ll be back at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to pray with Glenn and Bob and Gary. Again at midnight with Bo and Greg and Brian and Larry and Wes. We’re going to pray together.
And Jesus has promised he’s going to meet us there.
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David and Olivia Nelson, Legacy’s wonderful missionaries in Kharkov, Ukraine, have finally had that little 
baby. Caleb James was born last week, September 8. For a very interesting story about what it’s like to deliver a baby in Ukraine, check out their blog by clicking here. Lots of awesome pictures there, too. Congratulations you two. You three! We love you. And we can’t wait to see you here at Legacy in November!
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The Rangers have won seven straight. The A’s have thrown in the towel. The magic number is down to eight. And our baseball team is about to clinch it’s fourth division title, it’s first since 1999. The shame of it is that they’re going to clinch it either in Anaheim or Oakland at 12:15 or 12:30am on a weekday.
The Rangers leave today for a ten-game road trip to the West Coast, their last road trip of the season. 
All of the games except Sunday’s begin at 9:05pm Texas time. It’s so disappointing to me. When the Rangers record that last out on that magical night (morning), and they dogpile one another on the pitcher’s mound and they pop the champagne and they cry and laugh and celebrate this great achievement, most Rangers fans under the age of 15 will have already been in bed asleep for a couple of hours. I hate that. I’ll let Whitney stay up that night. But Carley and Valerie will be long gone. So will Carrie-Anne.
The Rangers’ placement in the AL West division does this team no favors. To be the only team in a West Coast division located two time zones away is a killer. I have to believe it’s really difficult to build up a super strong and loyal fan base when nearly a third of all your games every season begin just as most fans and potential fans in your time zone are setting their alarm clocks and brushing their teeth.
Just as the Dallas Cowboys have benefitted all these years from being in the NFC East with the Giants and Redskins and Eagles, the Rangers have been handicapped by playing in California and Washington with the Angels, M’s, and A’s.
Rangers playoff tickets go on sale Saturday. Daily afternoon naps begin this Monday.
Peace,
Allan
Stolen bases. Bunts for singles. Manufactured runs. Claws and antlers. Speed and defense. Two-out hits. Chip away theories. What heat? Dugout hugs. Brooms in the stands. Nolan and Sunny in the front office. I get the feeling that right now, today, the Twins, Rays, and Yankees would rather face each other in the ALDS than these Rangers.
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That church in Corinth was so messed up. I mean really, really, really. They had their issues. Remember? Paul pointed out their divisions and quarrels. He said they were acting more like the world than the Spirit. Those Christians in Corinth couldn’t agree on anything. They divided between rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, slave and free. They chose sides based economic, cultural, geographical, and class dinstinctions. They bragged about who baptized them. They judged one another’s spiritual gifts. There were culture wars and theological wars within this church.
It was so messed up.
So how can Paul remain so positive about this group? How can he address them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “holy?” How can he tell them with a straight face, “I always thank God for you?” Paul begins his letter by declaring how wonderful they are. “You have been enriched in every way — in all your speaking and in all your knowledge…you do not lack any spiritual gift.”
How can he do this? Seriously!
Because our God, by his nature, through his character, because of his loyalty, for his name’s sake, has given this church — he’s given every church! — a guarantee:
“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” ~1 Corinthians 1:8-9
God will remain faithful to his promises to ultimately perfect his people. No matter how immature they — we! — act at times, God is faithful to deliver. I’m so thankful that Paul focuses on the faithfulness of God instead of the fickleness of the people.
That should be our focus, too.
Peace,
Allan
Halfway through September and the Cowboys are in last place and the Rangers are in first place. The Cowboys score a total of seven points against the Redskins and the Rangers use pitching and “small ball” to complete a sweep of the New York Yankees. There’s something very biblical, very gospel, about all this: the lowly will be exalted, the mighty will be brought down, the humble will be lifted up, the last shall be first, the strong will be made weak. Two quick observations on last night’s game follow some thoughts provoked by Stream.
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Stream DFW, this past weekend at the South Mac Church in Irving, was, as always, amazing. Absolutely inspiring. Ken Young and the Hallal singers took us straight to the throne of God. And we dwelt there. We lingered. We soaked up the goodness of our Father’s love. We trembled in the recognition of our own sin in his mighty presence. And we basked in the warmth of God’s mercies. We wept as we sang together at the cross, marveling at those two wonders: “the wonders of his glorious love, and my own worthlessness.”
Terry Rush, the great encourager, spent two-and-a-half days calling us back to the cross of Christ. We lived in Romans 4 for most of the three different two-and-a-half hour sessions. We talked and sang and prayed and meditated and listened as we considered together our God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
So much of what Terry said, so much of what Scripture says, speaks so directly to me and to our church family at Legacy. I imagine it has plenty to say to you and to your church family, too.
Things don’t always seem really great. Things don’t always go the way you thought they might. In fact, sometimes, things are really rotten. Things at home. Things at church. People in your family. Situations. Issues. Sometimes it can seem hopeless. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. You don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t believe it’s possible for this or that to work out for good. There’s no way.
Well, have you looked at the cross lately?
You know, we live by faith, not by sight. We live by the Spirit, not by the flesh. We serve a Lord who has already defeated 
every single thing that would ever attempt to come between us and our God-ordained potential and purpose as his children living in his eternal Kingdom. Our God looks at his Son dying — deader than dead — on that cruel tree and sees hope. He sees possibility. God looks into the darkness of the tomb and sees eternal life. He looks at Sarah’s barren womb and the 100 candles on Abraham’s birthday cake and sees an entire nation of millions of his people. And our God looks at your life, he looks at your church, he looks at the mess that is you and/or the people around you, and he sees great hope. He sees things we don’t see.
The things happening to you or around you, whatever they are, are not a joke. It’s nothing to be taken lightly. I’m sure it’s all quite serious.
But the cross of Christ and that empty tomb reminds us that it’s also nothing to worry about. It’s nothing to lose sleep over. It’s nothing to sweat. The power of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus takes away all doubt and fear and replaces it with holy power and confidence.
God’s power is made perfect in weakness. And you are weak. You are so pitiful. So am I. We are, together, some of the weakest, most pitiful people around.
And that, my brothers and sisters, gives me great courage.
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Two dramatic, game-defining and possibly course-setting plays have been analyzed and re-analyzed to pieces. Here’s the angle from the micro-fiber couch:
First, every single commentator I’ve heard and read since the minute the game ended to this very moment, those in the local and national media and those in the hallways here at Legacy, are saying that Jason Garrett and the Cowboys should have taken a knee on that last play before the half. They’re demanding that heads roll in the coach’s offices for attempting a pass in those final seconds.
I disagree. I’m the only one. But, then again, I’m the only sane one when it comes to the Cowboys.
Of course you pass the ball there. Throw it deep. Hurl it as far as you can. Anything can happen. Dez Bryant can make a career-launching grab. Pass interference gives you a first down and an untimed field goal attempt. Take a stab at it. Throw the ball. You’re going to take a knee and give away an offensive play?
That fumble and Redskins return is not on Wade Phillips or Garrett. It’s on Romo. If you can’t throw it deep, throw it out of bounds. Get rid of it. It does you no good to throw it in the flats to a triple-covered running back who’s one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. Only bad things can happen there. Romo’s been around enough to know. Sail that ball into the stands! And it’s also on Tashard Choice. Why is he fighting for an extra two yards after the gun has sounded? What difference does it make if you get to the forty? Only bad things. Go down!
The argument is that by taking a knee, you eliminate the chance for your players to really mess something up. You take it out of their hands so they can’t do something foolish. I guess if you’ve got foolish players, that’s the right call.
Wade has already said today that he will never allow for an offensive play to be run in that situation ever again. He’s taking the blame. And he’s listening to the media and the critics. That play at the end of half is on Romo and Choice, not Garrett or Wade.
As for Alex Barron’s third holding call of the night that negated what would have been the game-winning touchdown, there’s nobody to blame but the over-matched right tackle. I’ve listened all day to people criticizing Garrett and Wade for not giving Barron some backfield help.
No, this is on Barron. He was the most penalized player in the NFL last year. He’s the most flagged player in football — period — over the past five seasons. He’s like what would happen if Flozell Adams and Phil Pozderac had a baby. It’s awful. Even with all that, what happened on the last play of the game was inexcusable. I promise you could line up every single holding penalty in Barron’s career — and that would be a bunch — and 90% of them would not have been called on that play. It’s the last play of the game! No referee wants to throw a flag that ends the game. No official wants the outcome to be determined by his whistle. But this hold last night was unbelievable! It was a combination clothes-line tackle. From the first step. Less than fifteen yards away from two refs. How could they not call it? That’s on Barron. Totally.
Now, what happens with Barron from here on out is on Wade and Jerry.
Jimmy Johnson would have canned Barron right there in the FedEx Field locker room after the game. He would have given him a train ticket and collected his playbook right there on the spot. Same thing, by the way, with David Buehler. The Cowboys kicker missed a 34-yarder. Jimmy would have had him on the asthma field today. He would bring in former Carroll Dragon Kris Brown immediately to handle field goals this week. (I’m sure there are a couple of extra rent houses in Southlake; for football players only.) Jimmy would have sent the message to everyone else on the team that these kinds of mental and physical errors are not going to be tolerated. Especially on a squad that thinks it might be good enough to win a Super Bowl. 
This is an uncapped year. The money doesn’t matter. Get rid of these guys and show the team that this is for real.
Instead, Wade says today that they’re going to concentrate on Barron’s technique. Wade says Alex Barron is the kind of guy who’s going to work hard to correct his mistakes and get better.
?????
And, so, we’re off and running. The Cowboys open the season with a divisional road loss. Coaches are being roasted. Players are being questioned. The end is near.
It’s delicious.
Go, Rangers.
Allan
(You’ve got to read Ezekiel 34 — the whole chapter — before you read this post.)
Ezekiel 34 troubles me. Just exactly like the rest of this book of prophesy, it’s strong. Bold. In-your-face. It pulls no punches. It’s convicting. Condemning, even. Powerful. You never have to wonder what God is thinking when he speaks through Ezekiel. And that’s true with chapter 34. I’m troubled because so much of this chapter seems to be speaking so directly to our churches today.
God rips into the bad shepherds because they’re ignoring the fat sheep who are oppressing the other sheep. And I see us. Sometimes. Sometimes elders don’t want to challenge the church bullies because they don’t want to stir up any conflict. They want to keep the peace. And, sometimes, the fattest sheep are the biggest givers. Sometimes preachers hold back on what God’s telling them to preach because they don’t want to offend anybody. They don’t want to answer the phone calls and emails Monday morning. They don’t want anybody to leave. They don’t want the emergency meeting with the elders.
Elders and ministers don’t always take care of the weak sheep like we should. Taking care of sheep is hard. It’s painful. Time-consuming. It’s work. And, sometimes, church leaders do crave the attention. Some of are tempted by the spotlight. Sometimes we really do just want our own way. Sometimes we do only act in an effort to save our own necks. And our selfishness and inconsistencies can drive the sheep away.
God help us.
We can also — all of us — sometimes be really sorry sheep. We can be territorial about our ministries or areas of service. Or our pews. We don’t let anybody in. We can shove brothers and sisters out the door by being dogmatic and unyielding about our own personal preferences. We can push people to the curb by insisting they believe and think and worship and sing and dress and pray just like me. We’re so good at it, so oblivious to it, that sometimes we can actually take the official position of a weak sheep and use it like an 18-pound sledgehammer to bully and head-butt and ram other sheep into my comfort zone and my lines and boundaries.
There are sheep in our flocks who’ve been in our flocks for years and who’ve never been invited to anyone’s house for dinner. They’ve never been asked to go out to eat. There are sheep in our churches who feel like they don’t matter because we have absolutely run them over on our way to the next committee meeting or service project.
God help us.
God says, “No, I’m just going to do it myself.”
“I myself will shepherd my sheep”
Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.”
Jesus knows how to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. To those who relied on their own righteousness, Jesus ripped away all their excuses and forced them to see their deep need for his grace. To those who were burdened and marginalized, Jesus drew them to God. He showed them that God did not delight in their death but was begging them to come to him so he could give them eternal life. They needed to know there was a place in God’s flock for the weak and the sinful.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our great shepherd. He’s bold and courageous and single-minded in his mission to seek and save the lost, to restore the lost sheep of Israel. And he’s so committed to it — he’s so committed to us, his sheep — that he lays down his life for us. He dies for us. He stands in the gate — he says in John 10 he IS the gate! — between us and the ravenous wolves and the muderous robbers who would kill us and eat us. He’s unwilling to sacrifice even one of us to the enemy. He’d rather die first.
And he did.
God’s people are scattered. We’re all over the map. We bicker and argue. We’re lost and injured and sick. And God through Christ keeps his promises to search and bring back and strengthen. The Good Shepherd makes us one. And he gives us peace.
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The Rangers are 2-5 right now on this ten game road trip. They’ve gone oh-fer on the season in the Twin Cities. They’ve lost four straight. Josh and Lee are both out indefinitely. Just a little speed bump, right?
Peace,
Allan
“Your child is following a mutant form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.”
That’s the first sentence in a recent on-line article from CNN that’s been emailed to me four times this week and seems to be making the rounds. The August 27 article tackles the topic of religion and teens from the viewpoint of Kenda Creasy Dean, a professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of “Almost Christian.” Her book claims that lots of parents and churches are unwittingly passing on a watered-down, self-serving, imposter strain of Christianity to our kids. Our children today see God as a “divine therapist” whose chief goal is to boost our self esteem. God simply wants us to do good and feel good. Researchers for the book call it moralistic therapeutic deism. And Dean says, “If this is the God they’re seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust.”
According to the book, Dean’s research included in-depth interviews with more than 3,300 American teenagers between 13 and 17, and found that most who call themselves Christian are indifferent and inarticulate about their faith. Dean says three out of every four teenagers in this country claim to be Christian, but fewer than half practice their faith and only half deem it to be very important at all.
I wonder if those numbers wouldn’t also accurately reflect the beliefs and practices of the adults in our pews.
I haven’t read the book. I’ve only read this article. At least five times now. And the one sentence that keeps coming back to me, the one quote I can’t get out of my head, I think, sums up one of the major problems — if not the number one problem — in our churches and our church programs.
About a third of the way through this article, Dean is quoted as saying, “If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation.”
Amen.
The good news of salvation in Christ is not a “gospel of niceness” in which faith is simply doing good and not ruffling feathers. The Christian call is to take risks, to witness to the world, to sacrifice and serve others; to die to self and to live in a way that is radically — dangerously — different from the surrounding culture.
Preachers preach safe messages that will bring in more people and/or keep more people from leaving. Elders and other church leaders promise security and comfort and happiness at their congregations. We’re not challenging our people. We’re not teaching them or showing them that following Christ — living in the way of Christ and in the manner of Christ — means doing something to fix what’s broken in the world. Restore something. Cleanse something. Change everything. We don’t call our people to anything that’s bigger than ourselves. If all we’re doing is asking our people to sit in a pew, write a weekly check, and then allow the church to work hard to make them physically and spiritually and emotionally comfortable, we’re guilty of adding to the problem. We’re guilty of teaching and practicing a mutant form of Christianity.
We need to stop telling and showing our teens — and all our adults for that matter — that Christianity is all about following rules and drawing lines and adhering to boundaries. We need to immediately cease telling our members — and the world — that it’s OK to worship in that way over there but not this way in here, or it’s allright to sing that song in that room but not this song in this room, that there’s nothing wrong with worshiping God in that style on this day but not this style on that day. We can’t keep telling our kids that it’s OK for women to pray or read Scripture in our living rooms and classrooms but not in our worship assemblies. We need to stop this vain protecting of our comfort zones and comfort rules by insisting that weddings and funerals are not worship services. When you tell me that an assembly in the worship center in which the gathered men and women sing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God, prayers are offered to God in the name of Jesus, Holy Scripture is read, and a sermon is preached from the Bible is not a worship assembly, it makes no sense. Our kids are not stupid. They see right through this stuff. And I don’t blame them.
That’s not Christianity.
Biblical Christianity is bold. It’s huge. It turns whole towns upside down. It dramatically changes lives. It’s a call to rescue and save. It’s more about what’s happening in your community than what’s happening inside your church building. It’s more about what you do than what you believe. It’s more about how you live than how you sing. It’s about serving; it’s not about being served. It’s about dying in the name and the manner of our Lord. It’s all about doing things that make absolutely no earthly sense because God in Christ Jesus has broken through the barriers of time and space to deliver us from an eternity in hell. We don’t explain the faith; we courageously live the faith.
Which message is your church preaching and practicing? Is it a mutant Christianity of arbitrary rules and comfort? Or is it a Scriptural Christianity that goes out on a limb to make a massive difference in the lives of hurting and sick men and women in your community? Does your church love and serve unconditionally or does it model love and service with exceptions and fine print?
If you’re telling the teens in your church they can clap during the songs just as long as they don’t clap too loudly, they’re going to leave. And I don’t blame them.
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I need to apologize to Jerry K: you’re right, Cliff Lee is not the savior of the Rangers. I need to retract a statement I’ve made to Whitney: no, watching Lee pitch is not like it used to be watching Nolan Ryan pitch. Sorry. I know Lee says it’s his back. I know he’s getting treatment. But he’s started ten games now for Texas. And the Rangers are 3-7 in those starts. If the playoffs began today, I’d go with C. J. Wilson and maybe even Tommy Hunter in the opener over Lee. Hunter showed more of those gritty guts last night. David Murphy and Nelson Cruz made some unbelievable catches. And the Yankees are taking care of the A’s.
Peace,
Allan
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