Category: Texas (Page 1 of 8)

In Christ Alone

Last night was our annual GCR night at the Midland RockHounds game. More than 280 of us enjoyed the perfect weather, all-you-can-eat dinner and snacks, and a tightly-played pitchers duel. Cory and our worship team sang the national anthem, Bob Judkins threw out the first pitch, and Cullen Landry shattered all the stadium’s speakers with his exuberant “Play Ball!” A dozen of our kids participated in the between-innings promotional events, including our own Doug Cochran who won a 50-dollar HEB gift card for rolling around the dirt in front of the first base dugout in a giant tortilla. We celebrated Rex Henderson’s 70th birthday, ate one or two too many hotdogs, and marveled at how the RockHounds P.A. guy sounds exactly like our VBS mascot, Davy Wavy.

 

 

The highlight of the whole evening for me was getting to hold  Griffin McGraw for about an inning. This little guy was only born last Thursday–less than a week ago!–and I got to hold him while he took in his very first baseball game! I think he understands the bases and foul balls and the concept of three outs. But his eyes glazed over when I tried to explain balks and the infield fly rule.

Several people asked if I was practicing for our two grandsons who are going to be born in the next couple of weeks. If “practicing” means handing the baby back to his mom the moment the diaper gets warm, then yes.

 

 

 

 

You can click on these thumbnails to get the full size pictures. Thanks to Joey Gennusa and the RockHounds for another terrific night at the ballpark!

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I’ve been clear this week in this space in my conviction that it is wrong to say your kind of church is God’s true church and demand that others belong to your kind of church to find the truth. It’s wrong to criticize other churches because they do things differently. That is sectarian denominationalism and it’s a perversion of the Gospel of Jesus. We cannot ever try to make people join a specific group in order to be acceptable to God.

However, don’t hear me say that I think all churches are alike. Because they’re not. Not all churches are the same; I want to be just as clear about that.

Some churches are more biblical than others. Some are more orthodox in their beliefs and practice than others. Some churches are more lively and healthy, some churches are more on God’s mission than others. Some churches are better than others. But nobody can make those judgments by looking at the name on the sign out front.

Now, I’m biased, but I believe the Golf Course Road Church of Christ is a pretty great church. We mostly uphold most of the historical Church of Christ understandings and traditions. We teach and practice believer’s baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sin, we eat and drink the communion meal every Lord’s Day, we believe and practice the priesthood of all believers–pretty standard Church of Christ stuff. At Golf Course Road, those things are deeply held Gospel convictions. But our shepherds and ministers, our church leadership, is committed to this: if any of our CofC traditions ever come into conflict with the Gospel, the Gospel is going to win every time. We’re going to go with the Gospel all the way. Every time. We’re doing our very best, by God’s grace, to always act “in line with the truth of the Gospel” (Galatians 2:14).

At GCR, we know that some of the best ways we we’re formed and some of the more significant ways we minister are in partnership with Christians from other denominations. Our “4 Midland” worship services and service projects are so important. What an undeniable testimony to the saving and uniting power of the Gospel! Our elders and ministers eat dinner and pray with the elders and ministers from those other churches. Our unity and fellowship with them allows us to both experience and express just how big God’s Church really is. It drives us to our knees in gratitude to God for the greatness of his salvation activity throughout our city in hundreds of different ways.

We know that GCR is just one small way God is drawing people to himself. We know the Churches of Christ are just a tiny part of God’s enormous salvation plans.

We believe that God’s power saves us and his grace calls us to teach and practice our Christian understandings, to stick to our Gospel convictions, but to operate under a big tent, where all baptized believers who confess Jesus as Lord are equal brothers and sisters in Christ around our Father’s table.

So, what about our distinctives? What about our identities? Where do we get our sense of who we are?

Well, not in our groups. Not in our distinctive cultures and customs. Our identity is found where our salvation is found: in Christ alone.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” ~Galatians 2:20

To be crucified with Christ means all your other identities are irrelevant. Race, language, color, zip code, tax bracket, nationality, church tribe–forget all that! You are not defined by the law or by any customs or traditions or circumstances that divide people. We belong to Jesus, and his life is at work in us and through us. And since the main thing about Jesus is his loving faithfulness, may the main thing about us, the main thing that defines us, is our own loving faithfulness for him and for all who confess Jesus as Lord.

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Whataburger has brought back its awesome Pico Burger, hopefully for much longer than a limited time. Finally! I indulged this tasty delight for lunch today while reading my newly-arrived Texas Monthly barbecue edition. On the way out, I picked up the first of what’s going to be 16 different collectors cups, celebrating the 75th anniversary of this iconic Texas establishment. That’s a pretty good lunch break.

Peace,

Allan

Delusional in Dallas

The Cowboys finally got around to officially introducing their new head coach yesterday and wound up, as usual, accomplishing the opposite of what they surely intended. Instead of announcing to the world that Brian Schottenheimer has what it takes to end the Cowboys 29-year streak of not winning a divisional playoff game, the longest current streak in the NFC by an astounding 14 years, the team brass declared that nothing’s really that wrong.

Most of what was said in the rambling 70-minute press conference served to highlight how Jerry Wayne gets in the way of any legitimate on-the-field success for the Cowboys. Among the many gems was Jerry doubling down on the debunked assertion that he alone is the “best man” to get the Cowboys to the Super Bowl promised land. He confessed again that he always wanted to be a head coach and hinted that he could be now if he wanted. Delusional.

With the new coach sitting right next to him, Jerry admitted that hiring Schottenheimer “is a less than glamorous choice.” He reminded everyone that Schotty has “no head coaching experience, not even high school!” And he strangely got defensive against the criticism that this is a safe hire, that he doesn’t like to take chances, by declaring that promoting Schottenheimer “is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken in my life.” Again, Schottenheimer was sitting at the same table!

Jerry also compared Schottenheimer to Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, the last guys to win divisional playoff games with Dallas, as coaches who had never done it at the NFL level before Jerry gave them a chance. Yeah, but Jimmy and Switzer had won national championships at the elite college level. It’s not really apples to apples. It’s more like apples to hamsters. Delusional.

The most glaring thing to me during yesterday’s announcement was the answer Jerry gave to the very first question. The Cowboys owner was asked what qualities Schottenheimer possessed that led to his getting the job. Jerry said it was Brian’s ability to defer. He rambled for a couple of minutes about watching Schotty bite his lip to defer to Mike McCarthy, watching him hold back and do it McCarthy’s way when he disagreed and felt like a different way was better. That’s what Jerry admires about the new coach, his ability to defer. In other words, nothing is changing.

The thing that seems to have upset Cowboys fans the most and hilariously amused the media and Cowboy haters was when Stephen Jones was asked about evaluating the state of the Cowboys. He used his right hand to make air quotes when he referred to “this drought that people say we’re in, in terms of a championship game or a Super Bowl.” Air quotes?!? If 29-years without winning a single divisional playoff game isn’t a drought, then we have no idea what that word means. The Cowboys never went more than six years between NFC Championship Game appearances before Jerry bought the team. The Cowboys appeared in twelve NFL or NFC Championship Games under Tex Schramm and Tom Landry. Yes, twenty-nine years counts as a drought! It’s not something the media made up. It’s not a gray area that can be debated. It’s math. And time. It’s numbers and scores and calendars. It’s completely objective. It’s delusional for Stephen to question that or make light of that.

As an aside, Stephen was introduced by the Cowboys PR man yesterday as executive vice president and co-owner of the Cowboys; that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. When did that happen? Again, more evidence that things are not going to change. With these Cowboys, “owner” means “GM.”

The bottom line is that Jerry hires coaches who have no other options. No other suitors. No other opportunities. Nobody else wants them. They’re thankful for the opportunity and they’re obligated to the man who gave it to them when nobody else would. All of them. Count them, every one of them, from Barry Switzer and Chan Gailey and Jason Garrett to Dave Campo and Bill Parcells and Wade Phillips and Mike McCarthy. And now Schotty. Nothing’s changed.

The only new development is that now a coach with no options has walked away. Mike McCarthy has no other options and he walked away from Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. He’d rather have no job than the one in Frisco. That’s a new development–rather shocking when you think about it. But now everything’s fixed. Jerry knows Schotty’s next-door-neighbor. He talked to Pete Carroll. Dak’s on board. Delusional.

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Look what was waiting for me in the kitchen when I got home after the elders meeting last night: the brand new Blackberry Dr Pepper! And it is really, really good! The berry flavor is very strong, much stronger than what I remember with the old Berries n Cream DP. The smell hit my face as soon as I popped the top. And sweet. It’s very sweet. Delicious! I believe it runs a strong second to the coconut DP they gave us for like three weeks last May. I highly recommend the Blackberry Dr Pepper. Especially after an elders meeting.

Peace,

Allan

Thanksgiving Links

Here’s a link to the Midland Reporter-Telegram story on the “4 Midland” Thanksgiving service at First Baptist Sunday night. The story contains several really good pictures, including this one of the four pastors in the immediate afterglow of the closing prayer. Wow. How about four churches of different denominations putting aside their minor differences to unite around our Lord Jesus Christ to show the whole city what our King is really doing in us and through us for the sake of the world! This shouldn’t be newsworthy, but it is.

After a thirteen year hiatus, our Thanksgivings in Texas are returning to normal with the resumption of the annual Longhorns-Aggies football game. Incredibly, the winner of Saturday’s game at College Station will not only enjoy the firstfruits of bragging rights in the renewed rivalry that never really went away.  The Horns and Farmers are playing for a spot in the SEC Championship Game!  This link will take you to the Texas Monthly page dedicated to the 117-year history of the UT-Texas A&M rivalry. Great stories. Great pictures. Great writing. You can get lost for hours over there. I think my favorite piece is about the shenanigans between the two schools over the decades, including a myth-busting paragraph on how A&M’s 13-0 win in 1915 did not factor into the naming of Bevo.

And this:

We’re Number Two!

According to the latest numbers from Beverage Digest, Dr Pepper is now fractionally ahead of Pepsi at 8.3% of the U.S. soda market share, making the national soda of Texas the number two most popular soda in the country. First time ever.

To celebrate, I suggest a Creamy Coconut Dr Pepper at 10, a Whataburger Dr Pepper Shake at 2, and an ice-cold original Dr Pepper at 4.

Peace,

Allan

Oh What a Foretaste of Glory Divine!

No one knows the time or the day. It happens in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. One minute you’re laboring over the final pages of Sunday’s sermon and the next minute your head is spinning with the completely unexpected announcement that Blue Bell Ice Cream and Dr Pepper have teamed up to bring us Blue Bell Dr Pepper Float.

Yes. Let those words wash over you and transform everything you thought you knew about God’s plans for our world.

Blue Bell and Dr Pepper together in the same gold-rimmed carton. How can this be? Yet, at the same time, what took them so long?

This is an act of sacred beauty. A foretaste of the holy coming together of heaven and earth. We are a blessed people and highly favored by God. He has seen fit to combine the best ice-cream in the country with the 23 flavors of the first and best soft drink in the country, and it could only happen in our great Republic.

Today is my monthly lunch and prayer time with my pastor friends at First Baptist, First Pres, and First Methodist. I found it very difficult to talk about school bond elections, Bible translations, and church polity while my brain was locked in on Blue Bell Dr Pepper float. Will we have it here in Midland? Am I driving to Lubbock tonight?

As soon as lunch was over, I rushed over to HEB and there it was – a dozen half-gallons gleaming from the center of the frozen display case. And two of ’em were mine!

I walked into the church offices and excitedly declared an ice-cream party in the break room. Styrofoam bowls and plastic spoons, an ice scoop instead of an ice-cream scoop – it was okay, we made it work. Those of us who love Dr Pepper were blown away. Yes, it does taste exactly like a Dr Pepper float. Yes, it is  authentic. Yes, they did it right. Those among us who do not love Dr Pepper were less impressed. Philistines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cory had the beautiful idea of getting some ice cold DP out of the break room fridge and pouring it over the Dr Pepper float ice-cream to make a Dr Pepper Float Float. And, yes, we did. Certainly.

I am thankful to live in a such a place as Texas. I am mindful of those less fortunate who live in places like Illinois or Connecticut or Oklahoma. Blue Bell Dr Pepper Float is a divine glimpse of the promised feast. We’re a little closer to heaven, friends, than we were this time yesterday.

Peace,

Allan

An Independent Attitude

Happy Texas Independence Day! Eat some tacos, listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan from this 1983 performance in our state’s capital, and sign all your emails today with “Victory or Death!”

You need to be wearing your Texas socks today. If you don’t own a pair of Texas socks, you need to order your Texas socks today. These are mine. Where are yours?

You can also reflect on these words from the Texas Declaration of Independence, penned by George Childress and signed by all 59 delegates to the emergency convention in Washington on the Brazos on this date 187 years ago:

“Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our grievances is therefore submitted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing our political connection with the Mexican people, and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earth…

We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully vested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.”

And, finally, take a look at this list of more colorful Texas sayings than you can shake a stick at. Might as well, can’t dance.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/more-colorful-texas-sayings-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at/

Peace,

Allan

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