The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom!

May 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Praise the Lord and pass the chips and salsa! The newest Chuy’s location right here in ruggedly beautiful Amarillo, Texas finally opened yesterday and, yes, of course we were there!

Carrie-Anne, Carley, and I vowed to skip lunch yesterday and then meet at the brand new Chuy’s at 4:00pm to beat the opening night dinner crowd for a super early supper. We walked right in – no wait! – and took our seats under the Chuy’s hubcaps and among the Chuy’s palm trees and had our chips dipped in Chuy’s amazing made-from-scratch queso in about two minutes.

Carley and I went with the traditional Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom, the roasted pulled white meat chicken enchiladas with the famous Boom-Boom sauce, a spicy blend of New Mexican Hatch green chiles, tomatillos, cilantro, and cheese. C-A ordered up her favorite crispy tacos in those homemade shells. And we just had a blast.

I have mixed emotions about famous region-specific restaurants expanding their reach outside of their territories. Chuy’s is an Austin original. Carrie-Anne and I would eat at the original Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road when we lived in Marble Falls back in the ’90s and the Chuy’s on Lamar has been our go-to Tex-Mex spot in Austin ever since. It’s nostalgic for me. It reminds me of the Texas Hill Country and great friends, when our kids were little and we lived in our first house on Hackberry, when C-A and I were trying to figure out marriage together, and life. I remember thinking it was weird when I first saw the new Chuy’s on I-35 in Waco in 2008. Shouldn’t you have to go to Austin to eat at Chuy’s? Up until ten or eleven years ago, all fifteen Chuy’s were in Texas. But on a family trip to Disney World in 2014, we saw one in Orlando, Florida. We were appalled! And we ate there twice!

It’s like the Chicago company buying Whataburger and planning to expand all over the country. I think it’s great that folks in Detroit and Boston might someday get to enjoy a #1 with cheese and everything on it, dip their fries into Whataburger’s spicy ketchup, and wash it down with a Dr Pepper shake. But shouldn’t you have to be in Texas to do it? Does it water down the whole thing if you can get it anywhere?

It’s weird to have a Chuy’s in Amarillo. And it’s great! I just might see you there today at lunch.

Peace,

Allan

Weakness Turned to Strength

May 11, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I know you make mistakes and you mess up. Me, too. I know you sin. I know you leave things undone that should be done and you do things you should not do. Me, too. But those mistakes are not what define you. Those sins do not characterize who you are as a person and they do not limit how our God relates to you. It is God’s grace that defines you. It’s his grace that covers you. It is his grace that enables you to keep going in the trust and faith that God is powerfully at work in you.

I look at the Faith Ring of Honor in Hebrews 11 and I don’t see any perfect people.

Sarah had a laughing problem.  Abraham had his own laughing problem and a problem with lying and the kid with Hagar. But the Bible says they never wavered in their faith. That means Abraham is not defined by his many mistakes. Sarah is not characterized by her poor choices.

In Hebrews 11, Rahab is not condemned for being a prostitute. All these people are commended for their faith. Gideon? He’s a spineless, wishy-washy doubter. Barak? He’s gutless. Samson? He’s arrogant and selfish, a violent womanizer. Jepthah? He’s stupid and thoughtless. David? An adulterer, a liar, and a traitor to his country. Samuel? Maybe one of the worst parents in all of Scripture. But here they are in this list of heroes with all their sins and all their flaws. Hebrews 11 says these are the people who conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword. These are the people, it says, whose weakness was turned to strength!

You know, the Bible says God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

His grace is also made perfect in the places where you need it most.

Peace,

Allan

All the Girls

May 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

We drove hard and fast to OKC after church yesterday to clean Carley out of her on-campus apartment at Oklahoma Christian and move her back home. We were surprised when we arrived to learn that Valerie and David had driven down from Tulsa to help out. Beautiful! All three daughters with their mom on Mother’s Day! We loaded up the cars and the truck together and then celebrated at – where else? – Ted’s with my sister Rhonda and her family. It was a crazy day – we got home at about 1130p last night. But it was good to see all the girls. And it’s good to have the Bear back in Amarillo.

 

 

 

 

Peace,

Allan

The Tuning Fork

May 5, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“Has it ever occurred to you that one thousand pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one thousand worshipers meeting together, each one looking to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become unity conscious and turn their eyes away from Jesus to strive for closer fellowship.”

~ A. W. Tozer

Springing

April 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

It takes Spring a while to take hold up here. But I think we’ve finally hit it. The purple Iris along our back fence exploded sometime in the past two days.

Trust the Lord with the Future

April 28, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” ~2 Corinthians 1:10

God’s promise in Jesus Christ is that everything is going to be made right. All will be well. Jesus came here to fix everything in your life that’s broken and to make right everything in your world that has gone wrong. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, all things are being redeemed and restored so we can live together forever in his holy presence.

So if things are not well with you today, it just means it’s not over yet. It’s not done. This is Good News! God is still at work in you and through you!

The Spirit says God will bring to completion that good thing he has started in you. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. In fact, I would say it’s already done!

Our Lord never calls us to do anything he hasn’t already done or go anywhere he hasn’t already been. He told the Israelites, The Lord himself goes before you! He’ll wipe out all your enemies before you even get there! Your future is being secured because God is going first!

When the people came out of Egypt, it was God who went before them in the fiery pillar. It was God who took care of his people along the journey. The Lord prepares the path through the journey and he secures the conditions on the other side.

That’s why Jesus came: to take care of your eternal future. He died on the cross to give you his righteousness, his holiness, and his redemption. The sin that separates you from God, he has taken it all away. Jesus was condemned so you would be acquitted. Jesus was found guilty so you could be forgiven. He died in your place and then three days later God’s Spirit raised him from the grave to prove that everything Jesus says is true and everything he does is right.

The Bible calls Jesus the pioneer, the trailblazer of the faith. He went to death and back and conquered all of it for you already – he’s already done it! The way through for you has already been worked out. He has delivered you, he is delivering you, and he will continue to deliver you into his glory on that last day!

Peace,

Allan

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