I come not to bury my faith tradition, but to praise it.

I had the great pleasure while out in Kilgore last week of spending an afternoon with my Uncle Gerald. He’s the family historian. He’s the story teller. He’s the one who remembers. Uncle Gerald is the one with the funny home movies of all us cousins as little kids, squinting into the bright glare of the camera’s light. He’s the one with the silly songs and the made-up terms that celebrate and describe everything from our schools and neighborhoods to dirty diapers and hand-me-down clothes. He had the Howdy Doody doll. We shot each other with cap guns when I was little. He’s the one who named some of my favorite stuffed animals. He reminds me today that “we were white-trash, we just didn’t know it.” I love my Uncle Gerald.

Last Tuesday he took me to one of his favorite sandwich shops on the historic strip in Kilgore, just a block behind the famous “World’s Richest Acre.” In between quoting lines to each other from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and meeting the unending line of people who know and respect my uncle in Kilgore, we talked about our family and our faith heritage.

And it was good.

We talked about my grandmother walking  my then 3-year-old dad down Buckner Boulevard in 1945 to the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ in Dallas. We gratefully recalled her single-minded fidelity to her Lord and his Church while receiving very little, if any, support from my granddaddy at the time. We talked about her involvement with the Pleasant Grove Church as it moved to its present location on Conner Drive in the ’50s and her commitment to the congregation’s mission to evangelize Southeast Dallas with the Gospel. She attended every worship assembly and participated in every Bible class. She cooked for the church fellowships: banana pudding in that big blue bowl! She taught my dad and my uncle and aunt about God’s love for them in Jesus. She instilled in them the value of Bible study and prayer. She modeled a consistent portrait of learning and living in Christ. She was always craving more knowledge, more study, more God. Uncle Gerald remembered last week that, after a lengthy Bible Class series on the Holy Spirit, my grandmother summarized, “The only thing I learned about the Holy Spirit is that it’s a person.”

My grandmother raised my dad and uncle and aunt in the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ. My mom and dad, in turn, raised me and my sisters and brother in the same Pleasant Grove Church of Christ. And I’m so grateful. I’m so very thankful.

I’m thankful for the faithfulness of the people at Pleasant Grove to my family and me. I praise God for the encouragement I received at Pleasant Grove, for the opportunities I had to grow and learn and serve there, and for the unconditional Christ-like love I received there. I’m grateful to Inez Smithey and Kayla Casebolt for making me learn memory verses. I thank God for Tillie Prosser who taught me how to read Scripture and lead singing. I’m so grateful for Jim Martin who encouraged me to be a preacher. Aaron Welch would ask me five minutes before the services began, “Old man, would you help us on the table this morning?” and I felt so honored. Paul Barron made me feel like the smartest kid in the world. Don and Liz Connor spoiled me. Glen and Becky Burroughs drove us across DFW to Summer Youth Series. The people of that church gave me Bibles and good advice; they employed me in the summers and taught me in the falls; they prayed for me and blessed me. The Pleasant Grove Church of Christ threw Carrie-Anne and me a wedding shower 24 years ago.

The Christian faith was passed on to me in and by that congregation of God’s people. And I love them for it.

I admit, there was a time not too many years ago when I talked about the Pleasant Grove congregation in derisive terms. I showed very little appreciation for what God had planted in me through those people. Honestly, I think my faith is different today — I know my theology is! — than what was taught me then. My personal understanding today of God’s matchless love and grace is not the same as it was believed and proclaimed by the preachers and teachers there. No, ma’am. The ways I think about God’s Kingdom and talk about Christ’s salvation wouldn’t fly at P-Grove.

But that’s OK. It’s fine.

My grandmother walked down Buckner Boulevard in 1945 to take my dad to church because she believed God loved her and wanted to redeem her and her kids through Jesus. She believed she and her children needed to give their lives to Christ and join a group of people who were committed to sharing God’s salvation with the rest of the world. I thank God for that. My grandmother and my dad were faithful to what our God started in them there. By his grace, he brought me, through them, to where my family and I are today. That’s better than OK. It’s more than just fine. It’s an amazing and divine act of loyalty and love.

Thank you, Uncle Gerald, for reminding me of my faith heritage. Thank you, dad, for your unwavering commitment to our King and his eternal Church. And thank you, Pleasant Grove Church of Christ, for your eagerness to believe in a little boy with a bowl haircut and a Roger Staubach jersey. And to pass on the faith.

Peace,

Allan

My plane landed here in Amarillo at just after 2:00 yesterday afternoon. It gave me just enough time to get to Bonham Middle School to pick up Carley, get unpacked and cleaned up for dinner with the family, and make it to Bivins Stadium to watch the Sandies remain undefeated in district play by hanging 70-points on Caprock. I dragged into the church office here at just after 9:00 and discovered, a little later, that a full color portrait of Dan Bouchelle was hanging in my bathroom, right above the toilet. I was startled, to say the least. It was both funny and creepy. I’m not sure who replaced my picture of Steve Martin from a scene in the The Jerk with Bouchelle’s mug, but it’s good. You got me. Greg? Matt? Adam and Mary are long-shots. I’m guessing it was Greg and/or Matt.

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My very first blog post was on June 4, 2007, the morning after my very first official sermon at the Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills. My plans then were to use this website to encourage and teach and support my local church family and the Kingdom of God worldwide. I said then I would also use the blog to post updates about my own family (four girls and a guy!). And I admitted this blog would also occasionally serve as an outlet for the sports thoughts and opinions that back up inside my brain. 

Today marks post number 1,000. To commemorate this historic occasion, here’s a link to that very first post a little over five years ago.

Much better than that, here’s a link to the post that generated the most comments (35) of any single post in the brief history of this site. The day I accidentally killed Valerie’s birthday gerbil led to a pretty nice article about rodent hygiene. But the resulting comments from friends and family and complete strangers made it memorable beyond description. Click here for that post and the complete discussion that followed, which included a philosophical debate about intentional and unintentional “accidents,” quotes from WKRP, a clever re-do of Allen Iverson’s famous “playoffs?!!?” speech, and a link to one of the funniest Super Bowl commercials of all time, the Outpost ad in which several hamsters are loaded into a cannon and shot into a plywood wall. Take about five minutes and check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

I’m not sure anything can ever top that gerbil post. So I won’t even attempt to write anything new today. This 1,000th post will only be about giving away the celebratory prizes. Those of you who posted comments on this site since September 20 were all entered into a drawing — multiple comments on multiple days resulted in multiple entrys. The names were drawn just a few moments ago from a cardboard box that originally held an Elvis Andrus bobblehead. Here are the names of the winners and the book(s) that lucky reader/poster has won:

Grand Prize – Chris Drake (Rob’s Dad) – all three books in the John Mark Hicks series on the sacraments of the Church of Christ. Come to the Table, Down in the River to Pray, and A Gathered People. This will be good reading for my confused Episcopalian friend.

First Prize – Jason Reeves – Resident Aliens. Jason, I know you’ve already got a copy of this book. Give it to one of your elders. Somebody besides Ray. I made him buy one while we were in Abilene last month. Or work out a trade with Graham.

Second Prize – Graham Bates – Surprised by Hope. Graham, I’ve never met you; I hope you love this book by N. T. Wright. Don’t let Jason talk you into a trade.

Third Prize – Chris Adair – The Reason for God. Strength through Unity, Dependability, and Pride. See you in April, brother. Delta rules!

Fourth Prize – Paul Dennis – The Screwtape Letters. I can’t believe we let an OU fan win a prize.

Fifth Prize – Jocelyn Boyer – The Jesus Way. I can’t wait to hear what you think of this book.

I’ll be in touch with all the winners by email before the weekend is done.

Thank you so much for participating. I’m so grateful to each of you who read and comment, who encourage and support me while I openly wrestle with and grow in my Christian faith. May our Lord use this little website to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan