The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Granddad Times Two

January 13, 2025 / / 1 Comment

We’ve been given the go-ahead today to announce to all our friends and family some incredibly big news. Carrie-Anne and I are thrilled to let you know that our little middle, Valerie, and her wonderful husband, David, are expecting. And we’re not talking about just one grandchild. No, that would be too easy for our free-spirited, unpredictable, anything-goes daughter. They’re having twins!

We are beside ourselves with joy and gratitude. And we really don’t know how to act yet. We’re gushing with anticipation and almost giddy with excitement. The babies — it sounds so weird to talk about this with plural pronouns — are coming late June or early July. From chromosome counts and blood work, we know that one of them is a boy and the other one could be a girl. The only certain is that they are not both girls. And we can’t wait.

Please join us in celebrating with Valerie and David and our family, in thanking God for this shocking and beautiful blessing, and in asking him to protect these four in the coming weeks and months.

And, when Whitney tells you the news, act like you didn’t already know.

Peace,

Granddad (?)

Bible Reading Plan

January 10, 2025 / / 2 Comments

I’m convinced most of us don’t read our Bibles. I think we believe the Bible is God’s Word, I think we believe the Bible is our authority, I think we believe our lives are better when we read the Bible, but I don’t think we really read it. I think it just sits there.

Am I wrong? Man, I hope I’m wrong.

Let’s say you are reading your Bible. Everybody’s reading the Bible.

I’m reading the Bible every day. I’ve got this plan.
I read the whole Bible every year, front to back. I follow this program.

Most of us can read the Bible. It’s not that hard. If you don’t have a Bible and you can’t afford to buy one, you can get a free one at any hotel or hospital. I can’t speak for the Gideons as an organization, but I don’t think they care–just take it! Also, anybody at any church will happily give you a Bible.

It’s not that we don’t own Bibles. It’s not even that we don’t read our Bibles. It’s not that we don’t believe the Bible is the holy Word of God–we do! The problem is that we don’t read the Bible formatively. We don’t read the Bible in order to live. We mostly read it for information instead of transformation.

We are surrounded by words. Our society is drenched in words. We are word-saturated. But most of the words we read morning, noon, and night have no impact on our lives. They don’t change anything. Grocery lists, newspapers, energy prices, text books, Facebook and Twitter, novels and magazines, owners manuals, menus and billboards and the continual crawl at the bottom of the screen–we’re constantly reading. But whether it’s a Texas meme or a Washington tweet or a story about a kidnapping in Wyoming, it doesn’t really change our day-to-day lives.

There’s a temptation to read the Bible the same way you read an email from work. Especially when you download the Bible onto your phone, there’s a real danger to read the Bible like you read the internet. We read it for information, to gain knowledge. We read it for entertainment, to laugh or to kill time. We read it for inspiration, to find something to get me through a tough spot or encourage me to achieve my goals. We read it out of desperation, when we’ve got nowhere else to turn. Or we read it out of determination, to check that box on my Christian disciplines or New Year’s resolution list. We can’t read the Bible the same way we read a cookbook or a James Patterson novel. It’s different.

What if, in 2025, instead of reading the whole Bible from Genesis through Revelation, you hunkered down in ten core passages? What if you identified ten foundational Scriptures that speak to the most important things: the nature of our God, his mission, your holy purpose, God’s grace, Christ’s love, the Holy Spirit’s power, the ways we should treat each other and think about the world. What if you camped out on those ten passages for the whole year and really got them inside your soul? Memorize them, meditate on them, pray them, journal them, recite them out loud. Instead of every word of the Bible rushing by you this year, what if you dug down deep into ten core passages until they became a part of you?

What would those ten passages be? How would you identify them? How might our God change you this year if you committed to this very different way of engaging his Word?

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IF Texas commits zero turnovers…

IF the Longhorns commit fewer than six penalties…

IF Texas scores first…

IF Wisner and Blue combine for 130+ yards rushing…

IF the ‘Horns defense holds Jeremiah Smith to under 110 yards receiving…

THEN Texas will beat Ohio State tonight and advance to the national championship game.

I really believe all five of those things must happen if the Longhorns are going to hang with the Buckeyes tonight. If even one of those five things doesn’t happen, they’re toast. That means not one single fumble or interception, and no turning the ball over on downs, going for it on fourth down and not making it–that counts as a turnover. It means Quinn Ewers can’t throw the ball 35 times; Texas must control things in the trenches with the run. That means the ‘Horns must play a perfect game, the best and most complete game from start to finish they’ve played all season.

Hook ‘Em!

Allan

Chili Today. And Tomorrow.

January 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been here long enough to know that it’s not going to snow. They definitely want it to snow–the local weather people. Shoot, I think most of us want it to snow. The forecast this week was calling for temperatures in the middle 20s, with a 40-60% chance of snow–maybe one to three inches!–to start falling Wednesday and last most of the day Thursday. But I’ve been here long enough. It doesn’t rain in Midland, much less snow.

I was confident to stand in the pulpit Sunday and guarantee our church at GCR that our annual Chili Cookoff set for Wednesday night would not be canceled or even postponed. If the snow stays in the forecast, we’re still having the chili cookoff. If it starts misting or spitting tiny little ice pellets, don’t call the church building asking about the chili cookoff. We’re having it. The colder it gets, the more chili we’re going to eat and the more fun we’re going to have.

Well, it threatened all afternoon. It was cloudy and cold, It was still in the forecast. At about 1:00pm, Jim and I noticed half a dozen microscopic pellets bouncing off my windshield. And then nothing. It happened again at about 6:00pm. A little rain and about 15-seconds of sleet. And then nothing.

Some were afraid that would be enough to keep people at home. We’re not quite the hardy West Texas folks we like to think we are. I experienced a fleeting moment of doubt at about 6:15pm. And then all the cars showed up and the people with crockpots began rushing in.

We had 35 pots of chili, everything from classic Texas red (no beans!) and white chicken to venison and exotic nilgai, from mild to ghost pepper scorch, and everything in between. We had to set up extra tables just to hold all the chili! I don’t know how many people showed up (200? preacher count?), but we were packed and it was a blast. Patrice McKinney took the top prize and was encouraged to wear her championship apron to church Sunday. Caitlin Landry was voted the runner-up and Linda Bomar took third.

Carrie-Anne made so much of her awesome chili that we’ve got enough left over for us to eat tonight while we watch Notre Dame and Penn State. It would be nice to eat Frito Pie in front of the fireplace and a college football playoff game with a decent snow falling outside. But it’s not happening. We’re getting beautiful pictures and videos from Valerie in Tulsa and Carley in Flower Mound where it’s been snowing all day. Not here. We got nothing. Zero. Not one flurry or flake. Stupid desert.

Peace,

Allan

Poems (Sermons) Hide

January 7, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I was recently introduced to a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye entitled “Valentine for Ernest Mann.” I know nothing about the poet or the context of the poem or the title. But the poem struck me as important truth. It’s about poems and poetry but, more than that, it’s about life and living. It’s about perspective and intentionality. Oh, it’s good.

While reflecting on the truth contained in these short verses, I naturally thought about preaching. And sermons. I replaced the word “poem” in the composition with the word “sermon,” and the whole thing became more profound and much more personal.

Here it is, with my unauthorized substitutions. Where you see the word “sermon,” Nye used the word “poem.” Same thing, in many ways.

You can’t order a sermon like you order a taco.
Walk up to  the counter, say, “I’ll take two”
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.

Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a sermon,” deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell you a secret instead:
sermons hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn’t understand why she was crying.
“I thought they had such beautiful eyes.”

And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the sermons that had been hiding
in the eyes of the skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us,
we find sermons. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.

And let me know.

I pray this poem inspires you like it does me, to commit to “live in a way that lets us find” the sermons and the poems that are hiding all around us in plain sight.

Peace,

Allan

Run It Back

January 6, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I’m making the call right now: Mike McCarthy will be back next season as the coach of the Cowboys. He shouldn’t be. Of course not. But Jerry’s painted himself into such a corner now, he really doesn’t have a choice.

If I had told you before the 2020 season that in five years as the Cowboys coach, McCarthy’s record would be 49-35, with two seasons of double-digit losses, and the team still would not have won a divisional playoff game, would you view that as a success? No. Neither would Jerry. He brought McCarthy in to win playoff games and compete for Super Bowls. But his five years look almost exactly like Jason Garrett’s last four years: 40-24, with no divisional playoff wins.

Nothing’s changed.

The problem here is Jerry Wayne. We all know this. But Jerry’s not going anywhere, so we talk about the coaches.

Jerry has spent all his money on two players: Dak and Lamb. In the next couple of months, whatever’s left of his money will go to Micah Parsons. He’s bet everything on this trio of superstars getting him to the Promised Land, but the window is quickly closing. The surgically repaired Prescott is entering his tenth season as the Cowboys quarterback. Firing McCarthy and bringing in a brand new coach with a brand new staff and a brand new scheme would mean starting over with a two or three year process and Jerry simply doesn’t have that much time. Giving NFL record-money to an oft-injured 31-year-old quarterback who’s never won a divisional playoff game wasn’t smart. But he’s stuck with him now and running it back with McCarthy is his only choice.

Plus, he can keep McCarthy for cheap. McCarthy is reportedly making $8-million per season, about half of what their teams pay Sean Payton, Mike Tomlin, Jim Harbaugh, and Sean McVay. With no other teams lining up to sign McCarthy, Jerry can leverage his coach into the middle of the pay scale and save money to sign Parsons.

I’m not sure how you excite the fan base for 2025 by bringing McCarthy back, especially when we know, because of the money crunch, it’ll be another offseason of limited free agent signings. This really is going to be a “run it back” and hope all your guys who are one year older won’t get hurt again. Again.

I did about five minutes of research this morning that resulted in a sobering truth. In the first 29 years of the franchise, when Landry and Tex Schramm ran the whole operation and the owner stayed in the background, the Cowboys suffered only three seasons of double-digit losses. That first 0-11-1 season when Dallas played without the benefit of a draft, the fourth season in franchise history, and Landry’s last in 1988–three times in 29-years. It’s been 29-years since the Cowboys won a divisional playoff game. During that time, Dallas has racked up a whopping nine seasons of double-digit losses and McCarthy has presided over two of them. The current General Manager has overseen all nine of them.

Jerry only knows how to sign two kinds of coaches: unemployed ones and ones from within the organization. He has no desire to gamble on a dynamic name from another team or to participate in a bidding war for the next young hotshot coordinator. Not that it matters. The coach is not the issue in Dallas. For three decades now, the coach is not the problem. So, yeah, Jerry, you’ve been talking yourself into it now for two months. Run it back.

Peace,

Allan

One Who is More Powerful

January 2, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I have no faith in the Longhorns. They did against Arizona State yesterday what they have done every week this season: turnovers and penalties. If Sark can’t get that team to tighten up the pre-snap infractions and if Quinn can’t put a little more zip on those long post routes, Texas has no chance against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. How many times did the announcers say, “That penalty is against the Outland Trophy winner” or “That flag is on the Jim Thorpe Award winner.” Typical Texas. They always have the best players on the field and, some would say, the very best players in the whole country, but they under-perform. They disappoint. The Longhorns are my only chance to win our office football pool. And, like the little kid at the end of the Dr Pepper “Playoffuary” commercial says, “The Longhorns stink.”

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“After me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” ~Matthew 3:11

What John the Baptist is preaching sounds a lot like the Old Testament prophets, calling God’s people into a right relationship with the Lord that must impact every part of their lives. Repentance is a change in your attitude toward God, which changes your attitude toward everything. And everybody. It’s a deep profound change that dramatically impacts your thoughts, actions, and the whole direction of your life. But as much as this sounds like the Old Testament, there’s a distinctly new element to this.

If I’m told over and over again that I need to repent, I need to change, I need to orient my life toward God, nothing significant ever happens. Nothing really changes. It’s like being told to exercise and eat right. I know these things, but I still wind up at Whataburger. I don’t need a preacher telling me to change. I don’t need some prophet telling me to get my life right, or else. I need some power from outside of myself to make me different. It’s got to be something besides me. Because I can ‘t do it!

Thank goodness this is not about New Year’s resolutions. This is about real, lasting, significant change.

This change you need is not about your willpower or your commitment or your resources. It’s not tied to your family or your nation or your church. It has nothing to do with your education or your zip code or your bank account. John the Baptist isn’t talking about some January resolution or a new self-help promotion. He is pointing us to the only source of legitimate change: the Holy Spirit.

The coming Lord, the one more powerful than me–he will baptize you with the promised Holy Spirit. A power who can make a new creation out of stubborn people like us, stones like us, who have no way to save ourselves. This power that is coming is not our power. It’s not the power of your good deeds or your inner resolve or your spiritual disciplines or even your faith and repentance. It’s God’s power. We are made able to repent and bear fruit because of God’s power in the coming Lord Jesus and his Holy Spirit.

The powers of this world are never going to make us into Abraham’s children. We can’t tell ourselves we have better genes or better morals or better theology. We can’t say we were raised better or we have better attitudes or better works. It is God through Christ who is making children of Abraham. God is changing people and making people brand new for his Kingdom.

And it’s happening. It’s already in motion. We are being changed. If we’ll just submit to it. Pay attention to it. Embrace it.

Peace,

Allan

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