The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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The Little Middle

January 24, 2008 / / 2 Comments

ValValerie Nicole is 11 years old today. And she wants a lizard.

When Valerie was born to us early in the afternoon of January 24, 1997 the first thing that caught our attention was how huge she was. No exaggeration. I mean huge. She weighed nine pounds, five ounces. Huge. All that evening and the next two days doctors and nurses and other patients and visitors would knock on Carrie-Anne’s hospital room door wanting to know if they could come in and see that baby that weighed 9,5. (It’s funny because today she’s so skinny I call her ‘Twig.”)

ValW/FishIt was like Valerie was already a couple of weeks old when she came out. The very first moment I held her in my arms and talked to her and told her how beautiful she was, her eyes met mine and locked in. It was like she was truly paying attention to me, maybe even contemplating me. Possibly, even then, considering how she would manipulate me into giving her everything she ever wanted. She looked around the room as I held her in that first couple of minutes, taking it all in. It was really quite remarkable. She didn’t cry. She didn’t thrash around. I half-expected her to begin talking to me. It was strange.

And since that moment, Valerie’s always been the child who wants to see everything, do everything, and know everything. She’s always sat sideways in the car. Always. Still does. Staring out at the world as it goes by, taking it all in. She was four years old when I drove her to day school at the Mesquite Church when, totally out of the blue, she asked me, “If the world is round, why is that line straight?” She was talking about the distant horizon. I had no answer.

Val&Dog ColonialPal CottonCandy 

Valerie is our adventurer. She’s our explorer. Whitney wants to go to ballgames. Carley wants to visit the zoo. Valerie Valwants to spend the day at a cave in Central Texas or out in the woods. She wants to go where nobody else goes and do things she’s never done before. Except for vegetables and casseroles, she’s open to trying anything once.

She’s beautiful. She’s funny. She’s smart. She has a gorgeous voice and I love to hear her sing. She memorizes words to songs she’s only heard once. She dances in front of her mirror to “High School Musical” and “Hannah Montana” and throws the football with the boy across the street. She makes friends with everybody. She’s considerate and kind to others. She never stops reading.

And she wants a lizard.

We’re so proud of Val-Pal. Our God has blessed us with this big-eyed gal who laughs at everything and pretends to know Swingingkarate. There’s no limit to her potential. By the grace of our Father she truly can do anything she wants, she really can have anything she wants. I know our Lord has huge plans for her. I can’t wait to see how he’s going to use her to bless his Kingdom.

I love you, Val. Happy Birthday, sweetie.

I don’t know about that lizard.

Dad

Where Your Heart Is…..

January 22, 2008 / / 1 Comment

Religion, to a lot of us, is usually about accepting something intellectually — “That makes sense” or “I understand that.” But there’s a huge difference between information about God and a relationship with God. Do you know about God or do you know God?

We think emotion is suspect. We think religion should not be emotional. Emotion lets you down. It’s not real. It doesn’t last. You have to keep your wits about you. Use your brains. Be calm and collected. Use your intellect. Faith is not emotional.

We in the Church have usually said, “If I can get your head, your heart will follow.” If I can prove it to you with logical arguments, you’re there. And, praise God, sometimes that works.

But my real experience tells me it’s just the opposite. Your head will always be where your heart is. If I can get your heart, your head will always follow. Where your heart is, that’s where I’m going to find your time, your money, your energy, your body, your head, every bit of you.

Think about it: nobody ever loves God with all their heart and not their head. But we have plenty of people in the Church who have God in their heads but their hearts are stone.

The Word of God captures our hearts. What the Lord has done for us grabs our hearts. The starting point is in our emotions. He wants our hearts. I look at the women in Mark 5 and Mark 7 who did not have a full understanding of who Jesus was or what he was all about. They had no clue about his mission to suffer and die and be raised again for the salvation of the world. But they reached out to him. And Jesus praised them for their faith. Faith in what? Faith in him. An imperfect faith. An incomplete faith. But a faith, nontheless, that God honored by bringing physical and spiritual healing to them.

When you were baptized, could the devil have given all the same answers to the questions you were asked? Satan knows that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. When you were studying before your baptism, could the devil have answered all the questions about God’s plan of salvation and God’s commands and the Lord’s Supper the same way you did?

Even the devil knows all the right answers up in his head.

What makes your relationship with God different than his?

Where’s your heart?

Peace,

Allan

Straining At The Oars

January 21, 2008 / / 6 Comments

“Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat…After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them.” ~Mark 6:45-48

The disciples are in the deep water. Right where Jesus pushed them. He’s on the mountain. Praying. And he’s watching them.

He’s watching them as they strain at the oars because the wind is against them. They’re struggling. They’re troubled. They’re working, toiling, laboring against the wind. They’re disturbed inside, upset, as they battle the wind that’s keeping them from fulfilling Jesus’ command. Despite their best efforts, they’re actually being blown off course.

I feel that way all the time. Do you?

In my intense desire to follow Jesus’ will for my life, in my best and greatest efforts to obey my God, I feel like sometimes I’m beating my brains out against the wind. I’m rowing and rowing and rowing and not going anywhere. Or worse, I’m being blown off course.

And you feel it. I know you do, because there are so many things that fight against us, so many things that oppose us. Just living in the chaos of life in this godless culture. In this place, this world, where Jesus has set us, in the middle of crime and cancer and illness and death. We fight failure and rejection and ridicule and judgment. We’re distressed by division in the Church. We’re in turmoil over circumstances with our children or our grandchildren. We’re struggling with our jobs. We’re battling with our marriages. Temptation and sin and dishonesty and abuse. Vengeance and greed. Selfishness and lust.

And we strain at the oars.

Please take comfort today in the fact that Jesus is watching you strain at the oars. He sees you. And he’s so very proud of you. You’re in the middle of the lake. You’re four miles out. But it’s Jesus who sent you there. And he’s watching you. He knows. He’s aware of every struggle. He’s aware of every battle. He knows the things that are causing you distress and heartache. Be comforted in knowing that Jesus, the Christ, the Savior of the World, is interceding for you right now as he reigns at the right hand of our Father in Heaven. Hebrews 7 says he lives to intercede for those who come to God. It’s what he does.

He watches the apostles and he prays.

He’s watching you. And he’s praying.

Be encouraged by that today.

It’s Jesus’ mission. It’s his deal. And he’s going to make sure nothing stops it. Paul tells us in Philippians 1, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” Take joy in that.

Have no fear. We do live in a very windy world. But, by the grace of God in Christ, we will reach the shore.

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The thing I like most about sports is the unpredictability. I like the surprises. I like the out-of-nowhere shockers. I enjoy the unexpected. Eli Manning and the Giants going into sub-zero conditions at Lambeau, kicking a field goal in overtime to reach the Super Bowl was not even a possibility three days ago, certainly not three weeks ago. That’s what I love about sports.

And that’s why I’m rooting hard against the Patriots.

I don’t like something to be universally predicted and expected and then for it to happen exactly the way everyone thought. I hate that. Where’s the thrill in that? Where’s the excitement? Why watch?

The national media and most every football fan in the country has been predicting 19-0 for Belichick’s boys since early September. The Patriots were dubbed perfect and the greatest team in the history of the NFL before the season was half over. And now they’re one win away from fulfilling all the predictions and robbing us of any sense of mystery or wonder about this 2007 season.

Admit it. You loved it when the Chargers beat the Colts last week because you didn’t see it coming. It’s why we love the NCAA basketball tournament, because you-didn’t-see-it-coming happens every day.

I understand, I suppose, wanting to see history being made. I get it, I guess, wanting to watch a flawless machine of a team execute at the highest level. That’s all OK. Whatever.

Give me an upset instead. I’ll take a shocker over the favorite winning every time.

I don’t know if the Giants can beat New England. It doesn’t seem likely. I like New York’s run game. Manning’s playing with tons of confidence. And the Giants defense may be capable of pressuring Tom Brady and covering his receivers. Maybe. I’m more concerned with Tom Coughlin’s face. He’s going to need about a jar and a half of Vaseline to take care of that freezer burn.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you.

Peace,

Allan

New Beginnings

January 18, 2008 / / 0 Comments

“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” ~Mark 1:1

Mark begins his gospel by telling us up front it’s a story about a beginning, a starting point. The good news from Mark is that God begins again with his chosen people by sending his Son. At the end of the story, though, things don’t look so great. The women sneak away from the empty tomb, paralyzed by fear. They’re commanded by the angel to tell the good news of Jesus’ resurrection but “they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid” (Mark 16:8)

However — praise God! — failure, fear, and denial are not the end of the story. We know because we have the gospels and because we belong to God’s Church in Christ today that the women did overcome their fear. So did Peter and the disciples. Their failures, detailed over and over in the book of Mark, were not fatal.

And neither are ours.

God is the one who consistently makes something out of nothing; he constantly turns awful things into wonderful things; he continually brings life out of death. What seems like the end is only a new beginning. Today, our God continues to work with and revive his people.

Christianity is not a closed book. The redeeming work of God in Jesus is not done. The gospel story continues today. As members of God’s family, we continue to write sacred history. We are the latest chapters in a continuing story of God’s good news of salvation. The question for us then is, as it was for the early disciples in Mark, “Where do we go from here?”

The next stage is up to us. How will we continue the story? Will we cower in fear or boldly proclaim the glad tidings of Jesus to our world?

 Peace,

Allan

You Are My Friends…

January 17, 2008 / / 0 Comments

“You are my friends if you do what I command.” ~John 15:14

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. That line is the centerpiece of the most successful ad campaign ever against drunk driving. And it works so well because it doesn’t target drunk drivers. It targets the friends of the drunk drivers. The ads appeal to the power of friendship. Friendship says, “If I care about you, if I really love you, I won’t stand by and let you hurt yourself.”

That’s the context of Jesus’ words to his disciples in the upper room. That’s the point when Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” It’s not a threat. This statement doesn’t declare our friendship with Jesus to be tenuous or overly-conditional. These words don’t yank the rug out from under the confidence and assurance we have as Jesus’ friends. He died for us while we were sinners. While we were God’s enemies he sacrificed his life for us. That question’s been answered. This statement, rather, affirms our close relationship to him. What he’s saying is, “Friends don’t let friends ignore God.”

When we become friends with Jesus we trust him. And we obey him because we trust him. We do what he says because we know what he says is always in our best interests. I’ve heard this before, “God loves you just the way you are but he loves you too much to leave you that way.”

You would never, ever just sit there and watch your child drink a bottle of deadly poison. You would never, ever just stand there and watch your best friend walk into the path of an on-coming truck. You can’t. And Jesus will never, ever just sit there and ignore your sin. He can’t. It’s because we’re his friends that he wants us to obey his commands. And it’s because we’re his friends that we want to obey.

Jesus calls us his friends. We are his friends. And as our best friend, Jesus loves us, protects us, defends us, forgives us, sacrifices for us, and saves us. He died for us. We don’t have a better friend. And as we walk in that friendship and delight in that relationship, may we commit to being for one another the kind of friend Jesus is to us.

Peace,

Allan

Christ's Love Compels Us

January 16, 2008 / / 0 Comments

As Paul writes about the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5 — that God is a God of reconciliation, he gives us the ministry of reconciliation, and we are his ambassadors; God is making his appeal for reconciliation through us — he admits that some people think he’s insane or drunk. The things he does and the way he talks seem way out of the ordinary. Paul doesn’t apologize for it. He explains it.

“For Christ love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” ~2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Listen to Paul’s passion. Feel it. Be amazed by it.

Christ love COMPELS us. The love of Jesus overrules us. It dominates us. It completely controls us. We’re held by his love as if in a vice. We can’t break free. The love of the Christ doesn’t lead us as much as it totally pushes us.

And I think I’m mostly compelled by my own experiences, my own wishes and desires, my own selfish dreams and visions. What I do and say, if I’m honest, is sometimes pushed by what I want. But Paul confesses that the love of Jesus is what drives every bit of what he’s about. Christ has his way with Paul without reservation. The fact that Jesus died for us should be what moves us and motivates us. It should shake us and never let us go.

As we represent Jesus our King, we should be controlled by him. His love should be the overwhelming factor in our lives, the determining factor every hour.

Paul acts the way he does because Christ’s love pushes him. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. It doesn’t matter if they believe he’s crazy or drunk or straight and sober. It doesn’t matter. He’s driven by Jesus. It’s the only thing Paul is living for, the solitary force behind his every thought, word, and deed.

What God has done for me. What God has done for you. His love. It compels us.

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All Youth and/or Family Ministers (except for Jason Brown and Lance Parrish)!!! The Woodward Park Church of Christ in Fresno, California is looking for a Youth and Family minister. My great friend, Jim Gardner, is the preacher out there. And I can say from personal experience, it would be a tremendous opportunity for anybody who would take it to work with this wonderful man of God. I was encouraged and uplifted by the year I spent with Jim in Marble Falls. I learned so much from listening to him and working with him and discussing the Church’s mission in this world with him. Jim gets it. He has such a beautiful, big-picture view of the Kingdom. And he’s right smack-dab in the middle of it in Fresno. The Woodward Park Church is a diverse body of disciples. They’re making a tremendous difference in their community and, really, through the entire state of California. They serve as a hub of sorts in ministering to other churches in the state which really is a rich mission field compared to our state of Texas. It would be a tremendous challenge. It would be different. It would bless your life in amazing ways. They do things right at Woodward Park. And I highly recommend it to anyone who has a strong passion for serving young people and families in Christ.

Jim will be here in the DFW area next week to meet with any interested candidates. I’m picking him up at Love Field next Wednesday morning and spending as much time as I can with him before he takes off for Lubbock Thursday. If you’re interested (again, not you Jason or Lance!!!) email Jim at jim@wpcoc.com. He’s posted tons of information and a couple of links about the job on his blog at jimgardner.blogspot.com. And his church website is woodwardparkchurchofchrist.com.

If you know anyone who needs to see this info, get it to them quickly.

Peace,

Allan

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