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The Peace of Christ

August 20, 2007 / Allan / 2 Comments

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” ~Colossians 3:12-17

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

Only our Savior brings true and perfect peace — the wholeness and completeness of a right relationship with God our Father and with each other. God’s ministry through his Son, his plan for all of mankind, is to reconcile creation back to himself. That’s peace. Perfect peace. The peace of Christ. And it’s marked by forgiveness and gentleness and compassion and it’s all tied up in love.

The rub comes when we understand that the peace of Christ isn’t always peaceful. Where a person or a group of people are allowing God’s Holy Spirit to work in them and through them and for them to make them more into the image of Christ and sanctified to God, there’s always going to be friction and conflict. It’s not easy. It’s difficult. The peace of Christ always comes with a sacrifice. With trials and suffering. The peace of Christ comes in the way of Christ. He calls us to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers. And there’s a huge difference.

As for letting that peace of Christ rule in your hearts, the picture there is of an umpire at the athletic games that were so very popular both in Paul’s day in Colosse and in our day in America. The umpire would serve to qualify those who were eligible to compete and disqualify those who weren’t. His “rule” was the rule. And at the end of the game, it was the umpire who rewarded the victor with his crown. The umpire ruled who was in and who was out, who won and who lost.

Paul says let the peace of Christ “rule” in your hearts. Let God’s ministry of reconciliation and perfect peace that’s only found in a right relationship with God and each other through Jesus, let that peace rule the things you say and do, the way you act and react and respond, the plans you make and execute in the Kingdom and in the community.

Let that peace determine what you throw out and what you keep.

Does it bring people closer to each other and to Christ? Keep it. Does it take that peace of Christ to my neighbors? Do it. Does it only serve my selfish interests? Lose it. Is it only useful for making my wallet fatter or my car nicer? Forget it. Does it encourage? Is it kind? Does it relieve the burdens of others? Move on it. Does it tear down relationships? Does it give me pride or reason to boast? Is it unfair? Get rid of it.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

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I’m so grateful to Mark Shipp and Ray Vanderlaan for their excellent scholarship in our Hebrew Scriptures and for the ways they’ve inspired me to see the pictures in our Bible. I give them all the credit in the world for the slideshow presentation I made last night at Legacy and the message I delivered of seeing the ways God communicates great truth through pictures. I’m still, in so many ways, just a beginner in this area of Bible study. But it moves me. It speaks to me. It grabs my heart and my soul in brand new ways that I can’t help but want to share. I could have gone for a couple of hours. Some of you are glad I didn’t. But thank you so much to those of you who told me you would have stayed if I had.

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There are ten days left until football season — not preseason games or controlled scrimmages or two-a-day practices, real games that mean something and count in the standings, real games with real quarterbacks and running backs and wide receivers even into the fourth quarter. And in the continuing countdown to that first day of games, we honor the greatest football player to ever wear the #10: Fran Tarkenton.

As an All-America quarterback at the University of Georgia, he was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings and threw four TD passes in his first ever NFL game. He took the Vikings to three Super Bowls — all losses — and was called by Bud Grant “the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.” OK, that’s a bit of a stretch. But he was pretty stinkin’ good. After his 18 year pro career — he spent his last five years with the Giants — Tarkenton was tops in the NFL record books for passing attempts, completions, passing yards, passing TDs, rushing yards as a QB (3,674), and rushing TDs as a QB (32).

The man could scramble.

He also hosted “That’s Incredible” with John Davidson and Cathy Lee Crosby and spent just a season, I think, on Monday Night Football.

Catching up from yesterday, #11 is “America’s Punter,” as Roger Staubach called him, Danny White.

White set seven NCAA passing records while quarterbacking at Arizona State and he spent his first two professional years with the Memphis Southmen of the old World Football League. But it was with the Dallas Cowboys where Danny White made his mark, taking the team to three straight NFC Championship Games in the three years after Staubach’s retirement. As Staubach’s backup for four years he served as the Cowboys punter and was a legitimate threat to run or pass every time. He did both from 1980 – 1988, except for that weird controversy with Gary Hogeboom. And when he was forced out with Jimmy Johnson’s drafting of Troy Aikman, White left with a record of 67-35 as a starter on some pretty bad teams (41-11 at Texas Stadium), a 59.7% completion rate, and 155 TD passes. He still, today, holds eight Cowboys records.

Danny White never got his due. He was the victim of horrible timing throughout his Cowboys career. And if it weren’t for Dwight Clark’s catch, Wilbert Montgomery’s run, and the ’82 strike, White may have a couple of Super Bowl victories and a spot in the Hall of Fame. He is in the Arena Football Hall of Fame. As the head coach of the Arizona Rattlers, White went to five ArenaBowls in 14 years and won two of them. He’s also in the College Football Hall of Fame and was named the Arizona Athlete of the Century by some newspaper in Phoenix in 1999.

Ricky Williams, based solely on the fact that he was the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher when he left Texas, deserves at least a mention — I’m not sure how honorable — because he did wear the #11 during his freshman year. And who could forget the Eagles legendary quarterback, Norm Van Brocklin? But Danny White gets the nod. And tomorrow we’re into single digits.

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By the way, the Cowboys looked pretty good Saturday night for a team that’s going to go 8-8 this year.

(That’s not official. I’m giving my actual game-by-game prediction one week from today.)

Peace,

Allan

The Scandal of the Cross

August 17, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

“And we thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” ~1 Thessalonians 2:13

How did those people in Thessalonica know that what Paul was preaching was the Word of God and not just the latest philosophy of the day? How did they know the message was truly divine and not human?

It occurs to me that maybe because it was so radically different from anything anybody else was teaching, it had to be from someone other than man and from somewhere other than this world. The message of the cross — the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus — was scandalous. It was foolishness to Jews and Gentiles. It was an affront to formal education and good common sense. The message of the cross goes completely against human philosophy and technology, totally against wisdom and experience.

The Jews in Thessalonica were searching for an earthly Messiah. The Greeks in Thessalonica were looking for larger than life gods. And Paul and Silas and Timothy blow into town preaching about a poor carpenter turned homeless preacher who was executed by the state as a disgraced criminal.

It’s like telling you today that the earth is flat! And expecting you to believe it!

That’s why Paul writes at the end of 1 Corinthians 1 that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things, the despised things, “the things that are not,” to nullify the things that are. And it’s in those things God chose where we find our “righteousness, holiness, and redemption.”

The message of the cross turns the world upside down.

And I think we’ve lost some of that aspect of it — that shocking, stunning, jarring aspect of the Word of God that reverses the natural order.

Is it because we’ve heard it for so long? Are we desensitized to it? Or is it because it is so radical and shocking and scandalous we’ve attempted to soften it up? Have we changed it in any ways, or left some key parts of the gospel of the cross out, so that our lives or the lives of our friends aren’t rocked by it?

Peter Berger wrote this in a book called Worldly Wisdom, Christian Foolishness: “Trying to adapt the gospel message, or tweak the nature of the church or in any way alter Christian beliefs so they conform more closely to the society in which we live is foolish and futile and damaging. I would argue, sinful. If the gospel looks like or sounds like the world, then it’s not the gospel. Because the gospel is not of this world.”

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Thirteen days until football season. And the best player to ever wear #13 is Dan Marino. As a college quarterback at Pittsburgh, he led the Panthers to three straight 11-1 seasons and was named All-America his junior year after throwing for 37 touchdowns. His senior year was less than great — 17 TDs and 23 picks — but the Miami Dolphins still made him their #1 pick, the 27th player taken overall in 1983, the 6th QB.

In his rookie season, Marino took Shula’s ‘Fins to the Super Bowl, a loss to the 49ers, and became the first ever rookie quarterback to start in the Pro Bowl. He made eight more of those Pro Bowls during his 17 year career in Miami. But he never made it to another Super Bowl.

Marino had one of the quickest releases ever for an NFL quarterback and rarely got sacked. He threw for over 61,000 yards, 420 touchdowns, and compiled over 400 yards passing in a game 13 times. 21 times he threw at least four TDs in a game. And he had six seasons of over 4,000 yards. The only quarterbacks to ever do that more than once are Warren Moon and Dan Fouts. And they only managed it twice.

Marino holds 29 NFL passing records, spots in the college and pro football halls of fame, and some very cheesy Isotoner glove commercials. And he’s the greatest to ever wear #13.

I always unveil Saturday’s player on Friday. But I’m hesitant today because #12 in the countdown deserves his own post, his own page. But here we go.

No brainer.

The best football player to ever wear #12 is Roger Staubach.

Surprise?

Yeah, right.

Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls in six years and deserves honorable mention despite this hilarious hair restoration advertisement. By the way, I do think Hollywood Henderson was wrong. If you spotted Bradshaw both the “c” and the “a” he probably could spell “cat.” Just the “c”? That’s a better argument. (Shout out to Fleming! Love you, brother!)

Joe Namath deserves credit for his brash personality and guaranteed Jets win in Super Bowl III that sealed the merger between the NFL and the AFL, despite this awful Sports Illustrated cover.

And Bob Griese was great (nice goggles).

But Staubach is the best.

As the starting quarterback at Navy for three seasons (1962-64) Staubach set 28 school records and finished with an amazing 63% completion rate. And he threw only 19 interceptions during those three years. In ’63 he won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and was named All-America after leading the Midshipmen to a 9-1 record, the only loss coming against Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Good enough to earn Staubach speedy induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

His pro career got started a little late due to his service in Vietnam. But when Staubach began playing in Dallas for Tom Landry’s Cowboys, the glory days had finally arrived. Staubach is the one who guided the Cowboys from Next Year’s Champions to World Champions, taking them to four Super Bowls, beating the Dolphins in Super Bowl VI and the Broncos in Super Bowl XII. During Staubach’s eleven year career in Dallas, which ended prematurely due to all the concussions, he threw for almost 23,000 yards and 153 TDs, he ran for more than 2,200 yards and scored 20 more TDs rushing, and finished with a passer rating of 83.4.

He was the clean-cut, no-cussing, faithful-to-his-wife-and-family, never-late-for-curfew, Christian leader of America’s Team (As J. Bailey says, those were the days when the church was strong and Tom Landry was coaching the Cowboys.) He coined the term “Hail Mary Pass” in the closing seconds of that playoff game against the Vikings (check out the stunned looks on the faces of the Vikings players and fans in this picture! Geoff, Drew did not push off on Nate Wright!); he called Tom Landry “the man in the funny hat”; he handed off to Duane Thomas, Walt Garrison, Tony Dorsett, Calvin Hill, Robert Newhouse, and Ron Springs; he threw deep to Drew Pearson, Tony Hill, Golden Richards, and Mike Ditka; he made the shotgun formation popular again after a 40-year absence; and he scrambled and dodged and ran like crazy. In his last ever regular season game, he beat the Redskins at Texas Stadium 35-34 on a fade route to Tony Hill to capture the division title. And the following week he completed his last ever professional pass, an illegal catch by offensive lineman Herb Scott in a playoff loss to the Rams.

Growing up in Dallas in the ’70s, I wanted to be just like him. He ruled the city, the state, and the world as far as I could tell. I got his autograph in the parking lot at Dallas Christian one morning after he had spoken at chapel. And I sat next to him at the news conference at Texas Stadium announcing Tex Schramm’s induction into the Cowboys Ring of Honor. He was my childhood hero and a role model for anyone. Roger Staubach is the greatest to ever wear #12.

No brainer.

Peace,

Allan

Now These Three Remain…

August 16, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

As we continue looking at the church in Thessalonica over the next several weeks at Legacy as a “model to all the believers” let’s keep Paul’s thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians 1 as the background music. Paul is grateful to God for the Christians’ “work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Faith, hope, and love.

This triad of Christian virtues is mentioned again towards the end of the letter as armor to be worn by the believers in a continual state of readiness for Christ’s return. But it’s not just Paul who puts so much emphasis on faith, hope, and love as foundational and fundamental to our Christian walk. While he sprinkles most of his letters with this language, you can also find Peter writing about our faith and hope in God in the same sentence with our sincere love for our brothers. The writer of Hebrews carries the theme by reminding us of the full assurance of faith, the hope we profess, and the love we have for each other.

The dozen or so New Testament references to faith, hope, and love cannot be ignored. In fact, they should be highlighted just as they were intended by the inspired writers. They serve as a kind of shorthand summary of the essentials of Christianity and what it means to be a Christian: faith as the assurance that God has acted in Christ to save his people, love as the expression and experience of the restored relationship between God and his people and his people with each other, and hope as the confidence that our Lord will bring his work to completion and the future holds not “wrath but…salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:9) Notice, too, that the Bible never thanks people for their hope or faith or love. The Bible always thanks God for those things recognized in people. All three of these virtues and active proofs of God’s grace are gifts from our Father. They don’t come from anywhere else.

Even if you already have, and especially if you haven’t yet, read all five chapters of 1 Thessalonians sometime between now and Sunday. And may our God bless us as we strive to imitate our spiritual ancestors in Thessalonica.

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Two weeks from tonight, 14 more days, the real football season begins with games that really count. And today’s all-time #14 is legendary quarterback and pioneer of the game Y. A. Tittle. He was born in Marshall, Texas and played his college ball at LSU. And when he went to the Baltimore Colts in 1948 he was named NFL Rookie of the Year. Three years later the team disbanded and so Tittle went to San Francisco where he quarterbacked the 49ers for ten seasons. But it was with the New York Giants, in the nation’s largest market at the time when pro football was really beginning to catch on, where Tittle made his name and his legend. In just four seasons, from 1961-64, he led the Giants to three division titles while winning NFL MVP honors twice and appearing in the Pro Bowl four times. He passed for over 300 yards 13 times in those four seasons, throwing for 33 touchdowns in 1962 and 36 more in ’63. When he finished his career, Tittle had thrown for more than 33,000 yards and 242 TDs.

Dan Fouts, by virtue of his amazing numbers and his leadership role with Air Coryell’s revolutionary offense in San Diego, deserves honorable mention. But Hall of Famer and football pioneer Y. A. Tittle gets the nod as the best to ever wear #14.

Peace,

Allan

Without Cause, Without Measure, Without End

August 15, 2007 / Allan / 2 Comments

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” ~Romans 5:6-11

I’ve heard it said over and over again, “God helps those who help themselves.” And it’s always said as if it’s some deep profound theological truth that’s rooted in Scripture. Actually, Scripture teaches us exactly the opposite. From Genesis through Revelation, the entire canon of God’s Word proclaims loudly and unambiguously that “God helps those who cannot help themselves!”

While we were powerless. Ungodly. Sinners. God’s enemies.

It’s at that point that God reaches through the barriers of time and space and rescues me — when I’m wholly unable to do anything about my salvation myself. I’ve never done anything in my life to merit God’s favor. In fact, most of my life, I feel, looking back, is an affront to our God. And it’s at that moment he sends his Son to die for me. God’s love for me is completely without cause.

And it’s without measure. To what can I compare it? With all of my sin and selfishness and arrogance and pride and inclination to evil and rebellion, I wouldn’t die for me. But God did. Who else does that?

And God’s love for me is without end. I’m reconciled through Christ’s death. But the fact that he lives and reigns at the right hand of the Father fills me with confidence that he lives and reigns to keep me, to constantly wash me, to ensure my eternal destiny with him in the eternal Kingdom.

Hallelujah.

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In just 15 days the real football season begins with eleven college games that mean something, that count in the standings, that matter in real life, climaxing with LSU and Mississippi State on ESPN. And today’s all-time greatest to ever wear the #15 is not Babe Laufenberg. It’s a guy who mainly rode the bench at Alabama and wasn’t drafted by his NFL team, the Green Bay Packers, until the 17th round!

Bart Starr spent 16 years with the Packers, leading them to six Division titles, five NFL titles, and two Super Bowl wins. He was the NFL MVP in 1966 and the MVP in both of those first two Super Bowls. He was the NFL passing champion three times and represented Title Town in four Pro Bowls. His career completion rate of 57.4% is among the best ever. And, of course, he’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Packers attempted to manipulate fate and recapture some of that Title Town magic when they hired Starr as the head coach in 1975. But he went 52-76-3 over nine years, making the playoffs only once.

But that doesn’t tarnish what he did as a player. Bart Starr defined an era, almost two decades, as the championship quarterback of the undisputed dominant team in the NFL. And he’s the best player to ever wear #15.

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“I expect naught from myself, everything from the work of Christ. My service has its objectivity in that expectation and by it I am freed from all anxiety about my insufficiency and failure.”

Peace,

Allan

Running Late

August 14, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

I’m so sorry it’s after 2:00 in the afternoon and I’m just now getting to the blog. It’s been one of those wonderfully rewarding mornings — into the afternoon now — of visiting with people and counseling and ministering. This post will be a quick hit-and-run. My apologies.

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Legacy Worship Center Construction Update

I have no idea what this huge piece of machinary is called or exactly what it does. But it’s massive and it’s digging some pretty impressive holes out here today.

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There are 16 days until football season. And while some truly great football players such as GeorgeBlanda, Frank Gifford, and LenDawson have worn the #16, the all-time greatest is 49ers QB Joe Montana. He was great at Notre Dame. But he made his mark as the championship signal-caller in San Francisco. He accounted for 40,551 yards passing and almost another 1,700 yards rushing during his NFL career, and he’s still in the top four all-time in the NFL record books for attempts, completions, yards, TDs, passing percentage, and pass-to-interception ratio. He won four Super Bowls and three Super Bowl MVPs and played in eight Pro Bowls. He and Jerry Rice hooked up for 68 TDs, the most prolific points scoring tandem in NFL history at the time of his retirement. Montana pulled off 31 4th quarter comeback victories in his 15 year career. In 1981, “The Catch” completely reversed the fortunes of two franchises in Dallas and San Francisco and ruined the career of one of my favorite quarterbacks, Danny White. Cowboys apologists will always say that pass to Dwight Clark over Everson Walls in the end zone at Candlestick was a lucky play. It wasn’t. It was truly heartbreaking. But it was a great play. And Montana’s the greatest player to ever wear #16.

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I don’t know what to make of the news that Van Halen is kicking off a concert tour and planning to record another album. I’m nervous about Diamond Dave re-joining the group, troubled by the absence of Michael Anthony, and skeptical about Eddie’s 16-year-old son, Wolfgang, not only playing bass but also picking all the songs. I’ve been burned by Van Halen concerts many times. A last minute cancellation in OKC. Sammy Hagar losing his voice at the Cotton Bowl two songs into the show and Anthony singing Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” as they left the stage. David Lee Roth forgetting the words to “Beautiful Girl.” Will any of that keep me away? Doubt it.

Peace,

Allan

Backpacks and Quarterbacks

August 13, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

We live in a broken world. And the problems that we see all around us — in our neighborhoods, in our schools, on TV, in our families, at work — can seem so overwhelming. What can I do? What can the Church do? What difference can one person or one congregation really make?

As a body of Christian disciples we must hold fast to the conviction that the answer to all the world’s problems is Jesus Christ.

And if we truly believe that, then the ministries we perform should be done in the name and in the manner of Jesus. Every good work done, every sermon preached, every tear wiped away, every bag of groceries delivered, every backpack dropped off, and every prayer lifted must be completely drenched in the name of Christ. Jesus is the very center of all of creation. His life and death and resurrection are the events around which everything else in history and in the future revolve. Everything that happened before Jesus’ incarnation pointed to his coming. And everything since his resurrection looks back on those history-altering events. We recognize the salvation we have in Jesus. We realize the extent of God’s mercy and grace in redeeming us while we were unworthy sinners. And it’s that awareness that brings us to our knees in humility and gratitude and motivates us to show that same mercy and patience and love to the world. Everything we do and say, everything we have, and everything we are is a direct result of God’s work through Jesus. And our everyday ministry to others is our response. To paraphrase D. A. Carson, if our ministry is based only on positive thinking, managerial skills, or emotional experiences and not with the proclamation of Jesus Christ, it’s focused on the wrong things and ultimately won’t be blessed by our God.

And it’s not enough to perform ministry in Jesus’ name. Our works of love and grace must also be done in the manner of our Savior. We are called to live our lives with Christ, not as a performance for Christ. Jesus was and is motivated by his love for all of humanity and for the fulfillment of God’s perfect will. Sacrificially putting others ahead of ourselves is the manner of Jesus. On that last day, many will say “Lord, Lord” to a God who doesn’t recognize them. Without proper motives, our works are as meaningless as a “noisy gong or clanging cymbal.”

Of course, this goes against our human nature. Jesus’ ministry of preaching and healing ultimately led to his torturous death. The image of the cross and all the cross conjures up in sacrifice and suffering doesn’t appeal to most of us. But it’s that image that should be at the very center of everything we do in his name.

And I come back to the backpacks.

This morning we delivered between 160-175 backpacks to Walker Creek Elementary to be given to the one-quarter of the students there who are economically-disadvantaged. The outpouring from our Legacy Church family of donations of backpacks and school supplies and of those volunteering their time and services to that school has been inspirational. And I praise God for the wonderful ways he’s going to use those backpacks and the relationships we’re developing over there for the good of his children and his Kingdom.

As we adopt Walker Creek and begin to share our lives with theirs, let’s maintain our focus on Christ.

The saving event of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is not just a far-off moment in time or a mechanical fix to some remote technical problem with the world. The Jesus-event is breaking news. It is happening around us and within us, rescuing what was lost and restoring what was broken. The key to peace in the world is reunion with God. And it is towards that end that he is working — even through us.

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“Number 17 in your program, Number 1 in your heart….”

There are 17 more days until football season. And we’re at the point in the countdown that brings us 13 quarterbacks in a row beginning with the all-time greatest football player to ever wear #17, the Danderoo, Dandy Don Meredith. He was a two-time All-America quarterback at SMU, finishing 3rd in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1959 behind Billy Cannon. And when he left the Hilltop, he was the all-time leading passer in college football history with a 61% completion rate.

In that summer before the Dallas Cowboys had even settled on the name “Cowboys,” Tex Schramm engineered a trade with the Chicago Bears that gave them the right to draft Meredith. It was mainly a move to keep the AFL Dallas Texans from drafting the home town hero. And so Dandy Don actually was signed to the Dallas Rangers. But he became the undisputed leader of the Next Year’s Champion-era Cowboys teams from 1960-68.

In his nine years with the team, Meredith racked up over 17,000 yards passing — still good enough for #4 all time in team history — and 135 passing TDs. His 460 yards passing against the 49ers in 1963 still stands as a Cowboys team record as does his 95 yard touchdown pass to Bob Hayes against the Redskins in 1966. He won three division titles with Dallas and took the Cowboys to two heart-breaking losses against the Packers in two NFL Championship Games. He was the NFL MVP in ’66 and represented those early Cowboys in three Pro Bowls.

He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame and the Cowboys Ring of Honor. And he needled Howard Cosell and sang “Turn Out the Lights” during the never-to-be-experienced-again glory days of Monday Night Football.

Catching up from the weekend, #18 is Elisha Archibald Manning III. Archie Manning wore #18 at Ole Miss where his 56 career touchdowns and 31 TD passes in 1969 are still school records. He racked up an amazing 540 yards passing and rushing in a game against Alabama in ’69. He finished in the top four in voting for the Heisman in ’69 and ’70. And he’s still heralded as the greatest athlete in Ole Miss history. The speed limit signs outside and throughout the entire Ole Miss campus in Oxford post the legal limit at 18-miles-per-hour in his honor.

As the Saints number one pick in 1971, the number two pick overall, he suffered 337 sacks and 156 interceptions in eleven seasons. And as awful as those teams were, Manning still was named the NFL MVP in ’78. He finished up his career with the Oilers and Vikings. And now he spends his free time making more money filming one commercial with his sons Payton and Eli than he made in a full season in the NFL.

Charlie Joiner gets an honorable mention at #18. But the nod goes to Manning.

#19 is a non-debatable no-brainer: the great Johnny Unitas. “The Golden Arm” won just 12 games in four years at Louisville and was cut by the Steelers just weeks after they drafted him in the ninth round in 1955. He wasn’t smart enough, they said. The Colts picked him up as a free agent and the rest is history.

In his first start as a Colt he suffered a fumbled snap and an interception. But he went on to collect two NFL Championships and one Super Bowl victory, to appear in ten Pro Bowls and win the MVP award in three of them, and be named the NFL MVP three times. When he left the league after a one-year stint with the Chargers in 1973 he held 22 NFL records and had thrown at least one touchdown pass in 47 straight games.

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Here’s that passage from Steven L. Carter’s book Integrity that I used in yesterday’s sermon on Christian leadership from 1 Thessalonians 2. Several of you have asked for it as a great summary of what integrity looks like in daily life.

“Integrity requires three steps: 1) discerning what is right and what is wrong; 2) acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; and 3) saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong. The first criterion captures the idea of integrity as requiring a degree of moral refectiveness. The second brings in the ideal of an integral person as steadfast, which includes the sense of keeping commitments. The third reminds us that a person of integrity is unashamed of doing the right.”

Peace,

Allan

The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Page 488 of 497

The Peace of Christ

The Scandal of the Cross

Now These Three Remain…

Without Cause, Without Measure, Without End

Running Late

Backpacks and Quarterbacks

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