The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

AllanStanglin.com

Page 65 of 499

Love at Advent

December 19, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This Sunday is the fourth and final Sunday of the Advent season. This is the liturgy we are using at GCR to acknowledge the event and light the fourth candle, the candle representing love. Please use these readings and passages during this week to bolster your time with the Lord in Word and Prayer. Feel free to use this at your own church or small group this Sunday.

When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, announcing God’s plan for her to conceive and give birth to the Messiah, Mary said to the angel, “How can this be?” And yet, only a few months later, Mary sings praise to the Lord as she holds his salvation in her arms.

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me–holy is his name!
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
~ Luke 1:46-50

We, like Mary, hear God’s call to participate in making God’s plan for our salvation a reality. We are gracious recipients of God’s gifts and his great love that transforms us into bearers of the Good News. As the apostle reminds us in 1 John 4:

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
~ 1 John 4:9-11

Congregation: We wait as people who have encountered our God’s divine love that disrupts the status quo and ushers us into abundant life, together, marked by mutual love and peace.

We light this candle as a reminder of the love of Christ that transforms us. May his love grow within us, changing us into bold proclaimers of God’s salvation with our voices and our lives. Amen.

Road Kill

December 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

The Cowboys woke up yesterday morning in first place in the NFC East and in the driver’s seat with the #2 seed and at least one home playoff game. Then they had to play a football game against the Bills in Orchard Park. After being demolished 31-10 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicates, Dallas finds itself looking up at the Eagles in the division and holding the #5 seed. That means they’re the road team in the playoffs. And that is not good for the Cowboys.

Dallas is a completely different team on the road. The Cowboys are 3-4 on the road this season, average 18 points per game lower on the road than they do at home, and still haven’t beaten a team with a winning record away from AT&T Stadium. Two of the three teams they’ve beaten on the road have fired their coaches. The Cowboys have the number one offense in the NFL, blowing out scoreboard lights and racking up huge numbers against the league’s worst teams in Arlington. But they can’t compete when they’re playing a good team on the road.

Buffalo hasn’t looked this good all year. From the opening snap, they smashmouthed the Cowboys up and down the field. They ran for 266 rushing yards, mostly up the middle, mostly through gigantic holes and weak arm tackles. Fifty rushes for over five yards per carry. James Cook? Unstoppable.

By the way, the next time any team wins the coin toss before a game with the Cowboys and decides to give Dallas the ball, that team should be banned from the league for egregious stupidity. Philly tried that against Dallas last week and paid dearly. Buffalo won the toss yesterday, took the ball, scored on their first drive, and ran the ball down the Cowboys’ throats the rest of the game.

This Cowboys team is built to score first and then defend against the pass while the opponent plays catchup. Their strength is their pass rush, but it’s rendered useless if the other team’s not passing. Those quick DBs can cover receivers, but they’re no good tackling a 260 pound running back on a power sweep. If the opponent scores first, the Cowboys are lost.

Ten times this year a Cowboys opponent has run the ball fewer than 28 times and lost. Four times the Cowboys opponent has run the ball more than 28 times and won. The Cowboys record is 10-4. Yes, you can run the ball right at these guys. And you can bet the Dolphins will this coming Sunday.

All that is reason for concern for Cowboys fans who have been saying, “No, this really is the year!” for the 28th straight season now. But this home/road thing is also a major problem. It’s hard to keep calling yourself America’s Team when you can’t play outside your own state.

Peace,

Allan

Light from Somewhere Else

December 15, 2023 / / 1 Comment

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
~ Isaiah 9:2

This is a very well known Christmas text. It’s a famous text that speaks to the coming of the Christ. And it describes the conditions the Christ is coming into as darkness. People walking in darkness. People living in the land of darkness. And we read this a lot at Christmas, but we don’t ever read the verses right before it. The four verses right before it tell us why the world is so plunged in darkness.

“When people tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law! And to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, they have no light of dawn! Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. They will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.” ~Isaiah 8:19-22

People know they need help, but they’re looking for it in all the wrong places. They’re looking to the earth, they’re looking to themselves for wisdom and salvation. They’re looking to superstitions, they’re looking to their king, they’re looking to the culture — they’re looking to themselves.

Yes, we’re living in darkness. Yes, things are really messed up. But we can fix it ourselves. Yes, there’s war and violence and injustice and racism. But if we’ll all just love each other, we can fix it. Yes, there’s poverty and hunger and greed and lust. But if we’ll all just give to the right organizations, we can change it. Yes, there’s broken lives and broken hearts and broken relationships; there’s twisted bodies and warped minds and institutional vileness all around us. But if we’ll just vote for the right people, if we’ll just pass the right laws, if we’ll just use the right technology, we can overcome it.

The message from the Hallmark movies, the holiday music, the Coke commercials, the ad agencies, the billboards, and the Facebook posts is that we have it within us. The love and goodwill that exists inside each of us is enough to make the world a place of unity and peace. In other words, we have the light inside us. And if we just work together, we can eradicate the darkness. If we’ll all come together, we can overcome poverty and injustice, violence and evil — sin. With what’s inside us, we can build a world of love, joy, and peace.

Really? Can we?

We can’t save ourselves. Maybe you’ve noticed. We’ve been trying for centuries. We are completely unable to save ourselves. In fact, believing that we can save ourselves — that education or party politics or hard work or some system or ideology  can save us — that’s only led to more darkness!

See, the Christmas message gives us a very realistic way of looking at life. At its core, Christmas is very unsentimental. It’s not mushy or fantasy. Christmas is not, “Cheer up! If we all pull together, we can make the world a better place!” Christmas is not optimistic thinking like, “We can fix the whole world if we try really hard.”

The heart of Christmas is this: things are really terrible and we cannot heal or save ourselves. Things really are this dark. Everywhere. Nevertheless, there is great hope. On those living in deep darkness, a light has dawned!

It’s not, “A great light has sprung up from the world!” It’s not, “The people have finally produced the light!” It’s, “ON the people a light has dawned!” It’s, “ON the world a light has come!” The light has come from outside us. It had to. The hope comes from outside the world. There was never any other way. And that salvation light is Christ Jesus. That light is the promised Messiah, the holy Son of God!

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it… The true light that gives light to every person was coming into the world.” ~John 1:5-9

The true light was coming. The eternal light that gives life to all people has come. The brightest light that shines in the darkness and conquers the darkness, the light from above, the light from outside us has come!

How? When?

“To us a child is born. To us a Son is given.”

Peace,

Allan

Rockin’ the Show

December 14, 2023 / / 0 Comments

You want to guarantee energy and enthusiasm for the grand finale of your children’s Christmas program? You want to provide the best picture opportunities for the parents? Then give the kids inflatable electric guitars and cut ’em loose!

Our GCR Children’s Ministry put on their annual Christmas program for our church last night and it was a smashing success. The theme was “The Best Christmas Song Ever.” Turns out, it’s not Blue Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, or Winter Wonderland. It’s not Hark, the Herald Angels Sing or Joy to the World. It’s some song written by some corporate children’s ministry writer named Yancy. Who knew?

 

 

 

 

Carrie-Anne and I were completely delighted by the whole production. We just laughed our way through the whole thing, watching these kids try to make it through the 30-minute show. The squirming kids who don’t really want to be up there at all. The superstar extroverts who hog the microphones and crowd out their co-performers with their oversized hand and arm motions. The kid who kept waving at his dad. The one who tried to exit the stage at two different times, only to be corralled and hauled back up to his position by a helpful volunteer. The squirrelly ones who were only trying to get a laugh. The ones who beamed as they delivered their well-rehearsed lines so precisely. The ones who stumbled through theirs, only to let out a huge sigh of relief when it was over. Each one of these kids brought C-A and me so much joy last night.

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Kristin and Ashlee and their whole team of incredible volunteers for a spectacular show! If they’ll ask me to sing Blue Christmas at next year’s show, I think I could convince a few to put it in the Top Ten.

Peace,

Allan

Cry Eagles Cry

December 12, 2023 / / 0 Comments

The Cowboys demolished the Eagles at AT&T Stadium Sunday night and I was there to see it all. Our good friends, Stan and Kelly Conley, have season tickets and they graciously drug us along to what may be the defining win for Dallas this season. It was the Cowboys’ first victory over a team that currently has a winning record, it was the first time in years the Philly offense was held without a touchdown, it put the Cowboys into a tie for first place in the NFC East, and it was a blowout. It makes me wonder what organ Mike McCarthy is going to have removed this week.

This was the first Cowboys game for Carrie-Anne at the new stadium — she’s been to two or three college games there — and she gave it everything she had for the full three hours. In fact, when I received a text from a friend asking where I was sitting so he could look for me on TV, I replied, “I’m on the 30-yard-line, behind the Cowboys bench, ten rows up, sitting next to a crazy lady waving a towel.”

For Cowboys fans, there was plenty to be waving towels about. Dallas scored on just about every possession, their outstanding kicker outscored the Philly offense by himself, and the Dallas defense held the Eagles to zero touchdowns. It was the kind of signature win that’s been missing from the Cowboys 2023 portfolio. But this was a no-doubter. From the moment Philadelphia won the coin toss and chose to give the ball to the Cowboys at home, I felt like I was in trouble. That’s a bad call. And the Eagles never recovered.

We had a blast. Our youngest daughter, Carley, drove down from Flower Mound to meet us for a pre-game dinner at Pappasito’s.  We’re next. They kept assuring us we were next. Stan kept us laughing and everyone around us wondering with his off the wall comments. You can’t ask the waitress at Pappasito’s if they sell hot dogs. You can’t ask the ticket taker at the season-ticket holders VIP parking lot if they take cash. You can’t be wearing Cowboys gear and approach three other people in Cowboys gear in the airport the next morning if they went to the game and, when they say “yes,” then ask, “do you know who won?” You can’t. But Stan can.

I giggled at Michael Irvin’s pre-game hype speech on the giant video board. I gave Too Tall Jones a personal standing ovation when he was introduced during the first quarter. I expressed to anyone who would listen my righteous disdain for the Cowboys color-rush all-white uniforms. We all took turns imitating Dak’s “Here we go!” with various levels of success and attention from those near us. I marveled at Brandon Aubrey’s 59 and 60 yard field goals that would have been good from another ten yards out. I shook my head in disgust at the valuable piece of the puzzle Jake Ferguson is becoming. I kept waiting for McCarthy to do something really dumb — he never did. And I realized that my season prediction for this Cowboys team is in some serious jeopardy.

 

 

 

 

 

The only way they finish 10-7 is if they lose all of the last four games of the season. At Buffalo, at Miami, against the Lions at home, and then at Washington. If any team could find a way to lose four straight, it would be the Cowboys, especially with three of them on the road. But I’m losing hope. I needed Dallas to lose Sunday night. And they looked as good as they’ve looked all year against a really good opponent.

If Dallas gets that 11th regular season win in the next four weeks, I’m going to have to buy Danny and Claire Brock dinner at the Wall Street Grill. He keeps texting me the menu, zoomed in on the appetizers.

Peace,

Allan

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑