The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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The Light Will Shine

December 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“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… You have increased their joy; they rejoice before you!” ~Isaiah 9:2-3

Maybe the darkness is too much. Maybe it’s too dark and there is no joy and you do not feel like celebrating. Maybe it’s been too dark for too long and the light’s just not getting through.

I realize more and more every year that Christmas is not great for everybody. For a lot of people, Christmas is hard. Because the darkness is so real. And constant. And deep. For you, maybe.

The lights on all the houses, the illuminated trees, the songs of glad tidings and good cheer, the sweet cookies and pies, and all the trimmings that go with the most wonderful time of the year–it can’t overcome the darkness.

There’s the literal darkness of December and January to deal with. Short daylight hours and bone-chilling cold don’t lend themselves naturally to joy and celebration. And it makes that other kind of darkness worse. Or it brings it more into focus.

Another page of the calendar is turning and the worries and anxieties multiply. Will this be the year everything falls apart and I’m ruined? Is my family going to stay an irredeemable mess? Will my depression ever go away? Will the pain of my deep loss ever subside? Is this the year the other shoe finally drops and crushes me?

Maybe, for you, the darkness wins every time. Every time. You can’t see over the horizon. The darkness is too pervasive to think a dawning light could drive away your shadows. That kind of hope is only for people who are already winners. People who already have it pretty good.

No. Not if you believe God’s promise. His promise.

God’s promise is not for the winners. It’s not for people who are already living in the light. It’s not for the whole and healthy or the powerful and rich. The promise is for those who are living in the darkness.

On THEM the light will dawn! The people walking in darkness–THOSE PEOPLE–have seen a great light! On THOSE living in the land of the shadow of death–On THEM!!–a light has dawned!

If you’re living in that dark land, it only takes a tiny mustard seed of humility and faith to embrace God’s promise. If you can admit that the darkness is inside you, then you are already in a position to receive the promise.

Jesus has come. He did. He came. The light has shone.

And the light will shine. He will come again. He is. The present darkness in this world, the darkness in your life, doesn’t stand a chance.

Peace,
Allan

December Inevitabilities

December 15, 2025 / / 0 Comments


December means Christmas parties, trips to see Santa, and the Cowboys being eliminated from the postseason. Let’s take those annual winter inevitabilities in reverse order.

If your quarterback is struggling and your offense stinks, just play the Cowboys. Once again, the Dallas defense made a bad offense look good and a mediocre quarterback look like Joe Montana in last night’s embarrassing home loss to the Vikings. Minnesota rookie J.J. McCarthy, in just his eighth start, threw for the most yards in a game in his career, averaged 10.4 yards per attempt, threw for two TDs, and ran for another. After beating the Eagles and Chiefs in back-to-back games, Dallas has now given up 78 points in two straight losses to demolish whatever hope a few Cowboys fans might have had.

I feel sorry for Dak. I really do. Prescott now becomes only the third quarterback in NFL history to start for the same team for at least ten years and not win at least one divisional playoff game (the other two are Tony Romo and Archie Manning). Dak is finishing his tenth season as the Cowboys QB, his fifth missing the playoffs.

It’s not his fault.

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The grandsons saw Santa Claus over the weekend and, by all accounts, killed it. Not a problem. Elliott didn’t fully embrace the experience the way Samuel did. But he didn’t cry. He endured.

In case you’re wondering, yes, the boys do own several pairs of shoes.

I was relieved to see that Santa is aware of Oklahoma. I’ve never been sure about that.

But it doesn’t matter because the boys are coming to Midland one week from tomorrow for Christmas and Santa and all that entails. It’ll be their first-ever trip to Texas. They might bring their parents.

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Our dynamic GCR youth group finished their progressive Christmas dinner at Stanglin Manor last night. Somewhere between 40-45 teenagers and a few brave adults (that’s only about a third of the people in that picture) crammed into our living room for desserts, hot chocolate, and an awkward gift exchange. It was another inspirational demonstration of the intergenerational nature of our congregation.

If our teenagers at GCR know anything, it’s that the adults in our church love them and support them and want the best for them and enjoy spending time with them. We work really hard to ensure our young people know they are a vital part of our community of faith. And these same teenagers are pouring into our children’s ministry, too. One of the coolest things I’ve seen at GCR was at the kids’ Christmas pageant Wednesday evening when four rows of our youth group showed up to support and cheer on the children!

I thank God for what he’s doing in and through our youth group. These are all fabulous kids who really do love this church and each other. I’ll continue to say that if you want your kids to truly be more like Jesus, if you’re really serious about the spiritual formation of your teenager, you want him or her to spend as much time with Jadyn and J.E. as possible. And with this group.

Peace,
Allan

People of His Light

December 10, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I am posting a prayer by Walter Brueggemann that is blessing me tremendously this week. I pray it blesses you, too.

WE are still people in the dark,
and the darkness looms large around us,
beset as we are by fear,
anxiety,
brutality,
violence,
loss–
a dozen alienations that we cannot manage.

WE are–we could be–people of your light.
So we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
we pray for your gift of newness
that will override our weariness;
we pray that we may see and know and hear and trust
in your good rule.

That we may have energy, courage, and freedom
to enact your rule through the demands of this hour.
We submit this time to you and to your rule,
with deep joy
and high hope.

Amen.

The Last DJ

December 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

For the first time since the fall of 1989 on KGRO/KOMX in Pampa, Texas, my very first job out of college, I am playing disc jockey. Tom Petty Radio (Sirius XM channel 31) selected me a couple of months ago to be this week’s Last DJ. The Last DJ is a 30-minute show in which listeners play five of their favorite Tom Petty songs and talk about Tom and his music. So, about three weeks ago, I employed one of our youth ministers, J.E. Bundy, to help me record the audio and the show aired last night.

It was a blast. Of course.

I don’t think I said anything about Tom Petty and his music that I haven’t written before in this space, but it was a really cool experience to put it all together into one, hopefully, coherent presentation to be heard by devoted Tom Petty fans all over the country. And the world. I mean, this is the official Tom Petty radio station, and I’m on it all week!

Carrie-Anne and I were sitting on the couch listening to it together last night when, during the fourth song, I received a text from an old friend from college–back in the late 80s! He lives in Tulsa, I’ve probably only seen him once or twice in the past 15 years, but he and his wife were driving home from a restaurant and heard me talking on the radio! He texted me and we went back and forth for almost an hour. It seemed at once completely random and totally logical.

I also received an email through our church website from a woman who lives here in Midland, just wanting to tell me she enjoyed the show and how proud she was to hear somebody on Tom Petty Radio from Midland, Texas.

My show re-runs at a different time, once a day, for the rest of this week. It’s channel 31 on Sirius XM. Here’s the schedule:

Today – 12n 
Wednesday – 5a
Thursday – 9p
Friday – 11a
Saturday – 8p
Sunday – 7a

Or you can listen to it right now in the Tom Petty Radio archives.

If you don’t have a subscription, I don’t know how you listen to it.

Here are the five songs I selected, for reasons I explain during the show:

Even the Losers
The Wild One, Forever
Love is a Long Road
Sins of My Youth
King’s Highway

The most difficult part of the whole process was trying to explain to Mark Felsott via email how to correctly pronounce my last name. Driving into work this morning, I heard him promoting The Last DJ on his morning show and he pronounced it exactly right. The ‘R’ is silent.

Peace,
Allan

Despite the Ruins Around Us

December 8, 2025 / / 0 Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our grandsons are five months old today. Elliott (left) has two bottom teeth now and weighs in at a whopping 16 pounds, while Samuel (right) is maintaining his one pound deficit at 15. Samuel’s hair, when the light hits it just right, looks like a Mohawk. Elliott is working hard on a way to shove his entire fist into his mouth. And they’re both laughing and giggling or making other happy noises almost all the time. What a delight! These boys continue to bring me so much joy!

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer sent a Christmas card to his parents from his cell at Tegel Prison in Berlin on November 28, 1943. The front of the card pictured this above nativity scene painted by Albrecht Altdorfer in 1513. In the card, Bonhoeffer says this is his favorite depiction of the nativity:

“One sees the holy family huddled around the manger amidst the rubble of a collapsed house. This is really contemporary.”

At the time, this painting was 430 years old. I’m sure it reminded Bonhoeffer of the destruction in his own country, the bombed out houses and buildings in his own hometown. This picture could have been painted almost anywhere in Europe in the middle of World War II. And what Bonhoeffer wrote about it during Advent 1943 could have been written today during Advent 2025:

“The celebration of Advent is only possible to those troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come. We can and should celebrate Christmas despite the ruins around us. In fact, we must do this even more intensely now.”

Lord, come quickly.
Allan

Transforming Moments

December 3, 2025 / / 1 Comment

The latest episode of the new-ish GCR podcast with Jadyn and Jim, Transforming Moments, just dropped today and, in case you’re not following it yet where you get your podcasts, here it is. Right here.

In this installment, Jim and Jadyn interview me about our GCR partnership with the 4Midland churches. We talk about the origins of our alliance, the theological basis for our public demonstrations of unity, and our plans for the future. But mainly the conversation is about spiritual formation. How does worshiping and serving with Christians from other denominations shape us more into the image of Jesus? How does being with different kinds of people in their spaces contribute to the “mind of Christ” among us? And does this have bigger Kingdom of God implications beyond our four churches?

The conversation is laid-back, personal, and includes a reference to Blaine Nye. I recommend it.

Peace,
Allan

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