Tom Allen

OK, so I'm a child of the 70's and 80's. Grew up with the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and the like. (this explains much, right?) Add to that list The Who. I can still hear Roger Daltrey belting out, Who are you...who, who, who who? (CSI fans may just think that was their theme song. Long before the show was....IT WAS!) Actually, it's not only a pretty good song, it's also an amazing and necessary question. Who are you? This past Sunday, I told my people that I believe one of the greatest challenges that the Church faces today is an IDENTITY CRISIS. We simply don't have a clue who we are. I say that based on many factors, but none more prominent than almost 40 years of simply talking to and counseling Christians. I've talked to thousands of Christians over the years who see themselves as incompetent, incapable of anything significant, as damaged goods, victims of their pasts and unworthy of God's love, acceptance and calling. Yet, God's Word...

     Let me just say that I believe that when it comes to worship at church most of us...maybe all of us, consider ourselves song selection aficionados. Seriously, some of us would love the chance to pick out the songs sung. However, most of us would rather just render verdict on those that someone else, not nearly as keenly adept as ourselves, has chosen for us. We're much better commentators and critics than actual pickers. I place myself squarely in that tribe.      Take last week, for instance. Someone said to me, "Well, we're singing The Lion and the Lamb again. Immediately, I was right there with them. I was thinking, "Are we getting paid every time we sing this song? If so, I want to know where all the money is going." So, on Sunday, when the band cranked up The Lion and the Lamb for what seemed like the 89th time recently, my heart was obviously in the right place. Right.      Curious thing though... God had spent the last few mon...

Recently, I ran across some sage advice for making marriage work. Honestly, as I read through this list of 25 Things, I have to admit, I was mostly looking for the ones that were unnecessary and I could cut out. I mean, who can remember 25 Things ? My problem was that I couldn't find anything to cut out. The bottom line is, marriage is complicated. Marriage is hard work. Marriage is totally counterintuitive to any two sinful, selfish, self-centered, self-willed people (That's all of us, by the way...yes, even you. Especially YOU!) From a purely secular, logical standpoint, this just doesn't work on paper. The math is all wrong. All it requires for success is for two selfish people to live selflessly together, putting the other selfish person ahead of ourself in the pecking order. No problem, right? More like no possibility. But, we fail to add to the equation our God who specializes in making the IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE. Turning the RIDICULOUS into the OBVIOUS. Nowhere is t...