Allen's Blog

    Is Nothing Wasted? There’s an episode in Jesus’ life where He accepted the worship of an unnamed woman in the Gospel according to Matthew. “ While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked.  “ This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” If Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, didn’t He deserve the best? Ultimately He deserved worship and this woman understood this, so to sacrifice an expensive jar of perfume was perfectly legitimate.   But the disciples did not have the woman’s perspective.   According to commentators, they were not concerned for the poor but were trying to justify their complaint about the apparent misuse of valuable property.   Or perhaps, they thought the money co...

  Would God Do This For Me? In the summer of 2025 I returned to Richmond following the death of Tracy, the love of my life.   I was on track to join C12, a Christian peer advisory group but was struggling with deep grief and confusion about my future.   A young man whom I had met through a previous ministry asked me to perform his wedding in Fort Myers, Florida in August.   I accepted the engagement as a nice distraction and an excuse to visit some family in Tampa.   I booked my airplane flight which had me arriving late morning the day before the wedding. Twenty four hours before I was to leave, I received a text telling me that my flights had been cancelled and that I would now be traveling for twelve hours instead of three.   And going to Tampa via New Jersey.   Of course, my immediate reaction was to cuss and complain about the complete loss of a day.   And then I had a revelation.   Could I dedicate this day to dialoguing with God?...

  God-Sightings       Two years ago Tracy and I were in that awkward space of unemployment. We had the highest mortgage payment we had ever incurred and could not see any job opportunities on the horizon. One day Tracy came home and said that she had found a penny on the ground. Not so unusual, especially today when the penny has lost all value and even worse, it costs more to make a penny than the value we get from it. We even have one friend who used to throw them away because their value was questionable   I know I have written about this before but it bears repeating. Tracy interpreted the finding of a penny as a symbol of God’s provision. Over the next two years, during Tracy’s cancer journey, we continued to find orphaned pennies. Like anyone else, we needed constant reminders that God would take care of us. We were not unlike the ancient Israelites who one day would experience God’s miraculous provision of the parting of the Red Sea, manna in the dese...

     My brother makes trumpets. He bought a business that employs techniques that have not changed for hundreds of years. He purchases sheets of brass and by using precision technology, is able to cut a beautiful bell-shaped flat sheet which is then ready to be molded into a conical trumpet bell. The next step uses, not a robot-guided multi-thousand dollar 21st century machine, but a ball peen hammer and a cone-shaped form. The brass is formed around the cone using the hammer and an artisan’s eyes and hands. The brass is pummeled thousands of times to create the perfect bell until it is seamed together with another hand tool. Because it is hit so many times it gives the illusion of being smooth, when in fact it is comprised of thousands and thousands of minor dents and defects.       You might be thinking, “Really?  This day in age when so many products can be made through automated processes, why do you stick with what sounds like practices from ...

    Rising from the ashes Day 52 since Tracy made the journey from this earthly realm to what many call paradise.   Not the new heaven and new earth that are promised at the end of time but a place of perfection, of peace, of total healing and joy.   I want to share what I think is a   balance perspective on what it means to lose my life partner.   I still have so many questions but I want to let you know what I think I know. In this perspective there is good and bad.   Positive and negative.   Pain and heartache along with relief and joy.   Let me first tell you that the loneliness is overwhelming.   I think this has something to do with the spiritual union that we shared.   We had become one flesh and that was ripped away.   And this seeps into what my future may look like.   It’s hard to imagine doing traditional ministry, i.e. pastoring.   We did this together.   She was my confidant, friend and counselor. ...