Growin' Up Gregory

One time, when the crowds were pressing in around Jesus to hear the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.  Jesus saw two boats by the lake but the fisherman were out of them and already washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to pull out a little bit from the land.  Then Jesus say down and taught all the people from the boat.  After he finished teaching, Jesus said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."  Simon responded to Jesus saying that he had worked all night and had caught nothing, but that he would obey Jesus' word.  When Simon did this, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break.  They even called for their partners to come over and both boats were so filled that they began to sink.  Put yourself in Simon's shoes for a minute.  He has just fished all night, the way he made his living, and caught nothing.  And now Jesus is t...

Now I know the title may shock some and scare others, but hear me out.  I truly do believe that at times to get the right attention, and to have enough impact, there must be bloodshed.  Just look at wars and battles throughout history, it usually took a massive loss of life or major infliction of pain to get dramatic results.  And in order for us to solve this divide, and to being about peace between people, cultures, races, religions, and careers, we must figure out a way to make it happen. So if bloodshed is a possible solution, the next question we must answer is whose?  Now I highly doubt that given my past and who I am, that the shedding of my blood would save anyone.  Most likely, your blood wouldn't either.  Come to think of it, so far no white person, black person, any other color person, or police officer's blood being shed has saved anyone's life lately.  So whose will make the difference?  And when will it be shed? What if...

I was truly humbled the other night by the grace shown to me by a lady at a local pharmacy.  I went into the store and headed to the pharmacy section to pick up medicine for Thomas.  As I stood in line at the counter, I couldn't help but see what was happening with the lady in line ahead of me.  She was there to pick up a prescription as well.  However, the pharmacist told her that it was filled two weeks earlier and had been put back.  The lady was fine with that and then proceeded to verify that the prescription was still on file for when she needed it.  According to the clerk at the store it wasn't.  Now I want to pause right here just to give you an insight into what I was thinking at this point.  First, for me, I'm thinking oh crap this is going to take a while, it's already late, and I'm just ready to get home; this sucks.  And I'm thinking to myself, that if I was this lady I would be ticked.  Not only do you not have my medi...

As we've been looking at the Moses and burning bush story this week (Exodus 3:1-12), there are a couple last observations I'd like to look at. In the story, when God told Moses that he was sending him to Pharaoh to bring the people out of Egypt, how did Moses respond?  Probably the same way many of us would have.  Lord, why me?  Do you really think that I'm the best choice for the job?  Moses doubted himself, but worse than that he doubted God's plan.  How often in our lives do we second guess what God is calling us to do?  And why?  Moses didn't have Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me," to fall back on.  But have that verse and can claim it today. But what did Moses have?  He had a promise from God.  The Lord actually gave Moses two promises at the end of this story.  First, he said, "I will be with you."  How many of us need to hear that today, from anyone, especially our ...

Taking another look at the story of Moses and the burning bush (you can read it on my last post or in Exodus 3:1-12), let's look at some other possible applications we can take for our lives today.  After Moses saw this miraculous burning bush that wasn't being consumed, he had many options.  He could have kept walking, attempted to put it out, or responded in any number of ways.  But since the angel of the Lord had appeared to him in the flame, he said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight."  But note that at this point in the story, God didn't respond to Moses.  God called out to Moses when he saw that he had turned aside to see.  He could have responded when Moses said he would turn aside, but the Lord waited to see action before responding.  God desires to have us focus on him and his plan, but we have to turn aside sometimes from our hobbies, our worries and other distractions in order to hear his voice.  And we have to p...

Before we begin, just a little bit of background on the time this story takes place to hopefully give it more understanding.  A new king (Pharaoh) has just taken over rule in Egypt, who is fearful of the Israelites because of their strength and numbers.  Because of his fear, he has instituted a rule to have all baby boys born to be killed.  Moses was born during this time and his mother knew he would be killed if he stayed with her so she placed him in a basket and allowed him to float downstream.  Fortunately for her and Moses, he ended up being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and raised as one of her children.  After he grew up, he fled from Egypt to the land of Midian.  As our story begins, Moses is around 80 years old, grew up Egyptian, and has spent the past 40 years working in the desert. Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, and he led the flock around the west side of the wilderness and came...

This is the final part of our story of Nehemiah and the Jews working on the wall while facing taunts and threats of attack from Sanballat, Tobiah, and others. When their enemies heard that their plan was known to the Jews and that God had frustrated their plan, the Jews all returned to the wall, each to his work.  From that day on, half of the servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.  And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building the wall.  The workers who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.  What happened in this final section of the story that we can use to apply to our lives today? -  We've been wondering throughout the story why God would allow Sanballat and Tobiah to attack the Jews and cause confusing amongst them and deter them from building the wall.  Now in this part of t...

If you didn't see Part 1 of this story yesterday, I would read it first just to be on the same page here.  So we will pick up in the second stage of the story where Nehemiah and the Jews have built the walls of Jerusalem back up to half their height. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing on the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.  And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusing in it.  And Nehemiah and the Jews prayed to their God and set a guard as a protection against Sanballat and their attackers day and night.  In Judah, it was said, "The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.  There is too much rubble.  But ourselves, we will not be able to rebuild the wall."  And their enemies said, "They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them ...

The book of Nehemiah took place in the mid to early 400s BC while the Jewish people were under Persian rule.  The walls of Jerusalem have been broken down the gates of the city destroyed by fire.  News of this saddened Nehemiah and he requested permission from the king to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.  Typically, the rebuilding of a conquered city's walls was seen as a threat to the ruling empire, but Nehemiah was allowed to do so because of his closeness to the king.  As our story begins, he has recently begun work on the rebuilding of the walls. When Sanballat heard that Nehemiah and the Jewish people were rebuilding the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.  And Sanballat said in the presence of his bothers and the army of Samaria, "What are these feeble Jews doing?  Will they restore it for the themselves?  Will they sacrifice?  Will they finish up in a day?  Will they revive the stones out of th...