Growin' Up Gregory

My body has gotten to the point that I now enjoy looking at rollercoasters more than riding them.  I still enjoy the rush you get riding one, but my aging back just doesn't handle the twists and turns and bumps like it used to.  This week, has been somewhat of a real life rollercoaster ride.  There were no major losses or disasters like a death or terminal illness but I did get cussed out by one person, had my character somewhat questioned by another, and had a couple days of lunch and evening appointments making for a hectic schedule.  But there were some goods - I had a satisfactory review at work, completed some tasks from those meetings, had lunch with an old friend, and received a couple sincere compliments.  And wouldn't you know, to top it all off, this week's Sunday school lesson tied directly in to the week I was having.  God's timing is awesome. The lesson this week is titled "No Fear" and comes from Acts 18:1-11 where Paul is in Corinth.  Now Paul

I'm a numbers person and have been for as long as I can remember.  I've often said that 2 + 2 = 4 every day that we went to math, but in English class, people could interpret the same book or poem in a different way and both be right.  That often confused me so I liked sticking with my good ole trusty numbers which could be why I ended up working in banking. Numbers are important, but sometimes we have to look beyond the numbers.  I am absolutely blessed to work where I do.  The company I work for, like many during the recession, had some trying times and fortunately the memories (hopefully not the lessons) of those trying times are slowly fading away.  During those years, our management team had to focus a great deal on the numbers.  But they never lost sight of what truly matters to the operations of a business, its employees.  Yes, numbers were tight, raises were non-existent for a time, and stress levels were high.  But there was and still is a compassion from working for

This morning, we had a joint Sunday School gathering at Tabernacle.  Our guest speaker was a former member of TBC and Union native, Ralph Brown.  His topic was the title of this post, "The Strength of the Church."  The text he used was Luke 24:44-53 and records some of Jesus' last words to His disciples prior to his ascension and I encourage you to read it.  He shared with us from that scripture 4 points that are the strength of the church and these are my takeaways from that message. 1.  Headship The head of the church is Jesus Christ.  That goes for the worldwide kingdom of God and the local church body.  The head of your church is, or at least should be, Jesus.  It's not your pastor, the deacons, or the biggest tithers.  Jesus is to be the leader of the church.  Colossians 1:18 reads, "And he is the head of the body, the church." Jesus should be our motivation for why and where we come to church.  We shouldn't come just for Sunday school, just fo

In Acts 16, when Paul and Silas were wrongfully imprisoned they began praying and singing hymns while in prison.  Then an earthquake shook the prison so that all the doors came open and the shackles came off the prisoners.  This was the perfect opportunity for them to escape.  But they remained along with all the other prisoners.  This had such an impact on the prison guard that he asked the men, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  Their answer is the simplest, yet most important foundation to coming to salvation.  They told the guard, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."  That was it.  There was no understanding of creation, comprehension of the Trinity, divinity training, or theology required for salvation.  The ONLY requirement was and is to place your faith and hope in Jesus Christ. If you are saved, you likely remember the feeling of peace in your life that came in those moments.  And you understand the grace that God h

2017 is in the books.  Good or bad, it's gone and now it's time to focus on 2018 and beyond.  A verse that I have tried to model my life after for the past few years is Luke 2:52 - "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man."  This verse gives us a solid four pronged foundation to begin to look for ways to build or increase ourselves just as Christ did.  We can follow His pattern and set goals to increase ourselves in wisdom (intellectually), stature (physically), and also with both God (spiritually) and man (relationally). Intellectual My intellectual goals have focused on my professional career.  While I'm still uncertain as to what all I will pursue in 2018, I have come a long way in accomplishing many of the goals I've had previously.  I love where I am in my career, where I work, and what I believe I may have the potential to do there.  But I also want to have a major impact on the people around me and my community now