Growin' Up Gregory

Most of my close friends and family, especially my wife, are well aware that one of the words I'm not very good at saying to others is "No."  I have a tendency to make every effort possible to be everywhere and do everything that is asked of me.  Sadly, that is often at their expense because of the stress and pressure I put on myself to perform to an extremely high standard.  I don't know why that is, but I am working on it.  And oddly enough, today was one of those days that I officially unofficially said "No" to something that I had wanted for the past 18 months by allowing the deadline to pass by. In Fall 2016, as the presidential race heated up and politics in general took center stage, I began to pay a lot more attention to politics and our elected officials.  I began to read up on who they are, listened to what they were saying, and watched how they interacted with others.  I began studying up on politics in general to learn what impact certain posi...

How many of us who either have, or have raised, small children, remember those early morning walks through the house.  The sun hasn't risen yet and there are still no lights on.  You're tip-toeing through the house because you want to enjoy a few minutes of silence and hopefully a cup of coffee before your tornado of a toddler wakes up.  Then as you round the corner to enter the kitchen it happens - you step on something that feels at the time like broken glass on top of hot coals with jagged metal stuck in there somehow as well.  In all reality it's probably a leggo or some other small toy, but man that hurts! I think that happens to us in real life as well.  Even when we are in the safety of God's will, trusting His guidance, following His path, just like walking through the general safety of our own homes - sometimes we step on a stone.  Perhaps there is a trial that we didn't see coming, or we didn't want to face.  Sometimes we are reluctant to a...

I read a good article this morning titled, "Why Pray if God is in Control?" There were several good points but the closing line sums it up.  Michael Horton once said, "People ask me, 'Why pray if God is sovereign?' I respond, 'Why pray if He isn't?'" Sometimes we neglect prayer feeling like it won't do much, won't give us the answers we need, or we won't see the results we desire.  But we need to remember that prayer does change things.  It's an active tool calling out to the Creator.  Prayer may not always change what God has determined to happen, but it will strengthen our faith in Him, and that's always a good thing. I meet with someone most Thursdays to pray.  I've gotten there before in the midst of a stressful day and a million things going on.  But I can't tell you how much those few minutes of quiet time, of tuning out all the junk of the world help me weekly to focus on prayin...

With all the hate and animosity being spread online, on social media, and on TV, I think it's time to spread a little bit of goodness and cheer. Over the past few weeks, I've had several businesses that I've had very pleasant interactions with and feel that they deserve some credit. Just because a business isn't mentioned here does not mean I have any issue with them, I'm just sharing the ones that I have personally dealt with recently. First, a couple weeks ago I hit a deer headed home from the Y. Thankfully I was in the City so I was going a lot slower than if I had been on 215 close to home. Well, I called my local Farm Bureau office that morning, they put me in touch with the claims department, and they had an adjuster calling me by about lunch time that same day. Then had an appraiser out to look at my car the next business day.  Very quick and efficient service.  Thank you. Following up on that, I obviously had to get the car fixed.  Once t...

To my Son and Daughter , I can make you go to school, But I can't make you get an education. I can make you go to practice, But I can't make you an all-star. I can make you go to church, But I can't make you go to heaven. I can teach you how to be an adult, But I can't make you a real man/woman. You see, I can do my best to teach you everything I know, to show you everything you will need to know, and to give you all the opportunity you will ever need to be successful. But there comes a point as you get older that you have to begin use the things your Mother and I give you. You have to choose to study, choose to work hard, choose to accept Christ, choose to mature. We made you a human being, You must choose to become the individual God has called you to be. (1 Corinthians 7:17)

While reading tonight, I came across a couple interesting facts. Fact #1: 81% of Americans say they are concerned about the declining moral behavior in our nation. (LifeWayResearch.com) Fact #2: 34% of Americans say religion is "largely old-fashioned and out of date." That's up from 7% in 1957. (Gallup.com) Now I'm no rocket scientist, but I think I can take a shot in the dark at solving this predicament. Maybe the problems in this world aren't the fault of the President (past or present), Congress, guns, drugs, or any one thing. Maybe the problem is that as a nation we have lost our moral compass.  We have allowed God to be taken out of nearly everything, and then we wonder why morality is on the decline.  Have you ever taken a lamp from a room and then complained to the lamp for allowing the room to be dark?  It's not the lamp's fault that YOU removed it.   Are we as Christians the perfect role models? Heck no, that...

My generation has seen some of the most dramatic advances in technology, information, communication, medicine, and more over the past 20 years or so.  One would think that with all the changes we have seen in these areas that there would be a significant change in the behavior of people as well.  And while some may say that there has been a lot of change, a letter written around A.D. 55 actually suggests otherwise. Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church around this time to address multiple issues going on in the church.  Keep that in mind - this letter was not written to the secular world, politicians, criminals, or non-believers, it was addressed to the church a/k/a the "good people."  But the world today is eerily similar to these Corinthians.  Lawsuits and litigation amongst believers (and non-believers) is high as it was in those days.  And sexual immorality which was celebrated back then even in the temple is glorified by main-stream media toda...

Most people nowadays plug in their destination on GPS anytime we are heading somewhere any significant distance away even if it's a familiar location.  And if you're like me, when the GPS gives you and estimated travel time, your first thought is, "challenge accepted."  And if you're more like, you also try your own personal shortcuts sometimes only to hear the oh so polite, yet annoying, voice saying, "recalculating." I've seen sayings on shirts and articles online about God being our GPS.  And I used to go along with that thought thinking it's cute and anytime we can get God in the conversation, there's potential for life change so that's always a plus. But if we really think about it, God is not like a GPS.  With our GPS, we set our desired destination and it tells us a route that is either the fastest, shortest, or easiest to get there.  But with God, sometimes we don't know our final destination, much less the exact time that...