Growin' Up Gregory

I wasn't real sure how to recap nearly one full year of officially being a Sunday school teacher so below is my best attempt to do so in an open letter to those below... To my class, my community, and my generation: When I asked a year or so ago about starting up a College & Career Sunday School class at church I wasn't sure how to react.  I was honored to have been considered for this role (honestly a little too honored becoming somewhat prideful and overly expectant of what would happen).  I was also excited for the opportunity to reach a group of people that has become more and more scarce in church, and even a little scared of what would happen if the class failed (or more so how I would be judged if that happened while I'm being honest here).  It was truly a gamete of mixed emotions of both hope, excitement, and fear. I tried a few ideas my way through online invites and even trying to meet in a different room and area of the church to possibly seem more invi

How's your faith?  I'm willing to bet that if most of us are truly honest, our faith is often times "iffy" at best.  We make statements like: -  God, if you'll give me a child, I promise I'll dedicate him/her to you. -  God, if you give me good job or a raise, I'll be more generous with my giving. -  God, if you give me a prominent position, I'll talk about you more with people. And while we've all probably made "deals" like these with God before, they are not how our faith should operate.  God listens, but He doesn't negotiate.  I believe that He hears our prayers and that He is compassionate to our concerns and our hearts, but I also know that ultimately His will will be done. Rather than having if, or iffy, faith, perhaps we should focus on having EVEN IF faith: -  Will you trust God EVEN IF your child becomes deathly ill, develops some severe condition, or worse dies?  Will you still trust His purposes for that child in y

There are a couple things that I have noticed recently during my early morning runs: 1.  There are a lot more loose, free, stray, or whatever you want to call them, cats roaming the streets of Union than I had previously realized. 2.  The last two mornings, especially today at 58 degrees, felt amazing. I've picked up a few lessons from the cats that I've seen out and about.  Most of the ones I see are your typical housecat variety - small and not very ferocious looking.  When I come running by, they duck behind a curb or mailbox, or flee to the shadows, or lay down as flat and still as possible.  Why behave that way?  Why wouldn't they come up me to be petted or offered food?  It's because they don't know me or my intentions.  In that moment when I run up on them, they go into survival mode.  Regardless of what they were doing, it's put on hold and their main priority is to just stay alive.  (Just as information, I have never nor do I ever intend to harm any

I have made many mistakes in my life.  I have gotten a lot of things wrong, missed opportunities, missed chances, made bad choices, and done harmful and hurtful things.  But tonight, I saw fruit of at least something I'm getting right in this life. Each night, when I take Thomas to bed, we read a short Bible story and then after lights out we say our prayers.  I usually say the "first one" where I pray a typical adult prayer thanking God for what He's given us and asking Him to be with those we love.  And then Thomas will finish it up by saying his "second one" which will have a familiar ring to many: "Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." But tonight he told me that he had a different one.  I'm slightly fearful at this point given his mouth sometimes but at least no one in public will hear it lol.  He then proceeds to talk to God.  Let that s

Before I start, I hate to "steal" someone else's sermon.  But I listened to this one on the way home yesterday and then couldn't find after looking for over 30 minutes to share it.  So below is my best attempt at the meat of Michael Todd's (quickly becoming one of my favorites to listen to) sermon on having a vision. The text is based in 2 Kings 4 and is the story of "Elisha and the Widow's Oil."  If you're not familiar with the story, it would be beneficial to give those few verses a quick read first. At the start of this story, we see the widow in a desperate situation - her husband has died, she has no  job, no money, and may potentially lose her children and everything else she owns.  It doesn't get much worse.  The first question that Elisha asks her in v2 is, "What shall I do for you?"  The first thing that Elisha asked her was not what she has, rather she wants, what she feels like needs to happen.  Think about that.  How

This the second part of Dealing with Disaster with our model of how to respond to crisis that is shown in 2 Samuel 21:1-14.  (vs 4-6 here) We saw in Part 1 that when David faced a crisis, he first inquired of God, and then he inquired of the people who had been wronged.  He wanted to know how he could possibly make up for the prior wrongdoings to them and atone for the actions of his predecessor. In a request that would be considered shocking by most standards today, the Gibeonites did not ask for "silver and gold."  Money and financial reimbursements would not take away the pain their people had experienced.  They requested that seven of Saul's male descendants be turned over to them and hanged in the presence of the Lord.  While it is pretty easy to assume that Saul's attempted genocide of the people resulted in much more than seven deaths, we can assume that there was some symbolism here.  And this is certainly not a method of reconciliation that is acceptable

When we hear stories of natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and the raging forest fires taking place now in California, our minds tend to wonder what is these people may have done to deserve this type of judgment.  But we must remember that natural disasters and other hardships are merely a part of living in a fallen world.  One of the most recorded natural calamities in Bible is famine.  Lifeway offers this on famine, "While not always the result of divine judgment on sin, at times it did indicate the Lord's displeasure with something in the experience of His people, Israel."  And as they continued, "The purpose (of famine) was always to lead them back to Him and to seek His favor." So how do we deal with crises?  What do we do when disaster strikes?  We see a good model set for us in 2 Samuel 21:1-14.  (vs 1-3 here) After experiencing three consecutive years of famine, King David did what any wise man should do - he "inquired of t

Before you put a business on blast on social media, please be sure that you have asked at least one employee (preferably a manager or supervisor) to assist you with whatever the issue is. Maybe your waitress forgot to give you a fork, or missed that you needed a refill.  She could have miscounted or someone may have been away from the table when she passed them out.  Or perhaps she's dealing with a personal issue and doing her best to not let it interfere with work which we all know happens at times. Maybe a company left you sitting in the waiting room too long.  Did you tell anyone you were there?  Or better yet, call ahead to see if the person you're coming to see is available?  The staff may be swamped or short-handed that day, or they may have checked the room just prior to your entry.  So call ahead or say, "Hello" and let someone know you're present. This method of resolving an issue or conflict is not a new idea, and is even biblic

I don't know how many people have ever bought a brand new, or nearly new, car from a dealership where they offered "free" (remember nothing is free) oil changes, tire rotations, or other routine maintenance.  Disclaimer:  I haven't.  Since my dad is a used car dealer I usually joke with people that if I ever buy a brand new car I get kicked out of the family.  But usually, when you take your car in to get serviced they offer to let you drive a newer, nicer, fancier car that's in their fleet.  Have you ever wondered why they do that?  Hint, it's not just to be nice.  Dealerships want you see their newest and best cars to let you see how good it is in an effort to tempt you into purchasing a newer ride.  Sorry, if you're car guy (or girl) but the rest of this post isn't about cars.  I can't for the life of me understand why some people from Union want to bash, tear down, belittle, or insult anything good that we have here.  If you're not awar