Growin' Up Gregory

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where what seemed like a complete coincidence had actually been carefully planned out ahead of time?  Maybe it was a set-up by friends with someone they wanted you to date, maybe it was a surprise party or celebration, maybe even a coach getting a technical foul that would inspire his team to play harder, or maybe you found yourself the victim of being "punked."  Sometimes the coincidences we think we see in life aren't coincidences at all, they are a part of God's larger plan for His world and our life. Christmas, and Jesus' birth, is certainly no different.  This was far from an unplanned pregnancy.  Christ's birth had been foretold many years before.  One scientist actually calculated the odds of 8 prophecies of Jesus being fulfilled in one person at being 1 in 100 quadrillion.  We literally have better odds of winning the lottery (1 in 175 million) multiple times than that Jesus Christ would have fulfilled t...

I have done a lot of observing over the past few years of my life.  Experience is a great teacher, but I believe that if I can learn from the experiences of others that I may be able to avoid some of the 'hard' lessons of life.  The lessons I've learned from watching others have certainly helped me grow and shaped some of my thoughts and beliefs.  A few of those have changed how I believed I could change the world and those thoughts are below. 1.  I used to believe that in order for me to change the world, I would need a fancy title or high ranking position.  I thought that I would have to become an executive officer, start a successful business, or make lots of money before I would have enough clout to influence those around me.  Guess what, the people I thought I needed that status to influence are often so set in their ways that nothing's going to change them.  Remember the saying, "It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks." Through my current m...

This week's session on prayer is focused on what is a favorite topic for most of us - ourselves.  While it is important to pray to honor God, for His kingdom, and seeking His will, part of the Model Prayer has a line where we pray for our personal daily needs.  But part of discerning what those needs should be is in seeking God's will first so that we can better understand our true needs. One such story of a prayer like this is found in Isaiah 38.  The prophet Isaiah delivered the news to King Hezekiah that he was dying and had only a short time to live.  Hezekiah did what many of us would do, immediately turned to God in prayer.  Why?  Because he wanted to live!  And he understood that the greatest need any of us have is for life itself. And look at how God answered Hezekiah's prayers - Isaiah received a word from the Lord to tell the king, "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears.  Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your life....

Some may already know, but for those who don't, I've been teaching Sunday school for a little over a year or so I guess.  After starting out in your Young (and I use that term loosely lol) Adult class, Britt and I have started focusing more on the truly young adults - the College & Career Class with 20 and 30 somethings. I'd be lying if I said that every week was easy.  It's not.  But every week is worth it.  Some weeks, I hope the class gets the most out of the lesson.  But other weeks, I know that the lesson was for me and something I've been dealing with.  Long story short, it's hard showing up week in week out prepared to teach and hopefully inspire, but when you're seeking God's will (as Jordan pointed out this morning) it doesn't matter if it's easy - you do what you've been called to do. In this social media world, we always share our success, our cute pictures, and our wins, but what are my biggest struggles teaching? 1.  Ma...