Growin' Up Gregory

"Do not murder."  It seems like it's one of the easiest commands in the Bible for even the worst of us to follow.  But if we dig a little deeper into this three word command, there's more to it than meets the eye.  Let's look at the Who, the What, and the How of what a murderous attitude can do to you? Who When the Bible tells us not to murder, whose life is it protecting?  Tony Evans wrote, "The Bible is clear: life begins at the moment of conception and retains its value from the womb to the tomb."  The who is the unborn, the elderly, the victim, the poor, the sick, the invalid, the any person created in and by God.  God values all human life and we are called to do the same.   What Human life is absolutely precious to God and it should be valuable to us.  But many of us think that just because we didn't take part in the physical murder itself, that we're blameless.  But murder takes on other forms - most often in the form of hate...

Let me be very honest and candid about this - when I first read about the proposed airplane tax cut, I was not happy (just say it, I was mad!).  I thought that it was ludicrous to consider cutting tax revenue while counties are already struggling due to decreased sales and collections of local taxes.   However, unlike many people in today's culture, I didn't take to social media to start talking about how stupid the idea was and how much I disagreed with.  Instead, I started doing some research.  I looked up some information, asked some questions, had some conversations, and I learned some things. This was important for me to understand because I own a boat (I consider planes and boats luxury items) and pay Union County property taxes.  However, that boat hasn't been in Union for years.  It's housed and operated in a neighboring county.  There's not even anywhere that I can safely and legally operate my boat on public property in Union, yet I stil...

When all of this COVID, Coronavirus, and pandemic talk first started, I literally got sick of hearing the phrase, "the new normal."  I heard sermons preached talking about what is normal.  I even preached one that I titled, "The Next Normal."  But what if these "new normal" people are actually onto something? When I was growing up, a normal summer consisted of a lot of time with Mom.  She was a school teacher so we were all out for several (probably stressful) months together.  She, my brother, and sister would spent countless hours at the pool and make several trips each year to stay at my aunt's house in the lower part of the state, about 30 minutes from the beach.  That was normal for me. But now, 30ish years or so later, life for my children (and their precious little grandchildren) looks very different - almost like there's a new normal in town.   My parents worked hard, sacrificed, and saved for years before purchasing a lake house in 2010 - ...

Today, September 1st, marks fifteen years for me at Arthur State Bank. It's crazy to think about how much has changed in my personal and professional life over that time span. I've gone from a single guy whose start date was chosen because some friends and I were going to Vegas after my interview to a married man with 3 kids - none of which came from the Vegas trip LOL. I have to be honest in saying that I truly had no idea what I was getting into even when I applied for a position at Arthur State Bank, and I told them as much. When asked why I wanted to get into banking, I literally answered, "I don't know, I just heard it's a good career to get into." Looking back, I have to ask myself, "How in the world did you get this job? Why did they hire you? What were they thinking?" A year or so ago, our bank President did make the comment in jest (at least I hope he was joking) that once I said that he knew that I was a blank slate that he could work on. B...