Growin' Up Gregory

I had no idea how the events of this week would unfold when this question was posed Sunday night at church - "What do we look for in our leaders?" Now granted, we were at church so we quickly got all the 'churchy' answers; faith, honesty, integrity, etc.  These are certainly important but there are other qualities and characteristics that should not be ignored. I responded to the group with one of the less religious answers but one I believe to be true - charisma.  We tend to gravitate toward leaders who have a certain charm that attracts and inspires us.  The 44th and 45th POTUS are perfect examples.  No matter how staunch of a republican you are, you cannot argue that Obama is an amazingly skilled orator.  And regardless of how decisively democrat you are, it's difficult to argue that Trump has a certain charisma about him as well.  Yes, they both attract people from different sides, but they both attract and inspire people - that's charisma. I'm c...

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 in...

2 Samuel 9:13 - "And tell Amasa, 'Aren't you my flesh and blood?  May God punish me and do so severely if you don't become commander of my arm from now on instead of Joab!'" The setting:  David's kingdom has begun to crumble.  His son Absalom who has nearly overtaken his kingdom has now been killed.  However, there is still a threat of civil war in the country with many more lives than the 20,000 already lost at risk.  Trust on all sides is broken and there is great disunity in the country.  Sound familiar? How can a leader attempt to rectify this situation?  You're grieving the loss of a son, people are hurting, and trust and life is hanging by a delicate thread. David made a bold move in his attempt to restore trust and order to the land.  He replaced one of his longest tenured and closest allies, Joab, with Amasa, a former ally of his rival and son, Absalom.  This maneuver "sent a message of reconciliation to those who had supported ...

I remember as a child my dad having me get outside on the weekends or when we weren't in school to help on projects around the house.  It may have been working on fences, something to do with the pool, or fixing one of the many broken pieces of equipment that he's owned over the years.  My part was typically just the simple stuff, following his directions step by step while we worked on that day's project.  And I honestly never realized the thought and planning that went into some of these seemingly small tasks at the time. But this weekend, we finally began doing some of the more serious landscaping at our new (1 year old) house.  Before we could start the actual work, Britt and I had to decide where flower beds were going to be, where the walkway would be, which bushes and flowers to buy, what kinds of stones, etc.  There were a ton of decisions to make before we ever even got dirty. Next came the calculating and buying step.  We had to figure out how...

We have all probably wondered what it would be like to be able to live a life doing anything we wanted with no rules and no consequences.  But the fact of the matter is that the rules and laws that we live under are actually there to protect us, not restrict us from enjoying life.  While they may rule out some things, they actually can lead us to much better.  As we look at the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), we will see that rules are good.  And God's rules don't just tell us what to do and not to do, they reveal to us who He is, his character, and they should shape our actions and our worship. In the first couple verses (Ex 20:1-2), God reminds the people of who He is and what He's done for them.  The law was never intended to establish a relationship with God.  God prefaced his law by reminding the people of what He had done for them and showing us that who God is serves as the motivation to follow the law.  And the people of Israel would need ...

We have seen through the last couple posts that God has called Moses to do something that seems much too difficult for him to accomplish.  Read Parts 1 and 2 if you haven't already as they pretty much intro this post. Prior to picking up with Moses' next excuse, God gave him several signs in Exodus 4:1-9.  He turned Moses' staff into a serpent, then back to a staff; turned Moses' hand leprous by placing it into his cloak then restoring it in the same manner; then told Moses that if the people would not listen and believe these signs that he could take water from the Nile and pour it on the ground and it would become blood. Yet after not only witnessing, but performing these miraculous signs through God, Moses continues with the excuses.  In Exodus 4:10, Moses says to the Lord, "I am not eloquent...I am slow of speech and of tongue."  God responds to Moses by asking, "Who has made man's mouth?  Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind?  Is ...