Growin' Up Gregory

One of the great things about living in the USA is having the opportunity to start a business and fulfill a dream from anywhere.  It could be from your garage like Apple Computers, from your home like Etsy, or from the trunk of your like Under Armour.  While these companies are now worth millions, like any other business, they started out with only two things, a hope and dream.  They struggled to get off the ground and get people to believe in them and they didn't get to where they are overnight.   However, for these company founders and owners, the harsh reality is that one day they will leave their hard work in the hands of others.  According to Time, "70% of rich families lose their wealth by the second generation and a stunning 90% by the third."  Why would someone work so hard at something to just leave it behind? If we want to see our work mean more, and I believe many of us do, then we must look at where work comes from, why it's here, and i...

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 ...

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...

2017 is in the books.  Good or bad, it's gone and now it's time to focus on 2018 and beyond.  A verse that I have tried to model my life after for the past few years is Luke 2:52 - "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man."  This verse gives us a solid four pronged foundation to begin to look for ways to build or increase ourselves just as Christ did.  We can follow His pattern and set goals to increase ourselves in wisdom (intellectually), stature (physically), and also with both God (spiritually) and man (relationally). Intellectual My intellectual goals have focused on my professional career.  While I'm still uncertain as to what all I will pursue in 2018, I have come a long way in accomplishing many of the goals I've had previously.  I love where I am in my career, where I work, and what I believe I may have the potential to do there.  But I also want to have a major impact on the people around me and my commun...