Growin' Up Gregory

"All coins have three sides: heads, tails, and the edge. Intelligence is found on the edge of the coin, and in the ability to see both sides." - Robert Kiyosaki I wish I wasn't writing this.  I wish that it wasn't necessary to discuss racism.  But at this stage, to not say anything, is to say something.  I will likely fumble my words as I've written, re-written, and re-written again several drafts.  This is a much heavier and deeper subject than most that I've written about.  I want to put everything I have to say into it, but I also don't have the hours and hours to research and write (plus most people wouldn't read it if it was too long anyway).  So here are some of my thoughts on racism and how we can, we must, all work together to heal this sickness. Systems & Government To say or think that systemic racism doesn't exist is foolish.  Allow me to demonstrate.  If the government truly thought that all races had an equal opportunity in this ...

If you could live anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? In these times, it's a tougher question than usual right?  We could pick a tropical destination, somewhere with a good job, somewhere close to family, or wherever you heart may desire.  But no matter where you chose right now, one thing remains true about all places - no matter how 'perfect' we may think it to be, problems will still arise there. It's nearly impossible to escape pollution, evil, and the virus that plaguing our land right now.  But there is a location with none of these problems - Heaven.  In John 14:3, Jesus said, "And if  I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself."  None of us enjoy talking about death.  But it is an impending reality for all of us.  It may be today, tomorrow, next year, or decades from now.  But you don't have to fear death if you know the next step. What's it like? In Revelation 21, John offe...

If I've ever had a lesson that the timing of it seemed perfect for the circumstances we're facing, this may be the one.  Here is a quote from this week's Sunday school lesson: "It is hard to know what to believe anymore.  The internet is filled with 'news' on topics that range from politics to medicine to conspiracies, and all the writers tout their stores as truth - even thought the 'facts' they present contradict each other." And to make matters more complicated, if someone doesn't have the facts to back up their story, they encourage us to simply 'take it on faith.'  Really? For Christians, faith in God is not jumping blindly into something we want to be true - like the latest and greatest business deal, or some near testing non FDA approved vaccine.  Faith is more than that.  It's grounded in a faithful God who can be fully trusted and is summed up very well in Hebrews 11. What is Faith? V1 - "Now faith is the real...

I'm not a doctor...but I do share a bed with a former medical assistant so that counts for something right?  Bad dad joke, sorry.  But for real, I don't know how serious we should be taking all the news and hype around COVID-19 aka the Coronavirus.  That being said, here are my thoughts and opinions based on the current outbreak and medical situation in my community. First, I wanted to keep from commenting too much on this publicly.  If it gets bad and people die, I look like a jerk who needed to be more compassionate.  If it's not bad and we cancel events and people stop living their life out of fear over something that doesn't materialize, we all look silly - and miss days, weeks, months, and for some, seasons that we'll never get back. Our church, like many, has recently asked the question, "Should we have services?  Abbreviated services?  Online services?  Just one? etc."  I didn't plan this verse for my daily devotional: "And let u...

What do you lose more than anything else?  For most of us, it's probably car keys, the remote control for the TV, or possibly our phones - they've have an app for that now.  Heck, I've even threatened to cancel our TV services and make a rule that only adults could touch the remote controls we've lost ours so bad before (yeah, I get a little angry at times).  And while all of us have most likely either lost something, or been lost ourselves, most of these objects have ultimately been found...or replaced.  And the same is true for us - we don't have to stay lost. Jesus tells a story of lostness in Luke 15:11-24.  Many have probably heard the story of the Prodigal Son before.  If not, give it a quick read. Going Astray In the story, the younger son did like many of us have done in our younger years - he had it all (life) figured out.  He knew that if he could have his share of the inheritance now that he could go live lavishly and do as he pleased....

Holy Defined What do you think of when you hear the word holy? For me, when I hear 'holy' I tend to think of being very quiet, almost solemn, and to be honest, kind of boring.  But holy is actually better defined as 'set apart.'  It means that something or someone is on a whole different level.  You wouldn't compare the Kansas City Chiefs to a stinger football team.  The only thing they have in common is that they play on the same size field, they don't even use the same ball. The same is true with God.  When we say that God is holy, we need to be sure that we're not just saying it because we've heard it before.  We need to remember that He is on a different level from us in power, wisdom, and oh boy especially grace. Think about it - when God, the Creator, made the world, He didn't even have to gather materials for it.  He literally spoke it into existence.  For comparison, have you ever cooked a meal that you didn't search the pantry or ...

We all have a desire for justice.  We like to see justice served to criminals, for good people to receive their rewards, and we often wish for fair outcomes in our dealings.  But what happens when life's not fair, when bad things happen to good people (or good things thigs to bad people) and no one is giving us any answers? We all love the stories where great injustices or crimes are committed and all wrongs are made right and those who were powerless come out top.  But life doesn't always work out that way.  Far too often, the 'good guy' doesn't win and the 'bad guys' continue to prevail and advance.  What do we do then? We stand up. "Injustice is the unfair treatment of others - especially those in a weaker position - and we have all experienced it in one form or another.  We've been on the receiving end of injustice, and sadly, we also have inflicted injustice on other."  Injustice may be seen in many forms - racism, sexism, religious ...

Celebrity endorsements pretty much dominate advertising today.  Some athletes even make as much money (if not more) from their endorsement deals at they do from their performance contracts.  But what real connection is there between a professional QB and the socks we can buy?  Or a star basketball player and the deodorant you or I use?  Not much. However, when a friend tells us about something they used that was a good deal, a great product, or fantastic service, it carries a little more weight and gets our attention. As true as this statement is for clothing, credit cards, or even shampoo, it is infinitely more true of our faith that we have in Jesus Christ.  You can tell people books to read or popular pastors to listen to that can help convince them or strengthen their faith.  But ultimately, their choice will most often come down to how they've seen it lived out in your life, not some distant stranger's. In Acts 26, the Bible gives us one example ...

Most of us have seen a movie or commercial where a child stumbles through the house on Christmas Eve and discovers Santa Claus carefully placing presents under their Christmas tree.  Upon this shocking discovery, the child becomes fully enlightened by Santa's existence and exclaims, "You do exist!"  The child has heard the stories and seen the presents before, but prior to having this proof for himself, he didn't quite believe.  But now, he knows that Santa is real. If you know God, think back to before you knew who He was.  You likely had heard stories about creation, burning bushes, floods, and many other miracles.  But until you saw the proof and the facts really got into your head and your heart, they likely still didn't seem real.  It's almost like that little boy before he saw Santa - you had heard about him, you had seen some evidence, but you didn't really believe. Thankfully, God has given us significant proof that He does exist.  Psalm ...

This morning was one of the more emotional worship services I've been a part of in recent memory.  It's hard to quietly explain to a newly turned 6 year old that sometimes, everything's okay when people are crying.  I could venture guesses as to why this day was special, but really want to share the thoughts that came to mind as many different things seemed to come together today. Our Sunday school lesson was on Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  I'll keep drawing on this story so if you want more depth, read John 11.  If not, the super short cliff notes version is this:  Lazarus's sisters sent word to Jesus that their brother was sick.  Jesus eventually made his way to their home, but He was too late.  Lazarus was dead.  Then Jesus did what the Son of God does, He raised the dead! I was super excited about this lesson for several reasons.  One, it was good lesson with a lot more to it than I had previously noticed.  Two, I heard ...

Reading the instructions - it's not what most men are known for.  It's also not what I expected to take over my prayers this week.  Our opening question for this week's Sunday school lesson is, "When have you really needed clear instructions?"  Over the past 6 days, my answer has gone from needing the specifics I need from my wife when caring for our children her way (she's the way better parent of us by the way) to truly asking God for specifics about upcoming opportunities in my life. Look, prayer works.  Forgive me for not earlier sharing this observation - "When I pray, things just go smoother."  Try it.  Maybe things actually work themselves out better.  Or maybe I just have a greater sense of peace because I'm more in line with God.  Either way, I'll take it.  Back to my original point. Like the writer of the lesson, I am not the most 'handy' or 'craftsman' inclined guy in the room.  If you laid a pile of wood, metal...

I don't know if anyone else has ever had a car where your tires weren't properly aligned.  But if you have, you probably noticed that the car had a tendency to veer off course without constant attention to the steering wheel to make necessary adjustments.  You also likely noticed that even if you forced the car to take the path you had chosen, the misalignment of those tires caused extra, and often uneven, wear and tear on your vehicle's tires.  I'll be honest, I didn't notice that part until after it happened when the problem got expensive and time consuming in having to buy new tires and pull away from other duties to stop and have them replaced. But how often in our lives, do we spends weeks, months, or even years living in our will instead of God's?  We decide where we want to go to college.  We decide who we want to marry.  We decide what career path we want to take.  We decide what house to buy.  We make these major decisions without ...

Who all remembers the Facebook status, "It's Complicated?"  Man, I used to rock that status during my single days.  It could be used to show someone that you at least considered them more than a friend but weren't quite ready to make things FB official.  And it kept doors open to other relationships because they knew you weren't completely happy where you were. But there comes a point in life where we get tired of complicated relationships - dating, friends, and work included.  Often if we can simplify these important relationships, we are able to find more happiness and inner peace. Paul gives us seven quick-hitting points in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-12 to help us simplify our relationships, and subsequently, our lives.  You're smart people so you can look the verses up, I won't belabor this by writing them again here.  "For this is God's will, your sanctification" (v3).  Honestly, if we got a good understanding of sanctification, we could...

As a young child - well, really as an older kid, a teenager, a young adult, a middle-aged adult, or even a senior citizen - there are a few things like the joy of feeling that tug on the line when you're reeling in a good fish. Any time we're at the lake (or any other body of water) my son and nephews always say that they want to fish. But based on my observations, they truly aren't very interested in fishing - what they really want to do is reel fish in, that's it. But you see, there's a lot more to fishing than merely catching fish. Before you ever wet a hook, someone has to purchase the right equipment - rods, reels, hooks, bait, etc. and then do the part that no child seems to comprehend and probably the reason some grownups require adult beverages while fishing - setting up the rods and reels with the necessary equipment. Once you've got a hook tied on, now things get messy - bait! If you're using live bait, the mud and dirt from worms, cricket juice, f...

There's been a change of plans. Ah, just hearing that makes most of us cringe. But why do we hate change so much? There's a story of a king who had been living in a time of peace, fortifying the city walls. But one day, an army of one million came to attack his army of 580,000. Seems like a pretty bad change right. But the smaller army actually decided to leave the safety and comfort of their home to go out and attack the larger army. They won an astounding victory and even conquered more cities and brought home tons of loot to their country. What would have happened if nothing had changed? They would have stayed right where they were with exactly what they had. Instead, they took a chance, and trusted God, and wound up with a victory and more livestock, goods, and land to improve their own lives. No one seems to like change anymore. But we've got to remember that without change, there can be no improvement.  What can change in your life if you trust Go...

We all love the stories of beating overwhelming odds to succeed. For some the saying, "the struggle is real" rings oh so true. But what if you're not struggling right now? What if things are good and it seems easy? Does your story count? During the Great Recession, many businesses faced never before seen challenges. They were forced to come up with new policies, procedures, and products in order to survive. Those companies who were strong enough, were able to weather the storm and are still here. Unfortunately, some were not so lucky. How'd they do it? In the years BEFORE the recession, they prepared themselves. Maybe it was capital reserves, maybe it was innovation, whatever it was, they prepared during a time of prosperity and peace - not after the storm hit. Sadly, we too were forced to create new reports, new checklists, new processes during this time as well. Often innovation is born out of necessity and we know how painful childbirth is. So when...