Growin' Up Gregory

I heard a sermon this morning that also had a lesson in English for me.  It contained a verse that I've heard many times before, but never heard it explained this way.  "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21 Pastor Michael Todd breaks it down this way, "Your heart follows your treasure.  Your treasure does not follow your heart."  We often lie to ourselves by saying that if we really love something that we will give to it.  But the truth is that if we give to something, we will love it.  He went to suggest that we should think of like investing in a stock - if you invest in a certain stock, you start watching its price go up or down, you start checking it on it daily.  Why?  Because that's where your treasure (money) is. By willingly putting your money and finances into something, be it a charitable organization, a church, a club, your marriage - you will lead your heart there as well. Look back at what t...

Who do you think would love you more? The person you gave $1 - $100 - $1,000 - $10,000 - or $100,000? Now before we get into the whole "you can't buy love" discussion, yes I am aware of that.  This is merely to prove a point. If I gave you $1 you would likely be thankful but could easily forget the gesture.  If I gave you $100 you would probably think I had lost my mind.  If I gave you several thousand dollars you would likely want start being best friends.  But if I gave you $100,000 or more I imagine that for most people they would feel forever indebted to the giver.  I know I would.  I would feel obliged to answer when the call, help when they ask, and check in with them regularly always having time and energy reserved for when they may need me. I wonder if that's why some of us love God more than others.  If you've lived a very good moral and holy life committing very few sins, you perhaps received $100 worth of forgiveness.  But if yo...

If you listen to some news stations and read certain newspapers, studies, and online articles, you may believe that Union County is one of the poorest, most uneducated, drug ridden towns in South Carolina.  They even will often share statistics that support their claims.  I'm not saying that any of these people are lying when they share this info.  But I will state that being a numbers guy who has spent a ton of time doing calculations for many organizations, that numbers don't lie, but they can be calculated and presented in such a way that benefits one party more than another. Numbers don't always paint the whole picture.  No, Union's test scores may not be the highest.  But some places manipulate (that's such an ugly word) their SAT scores by only allowing their smartest students to take it.  Union County Schools prepared me to score the necessary SAT score by my senior year to earn a hefty scholarship by allowing me to take it in the 7th grade for the...