Growin' Up Gregory

Before kids, vacations involved an unsaid game of beating everyone else to the destination. But now, I've learned that if I compete with the GPS, their bladders or bellies will win. I feel a patience lesson coming on. I certainly had a dose of it when we were checking in Sunday. Our scheduled time was 4 PM. We got here shortly after that and figured we were good. Wrong. One room was ready but the other wasn't. It was hot, kids were rambunctious, and the adults were getting ill. Finally, around 5:30, we received a call that the other room was ready. I volunteered to go pick up the keys (partly out of chivalry, partly to get away from the chaos). The office was absolutely packed with people checking in and complaining.  I finally made it to the front of the long line. The lady was stressed, yet apologetic & kind. I could have been rude (part of me wanted to). But you know what, I've been there before. I've been overwhelmed by work, customers, or circumsta...

This topic has been in my studies and on my mind for several weeks now.  I talked about it on Mother's Day at church with a friend who was party to some of the stories I could tell (don't worry I won't call you out here lol), had the pleasure of teaching it in Sunday School and even sharing with our older crowd at a Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting. It's a story that many of us have lived, admittedly or not, proudly or not, but nevertheless we have lived it.  It's a story of transformation and renewal.  If you ask people who know me about the 2018 John Gregory, they will likely tell you many good things.  I have a successful career, a happy family, well educated, kind, polite, and serve in various roles in an effort to give back to my community. But that wasn't always me.  Yes, I was one of the "good" kids in high school, college, and even shortly thereafter to some extent.  I never committed any major crimes and stayed out of trouble for the ...

My generation has seen some of the most dramatic advances in technology, information, communication, medicine, and more over the past 20 years or so.  One would think that with all the changes we have seen in these areas that there would be a significant change in the behavior of people as well.  And while some may say that there has been a lot of change, a letter written around A.D. 55 actually suggests otherwise. Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church around this time to address multiple issues going on in the church.  Keep that in mind - this letter was not written to the secular world, politicians, criminals, or non-believers, it was addressed to the church a/k/a the "good people."  But the world today is eerily similar to these Corinthians.  Lawsuits and litigation amongst believers (and non-believers) is high as it was in those days.  And sexual immorality which was celebrated back then even in the temple is glorified by main-stream media toda...

There is a lot of talk about living like a Christian, walking the walk, being an example, etc.  But what does it really look like to live that out?  What did it look like in the Bible and what does it look like today to truly live a Christian life?  This is a topic that could go on and on, but I want to look at just 5 verses that give us a good example of how to live like Christians. In Acts 18:24-28, we are introduced to Apollos as an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures, and having been instructed in the way of the Lord.  He is also described as being fervent in spirit and teaching accurately of the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.  One day while speaking boldly in the synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila heard him and then took him aside to explain the way of God more accurately.  Later on, when Apollos wanted to go to Achaia he was encouraged by his friends and they wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.  On...

What kind of t-shirts do Christians wear? What kinds of foods do Christians eat? What kind of cars do Christians drive? What kinds of haircuts do Christians get? What kind of tattoos do Christians get? (okay I made that one up and added it in) "While the Bible speaks to these issues to come degree...we are all tempted to say more than the Bible does on certain issues, to impose rules on others based on our personal preferences about how others should act or behave." This was actually a major issue in the early church.  Yes, even before anyone with a computer or smartphone could put their 'words of wisdom' out there for the whole world to read with social media.  The church at Antioch around A.D. 49 had a group of Judaizers basically claiming that recent Gentile converts to Christ would have to become Jewish in all practical ways in order to truly be saved.  This became a cause of strife in the church and led to a meeting in Acts 15 of the church apostles and e...