Growin' Up Gregory

You're probably wondering if that's a typo or not. While doing a search for these letters did actually reveal that there is a brand and some fictional character out there with this name - my real intent was to show that order matters. You see, if we reverse the letters, you then spell the word, S-O-L-I-D. Yet far too many of us are operating with a Dilos mindset instead of getting our priorities in order and becoming Solid. We chase money like it's the most important thing in the world. And while it's certainly necessary, if money is the number one goal of any individual, or even any business, failure is surely on the horizon. To better understand the significance of the order, let's go through them backwards. Dollars. Yes, money matters. But what good is all the money in the world if you're "dumb as a box of rocks" and lack the next component, Intelligence, and don't know how to manage (or keep) your wealth? Intelligence. Let's say yo...

When all of this COVID, Coronavirus, and pandemic talk first started, I literally got sick of hearing the phrase, "the new normal."  I heard sermons preached talking about what is normal.  I even preached one that I titled, "The Next Normal."  But what if these "new normal" people are actually onto something? When I was growing up, a normal summer consisted of a lot of time with Mom.  She was a school teacher so we were all out for several (probably stressful) months together.  She, my brother, and sister would spent countless hours at the pool and make several trips each year to stay at my aunt's house in the lower part of the state, about 30 minutes from the beach.  That was normal for me. But now, 30ish years or so later, life for my children (and their precious little grandchildren) looks very different - almost like there's a new normal in town.   My parents worked hard, sacrificed, and saved for years before purchasing a lake house in 2010 - ...

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is one of the most read all-time classic children's books.  I don't really know this to be a fact...but it has lasted since I was a child until now reading it my children.  So with that being the case, I'd say that it is.  While our kids seem to enjoy the book, does it hold deeper life lessons that we can take away from it? If you recall the story, there was a caterpillar who had a hunger that could never be satisfied.  He crawled around eating anything he could find.  He ate healthy fruits like apples, pears, and strawberries.  But he also ate junk like cake, ice cream, and pie.  In his attempt to fulfill his desire, he was consuming everything in sight.  Many of us have gone through similar stages where we pursued the next girl, the next drink, the next high, or the next big deal.  But often, we found that it wasn't fulfilling and we still chased on to the "next" again. But one day, that all changed for the...

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...

One thing I've noticed about successful people, "The Great Ones" as I like to call them, is that they are undaunted by other people's successes.  I've noticed it with authors, speakers, musicians, and others.  Authors who each have books they need to sell write forewords and recommendations of each other.  Musicians collaborate and partner on songs. Speakers endorse each other and often refer a trusted (and talented) "competitor" if they are unable to do a requested engagement. Think about that.  Here you have authors recommending someone else's book, musicians promoting someone else while they have CDs to sell, and speakers finding an equally comparable replacement instead of making it work or just saying no. This stems from a Win-Win and Abundance mentality.  Not everyone has it and we all likely struggle with it at times.  Once you begin to realize that you don't need EVERY sale, EVERY loan, EVERY deal...

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 ...

I'm sure most of us have used the phrase that something is "just like riding a bike" to describe activities that come natural or seem really easy to do.  But do you remember learning how to ride a bike?  Or have you had to kiss 'boo-boos' and put band-aids on cuts and scrapes while teaching your kids to ride?  It turns out that learning to ride a bike is not just like riding a bike.  It takes time, effort, and consistent practice with some bumps and bruises along the way. I have been listening to a number of talks lately that focus on mastery - the absolute mastering of your skill or trade to become one of the best in the world.  How do you do that?  The plan is simple, but not easy. Think back to riding a bike, throwing a football, or catching a pop fly.  Anyone who's ever played sports would consider these activities second nature.  But the first time you did, it was probably a train wreck.  When our son throws a football, it looks mo...

Last year leading up to the NBA draft, pretty much everyone in the world knew that Zion Williamson would be the #1 overall pick. It had been a foregone conclusion since the start of the college basketball season (exploding shoe situation aside). Essentially, all he had to do was play games and stay healthy and he was a lock to become a multi-millionaire and be headed to the NBA. The only mystery left to the situation was which team would wind up with the #1 pick. Another story for a talented athlete didn't turn out so well (athletically speaking). Inky Johnson (if you haven't heard of him, look him up as soon as you finish this article) had overcome numerous obstacles in his life to become a standout defensive back at the University of Tennessee. Heading into his final season, his coaches received a letter projecting him to be a 1st round pick in the NFL. Like Zion, this would make him a professional athlete on the greatest stage and a multi-millionaire. All he had to d...

Bigger What would make you consider yourself successful? Is it a bigger house, newer car, nicer clothes, higher income? Several problems arise when we consider these units the measure of success. Each of these contain those deadly letters "ER" for comparison. Whose house do you want yours bigger than? Whose car are you trying to outdo? Who are you trying to out-dress or out-earn? I'm not saying don't pursue bigger and better. I'm just saying that these items and pursuits come with a cost. Ask the people who have these things what it costs them to attain them? How many of their child's school functions did they miss? How much was their marriage strained from working overtime? How much interest did they pay borrowing money? Eventually, many of us learn that it's the quality of life that matters, not the quantity of stuff in it. The vacation homes, the boat, the cars, the money - it all means much less if we don't have people we care...

As each new year rolls around, millions of Americans make New Year's Resolutions on how they want to change their life:  eat healthier, exercise more, save money, make new friends, etc.  But year after year, many find themselves making the same failed resolution as the year before.  What if instead of spending time thinking about a resolution, you spent time developing resolve - a firm determination to do something.  Resolutions sounds good and offer many benefits, but without the resolve to actually follow through on them, they often wind up being empty words. The concepts in this outline come from a story found in the Bible in 2 Kings 4:1-7.  Go read it, it's not long.  This is the story of the woman who's husband has passed away, debt collectors are coming for her children, and she has almost nothing left to her name.  But she meets a prophet who gives her some guidance and hope.  She follows his suggestion and turns her small bottle of oi...

Christmas 2018 has not gone as planned.  But don't feel sorry for me, it has still been a blessing.  We didn't even make it to Christmas weekend before plans went awry.  Friday afternoon, Britt called me at work to let me know she was taking Aubree to the doctor only to find out that she has RSV and needed to avoid being around anyone 2 and under until Wednesday.  Yes the day after Christmas, Wednesday the 26th.  And on top of that, she was still in bed when I had gone to work that morning and with them at the doctor and me doing some elf work when I got home, she was back in bed before I got to see her.  So here I am, waiting on Christmas, and didn't even get to see my sweet, sick baby girl on Friday.   Then Saturday morning began rather poorly.  Mom's eye was throbbing and she was in a great amount of pain and couldn't see out of it again.  I don't do doctors, but thankfully my sister does.  So at 7 something Saturday morning,...

So many of use things on a daily basis and trust them to function properly even though we are completely clueless about how they work.  I know very little about internal combustion engines, but I trust my car to crank and drive me to town every day.  I know even less about amps, volts, and watts of electricity, but I know that if I flip the switch my lights should turn on.  And I don't understand how wireless technology and data is communicated, but I trust that if I send a text out that it will make to wherever in the world it is intended to go.  When the angel came to Mary, she likely didn't fully understand what was about to take place in her life either, but she trusted. Read Luke 1:26 - 38 Trust God's Grace and Presence By choosing Mary to be Jesus' mother, God had bestowed His grace on her.  Sometimes we certainly feel like our calling or purpose in life is nowhere near as significant as Mary's.  And sadly, it isn't since the Savior is alre...

There are a couple things that I have noticed recently during my early morning runs: 1.  There are a lot more loose, free, stray, or whatever you want to call them, cats roaming the streets of Union than I had previously realized. 2.  The last two mornings, especially today at 58 degrees, felt amazing. I've picked up a few lessons from the cats that I've seen out and about.  Most of the ones I see are your typical housecat variety - small and not very ferocious looking.  When I come running by, they duck behind a curb or mailbox, or flee to the shadows, or lay down as flat and still as possible.  Why behave that way?  Why wouldn't they come up me to be petted or offered food?  It's because they don't know me or my intentions.  In that moment when I run up on them, they go into survival mode.  Regardless of what they were doing, it's put on hold and their main priority is to just stay alive.  (Just as information, I have never nor do ...

Before I start, I hate to "steal" someone else's sermon.  But I listened to this one on the way home yesterday and then couldn't find after looking for over 30 minutes to share it.  So below is my best attempt at the meat of Michael Todd's (quickly becoming one of my favorites to listen to) sermon on having a vision. The text is based in 2 Kings 4 and is the story of "Elisha and the Widow's Oil."  If you're not familiar with the story, it would be beneficial to give those few verses a quick read first. At the start of this story, we see the widow in a desperate situation - her husband has died, she has no  job, no money, and may potentially lose her children and everything else she owns.  It doesn't get much worse.  The first question that Elisha asks her in v2 is, "What shall I do for you?"  The first thing that Elisha asked her was not what she has, rather she wants, what she feels like needs to happen.  Think about that.  How...

Most athletes, or even us non-athletes who've played some sports, can sit around with our buddies and share stories of the biggest hits we've had or the best plays we've ever made.  We remember the good ole days whether it was Dixie Youth, Rec League, high school, or even backyard pickup games where we made some of our most amazing plays ever.  And for high school athletes looking to earn college scholarships, coaches will often go through hours of film to pull out the plays that showcase their player's talent, skill, and strength at its best.  Sportscenter has become famous for its daily top 10 plays.  We all like to see the highlights.   But the highlight reels that we often see leave something out.  They leave out our failures.  They leave out our grind that it took to develop the skills to make those big plays.  You don't just get up off the couch one day and decide you'll go play a sport or compete in an event at a high level.  It's...

I recently did something that I never thought would happen...or at least not any time soon.  I cut my workout days back from 5 days per week to 4.  Now I know for some people who aren't as into working out as I am, that doesn't sound like a big deal.  But excluding vacations and days to rest before races, I have honestly worked out at 5AM (or earlier) almost every weekday since February 2010.  My fitness and training was, and probably still is, an addiction.  And I honestly wasn't sure how I would handle not training that one day of the week.  I assumed that I would be sluggish, that it would mean I was lazy, and that I would instantly get weaker and fatter.  But none of that happened.  Actually, I feel more refreshed throughout the entire week and haven't noticed any drastic changes in my strength or size so far.   For someone who had always lived by the mantra that the more effort and work you put in, the more results you will get ...