Growin' Up Gregory

ABC's "The View" is blind. I could write a long post analyzing their recent talking points and showing instances of hypocrisy and intolerance on the show but it's not worth my time and I honestly don't watch enough TV to be overly concerned with the opinions shared there. But I will make one thing clear as it could be a matter of where someone spends eternity. In Joy Behar's 'apology' she stated, "I'm a Christian. I give money to the church. You know, I actually help Christians with my pocketbook, so I'm not insulting Christians." Ma'am, any true Christian knows that going to church, giving to church, watching church, or anything like that does not make you a Christian. You receive salvation one way - "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9 You can'...

I'm not the president.  I'm not even actually in politics.  And I'm not quite 35 years old which puts me in the generation called Millennials.  And I would like to share with you what I perceive to be the true state of our country right now on three major issues.  Yes, there are more issues but I'll start by attempting to tackle these three first. Gun Control As a young man living in this country, where do I stand on gun control?  I believe that some households need three guns.  You need a handgun/pistol for personal protection to carry or have hidden in your home, a rifle for big game hunting (i.e. deer), and you need a shotgun for small game hunting (i.e. rabbits, birds, turkey etc.).  Does any one NEED an AR-15?  Honestly, I believe that if you feel like you need, not want, an AR-15 in your closet that your life or your neighborhood is a bit too dangerous for me.  Now with that being said, can you WANT an AR-15?  Absolutely.  ...

There are moments in our lives that we can never forget.  They may be good or bad - a first kiss, our wedding day, birth of a child, death of a close friend or family member, a terminal diagnosis, graduations, or tragedies like 9/11.  Some of these moments are just etched in our brains never to be forgotten.  And there are other seemingly small moments that that didn't seem significant at the time but after years of reflection we realize the impact that a kind word or even a negative comment made on us.  It's easy for us to tell the stories of our proudest and most memorable accomplishments.  But what if one of the most important things we ever did is hard to remember? I heard a sermon a few weeks ago about knowing your moment of salvation, remembering the exact moment that your whole entire world changed and Jesus came into your heart.  Some people shared detailed stories of the place, the day, the time, even the weather.  The preacher talked about ...

As many of you know, I work in banking.  Not investment banking, I primarily deal with various loan types to individuals and businesses.  But I do have a pretty solid understanding of interest rates, markets, and long and short term costs and returns.  That being said, my expertise in the area of investing consists of checking my quarterly 401k statement to make sure that it has more money now than it did three months ago.  If you want investment advice, I can give you some names of people I trust and are knowledgeable, just not mine. A month or so ago the cryptocurrency market was going wild.  Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies were all the rage, and there are some people who made tons of money on it...assuming they sold at the right time.  And there are others who will stubbornly ride out this most recent drop off in order to be able to tell all their friends they were "geniuses" for holding on to the crypto investment. But this post isn't abo...

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...

My body has gotten to the point that I now enjoy looking at rollercoasters more than riding them.  I still enjoy the rush you get riding one, but my aging back just doesn't handle the twists and turns and bumps like it used to.  This week, has been somewhat of a real life rollercoaster ride.  There were no major losses or disasters like a death or terminal illness but I did get cussed out by one person, had my character somewhat questioned by another, and had a couple days of lunch and evening appointments making for a hectic schedule.  But there were some goods - I had a satisfactory review at work, completed some tasks from those meetings, had lunch with an old friend, and received a couple sincere compliments.  And wouldn't you know, to top it all off, this week's Sunday school lesson tied directly in to the week I was having.  God's timing is awesome. The lesson this week is titled "No Fear" and comes from Acts 18:1-11 where Paul is in Corinth.  ...

I'm a numbers person and have been for as long as I can remember.  I've often said that 2 + 2 = 4 every day that we went to math, but in English class, people could interpret the same book or poem in a different way and both be right.  That often confused me so I liked sticking with my good ole trusty numbers which could be why I ended up working in banking. Numbers are important, but sometimes we have to look beyond the numbers.  I am absolutely blessed to work where I do.  The company I work for, like many during the recession, had some trying times and fortunately the memories (hopefully not the lessons) of those trying times are slowly fading away.  During those years, our management team had to focus a great deal on the numbers.  But they never lost sight of what truly matters to the operations of a business, its employees.  Yes, numbers were tight, raises were non-existent for a time, and stress levels were high.  But there was and st...