Growin' Up Gregory

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...

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...

Sunday night at our church Bible study, we pondered questions surrounding "original sin."  I'm not smart enough to fully elaborate but I'll share a couple points I took away and how they apply to our lives today. 1.  Why did Adam & Eve succumb to Satan's temptation?  If we're honest, I think it's for the same reason many of us take foolish or unnecessary risks - we think the grass is greener on the other side.  Eve knew that God had plainly instructed them NOT to eat from this tree.  But when presented with the notion that they could be better, or more like God, she bit, literally and figuratively. I remember when we had horses and my dad would always fed them all from the same green bucket.  But there was one feisty little pony that always wanted the other horses feed.  If he had paid attention, he would have realized that all of it was the same and in pretty equal proportions.  But all he could see was someone else enjoying something and...

Have you ever been invited to a meeting with a vague topic and no idea of who else was going to be there?  Like, you literally are wondering to yourself the whole time if they got the right phone number or email address when you were sent the invite?  That was the case for me the other day.  I want to share a little about the meeting and discussions (hopefully that will be allowed or I may not be invited back) and more about what's really driving us. I was invited to a planning meeting for Union County.  I may have the official name wrong but that was the topic.  This was not a specific board or group.  There were people from many different fields - government, education, medical, business, faith-based, and I'm probably leaving some out.  Now you see why I was somewhat anxious about the meeting - this was not the kiddie table. The primary topics were Opportunities and Threats facing Union County - essentially the 'goods' and 'bads' that we could st...

Have you ever noticed that some of the best things in life feel a little silly the first time we try them? This has hit me in several ways. Some of my funny firsts include: Iced Coffee: The 1st time I ever tasted it, Britt gave me a sip of hers, and it was really, really good. But one day when I hit a pothole and the ice in my cup shook, Thomas asked what that sound was - and I literally began laughing at myself when I had to say that it was the ice in my coffee. I still drink it pretty much daily and tell myself that I'm getting extra-hydrated from the ice! Yoga: The 1st time I did it, I was embarrassed for myself, my yoga mat, and everybody else in the room (no, I did not wear yoga pants). But I do consistently tell people about the health benefits of yoga and stretch regularly. Selfies: As you can see from the pic, I'm still not good at them. And I don't like taking pictures of myself for the main fact that they destroy the misconception I have in my mind of wha...