Sterling Griggs

When my wife was in the hospital with early labor issues earlier this month, she forged a friendship with several of the hospital staff. One young lady in particular came by to take her meal orders every day. After chatting with her, my wife found out that this girl had attended a very strict Christian college and now lived at home with her parents and attended a fundamentalist independent church. My wife talked with her one day about missions and this young lady's eyes lit up. She told my wife how she had accompanied a team from her church to a third world country in order to administer medical aid. And then she said something that made me scratch my head: "We made those people sit and listen to the gospel before we would give them any medical help. If we didn't do it that way, it would have been a wasted trip." What's up with that? Is that a model that is found in Scripture? I've heard of other churches boasting about their mission work that was simil...

Have you known somebody who always seemed to be burdened or unhappy? Maybe someone who can't seem to forgive themselves of something from their past? When someone lives a life so burdened down with guilt or pain, it's often said that they will "take it to their grave" if they don't move on from it. But if we know Christ, we don't have to worry about taking anything to the grave with us. Jesus already took our sin and guilt to the grave with Him and He left it there. Isn't that a beautiful picture of redemption and grace?

I have a buddy who has a blog similar to mine that I like to keep up with (although he's probably a bit more of a deeper thinker than me). The other day he had a post about how there seems to be a lot of pressure on Christian college and seminary campuses for men to find a mate and find one soon. He had several responses and many of the comments brought up the subject of the will of God. How would you define God's will? Is it what you do for Him or does it even involve you at all? Many approach God's will with sort of a crystal ball mentality: Look deep enough and He'll show you everything that you will need to know about the future. Those who see God's will in this way believe that God will simply show them who they are to marry, what job they are to have, and where they will be 10 years from now. In other words, God has become some mystical fortune teller whose job it is to tell me exactly what I want to know. Now I know that most of us are curious about th...

As a die-hard Wake Forest fan, I've enjoyed more than my fair share of disappointments with some of our athletic teams. Our football team has been a great source of joy for me in the past two seasons, but our basketball team has struggled as of late. Last night, the Deacs played at Clemson and missed some valuable opportunities at the end to win the game. In the end, we lost to the Tigers in overtime in a game that was hard fought and up in the air until the very end. This is where things get ugly. I am a Wake Forest message board guy who likes to read up on the Deacs and add comments whenever I have something to say. On the board last night, the vitriol that I read about some of our players made my skin crawl. Grown men - most of whom never played competitive ball and sit shielded in anonymity behind a computer screen - we calling for some of our players to leave the program and they even offered to buy one a one-way plane ticket home. These are the same fans that will sin...

It snowed during the late hours of the night into the early morning and as a result I got something I was really wanting - a day for the kids to be out of school! I don't care too much for snow and this isn't really anything to write home about (it's turned more into ice than anything) but I was looking forward to my oldest daughter not having school today so that we could have a day to just hang out. I'm sure that those in more snowy climates laugh at us in the South for what I'm sure they see as an overreaction to a little frozen precipitation, but hey, we'll take what we can get. And since I'm setting out tomorrow to speak at a weekend ski retreat at Winterplace , this weather couldn't be better for the conditions. So now I'm off to pop in a DVD for the kids and heat up some hot chocolate. Go outside in this mess? No way!

This past weekend Lebron James was ticketed for driving 103 mph in a 65 mph zone. James' lawyer has entered a "not guilty" plea on behalf of his client. Not guilty? Not guilty of what, going warp speed? A man is arrested for drunk driving and he pleads not guilty. A woman abuses her kids leaving bruises and scars and she pleads not guilty. A psycho brutally murders several people and he pleads not guilty. Can someone please explain to me why people who are caught red-handed with a full deck of evidence against them can plead not guilty and still sleep at night? I have nothing against Lebron James. In fact, I love watching him play basketball. But how in the world does he believe he isn't guilty? What type of automotive malfunction could have caused his foot to press the pedal way down so that he was running triple digits? Why can't people admit that they are guilty of a crime that we know they committed? There seems to be such a lack of accountability in...

For the life of me I just can't seem to figure politics and politicians out. Every answer during every debate seems canned and the "I've worked hard for 20 years to do this or that" is so tiring. I will admit that I am a conservative and, that being the case, I just don't see myself voting for the Democrat nominee. The only problem I have is that I'm not too crazy about the Republicans who are vying for the spot either. If I had to throw my hat in the ring it would be with Fred Thompson, but whether the media is right or not (and I stand by the fact that I believe they are biased) Thompson just doesn't seem to be too much in the mix right now. When it comes to the issues I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I don't know that I've seen a candidate that espouses all that I hold true. Beyond the moral issues, which the Democrats fails me on, I want to see some social issues addressed, and my of the Republicans fail me there too. There have...

With my wife being relegated to a hospital bed for at least the next couple of weeks with early labor, things around the Griggs' house have become a lot more challenging. Kellie and I work as a team with our kids and our house so when one of us is gone it makes the job all that more crazy. Fortunately for us, we are both committed to raising our kids together, not apart. What I mean is, I don't come in from work and do "my thing" while my wife spends all of her time with our kids. Sure, I get out and do things that I want to do but so does my wife. Whether it's bath time, laundry, cooking, cleaning the house - whatever - we share the load. Our marriage is not 50/50 - it's 100/100. With my wife not here it's definitely more difficult to get these things done, but they do get done because I have already been doing them. Now I don't write all of this to brag on myself or be arrogant. This is the example that my dad set out for me and in my opinion ...

I've been doing some research lately on a series of lessons that I'm going to teach a group of students and adults who will be traveling to the Seattle area this summer for a mission trip. Since this is a greatly unchurched area of America, the chances of encountering those who have little to no belief in God are pretty guaranteed. The purpose of the training is to equip them with a lot information in little nugget forms that will allow them to express their faith and defend it at the same time. As I've read my books, perused websites, and listened to podcasts, I've noticed that many who claim to be "nonreligious" have an affinity for blaming God for the bad things that go on in our world today. Many of these same people will tell you that they can't believe in a God who can't keep up His end of the deal. "If God is so great and worthy to be followed, why does life stink?" they ask. Just what end of the deal does God need to keep? How ex...

Having already had 3 kids and expecting our fourth, one would think that this whole pregnancy thing would be old hat, right? Well, as many of you may know, Kellie has had some complications with early labor in this pregnancy which have resulted in two previous hospital stays. As of last night, you can make that three hospital stays. During our doctor's visit yesterday we found out that she was in labor yet again. Of course, she knew she was contracting but her body was definitely farther along with it than either of us thought. So, we headed straight to the hospital. Once we got here Kellie was bummed that we didn't stop at Arby's on the way, but at least I brought her some McDonald's hotcakes this morning. The baby looks fine and the ultrasound revealed that our little girl weighs 2 lbs. 7 oz. and we are 29 weeks along. Our goal is to get to 34 weeks and see our baby gain another pound or two, but we know that God has all of this in control even when we don't...