Sterling Griggs

Perhaps the most beautiful picture that I can conjure up in my mind of Jesus is of Him on the cross, dying for my sins so that I can be forgiven. I know that the image that might pop up in your mind isn't so aesthetically pleasing, but all other images pale in comparison to the beauty of His act of sacrifice. I love 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I love it because not only am I forgiven, but God through Jesus Christ has declared me clean. God is always faithful to forgive, He is always righteous in His forgiveness, and I am always clean when I confess and ask forgiveness. I carry no baggage when it comes to my sin. I wish that the forgiveness of God would translate a little bit better into my life and the life of my fellow believers. When we read words like I have written above, we praise our Lord and Savior for His forgiveness and grace. We claim His forgiveness,...

Have you heard of the Duggar's , the family from Arkansas with 17 children ranging in age from 20 years to 9 months old? The most recent edition of Home Life magazine has a feature on their family and I found it a very valuable - if not convicting - read. Almost everyone that has heard of the Duggar's and their large family has an opinion about them, including myself. Personally, I just haven't been able to see how everyone seems so clean and well-mannered. Certainly that's not how they really are, right? I mean, they almost seem plastic they are so close to perfect. But when I read this article about them it answered a lot of my questions and explained much about their lifestyle. In the Duggar home, Christ comes first. As a follower of Christ who is also father to four children of my own, I would like to think that Christ is always first in my home. But it's not always that way. It takes lots of work to manage regular family devotions and when schedules ar...

Chris Paul can flat out play basketball! I normally don't follow the NBA all that much unless one of my former Wake Forest players is on TV, but when the playoffs roll around it's kind of cool to watch some of the games. And with 4 Wake Forest alumni playing - Darius Songaila for Washington; Tim Duncan for San Antonio; Josh Howard for Dallas, (pictured above with Chris); and of course, Chris Paul for New Orleans - I can dream a little bit back to the glory days when Wake Forest basketball was doing much better than it has in recent years. For his first two playoff games, Chris Paul has made a huge impression on the rest of the field and the shouts of MVP can be heard louder and clearer. In game 1 against Dallas he had 35 points and 10 assists and he followed that up by scoring 32 points to go with 17 assists in last night's game. Add to that 3.5 steals per game and you have the first player in history to average over 30 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals per game in the p...

As I continue reading " Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) ", another key issue of the emergent movement jumps out: How they view the Bible. I have heard many people argue for and against the validity of Scripture, but for the most part Christians view the Bible as a book given to us from God. The trend amongst emergent believers takes a detour upon that route. Essentially, those in the emergent movement believe that although the Bible is an important book, it's not essential for knowing God. Evangelicals, they say, have been guilty of "bible idolatry", the worship of the Bible and not the God that the Bible describes. On the other hand, they eschew propositional theology (that is, they don't get caught up in all of the doctrines) in favor of having an ongoing conversation within the Christian community so that they can piece together the fragments of what they know about God. The Bible is thought of as becomin g rather than actually...

After running a small coffee roasting business for a little over a year, I have forgotten just how much fun it is to roast small batches of coffee at a time with a hot air popcorn popper. In just 7 or 8 minutes you can have fresh roasted coffee that is better than anything that you could possibly find at a store and it is so easy to do. Look at those beautiful beans! I'm in love! I can't wait to grind them in the morning and drink a fresh cup. If you want to know how to do this yourself, just drop me an email and I'll give you the scoop.

Last night after my wife Kellie read my blog lamenting about Right Guard Sport invisible solid antiperspirant/deodorant "fresh" scent, she went online to try and find some stores that might carry the brand. She found that CVS drug stores carried the "fresh" scent, and for only $3.29 (can anyone say bargain?), but shipping would be almost $6. So, I would set out to find my own CVS store in order to purchase the prized stick of goodness. Well, as you can tell from the photo, I found it! There were only 3 sticks on the shelf and I bought two. I left one because, after reading this blog, I'm sure that CVS would be overwhelmed with men desiring to purchase this product because they didn't want to stink. I proudly carried my two sticks of "fresh" scent to the register and began the checkout process. My cashier was Mitzi (you know,the tired looking girl with the crude star tattoo on her hand who also works the photo processing machine and because th...

I absolutely love Right Guard Sport invisible solid antiperspirant/deodorant with the "fresh" scent. I've been using this same brand of deodorant for many years now and it really works because I don't stink. I may sweat some, but I don't stink. The stick of deodorant pictured here has been with me for well over a year. You can see how the stick itself has a slightly sloped contour due to the angle of which it connects to my armpit. I find it gross when there is armpit hair on other peoples' deodorant but this rarely happens with mine. Right Guard Sport is the perfect stick. However, I am a bit panicked as I write this because all of this may soon change. I have not been able to find the Right Guard Sport invisible solid in the stores very often and when I do they don't have that "fresh" scent that I like. So, being that I am about to start scraping my pits with pure plastic, it's time to replace my stick. However, the store has hardly...

I just started reading " Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) " by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Even though I've only read a few chapters, this book has truly opened up my thinking and answered tons of questions on exactly what the emergent movement is and what it's all about. DeYoung and Kluck aren't setting out to slam or embarrass anybody, but they have done their homework. They have waded through thousands of pages of literature from those who are considered leaders in the emergent movement and in doing so they categorically list several areas that I find troubling. One of the initial assessments they make is that, for those in the emergent movement, their spiritual journey becomes more important than the destination itself. In other words, it's not so important that you "find" God but rather that you keep looking. That may sound okay to some, but it's rooted in the belief that you really can't know God with certaint...

Yesterday I wrote about a mission trip I'll be taking with some 90 other people to Orting, WA, this summer. The purpose of that post was to share with y'all the diversity and complexity of the the Pacific Northwest that could bring us some exciting challenges once we arrive there. But I left something very important out. The people. In the midst of planning and analyzing, I sometimes forget that it's the people of Orting that we are going to meet. Forget whatever the current data reports about a region, the individual person is much greater than any data sheet. It seems as if any strategy that churches or other religious groups embrace, their target for that strategy is often viewed as a whole and not as individual parts. There are youth groups, children's groups, couple's ministries, singles ministries, etc. And while our whole thought process has to be about embracing everyone, we can't lose sight of individuals. Let me illustrate my point. Many churche...

I am in the midst of preparing to go on a pretty amazing mission trip this July 10-15 with my church and another church. We are going to Orting, WA (right below Seattle) to help a church plant reach their community. I didn't know a whole lot about Orting (in fact, I knew nothing) until we started this whole process, but Orting lies in a county that is considered to be one of the most "unchurched" counties in the United States. Based on the information that we have gotten from the pastor of River Chase Church that we are partnering with, we will have our work cut out for us. We really don't know what to expect and we are pretty sure that the traditional view of church is a foreign idea out there. As a result, we have been forced to think beyond what we know and even to venture into the unknown a little bit. During our brainstorming sessions in our training meetings, it's inevitable that our ideas will model what we know about how we worship and approach God, ...

There are many studies out there that suggest how much sleep a person needs each night, and it's commonly believed that around 8 hours is the ideal. I know that some people need more and others survive on much less, but no one would deny the importance of sleep. With a newborn baby in the house, sleep is at a premium for Kellie and me. Just like all of our children have done, little Emme wakes up several times during the night to eat, and we take turns doing the feedings. You would think that after having done this three times already that we would be pros, but that just isn't the case. This lack of sleep has got both of us dragging. We weren't this tired with any of the other kids, but we also didn't have as much going on with them either. I guess when you try to corral 3 other kids all day long those night feedings carry a little more punch that they used to. All those grand ideas of waking up early in the morning to study and start my day get punched as quickl...

Just recently I had a conversation with a guy who doesn't go to church. He knew I was a pastor and respected what I do, and he said that he wasn't angry about church, but he just didn't choose to go. When pressed for a reason he explained that there was a fairly large church near where he lived. He admitted that he didn't know anybody that went to that church and that he believed they were all pretty good people, yet when he saw that church and the people there all he could think of was a social club. Now some of you might take offense to his logic. After all, how fair is it to judge a church in such a way when one has never even been to that church before? But that logic, my friends, is more flawed than this man's. You see, the problem that this man was experiencing was that he had never experienced this church at all other than driving by it. The church, in turn, had never left it's four walls to engage this man. Isn't that what the church is to be a...

This morning as I was taking my daughter to school, I was listening to a local radio station that was interviewing Christian recording artist Aaron Shust . One of the radio personalities asked him the question, "If you were not a musician, what do you think you'd be doing?" His answer was that he thinks being a meteorologist would be really cool (my wife feels the same way), but what he said next had a lot of wisdom in it. Aaron explained that his passion was for music and that God had given him a propensity to perform it. Therefore he knew that was what God had called him to do. I have been asked several times how I knew that God called me to be a pastor and I have also been asked on numerous occasions how someone can know that God is calling them to a certain field or practice. In the Bible, God often speaks directly to those He calls, but it's not so cut and dry in the 21st century. How can we know? While I'm no expert on the matter, there are a few proofs...

I've found that there are lots of opinions out there about God and whether we can know Him or not (or her or it as some refer to God). I believe that, in order to know or accept that there is a God, there must be an agreement upon who exactly God is. First of all, if there is a God, is this God all-powerful or not? This is important because it answers many questions about His essence and His character and abilities. If God isn't all-powerful then He probably can't be the one responsible for creating the universe. And if that's the God that you believe in, then exactly what abilities and power does He have? If He's limited, what purpose does He serve? Another point we have to consider is what role God plays in our lives. Is He active in our lives, weaving Himself in and out of our daily affairs? Or, is He a God that just steps back and lets things be as they are, refusing to intervene or even pay much attention to what is going on in our world today? If He...

I just read on some news sites on the web that our government is officially going to limit the amount of children that families are allowed to have. Starting January 1, 2010, families in America will be limited to 3 children. If you already have more than 3 then you are okay, but if you become pregnant with what is your fourth or more child then you will be fined pretty heavily. The exact figure isn't clear, but Congress is throwing around the number of $5000 per child. The primary reasons for this are that the government is afraid that we will overpopulate the country and there are fears that all of the heat generated from giving birth will only make global warming worse. From the lights needed in the delivery room to the actual kinetic energy given off by the mother, all of that is a recipe for disaster. There is one loophole, though. For those who plan on having more children beyond 3 there is an application that can be filled out that, along with a $500 processing fee per a...