Sterling Griggs

By time the kids get out of school in early June, summer can't come soon enough. I know that mission trips, the beach, and all sorts of other stuff awaits me and my family. Then, once I get through the bulk of July, things really start to slow down. It gets too hot and muggy to enjoy being outside too much, many of the people I know are out of town, I can't schedule too much with my students because fall sports are about to crank back up, and then that's when the blahs set in. Don't get me wrong, I love summer. When I was in Washington state last week the sun didn't set until after 10 at night and it was already up before 5 in the morning, so I love the sunshine. But the pace of summer takes a toll on me and by the time late July rolls around, I'm pretty tired. Plus, there is the anticipation of school starting back for the kids so that means they'll be in a more structured environment with more stuff for them to do (and it gets them out of the house m...

I was just recently contacted about attending my 20th High School Reunion from R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, NC. A group of my fellow graduates has put together what I think is a really cool website that allows alumni to share with their classmates what they've been doing the past 20 years and to post some then/now pictures. As I've read over the bios of my fellow grads, I have been fascinated to see how some of them have turned out and what they're up to now. There are some with 4 kids like me, most are married, some have stayed single, and many are still fairly local. I was contacted by a guy that I didn't really know all that well but is now a follower of Christ. He saw where I was a pastor and we've had some good discussion via email about where God has taken us. I know that my wife is going to be sick of me by the time that this reunion rolls around in October, but for some reason I am really excited about it. Maybe it's because high sch...

I've been reading through the book of Ezekiel and came across some passages in chapter 3 and chapter 33 that really caught my attention. In these chapters, God calls upon Ezekiel to be a watchman over Israel. Whatever warning God wanted to give to Israel, He would do so through Ezekiel. If Ezekiel proclaimed to the Israelites the word of God, then whether or not they complied was out of Ezekiel's hands. But if he did not warn them and they suffered from God's wrath, then Ezekiel would suffer as well for his failure to speak. As a pastor, I believe God has given me the right to speak on His behalf to His people. And like the warning God gave to Ezekiel, if I don't speak to God's people on His behalf then I am just as guilty as they are when they fall away from God. This hits home especially with the students that I serve. They are at a point in their lives where they are craving direction and insight - what an awesome task I have to teach them God's trut...

Wow, what a trip! We just returned last night night from our mission trip to Orting, WA, and we didn't walk through the door until 10:15. Traveling with 4 kids was an adventure, especially on such a long flight, but the flight home was much better than the flight out there (probably because Deacon slept for 3 1/2 hours on the way home). Simply put, Orting, WA, is a beautiful community. It's a pristine little town at the base of Mt. Rainier (the picture above is what you see from the town) and the people love being outside. Each neighborhood has its own park and the middle of the downtown area is a park as well. During the day there, we held multiple "parties in the park" at these neighborhood parks where we invited the kids to come and play games, have their faces painted, and then hear about Jesus in a Bible story time. While this was going on, several of our guys and girls held a free basketball camp at the school that served as our home base and the rest of...

As my family and I prepare to fly across the country tomorrow, it seemed appropriate to post these two articles about unruly airline passengers. In the first article , the passengers were so upset that the flight crew was late that they almost staged a violent confrontation. The crew was so shaken up that they refused to fly and the flight was therefore canceled. I'm sure that calmed the emotions of those angry passengers. In this article , a man seated in first class got so upset that those sitting in the economy section were exiting the plane before him that he pulled open the emergency hatch and slid down the chute to exit the plane (and yeah, he got arrested for it). How dare those low lifes sitting in the rear of the plane who aren't good enough or wealthy to afford a first-class ticket get off the plane before some drunk guy who can't seem to get out of his drunken stupor! Let's hope that my flight to Seattle won't be quite as exciting.

On Thursday morning my family and over 100 others from our church and a sister church will be flying out to Seattle, WA, and then driving south to Orting, WA . Actually, there are already 34 people in vans who are halfway there in their cross-country trek (which to me is crazy but they wanted to). This is an exciting trip for me because my entire family is going - me, Kellie, Chandler, Reynolds, Deacon, and Emme. Most people would think that we'd be worried about Emme traveling so far at just 4 1/2 months but our concern really isn't how she will travel. Our concern is with a 2 year old boy named Deacon. Right now he is smack dab in the middle of the terrible twos and he shows no signs of slowing down. He's a great kid and so much fun, but I'm just not sure what 5 hours in the air is going to be like. But beyond that, I am so pumped that my entire family gets to be on mission together. If you read this blog, please pray for us from June 10-15. We will be conducti...

Tonight I was able to see some of the fire works from "downtown" Yadkinville from my living room. I paused the movie I was watching in order to take them in for a few minutes. The movie I was watching was " Darfur Now ", a documentary on what is going on in the Darfur region of Sudan and what is being done about it. If you look to the right column of my blog, you'll see a few websites that let you help out with some humanitarian causes. To be honest, most of would feel pretty good making a donation here or there or maybe even sporting a t-shirt that trumpets a cause, but at the same time if we were really honest not many of us are all that interested (or prepared) to really invest ourselves in a crisis that is half the world away. Sudan is a country that gripped my heart years ago, but it wasn't because of what was occurring in Darfur. I have friends that are there in northern Sudan and I had a chance to visit with them a few years ago. But since my tri...

With it being an election year and campaigning being in full swing, there will be lots of talk about unity. From unifying the parties together to unifying each individual's party base, candidates will work tirelessly to convince you that they are the one that will bring unity to America. If history is any indicator, their chances don't look too hot. But within the Christian faith, there is a more urgent need for unity. What are the things that divide the church? In my opinion, there is a no more powerful unifying and dividing factor than theology. Yet, it often isn't theology that divides many of us but rather trivial issues and petty disagreements. The apostle Paul penned the beautiful words in the book of Philippians to address the issue of unity, among other issues, to the church in Philippi. In the very first chapter, he offers up a prayer for the church in Philippi (verses 9-11) that calls for their hearts and minds to be as one for the cause of Christ. First, ...