Sterling Griggs

It's really easy for me to do the things that I know I should do. No one has to tell me to eat or to take care of myself and my family. Even though those things are relative no-brainers, they still require obedience to accomplish them. But what about the hard things? Think about something like committing to tithing to the church from your income. 10% is a lot of money, but out of obedience God expects us to give. Let's take that a step further. Imagine being asked by God to give up everything, possibly even your life. Check out my newest "useful link" to the left to check out the ministry of Sam Childers . In Mark 14:53-65 , Jesus has just been hauled before the Jewish Sanhedrin for trial. In front of that group of men, false accusations were hurled toward Jesus at a machine gun pace, yet none of them were true. These Jews, blinded by their hate, would do anything to see Jesus die, but their efforts were pitiful at best to condemn Him. The high priest was get...

For the better part of a year now my kids have wanted a dog. Badly. As much as I would love to comply with their request, we just aren't in the market for a dog right now. I have 4 kids, why do I need a dog? Besides, the road in front of our house can be a little treacherous on animals with all of the traffic. Several months ago we received a pleasant surprise. A neighbor from down the road has a beautiful chocolate Labrador Retriever (the world's greatest dogs) that began to show up at our house with regularity. She is friendly, well-trained, and best of all she goes home at night so I don't have to worry about her. My kids called her Chocolate but her real name is Hershey. The owners go to our church and they have no problem with their dog being a neighborhood roamer. As the weeks have passed Hershey has become more comfortable with us. I came home one day to find her in the house. Kellie said she couldn't just stand to see the dog looking in the door at her...

As a father or 4 children with ages ranging from 7 to 1, I can honestly say that I am a radically different man now than I was almost 8 years ago anticipating the birth of my first-born. Being a parent is the ultimate paradox, a mixture of pure joy and absolute frustration. But it's the source of that frustration that has shaped me the most. Go to any grocery/toy/big box store and you will see parents interacting with their children in ways that will make you cringe. When you see the fussing, yelling, nitpicking, and scolding, sometimes you want to intervene on behalf of the kids just to make sure they'll be okay. You tell yourself that would never be you. But in the privacy of your own home, you realize that you, too, get just as frustrated at your children. Maybe you don't respond to them the way that you see others do publicly, but respond you do, whether it's blowing them off, spanking them, or speaking words of discouragement. But what is the source of this a...

I don't mind admitting that I enjoy rockin' the minivan. For years and years I swore that you wouldn't catch me dead in a minivan. Whenever I saw one on the road, I instantly conjured up the image of a distracted mother driving either too fast or too slow who is paying more attention to what her kids are doing in the back than what's going on in front of her. That was an image I just couldn't stomach. Four kids later, I wouldn't trade our minivan for anything. Without it, we couldn't go anywhere. Plus, we drive one of those Nissan Quest minivans that's shaped like a bullet, so it's actually a really cool car. It's more than just a van, it's an experience. The gas gauge on the van is one that is digital, so there are bars that tell you how much fuel you have left in the tank. When it gets down to 4 bars left I know it's time to fill up or else I'll be down to one bar, which has never happened before. That is, it's never ha...

My family loves going to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro . Compared to others zoo it's not the biggest nor does it have the most variety of animals, but it's well laid out and a great walk on a nice day. Last week when the kid were out of school we took them to the Africa section - we love that part the most - and yesterday we signed them out of school a little early to go back and walk through the North American section of the zoo. One thing that surprised me was how crowded it was. I thought that most people would have cleared out by mid-afternoon but they were still there. There were all kinds of people there from all walks of life and it was a little tough at times to get a good view of the animals in their environment. This is a zoo where the animals are placed in a habitat that is as close to natural as their real home. There are trams that can shuttle you to different parts of the zoo but for the most part there are pathways that take you to each exhibit and it c...

Have you ever "lost" something and searched frantically for it, only to finally realize it was right in front of you? How about giving up on finding your glasses when they are on top of your head the whole time? Sometimes the hardest things to see are those things which are in our line of sight. Back in Moses' day, Egypt had a similar problem. God had called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, but to do so Moses would have to confront Pharaoh. When Pharaoh wouldn't comply, God used Moses and his brother Aaron to be the catalysts for bringing about several plagues that were designed to not only show God's power and make His name great but also to force Pharaoh's hand into letting them go. These plagues that God thrust upon Egypt ranged from turning all of their drinking water into blood, being invaded by swarms of flies and frogs, festering boils all over their bodies, and death of their livestock just to name a few. In each case Pharaoh wanted the pla...

My youngest daughter Emme took two great naps yesterday, both lasting 3 hours each. And when it was time for bed, it wasn't hard to get her down. With a night of great sleep ahead of me, I was in bed before 11:00. Then she awoke. It was after midnight and she was up, hollering at us from down the hall as if to say, "Come get me! I'm awake!" So I tried to give her some juice which she promptly pushed away, got her resettled, and shuffled back down the hall to resume my sleep. But she wasn't done. Next, it was Kellie's turn and this time Emme got a diaper change to go along with a little TLC from mom. But she still wasn't done. At 12:45 I found myself in the playroom with Emme, a little girl that simply didn't know what she wanted this late at night. It wasn't until 1:30 that I was able to get her resettled and then Kellie had one last turn, finally winning the battle long after 2 a.m. As I looked at my bleary-eyed little girl this morning ...

My son Deacon sometimes does something at the dinner table that's really gross. He'll be eating just fine when suddenly an urge to fill his mouth completely overtakes him. Then, without warning, he'll look at me and mumble something while at the same time start spitting out his food. I have to grab a napkin to catch the contents, all of which have been chewed and partially processed. Yuck! When my son does this it usually means he's done eating. Instead of walking away from the table to be excused, it hits him that what he's stuffed into his mouth will not make its way into his belly so he spits it out. Christians are kind of like this too. This happens in a couple of ways. There are times when we simply gorge at the Lord's table, feasting on whatever any teacher or preacher puts on our plate. We simply fill up until we are almost overwhelmed by information and application, yet we have no real intention of putting it into practice. When we've had en...

Have you ever heard of guilt by association? I'm sure that you've been accused of it at least once in your life. When the people you associate with get into trouble then that reputation of guilt trickles down to you, even if you haven't done anything wrong. It can also work in the opposite direction. If someone you associate with receives an honor or accolade, then that can shine a bright light upon you. Are you guilty by association when it comes to Jesus? In Mark 9 , Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him up on a mountain for the transfiguration while the other disciples waited behind. When Jesus and his three disciples came back down from the mountain, they arrived to find a commotion. It seems that a man had brought his son to Jesus' disciples so that they could rid him of the spirit that made him deaf and mute and would cast him into fits. However, the disciples were unable to heal this boy and an argument broke out among the disciples and the Jewish l...

He's alive. The grave is empty. We have hope and we are no longer dead in our sins. Our faith is not futile nor is it in vain. Indeed God's grace is great and free. 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Now that it's April 7, maybe we can get past the fact that UNC won the national title and all of the "basketball only" Carolina fans will finally settle down (hey, I even cheer for ALL Wake Forest sports, even club rugby). That brings me to some of the rumors circulating around Wake Forest basketball : The players didn't get along. Jeff Teague stopped going to class so he could turn pro. Coach Gaudio is at odd with some of his players who want to go pro because they haven't spoken with him yet. The list could go on. The good news about most rumors is that they usually aren't true. I say that's good news because a lot of rumors involve damaging information that can only hurt and not help. But what about rumors of the biblical kind? You know, the theories about when the Lord is going to return and when the world will end? There are many books out there that theorize the end of the world and the Lord's return. Some of these works claim to be ficti...

This phrase has been said more times than I can count by myself and others my age as we advance in years. I'm not that old - I'll be 39 next month - but life is radically different today than it was when I was growing up in the 1970's, even though some of the fashion styles have come back around full circle. We didn't have all of the cable channels, the computers, or any of the sophisticate video games to entertain us (Atari anyone?). Going outside to ride our bikes or playing football in the backyard was heaven to me. My kids love to play and they also love good entertainment. But there are cartoons and "kid shows" on TV that, honestly, just aren't that great or wholesome. Shows like Bugs Bunny and Speed Racer and Huckleberry Hound are still around, but they are mired in the upper tier of digital cable and satellite TV. My son Deacon loves basketball, so this morning I went to You Tube and typed in the words " Space Jam " for him and his s...

The story of David and Goliath recorded in 1 Samuel 17 has always fascinated me. It's the ultimate story of the underdog, the little guy taking down the big guy. But for me there's more to this story than just that. As the situation unfolds you see the army of Israel on one side and the army of the Philistines on the other, both ready to get it on in battle. Suddenly a giant of a man - 9 feet 9 inches tall - steps out from the Philistine side and challenges anyone on the Israeli side to one-on-one combat, winner take all. Apparently once a challenge like this was offered it had to be accepted because neither army budged in either direction until the issue was resolved. This giant, whose name was Goliath, was called a "champion" (vs.23) so you know he could fight. Goliath came out every morning and night for 39 straight days to challenge anyone in the army of Israel to a fight and no one was willing to step up to fight him. But on the 40th day all of that chang...

It's funny how different people in this world can be. Just a few months ago we had a president whose values and policies were much maligned and criticized by many in our nation. Now we have a president from the opposite spectrum whose views are radically different. It feels as if we've gone from first gear to fifth without pressing the clutch. This isn't a post about politics. I don't like to write about politics because, quite frankly, nobody ever agrees on them and I'm certainly far from being an expert. Yet the example above illustrates just how dynamically diverse we are as people. And these nuances are even more pronounced when it comes to personal values and belief systems. You can call me old fashioned but I believe in absolute truth. When I say that I mean that I believe that there is ultimately only one authority who is capable of bringing truth, hope, and salvation to mankind. I believe the embodiment of this truth to be Jesus Christ. Many get off...

Let me just begin by saying that the apostle Paul is a stud. This man continues to "shuck the corn" almost 2000 years after his death. In 1 Corinthians, he spends a lot of time laying out for the church in Corinth how they need to live their lives as followers of Christ. In chapter 9 he begins to defend his own ministry (apparently some in Corinth weren't convinced he was legit). At the very end of that chapter, he writes in verse 27 "I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified." As a vocational minister, I take those words to heart and use them to analyze my own life to make sure that my lifestyle and my decisions are consistent with the position to which God has called me. But since I believe that everyone who is a follower of Christ is a minister, let me break this down for all of us. Here are some points for all of us to consider: 1) What are you putting into your body? ...