Sterling Griggs

I just started a new book this morning and I'm having trouble putting it down. It's by Kevin Roose and it's called " The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. " And, being a nerd, I downloaded it on the Kindle for iPhone. This book isn't new (I've read a blog or two about it) but a newspaper article in the religion section of our local paper this morning piqued my attention to check it out. Long story short, Kevin Roose is a student at Brown University who decided to immerse himself in evangelical Christian university culture by enrolling for a semester at Liberty University. To his credit, Roose goes into his experience with an open mind to truly discern the thoughts and life patterns of evangelical Christianity, which for him is admittedly difficult since his own background is explicitly secular. In preparing for his semester of study at Liberty, Roose does some intensive study with a friend in the areas of ...

My son Deacon likes to change clothes. A lot. So much so that he's got regular outfits that he puts on at different times of the day and he's not even 3 years old yet. There is a soccer outfit that includes Adidas shorts and a long-sleeve shirt with a picture of a soccer ball on it. Then there is his basketball outfit which includes his red mesh basketball shorts and a short-sleeve Wake Forest shirt. There are, of course, certain shoes that match each outfit and he occasionally will throw in a pair of jeans for variety. To say my son is wishy-washy about his clothing would be an understatement. While his outfits may be predictable, at what time of the day he will change into them is not. Sometimes he changes in the middle of the night while at other times he will change 3 times in an hour. If you're wondering if my child needs some counseling or is OCD, then relax. He's a really cool kid who likes to play the sports that match the outfit. My son's dressing...

As a follower of Christ I take sin very seriously. Let me augment that statement by saying that I first take my own sin very seriously. The sins of others - that which most Christians are so adept at pointing out - certainly are issues that concern me, but the whole plank in the eye thing keeps me fairly grounded on my need for personal confession and repentance on a daily basis. The heart of the gospel is Jesus' death, not just so that I can have a free ticket to heaven but so that I can be forgiven of my sins. So yeah, I call people to repentance when sharing the gospel while at the same calling myself to that same repentance daily. So this morning I logged onto a website that I haven't viewed in a few weeks. It's a website for my favorite college sports team and it has a message board where fans can discuss various issues (and do some arguing) about their favorite sports teams and players. There is also a board on there where off-topic sports discussion are fair g...

Liberty University is in the news again. I wish I could say that they are receiving press for their outstanding commitment to seeing men and women won to faith in Christ or that their academic achievements have blown through the roof, but sadly that's not the case. They made the papers because, once again, they have chosen to stir the pot of controversy. If you choose to read the article that I will reference , you will see that the leadership at the school has decided to no longer recognize the College Democrat club on their campus. That's right, they will no longer tolerate all 4 of them (I know, bad joke). It seems as if parents, trustees and donors - yes, those who write the checks - have lodged enough complaints about the club that the school felt compelled to take action. In their view, all Democrats support gay rights, abortion, and excessive social programs that enable the poor to live off of handouts. The College Democrats are surely a gnarled appendage of such f...

Last night our church welcomed in the Children of the World International Children's Choir from the organization World Help . The choir was composed of children from Guatemala, Uganda, and Nepal, most of who have been completely orphaned. They live in homes for children in their own countries and are financially supported by American sponsors through World Help. Their performance was amazing and their stories were moving. They actually arrived at our church around lunchtime on Tuesday and, since I live next door to the church, I had plenty of time to interact with them as did my own kids. My son Deacon had a chance to play ball with some of the boys that afternoon and he did so until he collapsed. Reynolds and Chandler made new friends as well. Here are a couple of pictures of Deacon playing with some of the boys. Deacon playing ball with Deepesh from Nepal Deacon with Jonathan from Uganda Deacon with Francis from Uganda Just being around these children was very moving for me...

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (aka the Synoptic Gospels) all record the same story of Jesus healing the mother-in-law of Peter. Before we go further, let's just get this out of our system - Jesus really must have been testing and refining Peter to bring his mother in law back from a serious sickness! Regardless of your view on this, there is an aspect of this story mentioned only in Luke's account that bears some reflection. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus places His hands on Peter's mother-in-law to heal her but in Luke's account we see that Jesus "rebuked" the fever and it then left her. There are lots of examples in the gospels of Jesus rebuking demons or unclean spirits that are afflicting people, but here there is no mention of an unclean spirit, just a fever. I'm sure it was a serious fever but we are given no indication that it was caused by anything extra-normal. So why would Jesus rebuke a common sickness? I believe that Jesus rebuked th...

There's almost nothing I love more than laying on the floor and having my kids crawl all over me. To my older ones it's wrestling but to my younger ones I'm a jungle gym. Either way, during those moments of communing with the carpet, I belong to them. It's their time. Most parents will at some point make a comment about how their kids belong to them (or if their kids are really being bad they'll deny knowing whose they are). And that's true - when you have children they do belong to you. But don't we also belong to our kids? When I walk into the school to pick up my girls, their classmates will say, "Hey there's Chandler's dad. There's Reynolds' dad." I belong to them. And when parents get old and gray and become unable to care from themselves, the terminology starts to move farther in the opposite direction. Now, your parents belong to you as you care for them. Who does the church belong to? Sometimes - scratch that, mos...

Last night I had the privilege of witnessing a miracle in motion. There are surely many ways to define what a miracle is, but to me it's no less than God moving against what we would consider natural and rational, bending the rules so to speak. And why shouldn't He since He made the rules to begin with? A gentleman at my church, a man of only 44 years, collapsed at his childrens' baseball game with what appears to be a massive heart attack. Those who reached him first found a man whose life was drained from his body, unresponsive, pulseless, not breathing. But not hopeless. There were medical personnel at that ball field, at least 3 nurses as a matter of fact. CPR was started almost instantly and out of nowhere an AED defibrillator device was produced. When the paramedics arrived his airway was already secured and they proceeded to give him the necessary medications and electrical shocks to his heart that eventually kick-started it back to beating on its own. I used t...

For those of you who are married or are in a relationship, do you remember when you first laid eyes on her? Did you get the warm fuzzies? I know I did. Did you find yourself doing little special things for her that you hoped would make her understand just how special she is to you? Things often change as times marches on. I will be the first to admit that while my love for my wife has only grown in our 10 years of marriage, my actions that display that love have diminished. Sure I've surprised her at work with something special and I've gotten her the occasional surprise gift or two, but not like I used to. I'm certainly no relational guru, but I do believe that there is at least one certain responsibility that men must fulfill to keep the magic in their relationships (and I only list one here...there is more). What immediately comes to mind is whether or not I still make my wife feel special. If she were to walk into a crowded room, do I light up when I see her and...

A lot of my thoughts and ideas come to me when I'm not doing "spiritual" things. For instance, I find that I think clearest when I'm doing something like driving. This morning, the following "sermonette" came while I was vacuuming my living room floor. I haven't had the opportunity to do boatloads of weddings, but the ones I have done have followed what I believe to be a very biblical script. Of significant emphasis is the passage from Ephesians 5:22-33 , specifically the verses "Wives submit to your husbands...Husbands love your wives, just also as Christ loved the church...To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband." Most who hear these words perhaps for the first time focus on the wives submitting to the husband part, but I think they miss the most difficult part when they do that. In the context of marriage being a man means loving your wife just as Christ loved the church. How did...

Luke 2 records a fascinating scene housed within the story of the birth of Christ. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, an angel of the Lord stood before a group of shepherds in the fields and announced to them that earlier that day, not far from where they were tending their flocks, the Savior of the world had been born. They were the first ones to whom the news that would change the very foundation of history was told. Why is this a fascinating story? It's notable because shepherds weren't considered very highly in that day. Their job of tending sheep was akin to cleaning toilets or shoveling animal poo. There weren't many kids that, when asked in class at school what they wanted to be when they grew us, beamed proudly "I want to be a shepherd!" But in spite of their socially stigmatized profession, the God of the universe sent His angel first and foremost to them to tell them that hope had entered the world. Their response was to go straight to Bethlehem ...

Kellie and I are now going through our fourth episode of separation anxiety, this time with Emme. Whether we are dropping her off in nursery at church, leaving her with a sitter, or simply leaving the room, she will let us know that she is not happy about it. It's nice to know how much she loves us and wants to be with us. Fast forward to when the kids get a little older. Now when I leave, they're okay with it. In fact, my oldest can't have me leave soon enough when I drop her off at school and she's not even 8 years old yet. If I'm out of town or gone for the better part of the day, they let me know how much they missed me but it's not the same when they were just toddlers. How much do you miss being with God? The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 42:1-2, "As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?" (HCSB) He wrote that whenever he was away from God he suffer...

I still like music from the 1990's. Bands from that era brought a true and raw energy into their songs. I'm not a music producer, but I get the sense that not a lot of mixing went into the recording of their songs. Just play it and record it. One of the bands that enjoyed their pinnacle in the 1990's was Pearl Jam. Their front man Eddie Vedder was known for his sometimes indiscernible lyrics and unpredictable antics on stage, yet no one could doubt his intensity and energy. Pearl Jam was a poster child of the "grunge" genre and many found an outlet in their aggressive style and anti-establishment mystique. Not all of Vedder's lyrics were hard to discern. One song in particular, "I Am Mine" from Pearl Jam's album "Riot Act", describes a worldview that describes a train of thought that is growing well into this century. Here are the words of the first few verses: The selfish they're all standing in line... Faith in their hope a...

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Don't write checks with your mouth that your butt can't cash?" This humorous quip is pretty obvious in its meaning. If you're gonna pick a fight, you better know who you're picking a fight with. Early on on king David's reign in Israel, a guy by the name of Hanun king of the Ammonites decided to pick a fight with David. Hanun took some of David's men that he had sent to pay respects for the recent death of Hanun's father and he shaved off half of their beards and cut their clothing off at the waist. This was tantamount to the ultimate humiliation in eastern culture. Realizing that he had ticked off David, Hanun knew a fight was brewing. But apparently he didn't have enough men to fight back, so he hired 33,000 more men to go to battle with him against Israel. His efforts didn't help. Israel routed Hanun and his henchmen and these men that he had signed up to fight with him refused to ever do so agai...

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Don't be unequally yoked"? It's actually from the Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:14 to be exact. I have heard that phrase used before to justify all sorts of division and even racism. The only problem is, most people haven't paid attention to the rest of the sentence, "...with unbelievers." That's right, followers of Christ aren't to yoke themselves - be in relationships - with unbelievers. Does this mean we aren't to have friends who do not follow Christ? What about a business partner who isn't a Christian? In this passage the Apostle Paul is referring specifically to relationships between men and women that are on the levels of commitment and marriage. Guys, don't date a girl who isn't a Christian. Girls, don't go out with guys who aren't followers of Christ. Men and women, don't consider marriage with another who is not in love with Jesus. Why would Paul write in such a blunt way? ...

Mark 15:1 records an interesting event in the final hours of the life of Jesus. The Jewish leaders have been trying to falsely accuse Him for some time before their Sanhedrin, yet they have nothing legally with which to charge Him. So when they decide to turn Jesus and their trumped up charges against Him over to Pilate the governor, they tie Him up before they deliver Him over. Why tie up a man who until this point was innocent? The Jewish leaders were desperate to silence the truth. Time and again through the gospel accounts Jesus was asked to show a sign to prove who He was, yet in most of the cases He had just completed an incredible miracle in the presence of those now challenging Him. You get the sense very quickly that enough would never be enough for the skeptics and doubters. Our story could lend itself to a modern interpretation in at least a couple of ways. First, we all know that there are efforts out there to silence the faith that Christ Himself died to establish. ...

Tonight a couple of us churches banded together to bring Todd Agnew to Yadkin County. What was originally scheduled to be an afternoon of games and then the Todd Agnew concert at the county park turned into sort of a wash, so we were able to have it at Forbush High School and it worked out great. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of Todd Agnew, but after spending a little time with him and then watching as he not only led worship but taught people, my perspective has changed. Todd is a worship leader and on more than one occasion he reminded us that that's why he was here. He didn't demand that everyone stand and raise their hands, but we were reminded that we are called to worship even if it means remaining in our seats. Towards the end of his show he spoke to us for awhile about grace and forgiveness, using the story of Adam and Eve as his text. His points were fresh and I can honestly say that I was certainly convicted in my he...

Yesterday I turned 39. I didn't blog about it then because then that would have been a shameless plug from me that I wanted you to notice that it was my birthday and therefore you would have felt obligated to officially recognize me in some capacity. It's not that I'm all that selfless, it's just that I didn't want to emulate those who always make it a point for you to know that it's their birthday. Besides, when you get into your 30's birthdays just aren't all that exciting anymore. Let me say for the record that I had an awesome birthday celebration with just my wife, one of the funnest evenings we've had in a long, long time. But now that I am 364 days away from the dreaded 40, I am in no hurry to celebrate the next May 2. So now that my life is probably more than halfway over, how am I doing so far? Looking back, I can see how God used a lot of challenging circumstances (and a beautiful wife) to chisel away the rough edges of my life. I als...