Sterling Griggs

My son "graduates" from preschool tonight. He's pretty stoked about the whole thing and it's a huge deal to him. There will be a formal ceremony with caps and gowns and he even has a speaking part in the program, which consists of him quoting John 15:17:                                                  Jesus said love one another. He has been practicing this part diligently at home, but I've noticed as he recites it something peculiar yet profound happens to the words. More often than not my son says, "God said love one another." And on numerous occasions as I talk to him about Jesus, my son has asserted that Jesus is God. To him, this is not confusion but fact. His little mind processes things at such a different and more simple level than mine, yet he believes...

Just recently I began a personal campaign to have more books in my life. I realized that I was relying on too many other means for entertainment, such as television, internet, social media, etc., and I didn't like the results that I was getting. I needed a break. Sensationalism that masquerades as news and character assassinations that present themselves as entertainment are just a waste of my time. So I have made it a point to read more books and spend less time online and watching television. And it's been so awesome to get reacquainted with the classics as well as discovering new books from contemporary authors. We also secured a membership for all of our kids at the local library so that we walk there every couple of weeks to get some new books to read. When I was a kid it seemed so much simpler and easier. You could only watch a few channels on television (that's all we had), the internet was a dream as were personal computers, and social media consisted of peop...

Recently I've heard (and read) a lot of talk from fellow Christians on several tough and potentially divisive issues. There has been much discussion on what Christians should do in certain situations where a moral issue has taken center stage in the public arena and even more opinions of what Jesus Himself would or wouldn't do. A lot of people are convinced that Jesus was all about nothing but love and being nonjudgmental. Would He even vote if given the chance? Without rehashing any of the issues, I want to examine what Scripture tells us not about what Jesus would do (we already have the Bible as testimony to what He has done) but mainly about who Jesus is and who were are called to be as His followers. While we know about Jesus is not a boastful man, He does let us know in Scripture just who He is. Jesus told them, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) Again the high priest questioned Him , ...

A few years ago I read an article about a woman who claimed to be a stripper for Jesus. No lie. She believed that God had called her to do that and she spent her time in strip clubs and seedy joints "doing her thing for God." In this postmodern world where many people of faith disagree about such things as whether church meetings can be held in bars on Sunday mornings before they open, there is nothing ambiguous about the audacity of this woman's claim. Not only is this over the top but it is biblically and morally unfounded. The desire to reach a lost world with the gospel is both obvious and imperative to the follower of Christ. Now more than ever we are seeing churches make more concerted efforts to relate to those in the culture around them and, in doing so, many have been criticized for embracing the culture and even conforming too much to the ways of the world. Whether or not that is the case, there is certainly the danger that people of faith will acquiesce too ...

DC Talk came out with an album in 1995 that seemed to carve a new niche in the genre of "contemporary Christian music." The name of the CD was Jesus Freak and it will be forever memorable not only because of its overall loudness (a far cry from their hip hop days) but also for its hard hitting lyrics that were unafraid to get into our faces. One song on the album, What if I Stumble? , begins with the grainy audio of a quote that might provide the most memorable clip from this entire work: The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. (Attributed to Brennan Manning) With those words, so many Christians were instantly convicted and driven to make changes not just within themselves but also in the church culture in which they live and worship. Whether or not inconsistent Christians are the great...

Each one of our four children has such a distinct and special personality, which is awesome and challenging at the same time. Our youngest (she's four) is the most spirited (i.e., stubborn) of the bunch and my wife and I constantly have to find creative ways to move her in a positive direction without breaking her spirit. Most recently we have begun to give her choices for the things she needs to do when faced with a stalemate in her behavior. For instance, if it's time to take a bath and she begins to protest, we give her the choice of taking a bath or going straight to bed without a bedtime story. Inevitably, she will choose the better option, which is what we were aiming for all along and which also gives her the sense that she is making the decision on her own. But it's not always this clean. There are times when we are in a hurry or she wants to park herself in the middle of the road and pick up a couple of new favorite rocks. In moments like these there isn't...

This morning the sports world is abuzz with the tragic news of the death of iconic football linebacker Junior Seau. If you even know what a football looks like then you understand that Junior Seau was one of the greatest defensive players to ever step on the field. There are lots of athletes out there who perform with excellence and then fade into the fringes after retirement, but there are those few who leave a much bigger mark than just a list of athletic accolades. Junior Seau was one of those elite few. Off the field Seau was one of those guys who was intent on making his community a better place and would often appear in public service commericals advocating various causes. ESPN has been running quotes and clips from Seau's past teammates and friends and there can be no doubt that this guy carried a tremendous amount of weight in and beyond the football world. Large, athletic men with tears unashamedly streaming down their faces fill the screen as they voice their memories ...