Sterling Griggs

I teach high school students for a living at a private, Christian school. You may have just read that and thought to yourself, "Oh, that's nice. Sterling teaches in a sanitized environment to a bunch of semi-rich kids who can afford tuition. That's not real life, but kudos to you." While it may be true that I am not employed in the arena of North Carolina public schools, what I have come to learn over my years of working with middle school and high school students is that while socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnic backgrounds may differ, not one teenager is immune to the struggles that are paramount to this current generation. Known as Gen Z or whatever it is that they are called, this current generation of middle school, high school, and college students have no idea what it's like to be raised in an environment free from the trappings of technology. They never had to endure the torture of walking across the room to manually turn the TV channel, dial-up modems...

Yesterday I had the privilege of preaching James 3:1-12 at my church. Yesterday I also faced the dread of preaching James 3:-12 at my church. Why the dread? Because this passage of Scripture addresses the power of the tongue, i.e. of the words that we use, and just how destructive they can be. As someone whose words have gotten him into hot water time and time again, I felt like I was speaking into a mirror the entire time, hearing words that I desperately needed to hear but so badly wanted to avoid. Take a minute to recall some contentious conversations you may have recently had. Did you get angry and lose your temper, resulting in harsh words and a louder than healthy volume? Or are you the master of the art of sarcasm, cutting into others with your cruel wit and venom? How about gossip? Have you spent a lot of time recently criticizing others, knocking their worth and value down a few pegs? I could go on, but I think that you get the idea. We ALL struggle with the words that w...

One of the things that I like to do is substitute teach at the local high school. Some people tell me that this is absolutely crazy because, as everyone knows, substitutes are the sacrificial lambs that get chewed up and spit out each and every school day. When students find out that they have a substitute, it’s like the class becomes Anarchy 101. I’m not saying that I’m the best substitute teacher ever - I let the students determine that - but I will say that I have yet to encounter a situation that has made me run for the door or scream for the principal. Maybe it’s because I have worked with students most of my adult life, but I usually relish the opportunity to be in the classroom with teenagers on their own “turf.” You see, I believe that students today - whether, elementary, middle school, or high school - get a bad rap. They get labeled from day one, whether as a good kid or a bad kid. Yes, many earn those labels honestly, but it does make me wonder how it got to the point that ...