Sterling Griggs

I'm sure that there are lots of people out there who understand this whole $700 billion dollar bailout business, but I'm not one of them. Here's what I do know (and you can correct my ignorance with nice comments, i.e. don't call me stupid): 1. Our financial industry, particularly our lending agencies, are strapped for cash 2. They got this way from making risky loans (adjustable rate mortgages) to people who were screened well enough 3. All of this money that was now in play was thrown around in an effort to make more money (insert the word 'greed' here). 4. When these mortgage rates increased, people couldn't pay their monthly mortgage and many foreclosed on their loans. 5. Now these banks are out of their money and the housing market is in a crisis. 6. All of this - and I know my viewpoint is incredibly simple - trickled down to effect almost all areas of the financial market and, BAM!, we've got a mess. So the solution that the financial industry ga...

I enjoyed the privilege this past weekend of performing the wedding ceremony for my cousin Jessie (used to be Dagenhardt) and her new husband Daniel Crouse. To be totally honest, I'm not the biggest fan of weddings unless they are the ones that I am performing, although a really good choice of meats and fish at a reception can change my tune pretty quickly. My daughter Reynolds was the beautiful flower girl Marriage is a very sacred area to me. I won't quote stats (mainly because I'm too lazy to Google the numbers) but I do believe that about 50% of marriages end in divorce, with the percentage being even higher for second and third marriages. This just isn't how it's supposed to be. So, with those thoughts in mind, I wanted to post my Top 10 thoughts on the institution of marriage. 1. Marriage is God's idea ( Genesis 2:24 ). God's ideas are never a flash in the pan. And neither should your marriage be. 2. Marriage must be built on mutual respect. She...

Did you ever embarrass your parents growing up? If you're still in the process of growing up, are you still embarrassing them today? Most think of this issue in terms of parents embarrassing their kids (i.e., yelling from the car as you drop them off for school, "Bye honey biscuit, have a great and super spectacular day! And don't forget to take your medicine for your diarrhea!"), but parents can be embarrassed by their kids, too. Take God for example. How often has He been ashamed of the way that His children have behaved? What about those people that bomb abortion clinics, sling hate speeches, or outcast whole segments of our society all on behalf of God? Nowhere in the Bible does God condone wanton violence or hate. Nowhere. Sure, some who commit horrific acts may tell the authorities that God commanded them to do so, but if that's the case they aren't speaking of the God of the Bible. You see, when we act in the name of God and our actions are clea...

God often chooses to "hit" me when I'm in my car. That might be the only time that I'm not preoccupied with multiple things (other than driving, of course) and I am very open to listening. He did it to me again this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. I worry about things: finances, ministry, my family. Not so much so that I'm a basket case, but enough that these things among others usually take up a lot of my mental capacities. So as I'm driving home this morning and thinking about things that are causing me to worry a little bit, this song called Yours by Steven Curtis Chapman comes on the radio (yeah, I listen to adult contemporary at times) and these words struck me: I walk the streets of London And notice in the faces passing by Something that makes me stop and listen My heart grows heavy with the cry Where is the hope for London? You whisper and my heart begins to soar As I'm reminded every street in London is Yours Then there's...

I'm not old. Sometimes I feel old, but at 38 I'm still in the prime of my of my life. Yet I would imagine that to kids I look old. Yesterday at church one of the grade school kids referred to me as "baldy" when he passed me in the hall. This kid has started doing this lately and, while it really doesn't bother me - I am bald after all (but I do shave my head so it's a voluntary baldness) - it is disrespectful. If I saw the same kid saying this to another adult in our church I'd probably pull him aside and give him the what for, if you know what I mean. This incident reminded me of a passage in 2 Kings 2:19-25 . Elisha the prophet was moving along on his way minding his own business when some kids (youths as they are called in the story) began to follow him and call him "baldhead." Elisha turned around and pronounced a curse on them, at which point two female bears (don't mess with female bears) came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the...

If you were to ask me what my personal goal in life is, I would tell you that it's to be like Christ. And that truly is my desire, to be like Christ and bring ultimate glory and honor to the Father. Yet I don't think I'm doing that great a job of reaching my goal. In order to be like Christ, one must strive to be like Christ. When I examine all that I'm striving for on a daily basis there are many more things that compete for my heart than just Christ alone. I sometimes get worked up about politics. There are times where I bury myself in a book and, even if it's a book designed to glorify God, I can put more stock in the book than in Christ. Bills need to get paid. My kids need things. If I don't watch my favorite football team then they might lose. None of those things are inherently bad yet none of them necessarily make me more like Christ. As a believer I am alive to Christ and dead to sin. The very God of the universe indwells me, making all my excu...

I love Facebook. In fact, I find myself on it several times a day. Someone once called is "crackbook" and given it's addictive nature I understand why. Why do I enjoy Facebook so much? Primarily because of all of the friends, new and old, that it allows me to connect with. We're talking about friends from way back in high school that I haven't seen in 20 years and we're also talking about the students I work with who I don't see as much during the week as I'd like. But what I enjoy the most is seeing how many of the guys that I hung out with years ago are now followers of Christ. In college I was a bonehead and I hung out with a bunch of great guys who were boneheads too. My life has taken a drastically different path since college and it's cool to see how many of the guys I wasted large amounts of time with are now seeking after godly things as well. Many of the guys from college are doctors now (yikes) so nothing surprises me anymore. If ...