Sterling Griggs

As much as I sometimes cringe at social media I am also strangely fascinated by it. Nowhere else can you find people unloading all of their opinions, struggles, and frustrations in one neat and convenient place. The beauty inherent in social media is that you can choose to block all of the rants and bad behavior that see, but then there are always those posts that you just can't help but read. One rule I have set for myself as social media sites have exploded is to not wander into unnecessary conflict. Sure, I'll see a post that I think is absolutely ridiculous and I'll immediate conjure up a dozen ways to respond, but 999 times out of 1000 I will do nothing and move on to something more meaningful. Yet I find it hard to ignore some of the theological and philosophical landmines that I see planted behind peoples' keyboards. Since I am a blogger, I can use this medium as a way to respond. Without fail I often run across a post by a young person who is publicly lamen...

Misinformation makes the world go round. Think about it. When a national or international catastrophe happens the first reports we hear from major news agencies are usually hyperbolic in nature. We know this because of the expected caveats we hear in later newscasts: "Contrary to earlier reports, there was only one suspect not three and there were 4 victims not 13..." The story based on misinformation is more tantalizing to the ears and certainly garners more viewers and attention. This phenomenon doesn't just belong to the media. Books, movies, and television shows thrive on misinformation. The good guy suddenly becomes the bad guy because of a bit of false information that makes others believe he's gone rogue and is out to destroy the country. Sound familiar? It should, because this is the flow of so much of the  crime and suspense entertainment that's out there. There is also misinformation within faith circles which is probably the most damning of all. If...

The hitchhiker was sitting in the shade on the side of the highway on a brutally hot day. I had a million things to do that day and as I sped past him I gave him only a casual glance. Maybe someone else will give him a ride to where he's going, I thought to myself. But before those words were even fully formed in my brain I realized that I was that someone. After a few exit ramp maneuvers I was back to where I had seen the hitchhiker, seeing him still sitting there in the shade. He had long matted hair, was dirty from head to toe, and his outfit looked like it hadn't been changed in days. I rolled down the window and asked if he needed a lift - as if he was just hanging out on the side of the road for fun - and he happily jumped in. Introducing himself as Michael, he told me that he was trying to get back to Boone, NC, after spending a long weekend in Wilmington to see a girl he was interested in. I told him I couldn't take him that far but I could get him a little ways ...

Do you remember when you were a little kid, playing all day without a care in the world. At least that's how it seemed at the time, right? I can recall in the summers leaving my house in the morning with  my two brothers and playing in the neighborhood all day, only returning home when we heard my mom call us in for supper. I didn't have a care in the world. All of my food, medical care, clothing, and housing were provided for me and I never gave it a second thought. I was a kid with not a care or worry in the world. Fast forward a few decades and that kid is but a distant memory. I'm now married with four children of my own, shouldering responsibilities that I never dreamed of having. Taxes, bills, medical costs, clothing, and don't even ask me how much we spend on groceries. All of these add up and at some point in life another more sinister concern likes to jump on top of the pile - worry. Simply put, worry sucks. It sucks the life right out of you. There are al...

Not a day goes by that I don't check up on what's happening on Facebook or Twitter. That doesn't mean that I post something all the time because I don't, but I do try to share at least one inspiring or funny thought or picture a day. That being said, there is rarely a time that I log off of my social media pages when I am not shaking my head at some of the crazy stuff I read online. I have well over a thousand Facebook "friends" but in real life I hardly have that many. Nevertheless, I enjoy keeping up with long-time acquaintances and people I have become familiar with through mutual friends. While it's doubtful that even a fraction of these people will ever become an integral part of my daily life, I find that it can be beneficial and good to join them in their daily life via social media. Most of the time. I just can't stomach all of the rants, posts filled with disinformation, and outright keyboard hostility that I witness on a daily basis. T...

My wife and I have been married for almost 14 wonderful years, but preparing for the wedding day was anything but flowers and butterflies. Because weddings are primarily for the women - men, your job is to show up and get your vows straight - the months and weeks leading up to the big day were particularly stressful for my wife. Will everything be ready on time? How will my dress and hair look? Am I going to trip over my dress? Have we forgotten anything? In order to alleviate these nerve-wracking moments, we were diligent to hire those whom we believed would be the best people to make our day as special as we hoped it could be. Photographer? Check. Wedding director? Check. Pastor and musicians for the ceremony? Check. Caterer? Well, kind of. My wife had a friend from work that had opened her own catering company and was looking to build her book of business. We decided to give her a chance to present what she was capable of providing and, based upon the pictures and prices she sh...

It wasn't all that long ago that I was a pretty healthy and durable young buck. Okay, it was actually more than just a little while ago, but there was a time when I thought I could take on - and defeat - anything the world threw my way. Since I was little on the shorter side (the masculine word for petite) I tried very hard to compensate for my lack of size. I did not possess an inferiority complex, I just wanted to make sure that no one underestimated me. Whenever I think about times in the past when I "proved" to others just how capable I was, one incident always stands out in my mind. My freshmen your in high school I had the dubious distinction of being the youngest of three boys at the same school. As a result, I was always the little brother, my identity suddenly expunged from being an original. To top it off, I was born with a heart defect that caused an across the board reaction in my doctors when it came to sports - "No way!" they said. So, not only ...