Sterling Griggs

There are a couple of preset buttons on the radio in my car that I never push. These radio stations have been pre-progammed by my kids and, if I were to push one of these buttons, I would be inundated with "today's hits," which would result in me vomiting violently and quite possibly totaling my car. As one who grew up in the 1970's, survived the 1980's, and rejoiced over the musical revolution of the 1990's, I simply cannot stomach much of what passes for new music today. I had the pleasure of growing up in a time when music was made with real instruments being played by real people, not some digitized alt-recorded track that relies on computers to produce it. Yeah, I know, the electronic sounds of the 1980's want to refute my claim, but I don't count that as music. My first two real concerts were The Police and Bruce Springsteen, both of whom I saw when I was in middle school. My R.E.M. cassette tapes serenaded me to and from high school and I rem...

Growing up in a Christian home, church on Sundays was not just something that we did. It was something that served to define who we were. I have fond memories of attending Sunday school classes where I learned about Moses crossing the Red Sea, Daniel and the lion's den, and Jesus healing sick people all from the magic of the flannel graph board. The pain of sitting beside my grandfather on those impossibly hard wooden pews was dulled by hearing his rich baritone voice singing those beautiful old hymns. Those were simple, good times, but they served to give me a spiritual foundation that I have never forgotten. As I grew older and eventually left home, going to church shifted from something I had to do as a child under my parents' authority to something I could choose to do. As a young man who was entering the ministry, continuing to attend church was a no-brainer for me - why would I NOT want to go? Yet at the same time, I began to notice traits within me bubbling to the sur...

On a scale of 1-to-Insane, how worried you right now? If not now, how has worry eaten away at your core in the past? Worry affects everyone, whether you are a follower of Jesus or not. And just because you declare Jesus as your King does not mean that you are immune to the effects of worry. Jesus directly addresses worry in Matthew 6:25-34. He tells us simply not to worry about your day-to-day needs. If you do, it might cause you to look past God, the only One who can provide all your needs. God is not just a provider, He is THE provider. As Author and Creator - indeed King - of the universe, it is all His and He is the originator of it all. Those who reject God altogether are a god unto themselves and they seek to make their own path, all the while fretting themselves to death in the process. God knows what you need. He knows everything! He always has and always will. Do you want proof of this? Think about about the birds. Do they have to work for their food as if it were a 9-to-5 job...

Throughout my life I have never had much trouble believing in things. The tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and at one point the Easter Bunny were are all factual figures in my life upon whom I knew I could rely. As I grew older and maturity and reality dawned on me, I abandoned belief in those entities because they weren't real. Sure, they are still real to children across the world and I would never dream of breaking one of their hearts by giving up the goods (so don't let them read this!), but I can remember the disappointment mixed with relief when I found out that there were other reasons for all the candy, presents, and money. Why was I relieved to find out these characters were not actually real? I believe it was because I had come to rely on them for so many years for momentary things, not long-term solutions. Once I ran out of teeth then I was out of luck. Santa only came once a year, but what if he somehow forgot? And the Easter Bunny was always very odd to me, nevertheles...

For several years now I've been able to go as an adult leader to the Passion Conferences in Atlanta. Having returned today, my mind is swirling with all sorts of thoughts, images, and mental tiredness that affects old guys like me when they go non-stop for almost three days. I realize that I am probably getting too old to keep doing this but I simply can't help myself. If you have never experienced something like the Passion Conferences, then a brief blog post like this is probably not going to amount to the much more than the first few pieces of a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. But it's just too difficult to not make at least a meager attempt to recap some of the more memorable moments for me. Imagine yourself sitting in a room surrounded by around 60,000 other adults young and old who want one thing - to know God in a more intimate way. And I'm not just talking about experiencing warm and fuzzy "Yes, Jesus loves me" kind of tingles; I'm talking about a ...

The Christmas season is fully upon us and everywhere you look there is magic - and gaudy decorations - in the air. Black Friday shopping still exists, but the internet has now cornered the market for savings and Amazon has this whole one-click shopping thing mastered. If you consider yourself a Christian or even just a slightly religious person, then you understand that Christmas is more than just being in the spirit of giving or a holiday that gets the kids out of school for a couple of weeks. Christmas is about Jesus, because it is that time of year when we recognize His birth, His coming into the world as the Messiah to save us from our sins and to bring the hope of eternal life. Now more than ever we realize that a large portion of our culture does not celebrate Christmas for those reasons. Honestly, I have no problem with that at all because no matter how the rest of the world chooses to acknowledge what Christmas is about, I know that it is about Jesus and I get the chance t...

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...