Rejoicing in Trials and Tribulations

Let me get this off my chest. I know some people may not like this, but I do not live for the opinions of men, I live for the glory of God. I am a Christian. I hold to the bible, and I will defend it in the most public and private of places. If you have a problem with that, then I apologize. I would love to sit down and talk to you about it. However, if you start tearing down Christianity, or another Christian in public, I will stand up and confront you. I'm sorry that your tolerance frowns upon me, pushes me into a box, all tucked away, with a nice stamp labeling me a bigot. That your tolerance only goes so far as your belief system does, that your tolerance gives you the idea that some people's lives are no longer worth living, and applauds them when they decide to end it all, instead of helping them through it. I can see what's coming. In the next couple of years, being a Christian will become a burden. It's coming to America. We have all been so blind as to not see it, but it is almost here. It already has it's foot in the door! Look at Houston! An openly lesbian mayor decided that she didn't like anything that goes against homosexuality to be preached, so she gave an order for any pastor's sermon relating to homosexuality to be confiscated. We can't talk about our belief's without getting labeled, but do you know what I believe? I'm proud to be labeled. They made fun of our Lord, labeled him the King of the Jews, as they spit on him, and tore his clothes, and shoved a crown of thorns into his head. They labeled the disciples as they hunted them down and killed them, in horrible ways. James said to rejoice in trials and tribulations when they come our way. Prepare to rejoice. We will be laughed at, ridiculed, and mocked, beaten to the ground, tortured and killed. Children and Women will be taken, Men will be killed. I will tell you one thing. He's coming back. When He comes back, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes back to get us, it will all be worth it. We will be in our Father's arms! When the persecution comes, when people hate you because of your faith, don't stop the race. Keep running the race that God has set before us, for when it is over, when we have finished the race, we will find ourselves with the Father, and everything that has been taken will be give back to us, in ways that we can never imagine. Lord, I pray that we will never lose site of the end goal, of seeing your face, and hearing "Well done, my good and faithful servant." I pray, that you will give us strength when the trials and tribulations come, when the insults, and the pain come pouring in. Let the Spirit be with us. When this is all said and done, we will see the glory of the Lord that we have all been waiting for. If we go through the pain with him, we will reign with him. Becoming a Christian doesn't give you a life full of daisies and roses, or whatever other flower you may choose. It gives you a life full of hardship and troubles, with a reward unlike anything else. Let us rejoice.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, please email me at: nathanielgregg2@gmail.com

To My Co-workers

Dear Co-worker #1,
I don't know how you were raised, but to threaten to sexually assault someone is not okay. In any circumstance. I don't know what you've seen, or heard, but there are absolutely no exceptions to that. When I tapped you, and told you, quite politely, to stop, and you went off, saying that I'm nothing, and this is none of my business, I had to collect myself. I wasn't mad because you said that I'm nothing, but I was angry when you stated that this was not any of my business. If you threaten violence, especially sexual violence, toward any human, especially a woman, it becomes my business. You may not know this, but you were right. I am nothing. However, there is something inside of me that took offense to your actions. He is everything. He is God. As long as I'm around, I will not stand around idly with the Spirit inside me, acting like I heard or saw nothing. That is just as bad as me doing it myself. With that being said, I'm praying for you. I pray that you turn around, and apologize for your horrendous statements. Look, I'm not perfect. Neither are you. None of us are. There's only one perfect being. He lives inside me, and thus, I must speak out. I pray that His words will find you, and change you. I may not be much, but I am a mouthpiece for my Father. I will continue to pray for you.

Dear Co-worker #2,
I feel I must apologize for what was said to you today. Real men don't do that. With that being said, I'm Sorry, as is every other man, for #1's action. It was wrong. You don't have to take that. If you feel threatened, then say something. I understand that you may not want to say something, in fear of retaliation. I am always here for you, as is I AM. I pray that He can use what happened to you today, and make something great, something glorious. I don't know what men have been in your life, or how they've acted, but what happened today was not what men do. If men in your life act like that, contact the police, contact someone. It hurts my heart to even think about what that must be like. I pray that God will help you, and help you find a real man that is led in God. I will continue to pray for you.

This incident really taught me the art of prayer. It was all I could to not take retaliation into my own hands on #1, but God said that vengeance is His. I pray that the Holy Spirit acts not just in me, but also in other people in both of your lives. I pray that God will open your eyes, #1, and teach you how to treat women, and walk like a man. We can't run anything, until we go running to the feet of the King. I pray that Jesus will heal you, #2, and that you can become an empowered woman, filled with the Spirit. Let the Lord into your lives, and be healed, be made whole again. God is still, and always will be God.

If you have any questions or statements regarding my blog, contact me at: nathanielgregg2@gmail.com

Thanks for reading,
Nathaniel Gregg

I've got some questions.

I've got some questions. What has happened to the world? We fight against the mere idea of an ever-loving, and just God, and focus instead on what can be done for ourselves. Do you have an unwanted baby inside of you? No biggie, just throw their life away. You have terminal cancer, since you are clearly not worth anything in our society, take this pill, and die anytime you want to. It would be brave and courageous. Boys and girls have bad days? Let's call them all purple penguins. That will clearly resolve issues that kids have been facing for centuries, their parents just helped them get through it, helped them grow up, they didn't make up some special name, to make them always feel special. Our society really ought to know that if everyone is special, then no one is. Do you want to be a man? Sure, we can do that! Heck, if you come back as a "female", and hit women in the face, we'll call you a pioneer, and a hero! Our society is BROKEN. If the world revolves around us, then sure all of this makes sense. If we came from nothing, then we are inherently worth nothing. Why not throw ourselves away when we have struggles? Why shouldn't we make up be down, and down be up? It's all about us! Clearly, we have no other purpose in life, and life has no value. If life had value, we would not kill babies in the womb. We wouldn't praise people for committing suicide. We would offer practical solutions, and not try to please everyone, while truly pleasing no one. However, we didn't come from nothing. We came from an ever-loving God, and because of that, we have inherent value, our lives have meaning and purpose! We can't just choose to take our own lives, or even worse, take away defenseless lives, simply because they are inconvenient. Yet, in our world, the rallying cry is, "God is dead"! We have been enlightened, and no longer need religion, for we can see that the universe came from the big bang, when everything exploded from nothing, and spontaneously positioned all the planets in perfect positioning from each other, and Earth perfectly situated to create life. From these single-celled organisms that this sun created, came all types of animals, and somehow, eventually, it created free-thinking human beings, with a brain completely unlike anything else on the planet, things with a conscience. If we came from lower life forms, then our brain should follow primal impulse. We should do as nature does, however, in many cases, when people act like animals, we're shocked, even astounded. Why do we act like a fish out of water, when faced with these atrocities? We do this, because we were not made from this world, this is simply the beginning, we have free will, and thought unlike the animals, because we were made for greater. Still our society pounds religion into the ground, only because it doesn't fit their molded view of how the world should work, how it should revolve around self. We are a broken people. We can't fix ourselves. However, we can do one thing. Give it up to our maker, confess our brokenness, and let him fix us. We can be made whole again, but don't listen to me, I'm too blinded, by my white male privilege, and have clearly never faced any adversity. As our society is enlightened and free of intolerance, it glares upon bigots. What makes a bigot in this world? Someone who dares to speak out against something that violates their beliefs, someone with a backbone. Somehow, this tolerance doesn't quite stretch out to everyone.

If you have any questions or statements regarding my blog, email me at: nathanielgregg2@gmail.com

Thanks for reading,

Nathaniel Gregg