The Golden Compass

I have received a couple email forwards that are warning me about a new movie coming out called "The Golden Compass". These emails come from Christians and have told me not to take my daughter, and to boycott this movie. From what I have read this movie along with the other 2 that will follow are based on books written by an atheist who wrote this series as a reaction against C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia". The whole stink about this movie is that it is promoting a atheistic agenda and that we need to avoid it and boycott this movie, one email even told me that "they kill God in the end", kinda dramatic if you ask me.

I do not like mass emails that warn me to boycott this or this because of anti-Christian messages, or avoid so and so because he has this political agenda, and I down right loathe the email messages that tell me if I am not ashamed of Jesus I will forward it on to 10 of my best friends. The truth is that, that email has got me wanting to see this movie, whereas before I probably could have cared less. Why? Why should we not boycott it. Because were are called to be in the world, we are called to understand different worldviews, we are called to love people outside our bubble. Crazy, I know, but we are called to be lights in darkness, which means we need to go to the dark places.

Internet Monk shares a great response to such boycott and warnings and I think he is right on... Check it out here



Here is a thought, go see this movie, use discernment, realize it is a movie enjoy it for what it is. And then maybe engage people who want to discuss the underlying themes that are in it. Remember God's Kingdom is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!

What do we do tonight???

So today is Halloween a day when mini Harry Potters and Optimus Primes will be coming to the door expecting some candy. Being a Christian what does this mean for us? Do we hide in our home with the lights off, do we go to a church where there is a "Fall Harvest Festival" going on, or do we answer the door, give out good candy, actually maybe for the first time meet our neighbors?

Anthony Bradley a professor at Covenant Seminary and a pretty chill dude has a great article on this, stuff to think about as we approach the question: WWJD tonight??


Also one more rant it is funny to me that we Christians sometimes get so distraught when people call Christmas parties, Winter celebrations, or use another term than Christian, but when we have a party on Halloween that looks like a Halloween party, smells like a Halloween party and feels like a Halloween party we call it a Harvest Festival, that is just funny to me...

Bible Tracks instead of Skittles!!!???

I have been a Christian for almost 5 years now, so that means I have had 4 Halloweens in the "bubble" and something I do not understand is the Christian Festivals or Bible Track instead of candy option. I see churches advertising these festivals all over the place during this time of year, like a somehow healthy alternative or something to skittles or 8 year old power rangers. What I do not understand is that we are called to be Christ's ambassadors right? (2 Cor 5:20). From my public school and private catholic school understanding of this is that we are to represent our King, not ourselves, we are to look at our King as how we should live in the world. I do not see Jesus seeing the "sinners" and telling his disciples "ok fellas let's go and do our own party so we do not get influenced". So how are we the "ambassadors" representing our King when we huddle together, have dark houses with no candy, or if we are at home we hand out bible tracks, how are we representing our King properly?

Are we not representing Him as a legalistic, anti-cuture, anti-neighbor moralist?? I understand that dressing your 7 year old up like Harry Potter can be an invitation to Witchery and the like and that could lead him down a path of debauchery or whatever, but seriously how about we actually look at our King! How about we represent Him by having a light on, maybe even, dare I say it, giving out good candy and loving the people coming to our homes. Maybe start living with others, actually living life with them, getting to know them, their names, their dreams, their faiths, this seems to be what our King did. Maybe start loving people in such a way that when we do share the glorious hope of the gospel it will be genuine love coming across, maybe this Oct. 31 instead of holy huddling it, or doing trick or track (as in bible track) evangelism, we start to know those the Lord has put in our neighborhoods, and just maybe we will see something happen in our hearts and theirs too!!

The Office!!!! It is coming soon!!!!!

3 Years till the 3-0!!!

Yesterday was my birthday, I remember people telling me that once you pass 21 it is all downhill. I could very easily at times agree with that statement. I think though moreso I feel I am more alive than ever, more aware of the present and the things of life seem to have more depth and meaning than when I was 20 or even 24. At this time 6 years ago I was freaking out cause the previous weekend I had been arrested for DWI, I was a week away from being 21, so I was underage to top it off!!! Yeah I was up a creek.. I had lost my license and had the threat of going to jail, and losing a lot of things including my job, my parents trust and my families view of me being a good kid...At that time I remember thinking, my life was over that this crisis would define me forever and that I would never recover from that.

Tonight I type this as my wife is up in Glorieta NM at a women's retreat with our church and place I work Desert Springs Church. My 18 month old daughter is asleep in the other room, and oh yeah did I forget to mention that Lauren my wife is pregnant with kiddo number 2?!? I am paying a mortgage, leading my own family as well as The Well College Gathering at DSC. SO needless to say my life did not end, I did recover from that crisis, but not on my own, only from the work of an outside source.

Between then and now, about 4 years ago I came to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior, as my hope for reconciliation between God and myself. I came to realize by God's grace alone, that I am a sinner, an enemy to the eternal, perfect Judge of the Universe and my trespasses against Him merited a eternal punishment!! I was facing Hell, I was facing what I deserved, But God saved me, by putting my punishment, the punishment I deserve on His only Son Jesus Christ!! and the perfect, holy life that His Son Jesus, who came down and was man and God at the same time, the life He merited was now credited to me, as if I had lived that life, as if I live that life now.

How does all this mesh together, well it is my life for starters, but now, through new eyes through a heart changed and focused on the cross of Christ I see a DWI, a family to lead, a house to pay for, a wife and daughter and baby to love as all things that have shaped me, and are shaping me in a lot of ways. But NONE of these define me, only what Christ has done is what defines me!!! Only His work on the Cross defines me. I am a slave to Christ, not a perfect one, far from that, I suck and still have a lot of crap in my life that does not reflect my new position in Christ, BUT again that is not what defines me, cause my definition of who I am relies on the work of another, it relies on the work of Jesus Christ!!!!

Life is going downhill??? It's just starting in light of eternity!!!!!

Awesome!!!!!

If you have a kid that likes Dora you will like this, if you do not, Thank God for that blessing!!!!!

A taste of old school, YO!

So my first blog in a while, it should be something deep, something that will make you think and really ponder. Maybe I will discuss the implications of the emerging church, or give a review of Michael Moore's new movie Sicko and give my take on the Health Care system here in America. I know I could discuss the upcoming elections and discuss the future of evangelicalism in America if Clinton is elected!!!!!

Or.....

Been Gone for a Minute, Now I'm Back...

New Blogs coming soon...

1 Week!!! The Office will be back!!!

Due to Fox's cancellation of "The O.C.", my family was in search of a new show to watch, so we had been told by many people to watch this show. My wife and I are now addicts of the show "The Office" during the past 4 weeks we have watched seasons 1,2 and caught up on season 3, thanks to Itunes. This show is amazing and painfully funny. Now we must sit and wait out for new episodes to become avaliable, but here is a preview of what awaits!!!

God uses the Jacked Up People...David Brainerd's One Example

"Why tell this story now? From an objective point of view, David Brainerd was an utter failure: he never achieved stardom; he never made a fat wad of cash; he didn’t possess any special talents or skills; he wasn’t especially successful in his occupation, and the decisions he made in his life ultimately led to his death before he hit 30. If he were around today, there’s a good chance he would be in a medical hospital or a mental hospital, and yet, I find myself relating to him. "

Thinking about missions, maybe going to Guatemala or Algeria? Think you are not "qualified" or spiritual enough to go? Think again, cause the amazing thing about God, is that He uses us, the jacked up to accomplish His purposes of proclaiming His name to every tribe, tounge and nation... David Brainerd is an example of this,read this article then go to Amazon and buy his biography..It will be worth it.

Life comes at us fast...Not God

Let me tell you about my Thursday this past week. It started off with a very good men's bible study at my church at 6am (only God's grace has me up that early), it followed with some good talks to people on staff at the church. I had a great talk with our youth pastor about getting our college group together with the youth and serving the community together. I also got to talk to our Worship Leader (Vitamin Z) and we talked about everything from the Lobo Basketball team (where I work) to the emerging church and theology. I then went to the University of NM student union building for a time of reading and coffee, I there met up with a friend and we had a good talk about soccer, ministry and life. My day seemed to be working out just great as I pulled up to the UNM basketball practice complex where my office is located. I started my day off the usual checking emails, working on some video stuff as well as going to some blogs and seeing what people were writing about. One of our assistant coaches came in as I was doing these things and said we needed to do a scouting report film for our upcoming game at Utah (where I currently am), the next thing he said changed everything about the day and my life in some ways.

Coach D told me at 1:45 that day there was going to be a press conference to announce that Coach McKay, my boss and friend was going to be fired at the end of the season. At that moment if felt like a punch had just been landed to my gut, the air was taken away, the room got super small and it was just this surreal feeling. The men that God had used to bring me to Christ were not going to be here next year. The rest of the day was filled with press conferences, meetings and just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. While this outcome was not totally shocking, we were not performing as well as people expected. There was drama this year off the court, and people really never did accept Coach McKay. So the writing was on the wall, but when it actually happened it was still shocking, the timing of it was not expected either.

My mind was filled with thoughts of who will replace him, what will happen to the other coaches, and what will happen to me. While I am not a coach, it is possible still that the new coach will bring in his own person to do video for the team and that means adios for me. At that moment I felt naked, vulnerable and helpless before God, my future was unknown in so many ways now, in short my life was rocked. I sat there filled with anxiety and worry for the rest of the day. The time came finally to leave and return to my church to get ready for The Well, our young adult gathering, in which I am one of the leaders. My mind was such a tornado that I did not feel like doing much, but then our worship leader came and we talked about the night, and soon I was starting to focus more on other things.

Soon people started to arrive and again my mind became filled with worry and anxiety. With my mind racing I decided to step outside and pray and greet people as they came in. As I stood out there I looked up in the sky, there were some clouds and patches of sky and stars. Then the Spirit hit me, and hit me hard. I was convicted of my sin of worry and anxiety. God had me where He tells us He likes us, where we have nothing but Him and Him alone to rely on. A specific scripture was put on my heart:

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3: 17-19)

This verse just kept pounding in my heart and mind. All I could think was yeah I know it says that, but it is not as easy to do. And it was right then that I realized that, that was the point. It cannot be done on my strength, on my own I cannot rejoice in God, I cannot find joy in God. I am a selfish sinful man that wants to control everything, and I am only concerned in finding joy in stuff, in things, in what revolves around me. As I stood there I realized it is a fight, but a fight that can be won, cause it is not a fight I fight alone, God is my strength, God is my fight for joy. As I stood outside pondering everything the thought of God sovereignty came to mind, that Jesus is the same today and yesterday and tomorrow. God revealed in my heart that it is His strength that brings joy because His strength and His name and His Glory never change. This job is not my hope, a paycheck is not where I find joy, but in God through the work of Christ on the cross is where I am brought by the Spirit to enjoy God and find my treasure. In those 45 minutes I stood outside God had crushed me, convicted me, and then encouraged me and strengthened me.

I would be lying if I said that now I am totally worry-free and I do not at times doubt. What has changed though is the knowledge that, yes it is a fight for this joy, and yes it is His strength that will be my victory in the fight. And the hope that now I see dimly, but then in heaven I will see my treasure face to face.. I will see God, our creator, our sustainer, our judge and redeemer!!

So yes life comes at us fast, whether it be a loss of a job, or it be a report from the doctor that we have cancer and 6 months left, but life never comes at God fast. God is sovereign over all and His hand is what guides bosses hearts, is what allows cancer to grow in us. It is His mercy, love and justice that sent His Son to the cross to atone for our sins and that never changes no matter what in life comes at us.. Amen!!!

B. Urlacher, Wildcat, Lobo, Bear...Super Bowl Champ?

No matter what happens on Sunday, Brian will be a hometown kid that New Mexico will be rooting for!!!!

Abortion, Apathy to Passion....

Before I was a Christian I remember reading about abortion, while I felt that it was not a good thing I did not think it was something I should think about. When I got to college I fell into the ideology of "It is a woman's body, let her choose". I did not look at pictures of aborted babies or did I read up about the women that suffer regret and severe depression after the procedure. It seemed like a merciful thing to do, for a woman that was not "ready" to have a child, it would not be fair to have a child in those conditions. I mean for me I wanted to drink, hook up with girls and just have fun, and worrying about abortion was the opposite of that.

Then something amazing happened, not of my own accord, but the gospel was presented to me, and God took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. He opened my eyes to who He is and who I am and my desperate need of a saviour, Jesus was that, the only one who could bridge that gap between me and God that I created with my sin. After that it was no longer a Carlos Griego worldview, I did not have that "liberty" anymore! I was God's and could only see through His eyes, although I often wanted to see things in my own sinful way. This included many things, one being abortion. God used John Piper in my life in so many ways, to spark a love of reformed thinking, to think about God's passion for His own glory, to want to read old dead guys like Edwards, Owen and others. What Dr. Piper did for me in the issue of abortion was through the Holy Spirit illuminate my eyes to the truths that we are created in God's Image (Gen 1:26) , we are God's workmanship (Eph 2:10) and we are to help the helpless or needy (James 1:27). And this means more than simply praying for the unborn babies, this means taking action, maybe writing our political leaders, or helping spread information about the darkness of abortion. Dr. Piper sparked a passion to understand more what it meant to be a God Image Bearer and how abortion is not just about the woman's health, choice or convience. It is a controversial subject and one that I think we a Christians sometimes want to skoot around for the sake of peace. We as Christians do not have the freedom to be apathitic or unclear on subjets the bible is clear and passionate about! Remember it is no longer our own sinful, postmodern worldview that we use, but God's Biblical worldview that we must see life through. I think writing to a senator or handing out info. are great to do, I do think that we need to be more biblically founded on our view on this important subject and for more info, go to the Desiring God website here.

Finally here is a picture of the horror and disgust of the murder of a baby from a legal abortion. This is a image bearer of God, who was disgarded like a piece of trash, how tragic...This must make your heart hurt, your soul grieve and your eyes water....It must be stopped, the stakes are too high, millions die a year like this...


Here is a picture of an amazing creation made after God's image, not more than 1 year from being as small as that pic above. This is a image bearer of the King, Sustainer and Creator of the World...How beautiful.

This is my daughter Jordyn Piper Griego, not a planned daughter, at least in my eyes, but a child I love and one God has used to open me and my wife's eyes to the beauty of our Creator!!!

Here is another Great website about fighting abortion, remember as a Christian fighting abortion is not just something we should do, but something we must and are commanded to do!!!!

Serving your Husband....

Now this article shows the sacrifice, and servants hearts some wives have. I think we should read this, and be encouraged of the servant hearts God has put into our wives.... (total tounge and cheek)


One Woman's Sacrifice for Her Husband!!!!

Rampage Jackson in the UFC

So as some know I am a big fan of the UFC. My favorite fighter Tito Ortiz lost to Chuck Lidell on Dec. 30th, and honestly I thought "man no one can beat The Iceman", that was until the UFC signed Quinton Rampage Jackson, a man that has beat Chuck and did so using Chuck's own strategy. So I have here the first fight, fought between Lidell and Jackson a few years back when they fought for the Pride Fighting Championship Org.. Take a look... (It is a MMA fight so it is violent do not view if you are not into it)

Piper is Bad-Extended Version

with guests, Mahaney, Dever, Sproul, MacArthur and others.....

Mark Driscoll on The ESV Bible

Mark Driscoll who is a pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA, explains why his church is switching to the ESV for the start of 2007.

Driscoll and the ESV

Piper, Too Much Passion at Passion?

I don't think so, but read and see what he said and why he said it...
Piper's Passion


HT: (Reformissionary)

Tim Keller on Repentance

Here is an article by Rev. Tim Keller, it is a great short read and I really recommend you take the time to read it, as well as maybe download some sermons by this great preacher who has a heart for the city and the culture in it and a gift to preach!!


Rev. Tim Keller

God and Basketball...

I work with the University of New Mexico Lobo Basketball team as their Video Coordinator and have done that for 8 years with one year off last season.

Currently the team is 11-7 and we are on a 4 game losing streak. This past week we went to Colorado Springs to play the Air Force Academy Falcons. The Falcons are currently ranked in the top 15 in the nation and their 1 lose came to Duke.

We started the game off good, we were up by as much as 21 points and went into the half up 15, well in the locker room we were all celebrating and feeling like we could beat any team in the nation at that point. But that is why they play 2 halves. In the 2nd Half we lost our lead and in fact they went on something like a 28-1 run, so needless to say it was a feeling of shock and defeat in the locker room after the game.

This game for me reflects how a lot of people live their life, how a lot of Christians sadly view their life. We praise God and feel like "If He is for us who can be against us?" when we get the promotion or find that special someone. We listen to preachers (I use that word loosely) Joel Osteen, who tells us that the champion is inside us and we have the power to get rich, stay healthy and all we need to do is be positive. And when everything in life seems to be falling in place we lift our hands and in a way our chins to say see this is "Victorious Christian Living". This is the gospel for many, follow Christ and life will be good, God wants you to have the best now, Victory is only in Jesus for that new H3 Hummer.

And then the 2nd Half comes, and we lose our job due to downsizing, the test results say we have cancer, and our marriage is on rocky ground. What is the answer then for us? Many try to bargain with God; "Maybe if I tithe more then the blessings will come!" and the Pastor driving the new Avalanche seems to think so, after all the 'church' needs a flat screen TV. Or maybe it is some 'hidden' sin in your life that you have to seek out that way you can get back on track! We just need to surrender more to God, give it all to Him!! Those are the shallow answers for shallow driven lives.

The reality is, is we were not promised good lives and nowhere in the Bible is a new car promised or a job promotion handed out for following Christ. What are we promised, hmm lets see, Matt. 10, Jesus promises persecution, the book of James starts off by talking about suffering. If I remember right, Jesus Christ did not tell his followers that while he has nowhere to lay his head they need to think positive for that nice suite at the Hilton. So, no riches, no health, no Hummers..... What do we get.... GOD!!!!

Christ gives us the most amazing promise, He says that we can have a relationship with Him, and walk with God, like Adam did in the garden!! We who so often chase after the gift rather than the giver and for that deserve Hell, torment, pain, death-receive Heaven, joy, bliss, life. Paul in the book of Romans tells us that the suffering that we WILL have here on Earth will be nothing compared with Heaven and seeing God face to face. But Jesus our Master suffered and was hated, so what makes us His followers think we will have it any easier??

So when cancer comes or a 28-1 run by the opponent, do we sit and despair cause we are hurting, no we seek joy in God through Christ. Basketball becomes just a game, and cancer becomes just a moment of suffering before an eternity of joy before our King on His throne.