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.

The Man in Black, Johnny Cash....

makes God's judgment hip and cool... I found this song and video very interesting, a song called "God will cut you down" and everyone on Hollywood's "A" list seems to be singing those words, kinda interesting if you ask me... Check it out...

And the word of 2006 is.... Truthiness

"We're at a point where what constitutes truth is a question on a lot of people's minds, and truth has become up for grabs," said Merriam-Webster president John Morse. "'Truthiness' is a playful way for us to think about a very important issue."

Just another sign of the Postmodern times. It seems funny how this word came from Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central and now is a word that according to the dictionary people is a good word to describe people's view of truth, and how it seems to be "up for grabs".

I am a 26 year old, married father and am interested to see what the word will be when my daughter is 26, maybe "Godiness" and people will say that "God has become up for grabs" Whatever the case I am not nervous or worried, cause God is on His throne still reigning, and that is an unshakable, indelible TRUTH, no matter how you perceive it!

To check out the whole CNN article click here

Out of Sight

Here I am in my nice office, in my nice house 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, I have a desktop computer, and a laptop next to it, we have 2 cars neither over 10 years old, and we have a refrigirator full of food, and a pantry also full of food. We live in a nice neighborhood and occasionally on the way to work see a homeless person, but I am a sinful, selfish man. I easily get lost in my utopia of stuff and forget that on this same planet, people made in the image of God, like me, are dying, starving, and being exterminated. Rwanda, Uganda, Iraq, Korea, China, Somalia, Kenya. May I be brought to my knees in prayer and may I also give, and pray how else God can use me to help the helpless, homeless, and orphaned. After all we have been given the greatest treasure of all, how can we In Christ not yearn to share it with a refugee in Uganda, or a alcoholic homeless man on Central Ave. here in Alb, and not just the message of the cross, but also, although not as important, food, clothing, money, prayer, love.

I think my point in this rambling is that in my world of clothes in abudacne, technology all around, and family support I forget this world is fallen and there are those image bearers that live in cardboard boxes, have no family and will not make to see the sun, but hopefully by the grace of God will see the Son.
This Article found at New Attitude is what really convicted me on my blissfull and sinful ignorance.

Also Vitamin Z's blog on the movie he just watched, which I have not seen but is now the next movie on my Netflix queue.

From the Bar to the Cross....

Tonight marks a sort of anniversary, not so much the date Nov. 22, but the eve before Thanksgiving. 4 years ago tonight some friends from out of town picked me up at a house I was living at that was a sort of unofficial frat house. We headed downtown here in Albuquerque, for really one purpose, to catch up, and to get drunk. We went to my fav. bar, Anodyne and started to get our drink on. As the night went on I got more and more sloshed, not that that was something new however it was pretty normal for me to enjoy a drink or ten. The bar closed I got home somehow, I think my friends drove me, and ended up puking on the floor near my bed and then basically trying to beat my roommates with a bat or some kind of foreign object. I do remember one friend helping me eat a cup of roman soup and then I remember waking up the next morning to the phone ringing... It was a coach from the UNM Men's basketball team where I worked and still work, I was late for practice. I got up, very hung over and smelling like the gutter outside of Anodyne, still had the clothes on from the night before that actually had puke on them still. I got in my Jeep and headed to The Pit, I made it in, made up some excuse, got the work done, left and headed to my grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner which was not as good hungover. That night however something happened in my heart, for the first time I realized that this life was not going anywhere, but it was not like a I better change and get better feeling, it was a this lifestyle is wrong.



It was that next night as I was driving that I turned on the Christian radio station and this pastor was talking about the women at the well (John 4). The pastor said how this women was a very sinful person, that she had had 7 husbands and now was shacking up with some dude. Jesus basically called her out on it and she was obviously ashamed, but the pastor then talked on how Jesus forgave this woman at the cross, that he was the son of God and that was what gave Him authority to forgive, and she did nothing to do gain forgiveness it was simply God's grace. I thought as I drove that I am the same as this woman, my sin was not like hers exactly, but it was still sin, and God will not just let my sin slide, and in light of who God was in His awesome holiness I sat there ashamed of who I was and realized I deserved to be sent to Hell for my life and my actions. I had an idea of the Gospel as I was raised catholic and more than that the UNM Coaches, Coach McKay and the assistants were Christians and had shared the gospel many times with me, but now for the first time it was like I actually heard it and believed it!

That was 4 years ago, when God softened my heart and unclogged my ears. Today I cling to the cross still, it is not as if I had this 'revelation' and then moved on, no rather the more I read the Bible the more I realized how far I really fall from the standards God has for all of us, perfection, not just our human idea of perfection, but God's Holy perfection. The cross is the only way to approach God, you see, Jesus Christ is God's son, He is God, He is man, he came down, lived a perfect life, died on the cross (a very gruesome, public execution), and on the 3rd day He did rise and people did see Him in His risen form. On that cross He became my and yours if you believe, substitute for the punishment that we deserve for our sin, and He died as a sacrifice so we could be forgiven, and He rose as a sign that His sacrifice was acceptable, and that the righteousness He achieved while living on earth, He now puts on us so as we approach God, we are covered in righteousness, an outside righteousness given to us who trust in Jesus that all this is true!!

That is my faith, it is not that I think I am better than anyone, cause I am not, in fact I know what goes on in my heart and mind and feel that all that read this are my moral superiors, it is what Jesus Christ did and was and is that makes me right with God.

4 Years ago I was a sinner who deserved hell, today I am a sinner who deserves hell but by the grace (undeserved gift) of God through the cross of Christ, I am going to heaven!!!

Yeah I got somethings to be thankful for tomorrow, my daughter Jordyn, my beautiful wife Lauren, my home, my friends, my church, my job, but really all that will pass, I will die, and heaven and God and seeing His glory will be there and that shall never pass- Truly something to be eternally thankful for!!!!!!

Brotherly Love in the Workplace

It really is all about teamwork!!!!

Holy-bunga dude!?!?

Jesus Camp

I am not quite sure how to take this movie coming out. In many ways what I see, at least in this trailer is not good. We are shown parents who feel it is their duty to raise up an army for God, however after listening to these kids one thing is missing from their "agenda", the gospel. Replaced is a political, right wing agenda, and a underlying fear that God is not big enough to change the world by the simple preaching of His Gospel and the change they want is a legalistic, pharisee type change. The reality is, these people do not trust the Power of God unto salvation, and feel that they have to replace the gospel with very dramatic pep rallies for Jesus. I am not worried about this film, or do I think God is up in heaven biting his nails, but I do pray for these people, especially the kids. That the Spirit would open their eyes to the truth, and see who they are (sinful people) and who God is (Holy, Holy, Holy) and then see Jesus (Saviour, Redeemer). But like I said God is not worried or has for a split second stop reigning!!!!
Jesus Camp Website
Just my thoughts.....