Merry Christmas from the Gibsons
Hello friends!
Some of you received the attached picture as our yearly “Christmas Card.” We wish we had an exhaustive amount of time, unlimited money for stamps, and the addresses of everyone we know, but sadly, like most, none of these are true. That being the case, we wanted to update you with what the LORD is doing in the lives of our little family.
The year of 2011 began with excitement, anticipation, and joy. On December 23, 2010, Grace woke me (Greg) up at 6:00am to share with me the greatest news of all time (outside of the gospel of course). She was pregnant! So, we began 2011 with much eagerness as we looked forward to what was to come.
Grace continued teaching high school at Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville, TN. She taught Bible and English. As she finished the school year in May, we decided that it would be best for our family if she quit her job as a teacher and transition into the greatest occupation in the world — a full-time mom. Grace spent the summer relaxing, traveling with me, and preparing for motherhood. In June, we went on a last hiatus of sorts to Colorado for 2 weeks. It was a blast! We visited with our dear friends, the Keslers, and then we rented a car and drove 900 miles all over the state of Colorado. We called it our Baby-moon. It was a great last vacation together before Cora arrived into the world.
On August 20, 2011, Grace gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Cora. It was absolutely the greatest day of our lives. The beauty of the gospel is absolutely manifested in the birth of a child. Cora’s birth allowed us to experience the grace and mercy of God, the Father, in many new ways. It allowed us to experience his attribute of goodness in providing for us a daughter of our own. It allowed us to experience his title as Creator, as he perfectly knit Cora together in the womb of her mother. And what’s more, it allowed us to greatly experience his incommunicable attribute of sovereignty, as he perfectly designed the birth of Cora before the foundation of the world — every perfect detail, the exact precious moment, and the absoluteness of her glorious design. She is just perfect in every way. She has grown strong, has stayed healthy, and she is just over 4 months old. Her smile is breathtaking, and her laugh makes you fall in love. She is strong, as she is now holding her head up, and what is crazy to me, she is rolling over now. Wow! What’s more, her little dimple on her right cheek is precious. And the way her mama dressed her is even more precious. The LORD has truly blessed us with a wonderful blessing in Cora. Her daddy is truly in love!
Since Cora’s birth, Grace has been working hard at home to get Cora on a schedule. She is sleeping through the night, taking naps, and is, for the most part, a very happy baby. Grace has also been taking on several projects here and there. Almost everyday when I come home from work, Grace has accomplished a new craft that she has either thought of herself or found on Pinterest. And many of them involve food. I am one blessed man!
As for me, I graduated from Seminary in May from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From there, I started full-time at Foothills Church where I now oversee the middle school, high school, college, local missions, and international missions ministries. It is a full schedule for sure, but it is a blast. In February, we launched our youth service called Doxa (Greek for glory), and we have seen it grow to 100+ students already. Our missions program is hitting the ground running strong as well. We have developed 5 partnerships with local ministries in our city, and we have developed 7 teams to facilitate ministry with these partnerships. I went to Haiti in June, and I am taking another team to Haiti in January — our first international missions trip from Foothills Church. There is much excitement on the horizon and much to look forward to with our local faith family.
I also had the opportunity to travel a bit this past summer, which was a blast, though also exhausting. I had the opportunity to travel to Florida a few times, Alabama a few times, Kentucky a few times, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Indiana, and Haiti for a week. And at one point hitting up 7 states in one day… exhausting!
In my personal life, I am excited to announce that I have two books being published in the year of 2012. I was thrilled to have been offered a writing contract with Borderstone Press earlier in the year. I pray the books bring glory to Jesus when they are released. I know that I have already sold 3 copies of each — my wife, my mom, and me (wink). And finally, The Veritas Network is also doing very well. We launched an online magazine this year called BREAD Magazine, which is a culture and worldview magazine that gives away free content. In 2012, we hope to launch BREAD Groups all over the country which coincide with the magazine.
It has been a wonderful year for us. There have been mountains and there have been valleys. Through it all, however, we have trusted in the LORD for his sovereign plan for our family. And as a family, we have continued to learn that God is a good God and that Jesus is a great King. His grace is sufficient and his yoke is light.
We look forward to 2012 with much hope in knowing that we have a God whom, through Jesus alone, cares for his people.
Blessings to you and yours, and we pray God’s blessings upon you as you venture into the year of 2012.
-G & G (& C)
Questions for D8 Night 1.0
1. Have we evaluated our marriage lately? If not, how are things truly going?
2. What is one way you have felt loved by me this past week?
3. What is one way you haven’t felt loved by me this past week?
4. Where did you experience the most laughter this week?
Go
I have been out of town for the last 6 out of 7 weeks. I started off heading to Denver, CO with my wife, Grace. There we spent time with some of our best friends, the Kesler’s, hesitatingly rented a small car, and then proceeded to drive 900 adventurous miles around the mysterious state of Colorado. It was some of the best 10 days I have ever spent in my life.
From Colorado, we flew back home and I headed to Haiti that same week. God did great things while we were there. We (Foothills Church) developed a great partnership with a local Haitian and his ministry to orphans, kids, communities, and local churches. I am very much looking forward to going back in January and taking our church.
Upon arriving back in the states, I woke up the next morning and drove 12 hours to St. Augustine, FL for family vacation. What a wonderful week with my parents, brother, and my sister’s family!
I arrived back in Knoxville the next Saturday and I found myself finally having a week of normality. I ate my own food. I slept in my own bed. I walked my awesome dog. I loved on my beautiful wife. Then I took 25 students and leaders to Orange Beach, AL for Student Life Beach Camp the next Saturday morning. We left at 4AM. WAY TOO EARLY!
While we were there, we had two students called to ministry and one girl called to a life of caring for orphans. God did amazing things. I am humbled, thankful, and feel unworthy to be used by him in such ways.
Our camp ended that Tuesday night. I awoke Wednesday morning at 5:30 and drove with my wife to the state of Florida where she dropped me off at the airport. I then flew to Atlanta, hopped a plane to Salt Lake City, and then skipped over to Spokane, Washington. Oh yeah, I then drove with our fellow pastors over to Post Falls, Idaho. And yes, it was all in the same day. 6 states in the same day is not too shabby, huh?
We are spending the next week in Idaho going through a training with Real Life Ministries. Thus far, it has been challenging and stretching. I am excited about the next week though.
However, I am that much more excited about getting home to my wife, my soon-to-be daughter, my loyal puppy, my honorary bunny, and our new stray cat that won’t leave my wife alone because she, in a genius move, put food out for it this morning.
Until then, I am in go mode.
VERITAS: A Quick Update / 6.14.2011
There has been so much going on lately that I have somewhat neglected to keep you updated on what is going on with The Veritas Network. TVN is a collaboration of leaders who are defending truth, engaging culture, and challenging our generation to love Jesus. We have been going since February of 2010 pretty strong, producing lots of content, delivering good conversation and debate, and trying to glorify God, the Father, amidst it all.
We have a strong contributer base right now. There are a total of 8 us. It is funny because I tell people all of the time that I had the great opportunity to start this truth network and I am the worst writer of them all. What a blessing to have a group of intelligent, competent, and well resourced people around you.
VERY COOL:
We just launched the very first edition of our online magazine that we are putting out monthly. Vol. 1, No. 1 is entitled, “Homosexuality: Theological and Cultural Discussions. You can read it <HERE>. We are excited about all that God is going to do through this ministry effort.
CONTINUE TO SPREAD THE WORD:
Continue to spread the word about The Veritas Network! Get the word out about our new monthly online magazine. Tell your friends. Tell your church leaders. Tell everybody! Hopefully, we can continue to serve the church at large through this ministry.
A FEW ARTICLES TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF THE PAST WEEK:
1. Don’t Only Do What You’re Heart Tells You — by Josh Headrick
2. The Doctrine of Justification: The Roman Catholic Position Analyzed in Light of Protestant Theology (Part 4 of 5 – A Critique of the Roman Catholic Doctrine of Justification) – by Tyler Smith
3. Jehovah’s Witnesses and False Testimony of Christ’s Divinity – by Ryan Rindels
Active Lifestyle 1.0 (introductions)
My wife and I have been in Denver, CO for the past 8 days visiting friends and playing in the backcountry just having a wonderful time. My wife, who is 7 months pregnant, has been an excellent sport. She has done everything with great ease and a fantastic attitude. How blessed am I? Obviously, we have taken our time wherever we have gone and our strenuous activity has been little to none. What’s more, most of our ‘play’ has been spent driving from little town to little town seeing the sites and just taking in the culture. Through all of the mountains, cultural differences, and taverns, what has stuck out to me the most in Denver is the rampant display of fitness, or as my friends, the Kesler’s, like to call it: an active lifestyle. I loved that term so much that I told them I was going to blog about it. So, hopefully, this will turn into a weekly section, not only to encourage others to be active in their lifestyles, but to continue to challenge myself to enjoy the outdoors, get out and run, eat healthy, and live simply.
The apostle Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19-20). Therefore, let us be active, stay healthy, and strive to be good stewards of our bodies by living active lifestyles.
So, what’s active this week?
Sunday: A short mile run, push-ups, sit-ups / basketball in the park with my friend Tyler
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: A short mile run, push-ups, sit-ups
Wednesday: A short run/stretching workout before our flight back to Nashville and drive back to Knoxville
Thursday: A heavy run, heavy upper body workout, and abs workout / short run and walk with Helo, my dog, at night
Friday: A light run, heavy plyometrics workout, sprints, and abs
Saturday: OFF — Leave for Haiti
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*I will take Sundays off usually.
Sunday Psalter: Psalm 1
[The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked]
[1:1] Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
[3] He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
[4] The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
(Psalm 1 ESV)
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Blessed is this man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the seat of scoffers, nor stand in the way of sinners, but delights in the law of the LORD. This man’s delight is in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Old Testament. This man, the righteous man, meditates on this law day and night. What’s more, this passage is very reflective of God’s commissioning of Joshua in Joshua 1 when he stepped into the leadership shoes of Moses to lead Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua was called to be strong and courageous and to meditate on the law day and night — when he did this then he would be successful. The promise was conditional. It was conditioned upon Joshua’s obedience to Scripture. His love for the Word.
We, like Joshua, are called to meditate on the law, however, now that we have all of Scripture in front of us we are called to meditate on all of it. We are to meditate on all of Scripture. Soak up all of Scripture. Learn about Jesus from all of Scripture.
In light of all of Scripture, we come to learn about this righteous man who is like a tree planted by streams of water. His name is in fact Jesus. He is the only righteous one. Let us meditate on him. When we do this we become like him. We become like this man planted by streams of water. We become this blessed man, like Joshua, who will then prosper.
Colorado 2011 – Mountains, Friends, & Toms for Cora
A 5 Page Bibliography
This is a 5-page bibliography from one of my final papers. Not that you care — only for proof that it exists.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF BIBLICAL WOMANHOOD)
Here is an article I wrote for our Pastor’s Blog at Foothills Church on the problem of evil. I pray that you find it helpful and encouraging. You can find the original post HERE.
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My wife and I go on walks several times a week around our apartment complex. Without fail, a mom and her daughter blissfully walk down the same sidewalks we do. We both are out enjoying the day; we both have our dog by our side, exchanging genuine hellos as we pass one another. But there is something different about her daughter – noticeably different. Yes, she is youthful, jovial, and full of laughter, as every young girl her age should be – probably around 10 years old. Yes, she stumbles and giggles when her dog pulls her a little too hard or licks her in the face. And like most young girls her age, she wears beautiful flower printed dresses, especially now that it is springtime. Yet again, there is something noticeably different about her. She is missing her hair. She seems, though I may be wrong, to have the appearance of a young girl struggling with the disease of cancer.
I can only imagine that this little girl has asked the age old question that so many of us ask, or perhaps even struggle with daily, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Or, you may have heard it stated like this, “If God is good then why is there so much evil in the world?” It is the question philosophers and theologians have been asking for thousands of years. It is the problem of evil. Read more…
[2] Things [4] Your Amusal
1. I ran a mile in 7:22 today. The fastest I have ran it since playing college basketball.
2. Published a new eBook at TVN today as well. I think it will be a great resource for young guys entering college. It is called, Questions 4 Men in College. Click HERE to purchase it or download for free in PDF.
