Serious backlog on the blog. :-)

July 3rd was our 10th anniversary. I went a little crazy expressing my love for Nana. We usually do anniversaries low key. The plan was to go out for dinner. I came by to pick-up Nana - in a limousine! We cruised around Chapel Hill sipping on wine and enjoying the ride. We stopped for sushi on Franklin Street. Nana opened a card from me which included a key to the Fearrington House. We stayed at a nice suite and enjoyed their amazing 6 course dinner. What a delight.

July 4th was spent at Mark & Lisa Daley's new home. The built a very unique and cool home in Southern Village. We played tennis, swam at the pool, and did fireworks on their patio. Great time with them.

Tonight was "Wednesday at Grace" - our summer mid-week service at church. We did a family night with a theme of the God who forgives us and heals us. I talked my family into doing a skit with me. They were great. It was fun doing a family project. The evening ended with popcorn and lemonade.

Next post: The recent Vinar disaster.

Kendrick Jr. and I played Occoneechee golf course today for the first time. We played with Clem Ferris and his son Jamin. It was a great day on the links. Kendrick Jr. bogeyed 4 or 5 holes. He was hitting some great drives. My shot of the day was from 250 yards out with a 5 iron that rolled to the back of the green. I actually just trying to lay up on this par 5. Must have been the dry fairways. :-) Jamin drained an incredible 30 footer for birdie.

Nana and I have anniversary #10 coming up this Thursday. I have the best wife in the world. She's wonderful in every way.

Post from Joseph:
I like to go swimming. It's really fun. You can try to jump off the side, and then if you have someone throw the ball and you catch it - that is hard. But it's not very hard if you have a big ball.

One funny thing - my sister won't go to bed without her purple blanket. But she calls it a "blukee". That's what's funny about my sister.

Back to Kendrick:
This morning several young people shared at church what God did in their hearts and lives. Tremendous! Neil Silverberg preached a great message. We went swimming this afternoon. Tonight a movie and relaxing with my beloved Nana. We'll catch you soon.

John & Azra Weber are visiting from Minnesota. John's been a friend for a long-time. He's an IT guy from Wayzata school district. Azra is a second year resident. They are a great couple with big hearts for God.

Joseph had a soccer clinic today. Mary Jane Ferris organized it. It was so cute seeing these boys and girls run around playing soccer. Joseph's caught the soccer bug.

Kendrick Jr. wrapped up his tennis camp.

We're heading out to dinner at the Washington Duke tonight. John and Azra wanted to treat us. They have live jazz tonight. Nathan Fancher is the main man - watching the kids.

Reporting from War Cry:

I am at Chowan College for GCI's annual youth conference. We're having a great time. Almost 400 in attendance. It's been a rocking week. God has been doing amazing things in people's hearts and lives. Very cool. I preached this morning on the life of David - being a person after God's heart. God's the best.

Gotta run to the evening meeting. :-)

We did a wine tasting tonight with Jerry & Nan Daley, Clem & Mary Jane Ferris, and Dave & Cheri Hardman. Clem is a wine expert having been trained as a hotel manager. He knows the ritual with wine glasses, cheeses, cleanses the palette, etc. So the winning wines on Kendrick's list:

Chateau D'Agassac - Bourdeaux 2000
Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet - Shiraz blend

Tomorrow I'm sharing at Grace Church on a successful life. I hope and pray that it's enlightening and freeing for people.

We met for 7 hours today (including lunch) and planned the major events for the next 16 months of Grace Church. It was definitely exhausting. I was shot at the end of the day.

I decided that I needed some recovery time tonight - skipped out of the Faith class party. Spent time with the family, went for a run, and cleaned in the garage.

We had shelves put up in the garage this week. They are about 7 feet off the floor and 3 feet deep. It's amazing how much you can store on them. Very helpful. If you're garage is packed, check out Big Shelf. They are a bit spendy, but worth it to get your garage organized and looking beautiful.

Tonight we had our first Wednesday of Grace. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I shared on "The God who affirms us". So here's my job: I sit home and think about how much God likes me. Then I go to church and tell people how much God likes them.

Paul said in II Cor. that he is a "worker together with you for your joy". Paul's job description was to make people happy in God. That's a fun job. Result: we are satisfied, and God is glorified.

If you haven't checked out this blog, it's worth a visit: Where is Raed?. It's written by an Iraqi in Baghdad. I've been following it since before the war. Very interesting reading his perspective from the inside. You may not agree with his opinions, but you'll understand what the Iraqis are experiencing and feeling in a greater way.

Ahhhh... Mondays! A pastor's day off is a most refreshing and needed day.

Here's a typical lazy Monday off. Sleep in as late as you can (8:00 a.m. is a small miracle as the kids are up at 7:00 a.m. every morning). I'm a little tired, because of the movie we stayed up and watched the night before ("While You Were Sleeping" - last night).

Then eat breakfast, play with the kids, read the paper, and play with the kids more. This takes about two hours. I then hear Miss Silvia call me. Next to Nana, she's the finest lady around - my espresso machine. If you're looking for perfect espresso shots, check out Whole Latte Love. They are serious about their espresso. Great place to research and get tips on pulling the perfect shot.

I head upstairs with my latte, Bible, and worship CD. I don't resurface until lunch. It's great. After lunch is run errands, pay bills, exercise, and whatever. Monday nights are relaxing with Nana. So that's a Monday. Today, we went swimming. I figure we may have been the only people in the state of NC swimming. It was cold! My kids must still have some Minnesota blood left in them.

Kendrick Jr. finished a week of basketball camp today. He had a great time. Anything with a ball he loves. Aliesha was in a week of dance. Soooo cute seeing 4 year olds dancing around. Joseph's soccer camp was canceled by due to not enough people signing up. So Joseph and Dad got to golf together this week.

We had a great shepherding elders meeting this afternoon and evening. These are quality men and women who love God and people. It's a privilege to serve with them.

We're switching up our Wednesdays at Grace. We had planned to do the Contagious Christian seminar for four weeks. The Holy Spirit has given us a divine interruption. We're going to do Wednesdays OF Grace - believing God to move in a special and powerful way in the hearts of His people. The four topics will be:

The God who affirms us.
The God who loves us.
The God who forgives us.
The God who accepts us.


May your heart enjoy the God who affirms you, loves you, forgives you, and accepts you. We love because He first loved us. Let His pleasure and smile sink deep into your soul.

Just got done with a great two hour coffee with a guy, Jason, who came to the church for the first time this past Sunday. Jason is a second year law student. He's looking to transfer to Carolina. We had a super cool talk about life and God. We had some amazing parallels in our spiritual journey. He grew up in a Lutheran church. It was fun seeing the lights go on for him this morning.

You can catch Mike Bickle's conference, Passionate Pursuit, live on the web. It runs through Saturday night. Mike preaches at 10:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. (CST) There are afternoon sessions, and the worship time is also broadcasted.

www.fotb.com/broadcasts/LiveEvent-128.asx

Dan Kral stayed with us last night. Dan is a good friend from Minneapolis, MN.

Dan trumpets a message of "Courage and Freedom". He's a man who is really living his message. He is a mentor to a lot of people in the business world - encouraging them to step out, face their fears, believe God can use them in big ways, and know that there are always great possibilities out there.

This past March, Dan was laid off from his job. The company thought he was getting paid too much, and they couldn't afford him (although he's developed a whole sector of sales for them). The company actually wants to get out of that sector. Dan is out of a job. For him, it's an opportunity - an adventure - a possibility for something great to happen.

In short, Dan has put together a company with two other men. Dan has proposed that his previous company give him the sector of the business that they want to get rid of. It's currently at $11 million/year in sales. The plan is to turn over the inventory, and they pay back as the inventory is sold.

Note: they are giving him (not selling him) that part of the company. He gets fired, and then they give him part of the company! Is that God or what?!

Dan was faced with a challenge of living by his motto "Courage and Freedom". God is showing Himself strong. He is always worthy to be trusted - whatever your situation.

Dan loves to draw parallels between life and golf. He picked up golf a few years ago. His scores have dropped from 130-140 to consistently breaking 100. Today he shot 49-49 at Mill Creek. We had a great time. :-) Thanks for the inspiration in golf and life, Dan.

Read Dan Kral on "Real Golf"

I hung out at SouthPoint mall tonight with K Jr. and Joseph. They're the best two boys. I just enjoy eating pizza, getting soaked in the rain, and goofing around with them.

Andy and George Bonner were playing violin and guitar in the center of the mall. They were drawing the crowds and filling their tip jar. A small Grace Church crew was gathering with Jamie and Andrea McFarlane, Justin Holder, Nathan Fancher, Rob McF, and the guys.

I picked up a "HTML for Dummies" book at Barnes and Noble. It helped me figure out a few things: how to put audio and video files on my site. It could get dangerous around here. If you run Internet Explorer, you may need to be patient as it might not stream. Click below for a QuickTime video of a promo for our children's cantata at church.

Children's Easter Cantata

So here's a true story:

My friend Chad was here last month visiting. We were out for dinner at Maggiano's at SouthPoint with Nathan Fancher. The place was packed, so we ended up in the bar by the piano man. It was loud!

The waitress comes to our table. Chad says, "So I'm from out of town. What's there to do around here?" The waitress shakes her head and says, "What? I can't hear you." Chad tries again, "I'm from Minneapolis. So what is there to do in this area?" She still can't hear so she says, "What did you say?"

Chad raises his voice so half of the restaurant can hear him say slowly and clearly, "WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

You've never seen such a shocked waitress. Nathan and I almost fell out of our chairs laughing.

I am loved by God.

On Tuesday, Aug. 12th at 3:00 p.m. (CST), I will be meeting with John Piper. Just confirmed a meeting with him. I am so very excited. I want to express my appreciation to him, and I have several questions for him. This is getting 45 minutes with the Michael Jordan of theology.

Jerry Daley and I have been teaching a class on faith based on Piper's book "Future Grace". The students read each chapter and write a short paper answering: What is the problem? What is the main point? What is the generating principle (why did Piper write the chapter)? What is the flow of the argument? How has your thinking changed? What questions do you have for Dr. Piper? These are questions that Jerry came up with to help the students wrestle with the text.

John Piper has fabulous resources available on his website at www.DesiringGod.org

I taught the 9th of 10 classes tonight. It was a long day. I went for 13 hours straight with really no break - had lunch and dinner wtih someone. Great stuff though. God is good. I'm feeling the need to go golfing. :-)

Had lunch with Miles O'Neill today. He's the director for Campus Crusade at UNC. Great guy with vision and heart to see young people transformed through seeing God correctly, see themselves correctly, and then seeing others correctly. That's my kind of guy. You can check out his site at www.carolinacrusade.org.

Started a new mentoring group with some college guys home for the summer. We'll be studying "Pleasures Evermore" by Sam Storms. This is my favorite mentoring 101 book. Get this and everything else starts making sense. I'll write a book review some time on this book. Amazon.com sells it for $10.50 (retail $15).

An encouragement from John Piper.

This is from his journal entry from Dec. 6, 1988:
Is not the most effective way of bridling my delight in being made much of, to focus on making much of God? Self-denial and crucifixion of the flesh are essential, but O how easy it is to be made much of even for my self-denial! How shall this insidious motive of pleasure in being made much of be broken except through the bending all my faculties to delight in the pleasure of making much of God!

Movie Review: Bruce Almighty

Nana and I saw "Bruce Almighty" tonight. It was hilarious. Jim Carey is a riot. He is truly gifted to make people laugh. So what did I think?

In terms of entertainment, I loved it. When I watch a movie, I am there to enjoy myself. If I only enjoyed movies when I agreed with the message, then I'd quit going to movies. So the message of the movie...

In terms of understanding how God works and what God is like, it was theologically out to lunch - from a Christian message perspective. The movie is connecting with so many people, because it represents what a lot of people hope/think God is like. So what's "out to lunch" about the movie?

Here are my brief thoughts. The message of the movie is: be a miracle, do good, and go give blood. Bruce goes through a tranformation from being self-centered to being others-centered. This is good, but it's not the message of the Bible. The Bible is very God-centered. All good flows from God. The goal of Christianity is to turn people from being self-centered (relying on what power, love, and satisfaction self can aquire) to being God-centered (finding your hearts delight and pleasure in God).

Being others-centered (loving others) flows out of the love with which God has loved us. We love, because He first loves us. I love doing good to people. It's number 2 on the list of importance in the world. It's not unimportant. It's just secondary to knowing and loving God. Number 2 (loving others) only flows from getting number 1 right (loving God and being loved by Him).

A fundamental premise of the movie is that God cannot violate the free will of man in order to get people to love Him. Bruce says to God, "How do you make someone love you without affecting free will?" God replies, "Welcome to my world. When you figure that one out, let me know." This answer to this question is extremely important.

Ask the apostle Paul if his will free will was violated as he made his way to Dasmascus to kill Christians. Paul was knocked off his horse and blinded. Thinking he saw clearly, the truth was that he was blind. Only a revelation/understanding of who Jesus is would change his life, so that he could truly see. God was not a gentleman. God did not ask Paul's permission. God is not pining away in heaven hoping people will love Him.

Oh for 30 pages and 10 hours more on how the universe revolves around God. As John Piper says: "God does not exist to make much of us. We exist to enjoy making much of Him."

I know blogs aren't disertations, but I'd sure love to write more. Oh well... Here's a closing thought that's a much better way to approach life: don't try harder, enjoy more! He's made great. My heart is happy. :-) What a good deal, huh?

You can read a cool interview with Tom Shadyac, the director who is a Christian. Click Here

My body is finally feeling better. Been fighting a flu bug the past 4 days.

At church, we took our Advance The Kingdom (ATK) offering today. The finances are used to impact the world for Christ: locally, regionally, and around the world. We are funding special projects in conjunction with missionaries and ministries. It'll be exciting to see all that God does through these gifts.

Jim Reklis preached a great sermon. He ended with II Cor. 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed."

Notice there are 5 all-inclusive words and toss in an "abundance" (all grace, always, all sufficiency, in everything, every good deed). It's really cool in the Greek. Transliterated it would be: pasan, panti, pantote, pasan, and pan. God longs to be our all in all things, so that He's made great and our hearts are satisfied.

I've heard that being absent-minded is a sign of a genius. If so, I'm in good shape.

I married two friends from our old neighborhood in Durham today. They got married in their backyard. Very casual wedding. I was almost the only guy with a tie on. So I'm sitting at home at 1:27 p.m. thinking I needed to leave at 1:30 p.m. Then it dawns on me: I'm supposed to be at their house at 1:30 p.m. Wedding starts at 2:00 p.m. It's a good 20+ minute drive. Oooops. Everything turned out fine. They started 15 minutes late as the bride was getting ready.

Best part was sharing about the God who delights in us. We love because He first loved us. That's the only power to love in a marriage.

Now I have to drive back there, because I forgot to sign the marriage license. Double oooops.