Panther Released
Apple released it's latest version of Mac OSX called Panther. It was available for sale on Friday 8:00 p.m. I dropped over to the Apple store on Friday afternoon to take the new OS for a spin. I had been reading about it on internet.

I'm an easy upgrade. I love technology and the newest features. Panther? I wasn't wowed. At least I wasn't $129 wowed. They made some cool changes to Finder. To change from one open window to another. You hit F9 and all open windows downsize to fit onto the screen. Click on the window you want, and it moves forward while everything else comes in behind.

They supposedly made 150 new features: fast user switcher, iChat AV, etc. Most of the features wouldn't help me.

Kendrick's conclusion: Wait on Panther. I went home and paid $34 for a cool program called "Path Finder". The 21 trial period had expired. It does everything the new finder does plus.

Switching to iCal
Nana and I are on a trial period switching to iCal. We've been using Entourage (Mac version of Outlook). iCal would enable to share calendars over the internet. I created calendars for home, work, and Nana. I have also imported the US holidays and the PGA tour schedule. The cool feature is that you can toggle on and off each calendar. I don't need to see the PGA tour schedule most days. :-) Nana clutters her calendar with things that aren't pertinent to me, but she likes knowing my schedule. Our calendars sync via .Mac on the web. We're on a 60 day trial period for .Mac. Marital bliss is returning to the home.

That's the latest techno-news from Kendrick

Nana came up with a fun evening for the family.

We went to Schoolhouse Rock at the Raleigh Little Theater. Last spring, her Sonlight forum had a post on getting the DVD from WalMart for a good price. It was a trip through the past for me. I remember all those songs from Saturday morning cartoons. The kids love the songs.

We took Kendrick Jr. and Joseph along. They really loved it, since they knew all the songs.

Inside-Out Sports Classic 10K Race

I ran in a 10K race in Cary this morning. I haven't run in a 10K race for years. I ran a few during and after college while living in Minnesota. Nana and the kids decided to join me for a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start in Cary. We were up bright and early.

The course was nicely laid out - running through some of the major roads of Cary. I felt good about my pace and finished strong. My time was 50:06 which isn't bad considering I just decided about two weeks ago to sign-up for the race. We came home and took naps. Ahh...

I got to slap a five to the kids at two places during the race. The picture here is at almost the 5 mile mark.

I DIDN'T THINK THIS WOULD START YET!

Joseph has been bugging us for a long time to get a mohawk. Tonight was haircut night, and we gave in (at least for now, and with a stipulation that we can buzz it at any time). He'd like to keep it for a week. We'll see. Joseph is definitely our creative artistic on the edge kid. We love him.

The teenage years are still 6 years off for him.







Movie Review: Runaway Jury, PG13

Another John Grisham novel turned movie, Runaway Jury, is a hit in my book. Nana and I went to see it Monday night. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. Grisham is a great storyteller. I'd definitely recommend it: low on the offensive scale (violence and sex), but high on excitement with a few fun twists. Great cast: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz. I don't want to tell you anymore. :-)

You can watch a trailer at runawayjurymovie.com

Jason Oberholtzer came over to the house after bow hunting yesterday. We went for a run together, and then he set me up on a weight lifting program. I am feeling a bit sore. :-)

Jason is new to Grace Church. Great young guy. He's currently training and raising money for a bike ride that he's going to do next summer. He's going to bike from Wilmington, NC to Los Angelos, CA to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Jason lost his father to ALS.

Jason's trip will take approximately 52 days averaging 100 miles a day.

You can check out Jason's website at www.ContinentalCrusade.com.

I had my first experience with the NC state fair this past Friday on opening day. Jim Reklis gave the staff a half of a day off. We all headed to the fair with our families. I took the four kids. Arielle and Donna very kindly helped out with my kids. Nana went back and forth: fair or stay home to a peaceful home? By Tuesday, she decided to definitely stay home for the peace.

Do you like the picture of Gabriela riding the merry-go-round? It's the 21st century folks. You have to chat with Mom on the cell phone before taking off. Nathan Fancher came along and hung out with the boys and me. The food was great: caramel apple, steak sandwich, hamburgers, French fries, cotton candy, and probably more. :-)

Nana cooked up a mean chili for the Grace Church chili contest at the picnic. Although she didn't win, I was definitely a beneficiary.

My poison ivy is finally clearing up. It's much better, but still hanging on. I decided to spare everyone by not posting a picture of my arm. My bow hunting has not yet produced venison in the freezer. I went out this morning. I had three deer in close range, but never got a shot. Bow hunting is very different from hunting with a gun.

This past week I had three fun opportunities to discuss Sam Storms' book, Pleasures Evermore: the UNC Thursday night Bible study, "Women Who Intercede" small group, and Jim Reklis' mentor group.

Take the following quiz:

Why do you obey God?
1. Because it's the right thing to do.
2. Because it brings me pleasure.

I would venture to say that the vast majority of Christians would answer #1. I mean to obey God for the pleasure it brings me sounds so very self-centered. Obeying God because it's the right thing to do is DUTY. Obeying God because of the pleasure it brings me is DELIGHT.

Duty is doing the right thing for the wrong reason (wrong heart attitude).
Delight is doing the right thing for the right reason (right heart attitude).

To understand this truth, consider John Piper's example of dutiful roses. Piper says, "dutiful roses are a contradiction."

I bring home a dozen red roses to my wife, Nana. Nana is surprised and asks "Oh Kendrick, why did you do it?" I very proudly answer, "well Nana. It's my duty. This morning I read Ephesians 5 that says husbands should love their wives. So although I didn't feel like it, I denied my self. I did the right thing, because God's word told me so." How would Nana feel? Cherished? Valued?

Let's try it again: I bring home a dozen red roses to my wife, Nana. Nana is surprised and asks "Oh Kendrick, why did you do it?" I reply, "Oh Nana. Nothing brings me more pleasure than giving you roses. I couldn't help myself. I was so excited this morning. I was thinking: what would be the most fun for me today? I knew it would be giving you roses. I love doing this. It's so much fun for me."

Would Nana respond, "You're just a selfish pig. You did this for your own pleasure." NO! She'd feel highly esteemed, loved, and honored. My pleasure in her displayed how precious she is to me.

Dutiful obedience does not honor God. Dutiful obedience (doing the right thing for the wrong reason) is better than disobedience. Nana would prefer that I dutifully give her roses instead of giving roses to the neighbor lady! But she would wouldn't be satisfied with dutiful roses. She wants my actions of love to flow from a heart that enjoys and takes delight in her.

The same is true with God. Pursue your pleasure in God! It's your duty to delight in Him.

Sam Storms is coming to Grace Church!

Sam Storms wrote Pleasures Evermore, my favorite mentoring book. It's one of the best book to catch God-centered Christian hedonism. Get this and everything else makes sense. I love it.

Jim Reklis asked if I'd contact Sam re: coming to Grace Church. He said that he'd love to come and share at our church. We're looking at Jan. 30 - Feb. 1, but no dates are firm yet. He has a life-transforming message of grace and love - pursuing pleasure in God for His glory and our satisfaction.

Sam is going to preach at a main session of John Piper's conference on Jonathan Edwards next weekend. Piper is bringing in the big guns: J.I. Packer, Iain Murray, and others. Wish I could be there. :-)

You can pick-up Pleasure Evermore at amazon.com for $10.50.


Bingo is a family favorite. We played this week. Everyone got to win - even Gabriela. Of course whoever wins gets to be the caller.

I started a book, Heroic Leadership. It's fascinating study of leadership through lessons learned from the Jesuits.

That's a brief update from here. Go Twins. They're down 1 game to 2 against the Yankees. Not looking good as they lost in the dome today. The TarHeels are having a tough time winning an ACC football game. Come on basketball season start soon. Tiger goes into Sunday with a 2 stroke lead over Vijay. He choked a double bogey on 16, but hey, "would I have done any better?!"


I love fall! We had Clem and Mary Jane Ferris over last night. We grilled out, ate on the deck, and enjoyed a beautiful fall day. Great running weather, golf, bow hunting, and crisp sunny days - what more could you ask for!

On the right is a picture of my parents on the North Shore in Minnesota. They've been taking a fall trip to the Two Harbors area on Lake Superior for oh... 30 some years. I really liked this picture of them feeding the Seagulls. Click on the photo to see an enlarged view. Who took that photo anyway? Great framing.

I've been working this week with Arielle Cutrara and Matt Kennedy to get our church web site updated. There have been several cool new additions: discussion forum, pastors blog, audio sermons online, sermon notes, and other fun stuff.

Check it out: www.gracelife.com

Michael Fletcher was at Grace Church this weekend. He did a great sermon on "10 Things Every Child Wants to Hear His/Her Parent Say". You can listen to it online. :-)

I posted a photo gallery for Rocky & Shery Armstrong this morning. They were in Romania teaching a marriage and family conference to gypsies (with John & Jane Wooley). It's amazing what God did during this time. The gypsy culture is very needy for good teaching and examples of godly marriage and family.

You can check out the pictures by clicking Romania Photo Gallery


BIRDIE TIME!

Kendrick Jr. drained his first birdie today. It was no. 8, par 3, 108 yards at The Challenge in Graham, NC. He teed off with his "fairway flyer" (basically a 7 wood). His drive rolled to about 5 feet. He had a slight uphill breaking left to right putt. It went down and we went crazy. Jim Reklis was there to witness the momentous moment.

We celebrated with a Dairy Queen blizzard on the way home. :-)

The Challenge is a fun course. Lots of interesting holes. We'll definitely be back. Great value for the money - similar to Mill Creek.


Gabriela is 3!

Today is Gabriela's birthday. She went to church this morning with Grammie. Nana had to stay home as Joseph was sick. After her nap, I took her out to the park and to Chuck E. Cheese. She talked on the phone for a long time with Grandpa and Grandma in Minnesota. We partied in the evening. Nana made her a "dog" cake as that was Gabriela's request. We played some games and opened presents. What a cutie!

Here are some more photos from the day:
Gabriela's 3rd Birthday Photo Gallery

I just posted three new photo galleries.

Summer Vacation '03

Aliesha's 5th Birthday

Joseph's 7th Birthday

Enjoy the photos!


Below is an e-mail blooper that was sent out to everyone on our church e-mail list yesterday. See if you can catch the blooper. I missed it, but Nana caught it.
____________________________________
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 2:29 PM
Subject: The church is closed

Grace Church,

Due to the storm, the office will be closing today at 2:30. We apologize for any incontinence. We plan to reopen in the morning at the normal time of 9:00am.

Thank you,
Kathy
_________________________________________

I'll confess I had to look up "incontinence" in the dictionary - never having had such problems. It's a noun meaning: involuntary urination or defecation.

Hope the church office closing didn't cause you any incontinence!

My favorite mentoring book is "Pleasures Evermore" by Sam Storms. Nathan Fancher and I have studied it together (the two of us, with Mali, and now on campus at UNC). Nathan loves the book and sent a copy to his dad in Ohio. His dad is a worship pastor at a Vineyard church.

Nathan calls me to say that his dad's church has scheduled Sam Storms to come April 2-3 to do a weekend seminar on the book. The pastor is going aroud the office listening to some tapes by Sam Storms. They've caught the fever. Spreading the love - I love it.




Bow season began yesterday in central North Carolina (our region). Joseph and I hit the woods. We saw two deer walking to the stand but that was all. It was a beautiful peaceful evening. Great being outside with Joseph. He got to try out his new gear from his hunting birthday party. We played handheld Yahtzee. I scored 459 (the most exciting part of the hunt). So maybe some deer walked by and we never noticed. Maybe the cheering about Yahtzee scared the deer away. :-)

Aliesha sat home and watched "The Sound of Music" on the PowerBook. She pulls the couch up to my desk and makes herself at home. What a cutie. (Click on pictures for larger view)



We had a great time on Joseph's birthday (Sept. 9th). The theme was hunting. Joseph and his buddies shot the bow, tracked a deer (actually candy) through the woods, and shot balloons with the pellet gun.

Aliesha had her delayed birthday party with friends today. We had cute games, and she was delighted to have some friends over. This wasn't the plan, but somehow the girls ended up shooting the bow at a balloon with candy in it. Nana is the creative one. She had them decorating their own homemade donuts and painting their party favors.

(click on picture for larger view)