High Intensity

Julie and I were excited to be in Las Vegas last week to watch some basketball and see some of the sights. The basketball was focused on a huge national AAU basketball tournament featuring both men’s and women’s teams. We rooted for High Intensity – a team from the Oakland/Bay Area on which our good friend’s son, Brandon, plays.

This is basketball at a very high level! Let’s just say that many of the teams stayed at our hotel, the Orleans, and by the time the week was over I was feeling very small. You see, every time I would get on an elevator to go to our room I, at 5’11”, would pretty much be the shortest guy in the elevator. These boys are TALL.. and BIG.. and STRONG.

The games were played at a variety of area high schools. The high schools we were at usually had an A gym and a B gym. During our visit we got the feeling that A stood for air-conditioned.. and B stood for Blast Furnace. (Note: it was about 110-115 degrees every day.. with lows in the mid to high 80's at night!)

It seemed like most of the time we were relegated to the B gyms for some reason! High Intensity played great and made it all the way to the finals of the Gold bracket. In my mind, that was quite an achievement when considering the Blast Furnace gyms were easily over 100 degrees! I think I might have simply said.. ‘why don’t we lose so we can go lay around the pool’!

High Intensity is a very athletic team with a bunch of guys that can just get up and run the court! One of my favorite plays the entire tournament was when Damon (#32) took a made basket out of bounds and threw it in halfway up the court to a guard breaking towards the other end. A couple of passes later.. a shot was made. It bounced off the rim.. and who caught the rebound and STUFFED it back in? Yes, Damon! He had made the inbounds pass and ran the entire length of the court before the shot was off.

The final game was close fought.. but by two teams that were playing their third game of the day (3 games within 5-6 hours).. and they were TIRED. High Intensity just missed winning and settled for the runner-up trophies!

Griffioens - you will be pleased to hear that the winning team was from Terre Haute Indiana! They were just what you would expect from a midwest farm team. All midsized, fit, and great shooters!

Hannah also made the trek to LV with our friends and a number of her girlfriends. This is the social highlight of their summer as they all go – do tons of shopping, see shows and just have a great time hanging out. It’s a pretty busy and amazing schedule.

One night we had a special dinner at NOBU, Las Vegas. This is a premier restaurant made famous by many celebrities. The flavors are amazing as this is a traditional Japanese cuisine mixed with bold South American and Western flavors which create a whole new style. It is great to see the girls mature and enjoy a place like this. This is definitely NOT a place they would have enjoyed 5 years ago. However, they all had an amazing time trying the many sashimi, sushi, and tempora dishes we dined on that night. I think the consensus favorite were the lobster tacos! They were memorable.

Another night we enjoyed Le Reve at the Wynn Hotel. Le Reve is a spectacular performance by a cast of 85 performers in a circular ‘aqua theater’. This is a 360 degree, circular theater that, in the middle, features, essentially, a pool with a bunch of stages that come and go as the elaborate choreography is executed. It is more or less Cirque De Soleil meets marine world. There we so many spectacular moments. One such moment is when some of the cast members are suspended 50-100 feet in the air and then are literally dropped into the center of the pool. Your heart seems to stop for a second and you wonder if they are all right as the spotlight loiters over their point of entry – awaiting their return to the surface. It was very amazing.

The last night of our trip we went to see Jay Leno perform. He was pretty funny.. but with all the basketball, 115 degree weather all week.. and just running ragged having so much fun… I think it might also have been fun to be laying in bed and just fall asleep to his monologue!

We had a great time and appreciate the generosity and friendships that made it all possible. It definitely was a High Intensity week!

Remembering My Father

Thursday will be the one year anniversary of my father’s death. Julie and I were blessed to be able to be with him and the rest of my family during his last few days. I will remember those times of sadness and letting go forever.

The passing of my father was a very emotional time for me. Emotions are very complicated and I don’t know that I have the language to fully describe them. However, in simple terms, they were a mixture of sadness for my dad, a sense of finality of losing my last parent (my mother passed away in 2003) and concern for my father’s eternal soul.

As a Christian, I think we approach the passing of a fellow believer with both a sense of sadness and joy. The joy springs from a belief that the one who goes is in a far better place – and that we, ourselves, will one day join them there.

However, there is an uncertainty that leads to true, deep sadness when I think about the passing of my father. You see, I don’t really know if my father knew the saving grace of a relationship with the true and living God when he died.

I truthfully can say that ‘I don’t know’ where my dad stood with God in part because of my father’s decisions and in part because of God’s. My father talked a lot about god.. little ‘g’. However, I just don’t know if he ever really met and embraced God.. big G. And, at the same time – it is difficult to know how God would reckon my father’s belief in the little ‘g’ god.

I am hopeful that God has a more complicated system that we understand. I say that because it seems likely that He does. God, was able, for instance, to reckon Abram as righteous in the absence of him accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In the same way God understands how to deal with the eternal lives of infants that die before they are able to exercise their free will to accept Him. And the Bible speaks elegantly of how all of God’s creation speaks to those that no other tongue can reach - to announce the existence of God. I have to imagine that if they respond to God’s awe inspiring nature.. He listens and approves.

I am also a trained engineer and understand the basics of logic and reasoning. So, I know that a Bible verse such as “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, [then] you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) tells us how to be sure, ourselves, that we are saved. However, it does not exclude God from saving us based on His own love as well. For instance, I could say “If you comment on this blog entry I will send you $5”. And you would expect that I would send you the $5 following your comment if I am a man of my word. However, I could also choose to just give you the $5 for any number of other reasons as well. The ‘If ‘a’ then ‘b’.. need not be the only way to get to ‘b’.. but it may be the only way.

Having said that, however, it seems clear that when we are confronted with the reality of who God is and his offer of salvation – and we reject it – it appears we have little in the way of excuses. To that end, I wrote my father the following note during his illness. I want to share it with you. If you don’t know Christ as your Savior – just insert your name for the word ‘Dad’ in this letter. Because if you are reading this then you are as dearly loved by me as my father was.


Dad,

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying your week!

I bet you’re surprised to get a letter from me. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve written you a letter. Can you?

Well, this is a letter – or at least a subject - that I’ve desperately wanted to talk with you about for so long now. And I guess I decided to write to you instead of trying to talk to you over the phone because I wanted to be able to get my thoughts clear and allow you to be able to take your time and read this at your pace and consider what I’ve written; because, to me, it is so important.

Dad, I just want to start out by telling you that I love you. And when I say that – I don’t mean the casual, I’d say it to anyone ‘I love you’ I love you. I mean the ‘I feel deeply in my heart a great love for you’ I love you. It is that love for you that requires me to write to you this evening.

Dad, I am very concerned about your health. But, it’s not the health that you may think I am concerned about. Yes, I am concerned and a bit scared, actually, for you as you face the surgery related to your cancer. However, the health that I am most concerned about for you tonight – and feel compelled to write to you about – is your spiritual health.

I have to admit that I am ashamed that I don’t talk with you more about this. I have been a Christian for many, many years. I know you know that. But, I don’t think that I have ever really deeply shared with you what having Jesus Christ as my personal Savior has meant to my life.

And yet, God is urging me to do it now – so I am just going to do what He asks of me and pray that what I have to say talks to you.

Dad, as a Christian I believe in God. And I don’t just believe in any God. I believe in Jesus Christ. That He is God. And that, in order to be in a relationship with God, you have to acknowledge Jesus and ask Him into your life as your personal Savior.

I have to admit that I don’t know if you have done that yet in your life. I know we have talked about god – with a little ‘g’ before. I know you have mentioned that you believe in god. But I don’t know where you stand with Jesus.

I imagine you might be wondering.. why Jesus? What’s the big deal? Well, I truly believe that life does not end when you die. I believe that your spirit, dad, will go on forever. And the big deal with Jesus is that He says that if you accept Him your spirit will spend eternity with Him in heaven after you die. But, He also is clear that for those that do not accept Him eternity will be spent separated from Him due to unbelief. And it is that fate, that separation from God that I wish so much for you to avoid.

Dad, I can’t promise that all of a sudden everything it your life will be better. I don’t know if Jesus would take away your cancer… or turn it into something other than cancer if you would have his as your Savior. That isn’t the Jesus that I have come to know over these many years. Bad things may still happen in your life and things may not turn out the way you would want to or would plan for. The big difference, if you believe, is that you walk through this life with Jesus as your friend, your advocate, and your counselor. He may not take away all of life’s pain – but He promises that He will walk through the pain with you. You will not have to suffer alone.

That promise is especially precious to me right now. You see, I have to admit to you that while I have been a Christian a long time now… I still suffer from pushing God away from me in areas of my life. It is a problem that I have had my entire life and one that has caused me immeasurable pain – and is causing me a lot of pain right at this moment. So, I don’t write this casually to you. I understand how hard it might be for you to understand there is a personal God out there that loves you and cares deeply for you. But there is dad, and tonight he is using me to tell you. I wish I could stand face to face and tell you this. That is why I was so interested in coming home to see you before your surgery. I’m not concerned about the surgery too much.. I trust your doctors will do an excellent job. I wanted to come because I want to look you right in the eye and tell you that Jesus loves you. I wish I could just put my arms around you and hold you and tell you that God loves you.. and wants you to know that He wants you to be with Him in heaven. He wants to love you. He does not want you to spend eternity apart from Him.

And dad, I know that I will be with Jesus in heaven – and it would break my heart.. for eternity if you weren’t there with us.

I wish I could hold my life up to you in order to convince you that life with Jesus is better that the life you have now. I often feel ashamed to even talk about Jesus because I seem to struggle so much in my own life with accepting Him and allowing His love to be real to me. It has been a real struggle in my life to take what I ‘know’ about God and ‘believe’ – into my heart – where it really sinks in deep and I can feel it on a daily basis. There are many reasons for that.. too many to discuss tonight. I only share that to tell you I can readily appreciate you might read this and wonder just how real – and how important this really is to deal with right now.

All I can tell you dad, is that Jesus has made all the difference in life to me. He is probably the only reason I am sane right now. He is probably the only reason that I remain married right now. He is probably the only reason that my kids love me and talk with me right now. I have done so many things in my life that have hurt myself and those around me for which the penalties could have been much more severe. God has saved me – in the truest sense of the word – throughout my life from consequences that could have further ruined my life and caused me immeasurable emotional pain. That is not to say that He will always do that. He may choose, tomorrow, to humble me further and take away all those things I just talked about. But, dad, I say this too you through the tears I am crying as I write this. I KNOW in my heart that He has always been with me. Even in my sin and my disbelief. And He will never leave me. And that has made.. and continues on a daily basis to make.. all the difference to me.

Dad, God loves you – and He is gracious to provide you time to decide what you think about Him. And wow, He’s now given you over 75 years! But, I am concerned that the amount of time He has provided you will not be infinite. And we don’t know how much time any of us really has. And so, it seems so utterly important and timely right now that I would just pray that you would take some time and consider Jesus’ offer to you of eternally life with Him.

Dad, with all my heart I want to beg you to consider giving your life to Jesus if you have not already done that. Would you please consider it – for me? You have to admit, our relationship is such that I ask you for very little in life. But I am asking you now and I sincerely hope that you will consider your relationship for your sake. Not mine.

God has made it really simple to start a relationship with Him. All He asks is the following:

i) that you understand that there are things in your life – sin – which is simply doing things in a manner contrary to the way God would have us do things – that have occurred – and may continue to occur.
ii) that you understand that in order to be in relationship with God, he requires a penalty be paid for your sins. God cannot live eternally in the presence of sin. It must be dealt with.
iii) that you understand that Jesus came to earth to die on the cross as a payment of your – and all of mankind’s – sin.
iv) And that you acknowledge to God – by talking to Him – that you accept Jesus as your Savior and that you accept his free gift to you of payment for your sins and an eternity with Him.

Dad, I love you. I deeply love you. Selfishly, I want you to be with me in heaven.

Would you please consider taking those four simple steps and doing them now??

I will be praying for you – as I always do – that you will.

Your loving son,

Filoli

Today, Julie and I toured the Filoli House and Gardens. Filoli was a 654 acre estate featuring a 36,000 square foot home and sixteen acres of formal gardens. It is located about 30 miles south of San Franciso.

Filoli was completed (for a whopping $500,000) in 1917 as the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourne II. William made his millions as owner of the Empire Mine, a gold mine that was productive for over 100 years. After the earthquake and fire of 1906 – many of the rich in San Francisco decided to rebuild outside the city.

William and his wife were inspired by the country estates/castles they encountered in Ireland – and set about to build a grand estate and gardens. Their specific inspiration was an 11,000 acre estate they purchased for their daughter (as a wedding present) – who married and lived in Ireland. (Don’t get any ideas Joel or Hannah).

Filoli is a cool name that was a mystery to many until one of William’s business associates figure it out. It is actually a combination of the first two letters of William’s credo; FIght for a just cause; LOve your fellow man; LIve a good life.

It was fun to visit, tour the house and gardens. It also gave me a chance to try out my new camera! It was exciting having Julie there as my assistant (she carried the tripod for me and made lots of suggestions for good shots!). I'm still not that great.. but really enjoying learning and just having fun.

I hope you enjoy some of the many pictures we took. I can’t wait to share these gardens with Elsie the next time she comes to California. I know she’ll love them.

HJ-112 Rest in Peace

by Joel Henderson

Friends, family, colleagues,

I am very sad to report that my Omron HJ-112 passed away this morning. It was really hot yesterday, and Carissa and I thought it'd be fun to play around in the chicken fountain on campus. Well, the splashing got a little more vigorous than either of us had anticipated, and unfortunately my pedometer became a casualty of war. I didn't even notice I had lost it until we got back to my apartment.

We drove back to campus on our way over to her apartment, and there I found it, bobbing, face down in the fountain.

We tried to revive it, and it came to off and on throughout the rest of the evening. However, this morning, after walking with it to work, it officially died at 8:08AM PST. May it rest in peace. It was a faithful and supportive friend, who was always there to encourage me and keep me motivated. It never judged me, just told me the honest truth, and it is now in a far better place. I am sad to see it go, but I'm also confident that there are others out there that will be just as kind and loving as this one was.

And so we raise our glasses together and remember a dear friend. To the Omron HJ-112; may you now count the steps of saints and angels.

Hannah Montana Timberlake Henderson's Birthday!

Happy birthday to Hannah who celebrated her 19th Saturday.. and today.. and tomorrow!!

It seems such a short time ago that she was just our little girl! Time passes much too quickly. Now, she's grown into a wonderful, talented, caring adult!

Saturday we started the festivities with a breakfast at IHOP (Hannah's Fav). The surprise was Hannah's outfit. She was styling and profiling in her cheetah skin dress! I think she definitely got the attention of the other IHOP guests! Her friends and family really enjoyed it too. Of course, it was really Julie's 'fault' because Hannah just had to wear the cheetah when Julie started the morning by giving Hannah the Cheetah Tiara!

Taylor and Courtney also got Hannah the very cool Hannah Montana night shirt she modeled for us later! How cute is Hannah?!

The afternoon was spent at the mall scoping out new purses.. and the Los Altos art and wine festival - enjoying the art and getting a toe ring. The girls had a great time. Then, it was home for dinner and a Hannah favorite - an ice cream cake from Baskin 'n Robbins!


















The evening ended with moving watching and just hanging out with her friends.

I know she has more planned during the week... but it was a great day and we loved having the opportunity to share it with her. We love you Hannah!

Joel's Kershaw Love

By Joel Henderson

There are many decisions in life that may not require a lot of thoughtful consideration, like "what am I going to eat for lunch" or "what movie are you in the mood for?" But there are several decisions we make throughout our lives that require a level of appreciation and meaningful reflection far beyond the norm. Recently, I decided it was time for me to make one such decision. That’s right; it was time for me to purchase a new pocket knife.

I had been mighty pleased with my Kershaw 2415, but it was ready to retire, so I notified personnel that it was time to start a new recruitment. Thankfully, I had been so impressed with the customer service interaction I had just experienced with Kershaw a few weeks prior that at least one of the major first steps in the decision-making process was practically made for me. I totally LOVE being part of the Kershaw community, so it should be no surprise that I decided to go with a new Kershaw to replace my old one. They have a warranty program that is the best in the business. Say your belt clip bends or breaks like mine did on several occasions, or a screw comes loose and gets lost. All you need to do to get the belt clip completely replaced, screws and all, is put in a warranty request on their website (http://www.kershawknives.com/), and BOOM! two to three days later there’s a envelop waiting for you in your mailbox with your replacement part inside. It’s such a quick and painless process, and the best part is it’s totally free! Plus, their customer service staff is ready, willing, and able to answer any and all questions you have for them. And when I say “all”, I mean “all”, even the weird ones you might hesitate to ask (I’m speaking from experience here, folks, so you can trust me. Tifany and I are now total knife buddies). Basically, Kershaw is awesome; ‘nough said.

So, with the brand decision under my belt, then began the thoughtful and involved process of choosing a model. However, I’m going to leave out the details of this major portion of the decision-making process, since it can be, in many cases, extremely personal, and I would hate to betray the intimacy of the relationship between man and knife. Therefore, let me skip to the end and just say I went with the Kershaw Blur, and not just any Blur, but the G-10 silver twill inlay handle Kershaw Blur with black 440A tungsten DLC coated stainless steel blade. Sha boo ya, grandma!

How do I love thee, my Kershaw? Well here, let me count the ways…

First, it’s a noticeable upgrade from my last knife; bigger and more solid, but there isn’t any added width, so it fits just as snuggly in my pocket. Also, and this is a small but notable detail, none of the surfaces of the knife put too much pressure on too small of a surface area when I’ve got it in my hand. Its contact with my hand is very well distributed.

Secondly, this knife is equipped with what Kershaw calls their SpeedSafe assisted opening system, meaning there is a small torsion bar that automatically opens the knife once you put in the initial effort. So, even though the blade of the Blur is much larger than the 2415’s, it’s no more difficult to open. I resisted getting a spring-assisted knife for the longest time because I didn’t like how difficult a lot of them are to close. Of course they’re a breeze to open, but getting them to fold back down sometimes took two hands. Granted, that could help me develop huge forearms, but that’s not really what I’m after. But with the Blur I’m amazed at both the control I can maintain when opening it (it doesn’t fly open so fast and hard that I lose my grip) and the relative ease with which you can close it. I give mad props to Ken Onion for designing such a nice knife.

Third, the handle inlay on this particular model is G-10 silver twill, a super-smooth gripping material. Other models have what Kershaw calls Trak-Tech grip tape, which is best described as super-coarse sand paper. For how often I take my knife in and out of my pocket, this material would have ripped my pants to shreds and probably have done a number on my hands. This one detail almost kept me from getting the Blur, that is, until I discovered my model with the silver twill. Now it glides in and out of my pocket like a dream, and my pants are no worse for ware. Double sha boo ya!

Fourth, it’s just a beautiful knife. The lines of the blade are beautifully curved, so smooth and soft and well defined. The silver gives it a beautiful glimmer in the sun, and the tungsten coating gives the blade an element of beautiful mystery, with a beautifully contrasted cutting edge. I’m sorry to say, Hannah, that though Cutco knives may be sharper, Kershaw knives are far more aesthetically pleasing, and the Blur takes the cake for me.

So that’s me and my new Kershaw Blur, and I couldn’t be happier. Never mind that my first attempt at ordering it led me to file my first ever charge dispute (which, by the way, was handled flawlessly by Wells Fargo, so I’m sending mad props their way as well). In fact, I felt a bit like Adam as we waited for God to provide him Eve, and once my Blur arrived, it made me appreciate and value it that much more. I love you, my beautiful Kershaw Blur; I love you very much!

The Craft Princess

It's amazing what a little creativity and skill can do for a toilet seat!

Hannah had a great idea to build a cribbage board from a toilet seat for her friend Corbett. I can't exactly explain why she chose the toilet seat... but hey, when you are a genius - you can't always explain yourself. I can explain the Bulldog - because that is the mascot of the University of Redlands where Corbett is a sophomore.

Anyways - this morning she set out before church to purchase the 'board' and worked away at it throughout the day to produce the magnificent final product you see here. She sanded, stenciled, painted, marked, made pilot holes (that's her in the picture), drilled the holes, stained and sealed it. Whew.. and she still had time to look fabulous for dinner.

She really is a 'Jill of all trades'!

It turned out great.. and shows why she is... the Craft Princess. Well done Hannah.

Trend Setter?

You decide.

Do you think this hairdo will catch on?

Carissa... I expect to hear from you on this one!!

Go Giants!

Julie, Joel and I are sitting in the stands right now rooting on our SF Giants against the dreaded rivals ... the Dodgers! Team Logan is just around the corner in a different section! (isn't blogging by email wonderful?)

Check out Joel drinking from the giant Coke bottle in left field before the game started! That's quite a challenge.

We're down 2-1 in the 7th.. But rallying! The stands are ringing with Beat-LA, Beat-LA!

It's great to do things as a family! And with our extended family!

Don't tell Jon Logan... But I arranged a late inning rally as a special 25th birthday present!

Okay... Back to the game!

Update: Well, with Joel, Grandma G and Rachel all in attendance with us.. and some financial incentives under the table.. (you can thank me later)... we pulled out a dramatic 5-2 win! How cool is that!

Harvest Time

Our Red Haven peach crop has been harvested!

Admittedly, we have a small orchard by Michigan standards. One tree (see picture).

We just planted it last year and it gave us 4 peaches. This year - we had a bumper crop - 13 peaches! (They fit in a single bowl!). Perhaps we'll get a peck next year.

Yeah, we're quite the farmers.

We've already enjoyed 1/4th of the crop! We made them into fruit smoothies that were delish!