The Annual IRS Ritual is now complete! Taxes are done. If it weren’t for having children (3 still at home), this would be a much more painful process. I lost one deduction this year. Thomas, who turned 17 on December 23rd, didn’t count toward the Child Tax Credit. What brilliant politician or group of politicians set the age at 17? I try to break even each year. I don’t want my money sitting in their bank. However, I never get it quite right and always get back money. I guess it could be worse!!

Passing the Pager. Tomorrow, I pass the pager on to Ryan at work. It’s like being freed from jail! And I’ve never been to jail. It’s just a good feeling not being on call. I just can’t relax anywhere knowing it can go off at any time. I look back and realize I have had to wear a pager since 1979 — that’s 27 years.

On Another Note! Church, as always, makes for a full day but a good day. We’re coming to the end of Isaiah, and soon to start the book of Daniel. Tozer’s book “The Pursuit of God,” is still amazing. We went over chapter three tonight.

Board Meeting at Graceworks. We had our monthly board meeting last night at 7pm. I stepped down from the position of Secretary for the Executive Committee for the newly elected Secretary. You can only serve for two years at a time so it’s a nice break to now just be on the board and not have to keep the minutes. We had a great meeting. Jo Ann is on the board with me and I enjoy just being with her. We kind of make a mini-date out of it.

What do you know about podcasting? It’s caught my interest and I’m looking into what it takes to make a postcast. Obviously, you’ll need a microphone to record into your computer, and software to edit/manage the audio clip. Can you use any format — mp3, wma, ram? Is there software to create the podcast? I believe there is an xml component as well. Again, this is why I’m looking into it. Who knows? Maybe in the next few days, I’ll have my first podcast available here on the website.

Productive, but crazy. It has been a long and stressful day. I’m glad it’s starting to slow down. I’m finishing up here at work and about to walk out the door. I really do hate being on call. There’s no peace knowing this pager will go off any second. Okay, I’m done whining. Today was productive, however. I installed, configured, tested, and implemented a radius server (FreeRadius). It was fun. I guess only those who are IT geeks would know what this involves. Anyway, it’s up and running great!

From a proud dad. This fine young man you see on the right here is my son, SPC Ben Hendrix. He is part of the 101st Airborne and currently stationed in Iraq. He has been on my mind a lot recently and your prayers for his safe return are coveted. I just thought I’d add this here today as my way of showing him how proud I am of him and how much I love him.

Deuteronomy 6:9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And now, in the 21st century, we’ll write them on our blog! We’ve certainly come a long way in our methods to write down what God has put on our hearts.

Sunday is always a full and incredible day. My Sunday begins teaching. We are currently in the book of Isaiah. If ever there was a book that shows God’s faithfulness to his people, Isaiah shows it clearly. Israel may have given up on God but He never gave up on them. I can never learn that lesson too many times. Sunday nights, we are reading Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God.” Tozer’s writing is amazing.

Tomorrow begins another week of call. I always dread when this week comes. It comes every 4 weeks. Working in IT as a Network Specialist can be rewarding but being on call, thought important, enslaves you to a beeper. When it goes off, all life stops until the problem is fixed. Okay, enough wining.

Have a blessed week!