Pella Peeps

Thought for the day: The best mirror is an old friend.

Free Stuff for His and Her

My readers have alerted me that I have been neglecting my free stuff sixth sense. So I have searched out some top freebies for women and men.

Ulta is a store that offers a range of beauty items for women. I have seen a few stores in the Chicagoland area and they appear to have some excellent deals and coupons. Let me know what you think about the store. Best of all, they are offering a Free 10 Piece Cosmetic Set! for signing up for email alerts.

For the men, I will offer something you all need to use...shave gel. No more soap and water, you can have a clean finish for free- Fusion Hydra Soothe.

Thought for the day: No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.

Robbed the Jewelry Store, Made Me a Grill

Do you ever have a day where your perspective on life shifts a little? I had the epiphany this week where I realized I am in the season of least responsibility in my life. Thanks to a lunch with some elder co-workers who shed great light on the aging process and stages of life. Case in point, a glimpse into my week:

Chillin with my grillz in Wicker Park


Dabbling in acrylic

Pumpkins for Jesus

Not only did I do these things, I had time to take pictures.

Thought for the day: Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.

O Canada!

In honor of Canadian Thanksgiving last Monday, I would like to pay tribute to our friendly neighbor to the North. Every time I prepare to go to Canada (6 or 7 times last year), I get a rush of excitement and anticipation. My love for this country goes far beyond the exchange rate....which used to be .7 to 1, alas it is almost 1 to 1 nowadays. These are a few of my favorite things:

Banff National Park- quite possibly the most beautiful and peaceful place in North America.

Munchkins and Iced Cappuccino from Tim Hortons


Love it or hate it- Canadians have pride, eh!

Let me know what your favorite things about Canada are, leave a comment!

Thought for the day: A Canadian is sort of like an American, but without the gun.

My Hometown to Build a $155 Million Rain Forest!

The world might possibly be going mad or at least the governor of Iowa. Pella, IA (population near 10,000) is the future home to Earth Park. Earthpark will feature an indoor rain forest, a 600,000-gallon freshwater aquarium, an exterior prairie and wetland exhibits. In an earlier blog I did mention that my town is not new to the ridiculous. We built a multimillion dollar nonfunctional canal...(4 inches of water deep!) and also a ginormous windmill imported piece by piece from Holland that grinds Bulgar wheat.

A similar venture in England draws 8 million tourist a year. I will believe it when I see it, but I will be the first in line in 2010 to check it out if and when it opens. The president of the local college says "It [Earth Park] could very well be the salvation of this planet that we all call home." My guess is either Al Gore or Philippe Cousteau will do the ribbon cutting.

MSNBC Article

EARTHPARK WEBSITE
[Check out the video on this site!]


Thought for the Day: If you build it, they will come?

AWESOME

This post is to clear the air on any Piper/Driscoll controversy. As I said in my blog yesterday these men are united in proclaiming the Supremacy of Christ. Congratulations to Mark and Mars Hill on their 10th Anniversary. 1.5 million raised in one day, awesome!

Even yesterday as I surfed the blogsphere, I became aware of the influence the cyberworld has and also the potential danger. A reminder to myself from this is to be careful not to engage in or put out gossip online.

Piper and Driscoll exchange emails

Thought for the day: Be slow to anger and quick to forgive.

I Want to be Hip Too, Man!

So much to blog, so little time. I could write a minor novel on the wealth of knowledge dispersed from last weekend's Desiring God Conference. Instead, of course, I will direct you to quite possibly the best podcasts you have heard this year to ponder for yourself. You must check out the conference podcasts (Listen Now)! This was the conference of all conferences!

The conference was inspired by a book entitled Above All Earthly Powers by David Wells. Dr. Wells kicked off the conference with a message on the Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern (1) World. Wells is an elder theology professor with the most endearing British accent. He listed some facts that Christianity is moving South and East in the world. On Sunday less than 2% of New Zealanders go to church, while nearly 80% attend in many African nations. Questions to think about: What is your treasure? How can we reach suffering people--both physically and psychologically suffering?

Definitely check out both of the Q&A sessions for some candid, touching, and affecting conversation. Highlights include precious David Wells asserting, "I want to be hip too, man!" in response to a question comparing him and younger Mark Driscoll. John Piper saying "smart ass" quoting some people from the emergent camp. D.A. Carson's emotional recounting of his father's faithfulness during a time of little fruit in ministry. Wow, these two sessions were worth the trip, so much fun!

Voddie Baucham, an African American preacher from TX, delivered a moving message on The Supremacy of Christ and Truth. He describes the two prevailing worldviews of Christian and Humanist perfectly. Africa came to my mind during this talk and how it in many ways is a modern day Holocaust. Voddie is a powerful, powerful speaker; you must listen if you haven't heard him before.

Tim Keller who heads a church in NYC had many insights on the topic of The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel. This guy is smart and I can't help but think prophetic. He describes the nation as having pockets of "Christ-haunted" people, but also large populations of people who have no idea what the concept of sin, man, hell are. He is an advocate of contextualization of the gospel, which in short is something like if you live in Japan you would speak Japanese, learn to use chopsticks, etc. Solid gold, you must listen!

My personal favorite, Mark Driscoll, was the talk of the conference! Some people were upset John Piper invited him, but I still can't figure out why. Driscoll was genius with his example of the closed and open hand. The closed hand is where you hold things you won't compromise, like theology. The open hand is where you hold things that should be adaptable, like music. Piper lightly rebuked Mark during the conference saying his cleverness might get in the way of showing the glory of God. However, later Piper humbly stated an observation by a young fellow that while Mark was culturally clever, he was academically clever and therefore just as much in danger as Mark.

John Piper was the closer for the conference and the highlight for me. He again shows how our joy comes from glorifying God. Deeply passionate and stirring, you will be moved to make changes in your life from this message!

I definitely thank God for each speaker at this conference and the vastly different gifts they each possess. The impact of their ministries and even this conference will be great. Driscoll may best reach the tree huggers of Seattle, Piper might best reach academics, Keller might best reach NYC intelligentsia, but they all are united in proclaiming the Supremacy of Christ above all things!

Personally, I have been moved to do and change many things in my life from this conference. Earlier this year I got onto a blog site of the EBay Atheist that was run by the emergent church movement. I was drawn in by the conversations and dialog this group was trying to create. I thank this conference for helping me see the great danger in what this movement is doing. Stay tuned for more life changes....

Other blogs to check out: Joshua Harris (pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye) and Challies (live blogger at Reformed Christian Conferences)


Thought for the Day: Christ is Supreme!

(1) [Definition of Postmodernism as stated by D.A. Carson: Postmodernism recognizes how much of what we "know" is shaped by the culture in which we live, is controlled by emotions and aesthetics and heritage, and can only be intelligently held as part of a common tradition, without overbearing claims to being true or right. In the domain of religion, postmodernism focuses on relationships, love, shared tradition, integrity in discussion.]