Modern-Day Noah’s Ark Will Serve as Petting Zoo

The ark will be part theme park, part floating Christian mission. The idea came to Huibers in a dream, a nightmare that Holland was flooded. A similar fear, we’re told, drove Noah to build his ark that saved the creatures of the world from rising waters and God’s wrath. Huibers’ plans are slightly more modest: He plans to house 300 farmyard animals in a petting zoo.

It will cost adults $5 to visit Johan’s Ark, and half that for kids. The price of admission gets you a cup of coffee from the onboard cafe when you enter and a free copy of the Gospel as you leave. Huibers will need 100,000 visitors to pay back the bank loans.

I have been hearing a lot of discussion in the last two days about this story: Bringing Bibles to the Porn Industry.

Excerpt:

Long story short…they have refunded all of our money and have refused to print the Bibles. They have told us that this goes against everything the Bible stands for and they don’t want anyone to think that Jesus is okay with porn. We think they are wrong. We think this goes with the central message of the gospel and Jesus loves you regardless of your profession.

Apparently this story will hit the Los Angeles Times this weekend….

XXX Church, American Bible Society

Steve McCoy has posted some Jack Bauer facts.

I have tried really, really hard to not let 24 bypass LOST as my favorite TV show, but I have to admit….24 is amazing…every week…and Jack Bauer rules. Comparing LOST and 24 is like comparing apples and oranges, since they are both so different, and I appreciate their differences. I appreciate the excitement and intensity and pace of 24, and I appreciate the mystery and characters in LOST.

I have been thinking about Jack Bauer. Sometimes I think he would be great to have on staff as your advocate. Not because I want him torturing others, but because he seems like he might be able to cut through all the red tape and committee meetings, and just get to the point. I will have to take him to my next Presbytery meeting…..of course, he can not shoot anyone in the leg to get them to talk.

If you don’t watch 24…then this post means nothing to you. So go watch it.

Jack Bauer, 24

On Monday I spent about nine hours painting a gazebo in our backyard, which took me about 5-6 hours longer than I thought it would. That’s no fun, but it was a tedious project. What made it all okay though was that at about 5:45 as I was finishing, I was standing on a ladder as the sun was setting and it looked like it was about to rain, when all of a sudden I heard this loud…very loud noise. I looked up and it was two birds flying towards a tree near me. Eventually they landed and the noise they produced was unreal. What were they? Two huge parrots. Finally, I was personal witness to all the stories and myths surrounding the parrots, and the town I live in, Pasadena, CA. It is rumored that Pasadena, and especially the surrounding communities of Altadena and Arcadia are full of thousands of parrots. I had yet to see them, though I have heard them, and some of my friends have seen them when they were walking down the street and looked up, and saw a red parrot in a tree.

It was really a beautiful way to end that day painting, when I saw two beautiful parrots sitting in the tree in my neighbor’s backyard. I love living in Pasadena. It is a great community. Beautiful city. Beautiful architecture. Very diverse population. The Rose Bowl Parade ends near our street. Fuller Theological Seminary, Cal-Tech communities. Old Town. The weather. Etc. And now, finally, I have seen the rumored parrots in person.

Here is some more info. on the parrots of Pasadena:

Parrots

Theories and myths abound on how these parrots came to claim Pasadena and surrounding towns as their home. A heavily accepted story by long-time residents of the area is that they were part of the stock at Simpson’s Nursery on East Colorado Blvd. in the Lamanda Park area. The nursery was burned down in 1969 and the parrots were thereby released to forage in the lush Pasadena area. It is also possible that some parrots moved northward from their normal in range in central and North Mexico as human habitation in the Pasadena area created artifical habitat in which the parrots could survive. Among their favorite foods are the berry kernels of the cedar trees which grow in great abundance around Pasadena.
Source

For more info, check out The California Parrot Project

parrots, Pasadena

Today is a vacation day for me as I have to get a bunch of stuff done before my third quarter of my grad program begins tomorrow. Agghhhh. Nothing like putting stuff off until the last minute.

First, I am super excited for my college students in our ministry as UCLA is in the Final Four (about 60%-70% of my students attend UCLA). It was awesome talking to some college students who were at the games over the weekend. I remember those days….ugh….oh right, I don’t remember those days since I went to a small, Southern Baptist, liberal arts university of 1,500 students. I hope UCLA wins. I remember after USC lost the national football championship….the USC students were pretty depressed for quite a while when they returned to our group. In fact, they still might be depressed. I hope for better results this time around.

Second, don’t forget to give in to your obsessive complusive disorders, and go straight to Library Thing and begin to start cataloging your library. Addicting.

Third, speaking of books and authors. I am addicted to the writings of the novelist Susan Howatch. Especially her Starbridge Series on the Church of England which involves the books: Glittering Images, Absolute Truths, Mystical Paths, Ultimate Prizes, Scandalous Risks and Glamorous Powers. They are phenomenal. I have read all of them at least three times, and I am on my fourth time around with Glittering Images and Absolute Truths. They have been some of the most spiritually transforming books that I have read. For those of you have not read these books, I highly recommend them. Not your typical reading for many Christians as they are pretty gritty and raw books, as they paint clergymen in the real struggle of serving God as they struggle with their own vices and sins. Real life. But some have struggled seeing clergymen portrayed in this way….as if they don’t struggle in life as well.

Fourth, I am going to be spending a lot of time the next two months blogging about college students, but specifically the transition from college, to life afterwards. Many of my students are in that position and graduation is approaching quickly. So expect many posts on these issues, but I also would like some input from you all. If you have any advice; anecdotal stuff; Biblical/spiritual wisdom; things you wish you knew then, etc….anything that in hindsight you would tell a graduating college student about life after college/careers/following God, etc., then please send me an email. I would like to gather some thoughts, and post them along with a link to your blog, etc. I am hoping to pull Chris Gonzalez into this as well since he is a college pastor.

Have a great Monday…….

Thanks for nothing Mike. I just spent about 5 hours logging on all my books at home after I saw this at your site. It is addicting. Logged about 300 at home. Which scares me, because the majority of my books are at work. Yikes. A piece at a time.

But this really is a great tool. Not only do I know what books I have, I can also go through and clean out my library.