By far my favorite commercial this year was this cute spot from Volkswagen featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader who gains the power to turn on a car using The Force.

Which Superbowl commercial was your favorite this year?

Yes, that’s a lady ice-skating down the road. She was also skating in the grassy common area behind our house with just as much ease and speed.

My buddy Ramon up in Fort Wayne even wrote a song about “Snowmageddon 2011″ (audio is out of sync, he said he should have a new one to upload soon).

Have you been hit by the snow or ice? What’s it look like where you’re at?
By the way, I should tell you that if you’re sitting on a beach somewhere or living somewhere where it’s 75 degrees and sunny, don’t bother commenting!

Since that story broke, new instances of mass animal deaths have been popping up around the world. 300+ Turtle doves in Italy, hundreds of dead pelicans…

…150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain, 2 million dead fish in the Chesapeake Bay…

In what was perhaps one of the most tragic instances of animal deaths, the beloved Twitter bird was found dead among the thousands of black birds in Arkansas.

Someone posted a link to this Google Map that is tracking the mass, unexplained animal deaths around the world. The mass deaths are more than a little unsettling when you see them all displayed around the world like this.

Needless to say, end-of-the-world theorists are pointing to this as definitive signs that time is short for everyone on this planet while end-times scholars are trying to find new ways to interpret these animal deaths according to verses in Revelations.

Before anyone gets too carried away, it’s important to remember that mass animal deaths like this occur all the time. On average, 163 such events are reported to the federal government each year, according to USGS records. And there have been much larger die-offs than the 3,000 blackbirds in Arkansas. Twice in the summer of 1996, more than 100,000 ducks died in Canada.

But that explanation is too boring. The end of the world makes for much better conversation around the water cooler, right?

Just for fun, let’s jump on the conspiracy bandwagon for a minute. What do YOU think is to blame for all these unexplained animal deaths around the world? Military Experiments? Global Warming? Signs of the times from Revelations? Glen Beck?

Weigh in with your explanation below… (the more far-fetched, the better)

(ht: Curtis Honeycutt for this incredible find…I’m buying you one for Christmas)

This adorable little orangutan doll can be yours for only $149, a real steal for such a precious doll.

What do you think of Mollie the Incredibly Lifelike Orangutan Toddler? Cute or Creepy?

Do yourself a favor, skip the 22 minute sitcom you were going to watch on Hulu during your lunch break or later tonight and watch this instead. The illustrations and explanations make it easy to understand, plus, you’ll be able to throw around economic terms like “planned obsolescence” or “externalized costs” at your next party.

(If you found this video interesting be sure to check out the other videos from The Story of Stuff Project)

Here are a few of the statistics they shared in the video that I found most disturbing:

• Over the past three decades, one-third of the planet’s natural resources base have been consumed.
• In the United States, we have less than 4% of our original forests left.
• Forty percent of waterways in the US have become undrinkable
• In the U.S., industry admits to releasing over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals a year.
• The average U.S. person now consumes twice as much as they did 50 years ago.
• Each person in the United States makes 4 1/2 pounds of garbage a day. That is twice what we each made thirty years ago.
• For every one garbage can of waste you put out on the curb, 70 garbage cans of waste were made upstream to make the junk in that one garbage can you put out on the curb.

Here’s the question I’ve been pondering since watching this video, How do we raise children in this consumeristic society without them jumping on the consumer hamster wheel themselves?

So if you’ve ever wondered how to plant a church, here’s everything you need to know in just 3 minutes.

Well, that day finally came! It made this Star Wars fan’s heart proud to sit down with his two daughters and see those blue letters on the screen, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

There are, of course, different schools of thought in regards to when and how you should introduce your children to the Star Wars universe. Here’s a Public Service Announcement about talking to your children about Star Wars (sent to me by my brother).

Regardless of when you choose to introduce your children to Star Wars, sooner or later you’re going to have to deal with the “other Star Wars.” You know, the one with Jar Jar Binks.

A week or two after watching the original trilogy with the girls, we sat down and watched Episode 1: The Phantom Menace because they had been asking about it. When it was over, I was almost afraid to ask what they thought. What if they liked it better than the original Star Wars? What if they *gulp* actually liked Jar Jar Binks?

My fears turned out to be unfounded. Both of them agreed that they liked the original Star Wars better. Emily said, “I liked the other guys better…Luke Skywalker…Dark Vader (as she calls him)…the shiny guy (C3P0)…princess Leia. I liked her hair.” It brought a tear to my eye.

Have you had the “Star Wars talk” with your kids yet? How old were they when you introduced them to Star Wars?

Just last week I was up in Fort Wayne having lunch with a fellow church planter and listening to his stories of adopting 3 brothers from Latvia – an amazing story I hope he turns into a book some day. And just this afternoon my blog buddy Adam Owens got the final approval they were waiting for to add little Angela to their family.

Lisa and I have always had a heart for adopting. Right now we’re in a different phase of life where our children and this church plant is requiring all of our spare time but we have both said we would love to adopt some day.

When I start talking about adopting I can’t help but think about God’s heart for the orphan. Did you know that there are 143 MILLION orphans on our planet today? 143 million children who have neither father nor mother to take care of them or love them.

Earlier this year when I was in Kenya this young orphan’s story melted my heart.

Eliud was a young man – 18 when I met him – whose way of life is unlike anything we could possibly imagine here in the United States. He lived in a slum in Nairobi after losing both parents and a sister. He was an orphan in the truest sense of the word – completely on his own with no one to take care of him.

In the midst of a situation that would have broken most people down, Eliud was able to connect with his true source, his heavenly Father. Those words he wrote on his cardboard wall above his store still humble me every time I read it.

Oh to have that kind of perspective.

If you haven’t already, please read the post I wrote about Eliud called Father To The Fatherless and especially watch the video of Eliud thanking his Compassion sponsor. I dare you not to cry when you watch it.

To commemorate Orphan Awareness Month, please take a moment to pray and ask God how you can help make a difference in an orphan’s life today. Perhaps you know a friend who is in the process of adopting who needs some financial support. Maybe God is calling you to invest in the life of a child like Eliud by sponsoring a child through Compassion. Or perhaps you are or have already adopted yourself.

God is called in the Bible a “father to the fatherless“ and the purest form of religion according to James 1:27 is to serve the fatherless and the widow.

Please pray this month for the 143 million children who have no father or mother but instead rely on their heavenly father to protect and take care of them.

If you have adopted, are in the process now or know someone who is, please share a brief story so we can pray and celebrate together.

After the last time I heard them a few years ago they fell off my radar until last month. The newly-renamed band led a worship set at Catalyst that just blew me away. It included songs off their Beautiful Things album that came out in February like the title-track Beautiful Things and a song I especially liked called The Earth Is Yours.

Gungor definitely has a unique sound for a worship album, although I’m not exactly sure that is what genre you would classify this album as. There are definitely some amazing songs that I’ve been worshipping to but it sounds unlike many worship albums you’ve heard. Michael Gungor says that it’s “church music” but  with a little bit of Sigur Ros, Muse and Sufjan Stephens style thrown in.

As I mentioned above, one song in particular that I fell in love with when I heard it live was The Earth Is Yours. It’s great on the album but I also enjoy this version I found on their YouTube channel performed appropriately enough, live from the forest.

This album is a breath of fresh air. It tackles issues of environmental stewardship without sounding cheesy and has deep, meaningful lyrics that draw you in. I literally can not stop listening to it.

I love this album enough that I wanted to share it with you. I have 5 copies of Beautiful Things that I am giving away right here on my blog!! I’m so excited to give this away because I know you will fall in love with it like I did.

To enter, simply leave a comment below and tell me a “beautiful thing” God has done in your life.

Tweet and Facebook links to this page for extra chances to win!

Congratulations to our winners!

The the magical randomness of Random.org, the 5 winners of this great album were selected this morning. The winners are: Nathan Duvall, BJ, Amy Bennett, Annie, and Kelly Sauer. I know you will all enjoy this album tremendously. For the rest of you who didn’t win, don’t let that get in the way of you listening to this great album - head over to iTunes and pick it up!

This was the card we created and gave to every firefighter along with the meal we served them (if you’re interested in doing something like this, leave a comment below and I’ll email you the graphics for this card so you can print them off).

After one of our luncheons, the firefighters asked us if we wanted a ride in a firetruck. Uhh, of course!!

It was pretty sweet rolling through our neighborhood in a huge ladder truck. I found an extra helmet to put on to add to the “cool factor.”

The kids loved hanging out with the firefighters and learning all about their job and equipment.

All in all we were able to connect personally with and serve meals to all 50 men and women in all the shifts of our Westfield Fire Department over 3 days. These guys are the real deal. It was so much fun hanging out with them and thanking them for everything they do to keep our community safe.

Have you had a chance to participate in any kind of outreach to the civil servants in your community? What did you do?