10-10-10

Thought the date was kind of neat today, so had to use it as my post title.   We are so enjoying the beautiful, beautiful autumn in Michigan.   The trees have so many different colors of red, orange, and gold--and there are so many trees!  I do miss seeing the fields of corn/beans ready for harvest, though.  We can see that if we travel out of town, but we do not do that very often.  Not as often as we used to anyway, making that trip from Orange City to Sioux Center!

Lake Wabasis where we spent Sat night with Renee and Andy

We also enjoyed the gift/beauty of art today by visiting ArtPrize in downtown Grand Rapids.  This is put on by the DeVos family.  Artists from all over the world submit their art to be put on display at various venues downtown.   People from all over the area then come and view the art and vote for their favorite.  Ultimately, one piece is chosen for the grand prize ($250,000) with the top ten all receiving some lesser monetary prize.  Today was the last day for the display and the prize winners were announced just this last Thursday. 

Skyline of Grand Rapids made with long tubes filled with colored balls

3-D penny made from 84,000 pennies

Grand prize pencil drawing--look how big this drawing is!

Just some closer shots to give an idea of the amount of detail on this drawing.  Did I mention we waited in line for 2 hours to see this drawing?  Obviously we didn't know how long the wait would be and by the time we realized this we felt we had put in enough time to stick it out.  We were able to see other art as we waited in line and seeing the winner was worth it!

Interestingly enough, Dr. Murray in his sermon today at the Free Reformed church made reference to both the beauty we are seeing in creation this time of year and ArtPrize.  His sermon was entitled "What the Atheist Knows" from Romans 1.    This was an excellent sermon and I could go on and on, but one part of the sermon really stood out.    He stated that if you walk around looking at the art at ArtPrize you can often tell something about the artist by the art they have created.  Often that is the goal of the artist--to be able to express something about themselves in a visible way.  Graciously, God has also done this through his creation.  He went to ask what would happen if you were to destroy/deface one of the ArtPrize works.  He affirmed that people would be angry; you would be run out of town.  Yet, isn't that what we do to God when we do not affirm/acknowledge and ignore what He is clearly showing us in creation.  But in His mercy he continues to set before us in nature His existence--and even more than that, his power and Godhead.  As verse 20 reads, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"

The crew downtown on the bridge over the Grand River