bierkergaard

Seriously, some of the most comments I receive on my blog posts are either about grass or groundhogs. Both topics make me go Grrrrrr alright. So, we had a drought. The grass out front died and faded to brown. We have had a ton o' rain and most of the grass is dead still. While all of the yard that is not within sight from the street is a lush verdant green, anything visible is dead as Lenin. It is like a dude who has hair all over his body--and copious amounts at that--on back, neck, arms, and belly, but his head is a cue ball. Ironies, painful ironies. The grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of God stands forever.

I really like Pennsylvania weather. Just when I can't take the summer heat anymore, it turns cooler. Leaves change, burning leaves smoke aroma fills the air, and nights come sooner. I know it is illegal to burn leaves around here but I am always glad for a few "scofflaws of smoke" who flavor the air. Burn on... God knows the human heart longs for things it does not have, or once had and lost, and does not appreciate the things it does have. The seasons remind us what has been, what is, and what will come. And, in so doing, we remember and reckon ourselves blessed.

I am convinced that the primary reason why the Church struggles with evangelism is not because we don't care about people...it is just that we don't know how to care about people in practical ways that make a real difference. We are so theologized and sermonized that we have taken leave of our senses and forgotten what it takes to be human in the best way imaginable. Caring for others is not hard intellectually and strategically yet it is costly and at times can be quite inconvenient. Most of the time, it really isn't even that hard, though. Listen, love, learn from another. Lend a hand. Share a loaf. Really, come on...this does not take a Ph.D in the Bible. Knowing the right answer can be a serious deficit spiritually if we do not do the right answer. Who is worse...the Pagan who does not know the Word and acts like He does not know it OR the religious type who does know the Word but does not do it? This is not a rhetorical question. It is quite serious. Last night o...

What happens when one buys beer bottles (returnables) from a beer distributor of a brewery that closed down in the 1980's? Ummm....scum. Not sure where these bad boys were stored but it must have been someplace dark and dank. Can't complain too much, they are fine bottles for the homebrewing of Belgian Beer. 16 ouncers of thick brown glass for less than 25 cents a bottle. Yet, I spent a whole lot of the day yesterday doing my best to move the bottles out of the liquid Legionnaire's Disease Zone. I did lose a plastic hose in one of the bottles as I was filling it and could not find it despite opening the whole row of suspects. Not sure how I managed that one...my incompetence sometime mystifies even me... In the end, only three bottles remain that were still scuzzy and cruddy that I might just toss. The whole experience reminded me of when Jesus told his listeners, many of them hostile, to wash not only the outside of the jar but also the inside. We might look good ceremonia...