bierkergaard

I have not read the Steinbeck novel. Somehow I dodged it in my formal education. From my authoritative source, Wikipedia, it sounds as if it has literary parallels to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. No light reading. In the Fall of Man story in Genesis, God asks the three parties involved--the man, the woman, and the serpent--what happened (Genesis 3:12). The man blames the woman and God, the woman blames the serpent, and the serpent pleads the 5th and keeps his trap shut. It says something bad when Satan acts more honorably than the human actors. He's guilty and he knows it. Excuses and blame-shifting are as old as human history. I have wondered if the Curses of God would have been any different if Adam had said, "I am guilty" and left it at that. And Eve, "I am guilty" and left it at that. Even with all of the finger-pointing, God is still graceful and promises redemption to the human race rather than treat our first parents as deserved. When we make mor...

The last week has been filled with listening to Spotify while pounding out my book. I am rocking to Tommy from The Who right now. I am finding that I am mostly listening to songs for albums that I already own, and are downstairs somewhere, or stuff I used to own before I threw the music out in an attempt to purge myself of worldly influences or just trying to get rid of items that I no longer had time for. Or so I thought. Ah, youthful zeal. Time has a way of reminding us of the value of something or someone when perhaps it was easy to dismiss the value when it/he/she was around 24-7. We take much of what we have for granted until it is gone and then we go, "Hmmm, maybe that wasn't a good ideas to get rid of it to start with." Imagine how much we would want the Bible if we did not have one. You mean I can have a revelation from God? That would be awesome! Instead, the Bible sits on the shelf while we read words that have a half-life of a fruit fly and not the eternal na...

Do the Amish eat Salsa...or is it too worldly and disruptive to the social fabric of their community? Don't know. One thing I do know is that I made salsa today Amish-like without the carnal Cuisinart that my wife uses. It would take me an hour to set up, three minutes to use, and an hour to clean it up and put it away. No, I sliced and diced with a mere knife and cutting board. The tomatoes, peppers (red and jalapeno), and parsley in the garden were chanting Beatles-like, 'Come together, over me." See the concert in the bowl? It is good, and hot. I head to the beach tomorrow and had to go something rather than let it all rot. That is a crime. I brought in some organic garlic and an evil Costco mass-farmed red onion into the mix, drenched it in vinegar, and salsa here we are. Salsa due to the vinegar, keeps quite a while. I think we lose something when we use our equipment to divorce our senses from the material world....sort of a technological Gnosticism. Don't touch...

John Lennon, the genius that he was, certainly nailed it with his song "Imagine." I really love the song even though it pretty much dismisses a biblical worldview without much looking back while also embracing a pretty naive hope for the future. That is telling us something about the power of art and the imagination. When a song does not assent to what I believe fundamentally about life and existence, Heaven, Hell, and all that is between, and I still give it a thumbs up of affirmation, that is impressive. And, the song has lasted in the consciousness of our culture long after Lennon was brutally gunned down. Why? I have been thinking and writing a lot recently. I have also been reading a good deal also. In writing my book, and in being observant of how others write, I am persuaded that how we tell the facts of the biblical narrative is crucial and often plays into the enemies hand because we lack imagination. This insight is essentially due to my own struggles in trying...

I have been feeling a nagging hunger for quite a spell. It has nothing to do with calories. I am well fed. Without disparaging the worthwhile campaign of Snickers to provide food for the hungry in body, I think soul hunger is more endemic and epidemic in our land. I can only speak for myself entirely, yet there is a disconnect in my spiritual life that seems to be a common and nearly universal malady here in the U.S.. I know the right answers but somehow that hardly seems satisfying. My head is full of theology, my heart is famished for the Spirit. I am hardly alone. I continue to work on my book on the college transition and one of the recurring questions I have when writing is whether my words are consistent with the way I am living. Does my rhetoric paint that life needs to be lived a certain way--with the dimensions of passion, purpose, and love--but is this illustration just a shallow illusion? My canvas only looks like it has depth. This question is actual more than a gnawing...