bierkergaard

I like millions and millions the world over mourn the death of Steve Jobs. Although I am a dedicated PC user for my lap top (it is what I am used to), I have a special place in my heart for my iPhone. Bill Gates reminds me of the brilliant know-it-all twerp in the class whereas Steve Jobs seemed like the quirky cool dude who just had high expectations. I am enough of a right-brainer to appreciate the intuitiveness and the innovativeness of the Apple design and elan. His rise, his exile, and his return to restore the shine to Apple is almost mythical in it three acts. I spent a good chunk of time last night reading the tributes to his life and genius. I watched this video animation of Jobs coming to the Pearly Gates where St. Peter swipes through his screens on his iPad and then comes to Jobs picture and ushers him in. Although I can acknowledge the sorrow people feel at the loss of Jobs, and the desire to seek comfort and solace, it is important and crucial to affirm what (or better ...

After taking about three months off from lifting weights, I picked up the iron the other night. Since then, I have had a difficult time picking up anything. Last night at Iron Hill Brewery I was holding and drinking a glass of water with two hands because I am so sore. Dressing in the morning, tying a tie, have been exercises in trauma. I don't think I actually injured anything seriously...it is just age and inactivity tag-teaming my frame. Pure muscle soreness. I hope to be healed and stronger in a day or two. It has me thinking of when Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms during the battle with the Amalekites . If we can lift up our hands during the battle in praise, the arms will tire and get sore. Yet, God comes and provides us renewed strength to praise Him with raised arms.

The other afternoon, I was doing my jog around the neighborhood. One factor in the last two home purchases I have made has been whether the neighborhood was a good place to go for a run...circular, little traffic, no stray bullets. Stuff like that. Since the circle in my neighborhood approximates a half a mile, 8 times around is 4 miles. That is my standard run and I very determinedly strive to do it in under 40 minutes. I was booking around one of the last bends and was well certain to be coming in under 40 minutes. But, then I saw a puppy. Man, I had to stop and get some waggin' and slobberin' joy. Is there anything more fun than getting into a puppy's world and just having some pet time? By the time I was finished with the interlude, I was behind in my time to make it in under 40. I missed my goal by 20 seconds. We all have heard the saying "to take time to smell the roses." One should also take time to pet the puppies. In the end of life, we will have lived th...

The story of Katy Perry growing up in a strict Christian home and who is now distancing herself from the faith is only unusual in the degree that her fame illuminates the back-story which otherwise--like millions of other stories--would never be told in the pages of Vanity Fair. From the shackles of parental punitiveness and religious restriction, she is well astride on the streets of Vanity Fair, that place that John Bunyan so imaginatively conceived as an allegory for the world in his novel Pilgrim's Progress . The world that amuses, attracts, fascinates, and ultimate exhausts the wandering soul from finding its home in God's City. From attraction to amusement to distraction and then ultimately to destruction. Then I saw in my dream, that, when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It beareth the name of Vanity...