bierkergaard

James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds.  My wife is a big fan of the USA television series Burn Notice. The lead character Michael Westen (above) is a former spy who was burned (booted from his position in espionage for unknown reasons). So, now he is a sub-contractor of sorts doing jobs that cross legal  lines in order to punish the bad dudes. He is also trying to find out who "burned" him so that they can chat... Mr. Westen has a disturbing pattern of smiling when facing unpleasant events. Like when someone has a gun up in his face. I told Lina it looks like that smile that Napoleon Dynamite had...a disconnect from reality. In  the spy game, I suppose it is wise to not let the enemy know that he is getting to you with the repeated kicks to the groin, so perhaps smiling is occupational necessity like being tall is for basketball. James seems to be advocating the same approach to trials.Smile in the face of suffe

This morning I was reviewing the local newspaper web ledger of "Top Stories" to see if the accident that we saw yesterday--where an SUV of a Florida family wiping out on an icy road up in the mountains--was detailed. Everyone was fine physically but the the husband was getting a tongue-lashing by the wife who apparently was saying "I am through with you" or something to that effect while we were trying to assist getting the car unstuck. All the while, the kids are looking on like kids do when they are caught in a mortifying familial mess not of their doing. Humiliated, wanting to hide under the car seats. I was going to blog about how we often truly don't know about dangers until we experience them. Florida drivers on icy roads...we can talk until we are blue in the face about the risk and it probably won't be grasped until your car is in a ditch and your wife is ragging at you. We Pennsylvanians are wiser, having wiped out many times before. Here in

Yesterday, we walked through downtown Asheville. There is a Himalayan shop of products from that part of the world...rugs, music, statues (idols really, because of the association with Hinduism and Buddhism) on a side street. I leafed through a book about the gods...so many gods, so little time. It would really stress me out to try and appease them all...  Asheville being in the mountains, elevates my thoughts to a higher plane. Geography can be spiritual to a degree and the mountains for me convey peace, majesty, and a retreat from the day-to-day life in the horizontal world.  There was a panoramic poster for sale of the Mt. Everest region topography that I had seen the previous night in a Nepalese restaurant that intrigued and captivated me.  We speak of mountain top experiences and I was reflecting several days ago about activities that make me feel most alive. Here is what came up in that range: - Reading Great Books, the Bible inclusive. I am drawn to transcendenc

I bought Lina the Blu-Ray set box for the Harry Potter series. We have been watching the movies each night while on vacation. Actually, I have been pretty much dozing through large segments while Lina and the other couple have watched the films into the wee hours. I am an early riser and just can't create a sleeping schedule that varies. I wish my sleeping could be like the iPhone alarm clock where I could set a differing sleep agenda daily. The first rationale for the gift was that I needed to find something for Lina. Pure necessity. She is a movie person. Her last preoccupation with Lord of the Rings was running thin after about a decade of infatuation, topped off by her visit to New Zealand last Fall. Pixar's offering of Cars 2 just wasn't worthy. Thus, Harry Potter became the obvious choice. I have staved off gift-giving legions for another year. Over a decade ago, my students at school began to talk about Harry Potter. Since then, I have been pretty much on the

At the truly stellar loft where we are presently residing in Asheville, North Carolina, this morning was looking like an Easter Egg Hunt of used glasses. The glasses, many of them fine glassware, needed to be hand-washed. I counted at least 20 after tracking them down and cleansing them. This is on top of the glasses already presently clean in the run dishwasher. For four people, that is an impressive amount of glasses used for less than 36 hours since our arrival, with 24 hours of this time being Christmas Day. The other couple gave me this Unibroue gift glass for Christmas. All four of us enjoy beer, wine, and additional spirits (And H2O, lest one think that is all). And, it is quite accurate to state that these spirits are not Bud Light or some other weakened brethren in bottles. It is quality drink, deserving of enhanced glassware. All of these glasses made me reflect on the cup of suffering Christ came to drink to the full. From the day he was born onward, His whole life