bierkergaard

The day before Valentines Day I was at the Hallmark store along with all the other poor sucker men looking through the cards. Valentines Day is a damned if you don't holiday for sure. Advice to the newly married or men in a relationship perhaps leading to marriage. Don't believe the woman when she says that Valentines Day is no big deal. It's a trap to see if you can have the wisdom to do the right thing despite the words. You had better learn that lesson sooner or later, and the sooner the better. Applicable to much more than Valentines. My wife is not a particularly sentimental person and neither am I. So, 99% of the cards were not suitable. We love each other and all but sugary verse, especially with the awful rhymes, off-limits. I finally wound up buying a card in the snarky section with script that stated that I loved her more than I loved bacon. And, I love bacon. Dangerous to even equate a person to a thing, even if it is bacon. Some women want roses, chocolat...

' There are demons she fought privately and publicly for many years... She's been on a downward spiral for a long time and when you have those people around you that enable the behaviour ... she couldn't shake those demons.' That is the quote of a music insider about the life and death of Whitney Houston...I am pretty sure that the intention in the use of the word "demons" is generic with not the belief in the actual supernatural origin of demons tormenting her.  A couple of years ago I was in conversation with a parent about a situation regarding another person and he used "demons" in the same way, but I had to ask to make sure. For I believe that demons are fallen angels and the Bible is quite clear that they exist and are a malevolent presence in the world.  I am no Medievalist. The world thinks anyone who actually believe in the demonic to be backwards and backwoods. So be it.  The battle between good and evil is cosmic in scope. Satan f...

Walking out of school today, I saw one of these Valentine heart-shaped balloons, floating alone in the sky. By the time I got my iPhone out, zoomed, and focused, the balloon was no longer able to be seen in the photo. Was it cast loose in a cool dismissal of unreciprocated love?  An illustration of the wayward winds of human affection? Or, the string lost grip of by trying to text too? In fourth grade, I saw the distribution of Valentine cards in accordance to the popularity and prettiness of the girls. The cutest girl received the best cards--I still remember her name--Marissa, while the lower status and physically unattractive girls received the leftovers, and their names are long forgotten. Childhood can be sad... I read this in Calvin's devotional this morning based on Psalm 27:1. It just seemed appropriate for Valentines Day. This is beyond the vagaries of human affection. God, therefore, kindly allures us to himself....that it may ravish our hearts with admiration o...

Last evening, we had plans for dinner down at a Mexican fine dining establishment in Wayne, Pa. The event had been planned for a couple of months. Lina and I were having dinner with a man who mentored me as a young man. In fact, he still does, although I ain't so young anymore (Springsteen). He is fairly well known in Libertarian and Conservative circles. I will leave it at that. Our respective schedules tend to require a degree of planning. My mentor earlier in the day wrote an email advising that we should cancel and reschedule because inclement weather was in the forecast with that deadly three letter word: ICE. Snow does not really rattle me. Ice on the other hand makes me get angina. Yet, I decided to take our chances. Lina and I were the ones driving and traveling down the Pa. Turnpike, so ultimately it was our call. I just didn't want to delay our dinner. Delays can turn into de facto denials. Don't presume upon tomorrow type of thing. I did presume that Penn-...