bierkergaard

I have noticed a precipitous drop in my pageviews in the last couple of weeks. It figures because I haven't been posting as often. Barely at all. Work has been challenging. Good, but challenging nonetheless. Even after a quarter of a century in working with teens, I still get tested and tried daily. Every kid is different, so the job is always new. Makes the position as a school counselor interesting, and did I mention challenging? On the cool front, Bierkergaard passed 100,000 pageviews this week. I guess that means something. I have learned to persevere through times of challenge with the blog. Sometimes I have to let it lay fallow for a period. It is not my first priority. Yesterday at school, I think I wore a dress shirt that I had worn previously without washing in-between. I believe I made a mistake and put it back on the rack without laundering. Or, maybe yesterday was just particularly stressing. I had a very difficult situation to deal with and my sweat reeked of neuro

Bakke in his book decries the sacred vs. secular dichotomy. He notes that most biblical characters not only did not work in priestly or pastoral positions, many actually served in Pagan kingdoms. Joseph, Moses for a time, Esther, Daniel, and the like. Evangelical subculture ministers typically internally...religious versions of music, reading, radio, and other consumer-oriented goods. It is food for the flock, or schlock for the flock in some cases. I think of the Jimi Hendrix song lyric, "I used to live in a room full of mirrors, all I could see was me." Mirror ministry. Giving to oneself and those like you. Gee, that's real spiritual. Since I work in a public school, I am well-versed and intimately knowledgeable about the pathologies of our society. There is much good in public education, there is much bad. It is like the world. Why do I work there? Well, for the same reason why criminals rob banks. That is where the money (ministry) is. We Christians wring our

There is an interesting interplay between two verses in the early Chapter of Genesis. In Genesis 3:21, God tells Adam that the land is cursed for his sake because Adam listened to the voice of his wife, ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil she offered, who was deceived by the beguiling suggestion of the serpent. Later, in Genesis 8:21, God tells Noah after the Flood that He will never curse the ground again (Genesis 8:21) and instead gives the rainbow as a sign of the Covenant between God and Man. Noah had offered up a pleasing burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord and the Lord removed the curse of water ever deluging the earth again. Though the words for curse in Hebrew in Genesis are different in these two instances, and it is most logical to assume that the first curse was and is universally applicable for all time, we do see God beginning to reverse the consequence of the Fall in the second verse. Time begins to work towards redemption. If God is willing

The above book is one that I tossed in my desire to cull my library to prepare for my impending move. Only the strongest of the literary herd survived. At the time of the tossing, I feared throwing out a book I should have kept. It is easy to correct the opposite: holding onto something I should not have--and then tossing it later. But once something is in the step beyond the garbage can, it is in the irretrievable abyss. Be careful about what you jettison in life. Fortunately, another copy of the book was in the house as my wife had a copy too. I think we had both gone to an event where the author (Dennis Bakke) was speaking. He signed her book, so my signed copy is probably en route now to recycling in China. I am hoping oppressed Chinese workers who can read English snag some of my books before they go to the shredder. There were some good books in there. Not great, just good. In ensuing blogs, I intend to share some thought from the book. It was an insightful read.

Leviticus 25:8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. (ASV) The Year of Jubilee in the Mosaic Law was the 50th year to pronounce the universal forgiveness of debts in Israel. Property returned to its original owners/families. God gave back land (which was money), even if a man had accrued debts through sinful decisions. By the time a man is 49, he has accumulated a lot of soul debt (from sins, bad decisions, and mistakes). It is like dragging a dead tree behind him all day and having it sit by the bed at night for the next day. I should know, I just turned 49. I am forgiven but I have a difficult time forgetting, and then that blows back to mourning the past. Judicial forgiveness does not remove time lost and opportunities squandered. Sometimes the hardest person to give grace to is ourselves. It is a blessing that God is telling me to let