bierkergaard

Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. With the passing of Jonathan Winters, truly an amazing comedic genius, it got me thinking about another Jon who was the funniest kid I ever knew. Jon was one of my best friends in junior high school. We were in an 8th grade US History class together with teacher Mr. Gicking, who loved to regale us with stories that had nothing to do with the subject of history. Mostly college tales of misadventures. I can still remember some of the stories today. Ex-Lax chocolate icing on a birthday cake for one. Gicking was a funny guy--not a particularly scholarly teacher--but Jon was funnier. He made strange voices, cut farts, and did all kind of stunts in class that would cause me to bust out laughing. Jon would get me all riled up with something ridiculous and I had to fight back the guffaws. I was the straight man. My life was pretty difficult back in 8th grade. I had a malevolent bully John McGo

Christianity is a religion of paradox. Space does not allow me to point all these paradoxes but here are a few: - You find your life by losing it - The day that your Savior dies a brutal and unjust death is titled retrospectively Good Friday - Greatest saint in history was first an enemy of the Gospel and called himself the "Chief of Sinners" - Central teaching is to love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you - Extols both feasting and fasting Without Jesus in the middle of all of this, it would look like a human mess of contradiction. I mean am I supposed to enjoy myself at the table or pass? The correct answer is both, not an either/or. Both practices inform the other. Want to enjoy your food intentionally and with greater thankfulness, do without on occasion. A piece of plain bread with butter becomes an wondrous experience. Last Sunday I was out for lunch with some church amigos. We has just toured a exhibit about the needs of the suffering world thr

2nd Cor 10:4 The weapons with which we fight are not human weapons, but are mighty for God in overthrowing strong fortresses. Yesterday was the 10th Anniversary of the Saddam statue being toppled. You can get a 1/35th scale statue of it on the web. No fooling. For those longing to have a memorial of the dictator close-by. Saddam was a bad man. There are a lot of bad men in the Middle East. And in the world for that matter. I recall inititially seeing the statue being pulled down by the American military a decade ago and thinking "Oh no."  I considered that if the Iraqi people could not pull down the statue by themselves, nation-building was going to be considerably more difficult that the Bush/Cheney team surmised. Time has shown the Iraqi campaign to be a disaster. Cheney is still unrepentant. Damn him. At least Bush has the good sense to keep his mouth shut about it. I am by no means a pacifist yet I see the horrible effects of militarism. At best, warfare shoul

While watching NCAA Final Four basketball last night, where the trivial is elevated to the near ultimate, I checked Twitter and read that Rick Warren's son had committed suicide. Warren, the Southern California pastor at Saddleback Church and author of the best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life   is a godly and good man. He is not a tyrant who acts the devil when out of the pulpit. This is no Freudian-like renunciation of a son to a father, Oedipus-complex turned inward rather than outward.   It is said that into every life a little rain must fall. But, the storm of suicide of a son has tsunami-like character. A torrent of grief from the spigot of sorrow that will never cease. It can't be drunk and drained, for to try to do so one would drown. I am well-acquainted with the temptation of suicide. At 17, I had a repeating dream that was as on replay. Me dying by going headfirst through a car windshield. An existential accident illustrating the splintering of hope int