bierkergaard

I snapped this photo from Hershey's Corporate jet at 40,000 feet on the way back from Chicago. We hitched a ride as the jet was in the Windy City and we were stuck with no certain plan of escape. Didn't know that smaller jets are at the top of the flying altitude path-wise. Commercial flight is lower. Also, no security lines with TSA. My wife and I have different work worlds. I spend my days with mostly blue collar kids, with a tinge of a white border. She is in the rarefied corporate jet stream quite literally. White collar with gold trim. Yellow school bus vs. a Lear Jet. I think we have the earth and sky covered. When looking at a picture such as this I was struck by the pure beauty of the sight. May we never lose our sense of wonder. Every sunset is unique, it is once and done. God starts every day new as an artist with a palette. The scientist can explain how light refracts and reflects creating color and hue. Yet, why we should perceive it aesthetically points to more th...

Been considering recently that an aspect of humility is the willingness to admit that we don't have a lot of answers to perplexing and difficult issues. I had a button in my early 20's attached to my jacket that read, "Onward through the fog." I should still be wearing it if I knew where it was... It is a type of intellectual humility to bow down before the unknown and confess that we have many more questions than answers. Three children from one family killed in a car wreck recently in our area. What can be known why a tragedy strikes like this--but spares the rest of us to live another day. We all see through a glass darkly as Paul writes. A man like Paul, who was the recipient of divine revelation, admitting his own ignorance, is refreshing. There are doctrines we must be sure of, yet much certainty in things not able to really be known is foolhardy and even dangerous. I like to have answers but am learning (even at 48 years of age) that I have much to learn and it...

Snapped this picture in downtown Chicago on the iPhone last week. Thought it was an interesting irony. The shadow overtaking the Trib building, photo captured by the technology that is eclipsing it. I am not a traditionalist in the sense that I am wedded to paper. I say go digital for newspapers. The news tends to not be something worth rereading. Save the trees. I am sentimental for printed hardcover books but that is what it is....sentimentality. It makes little sense to collect hard cover books. They take up storage space, are hard to move, and decay over time. I recently downloaded 25 classic books to my Kindle Fire. That would be 25 more books that would crowd an already stocked shelves in the house or the approximate 1 ton of books in the basement. At least it felt that heavy in total when I moved them from the townhouse. The Kindle got no bigger and weighs no more. It just is a matter of time that the printed book goes the way of the horse and the buggy. So be it. I am, however,...

It could have been a whole lot worse. A flight cancelled out of Chicago last week. A 24 hour layover. I had a Comp Day at work. A trade for a night and day in Chicago...I will take that deal Monte Hall! We took a trot to Intelligentsia Coffee. I approached the counter in trepidation and confessed to the staff, as if they were priests, that I was a complete novice and had never entered these hallowed grounds before. It was a good thing I got that confession out pronto because it spared me the embarrassment of approaching the dude at the cash register rather than the barista. So, 7-11ish I am sure that they thought. Sorry no Slurpees, you yahoo. Several of the baristas at Intelligentsia are world champions. "I am not worthy, have mercy on me, a dude from Central Pa." Starbucks trash... I used to get a thrill going to Starbucks with its Italian terms for coffee sizes (does anyone else freeze sometime trying to recall the sizes???...I just start throwing out Italian like Mam...

One of the dangers of blogging is writing about same topic twice with nothing new to offer. Let it be noted that my previous post about the ""Dude Abides" was about the word "Dude." Not that you would recall anyway. I barely did. This fittingly is about the abide part. The Big Lebowski is a great film and one that my wife and watch every New Years Day. An odd tradition but one that works for us. If I have to explain more about how this all connects, get with it man. On Tuesday, I was in Chicago. This t-shirt was on sale outside a store on Michigan Ave. That street is the capitalist crust for goods made in China in Chicagoland. Political patronage seems to still be thriving there too. Such a nice place and people with terribly nefarious politicians. I have no beef with Chicago...it is a great city. As far as I know, Deep Dish is still indigenous to Chicago. Sometimes it seems like all that is going to be left in the U.S. as products are Pizza. Delivery time f...

Walking to Starbucks in Laguna Niguel, this empty canister caught my eye. It looked important. As I got closer and picked it up, I saw the label said "Medical Cannabis." Hmmm....not exactly an empty aspirin bottle. I quickly chucked it into a trash can. Apparently the pot user is also a litterer, a minor crime that suggests a piggish and self-indulgent soul. With California, a state that seemingly has so much wealth is completely broke, baffles me. It makes me wonder if opening the floodgates on the distribution of marijuana is a good idea for a state that already is not living in reality. Medicine is something that should heal, not reinforce poor patterns of coping. As Pot is prescribed for psychosomatic issues (i.e. addictions), it will surely be the case that the cure shall be worse than the illness. The medical justification for marijuana is highly suspect in almost all instances. It just seems to be the back door to legalization under the auspices of prescription legiti...

Strolling through the sun-soaked town of San Gabriel we came face-to-face with this skull and crossbones. The building was the mission for the Catholic Church , harks from the 1700's in construction, and is the oldest structure in So. Cal. The verses inscribed retell the refrain of the biblical character Job. A man who endured a series of subtractions of all that makes life worth living. The Adversity Gospel. How anyone can posit Health and Wealth have to go elsewhere than the Bible for proof texts. In the end, all Job could say was, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." It is all he had. And, know this, it was more than enough.