bierkergaard

I have been going through a very intense trial the last couple of weeks. I am not going to reveal what it is, take my word for it. I try to avoid settling scores online. The trial continues...it ain't over yet.   Speaking of trial, my favorite book of all time is C.S. Lewis's "God In The Dock." That is just the British way of saying, "God On Trial." In the collection of essays, C.S. Lewis does a masterful job in articulating a Christian perspective on various topics. He has one on the terrors of reciprocity in Christmas gift-giving. On a weightier topic, he discusses War (much of his writing and speaking coincided with years of war). I wonder if England would have prevailed against Nazi Germany without the witness of Lewis. One of the  questions all of us have is where is God when things go into the crapper? Well, as I ran today, I thought about the myriad of sins that were inflicted upon Jesus. Envied, hated, laughed at, forgotten and forsaken, ridic...

Last night was Commencement at the high school where I work. It was one of those early evenings which looked like it could rain. Little do future school superintendents know that one of the most perplexing duties of their position is to be a weather predictor. A rained on graduation, not a good scene. Disastrous actually. Safe or sorry, outside or inside? Should school be cancelled because of snow in the forecast? Stuff like that. The decision was made to hold Commencement outside. The meteorological Rubicon was crossed. As it turned out, it was a lovely evening. Not sunny and warm, but partly cloudy, cool, with a smattering of sun. Ominous clouds, like sharks, circled the skies but kept their jaws closed. When the staff walked into the stadium, I and another counselor were at the end of the line and sat at the final row of chairs. When Commencement ended, the staff lined up and faced the stands and the seniors, now graduated, walked by us one last time. I had to step b...

At the campground, I got into a game of tag with the kids--my two nieces and the two children in the Yurt next door. After some initial conflict between families, my brother's family had settled in the incorrect Yurt, matters chilled out. Thus the children came out to play. Somehow the game of tag turned out so that all the kids were chasing me. I decided to book it down the road and through the woods which caused great consternation with the parents. They no longer had the kids in sight. So, the parents began to chase the kids chasing me. It was quite the scene. As I ran through the wooded area, I came upon some campers eating dinner at their site and I ran by them and through the tent compound like I was on a jail break. Having a 6'8" dude coming out of nowhere huffing and puffing probably was a little disconcerting. I peered over to my right and saw that I had a clear line to the Rock of Refuge, the place of safety from the deadly tags. I turned on the after-bu...

So, on Monday I was high-tailing it out of Ohiopyle State Park. It had stormed violently the day and night previous, leaving a general moist blanket on everything. Three days and nights of camping, and I was ready for my bed and some AC. Sometimes I think the best thing about camping is showing how wonderful modern shelter and conveniences are. Including our own personal commode. Driving away, I was on one of those Red State winding country roads where the locals try to cash in on the tourists by selling firewood, furniture, food, booze/beer, and plain old junky crap (er, "Antiques"). I spotted a property that had dual signs. One sign said "Beware of Dog." The other said "Yard Sale." Um, kind of a mixed message there. "Sure, we will sell you this hear 1960 sewing machine but we are going to sic Brutus on yer ass." Run fer yer life feller. Say, just a suggestion: Might want to take down the Beware of Dog sign and lock up guard dog in the ba...

Just returned yesterday from camping and biking in Ohiopyle State Park in Western Pa. For the next several days, I will be blogging like an echo from that experience. I got to hang out with a plurality of family members...some don't live close enough to have made the drive but most of the Pennsylvania-based immediate family showed up for a weekend. So, we had decision-making powers and authority since there was a quorum. At least for Pennsylvania matters. I discovered that my niece Julia has a fascination with lizards. She wants one like most kids want a puppy or an X-Box. She likes bugs in general, and particularly butterflys. She was walking around with a grasshopper perched on her hand for a spell. She probably loves snakes too. So, to amuse her, I concocted a tale about "THE DEATH LIZARD" and his epic battles with the Killer Coyotes that ate his family, with the exception of his mom--who lives in the desert of Arizona in the ancestral home, now surrounded by ...

Those of the Conservative persuasion, seem far too comfortable with the premise of war. What has been called "American Exceptionalism" --the belief that the U.S. is the new chosen nation as Israel of old--is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. We believe that the sword we bear is of the Lord.   Yet, we deceive ourselves if we think that we have no sin. In the balance sheet of good vs. evil, the U.S. has historically enshrined the rights of the individual vs. the collective power of authority, be that church and/or state. That has been an positive step forward because the group is not always right. Neither is it always wrong. Too much individualism leads to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. Tradition and Truth battle it out, for tradition can be untrue, but truth--to be true--has to be grounded in more than just subjective opinion. Your truth vs. my truth devolves into preference and then ultimately to power. It is one thing to admit that we all see thr...

The world teaches us that we are worthy because we have something of worth to give to the system, the structure, society. Despite rhetoric from both Left and Right, and all points in-between, each ideology has the groups or group it hates who are on the outs, as a counter-balance to the ins. For all of the talk of valuing diversity, the truth is that an emphasis on our differences divides human worth, setting people against people. Inclusion in human terms always has exclusion. The unity fractures into fragments, fractions, factions. However, human worth does not exist suspended in the air on wishes but in Jesus Christ dying on a Cross, God suspended in sacrifice, extending worth in His outstretched hands. To all. So when we fail, disappoint ourselves, disappoint others, go back again and again to the sin cycle for another round of beatings, Jesus pronounces our worth emanating from His worth, not our own. We are benefactors of Christ being broken. His torn body/bread and shed b...