bierkergaard

We had an interesting discussion about rules in our weekly gathering on Sunday. As the oldest member of the church (which is a people and not bricks), I often fall into a role by default of the elder. Hopefully with age has come some wisdom. Not because I am so smart but because I have made and make a lot of mistakes--and by God's grace have learned some lessons along the way. One thing that is common in our culture is a discarding of rules. In a Post-Modern Age, it is fashionable to treat Truth as subjective and in a way it is. We all look at things differently but that does not mean what we are looking at is actually different, just how we look at it. Our own particular angle as it were. As I was thinking about rules, what came to mind is a ruler. How would society function if we all had different rulers? That is, no common way of measuring something measurable like distance, weight, monetary, etc.? Physical or Fiscal realities are easier to form common agreement on, once ...

Yesterday was the 3rd Anniversary celebration of St. Boniface, a nano-brewery in Ephrata, Pa. I met a buddy and his friend up at the brewhaus in the afternoon to drink a couple of beers, talk about beer, and discuss other pertinent matters. OK, we mostly talked about beer. I ran into my former pastor at the event and I mentioned to him that I had seen on his Church's website that he noted that one of his hobbies is enjoying craft brews. Ah, us Reformed Presbyterians, following Luther and Calvin in our libations. It was a lovely late winter afternoon as we sat outside close to the propane heater that we all attempted to get close to without violating each others' personal space. After two beers, a heavy and a light one, I called it an afternoon and went one my way. I really enjoyed the two beers and felt no urge to drink more, even when I came home and settled down to watch a film. I was recovering from what appeared to be food poisoning from consuming an under-cooked rotis...

Almost every Sunday, I do a long run to the Susquehanna River and back from my house in Columbia. It is about six miles with some hills. My previous running route was from my former house in Mountville down to a lake and back. A shorter but much harder and hillier run. This run to the river is much more gradual up and down except for a couple of spots. The common theme in both runs is/was running to the water. I am not sure why running to the water is so powerful a drive for me. The photo today certainly shows the beauty of the destination but it is more than that. Water means redemption. Rivers in particular enchant me. Always changing, always the same. Heraclitus pondered as much. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”  When John the Baptist did his thing in the River Jordan, did those seeking redemption run? It is clear from the text of the Bible that some came to see John with bad motives. Perhaps to see ...

Saturday, donning our Russian Hats with the obligatory ear flaps that made us look like Disney's Goofy, my brewing comrade and I cooked up a Russian Imperial Ale. Originally brewed by an English brewmaster for Catherine the Great, it is essentially a British Stout with a super-sized amount of dark malt and hops. For those not in the know, malt is the starch-to-sugar component that yeast consumes and the output is alcohol. The more sugar, the higher the ABV. Hops, on the other hand, are the bittering or acidic element of beer. Like a see-saw, beers are some balance between the sweet malt and the biting hops. Beers go one way or another on the spectrum typically. What is unusual about the Russian Imperial Ale it is large in both the malt and the hops. Not sure what this conveys about the national character of Russia and the Czars. My Russky hat came with a Hammer and Sickle and Russian Star emblems to adorn the front fur of the...

This morning, at our first official prayer meeting at Church, it was me and the Pastor. It was 10:00. Kind of early for the faithful. I just wake up early on Sundays. During the week, I awake at 5:20. On the weekends, I can sometime stretch the sleep to 6:30 if I am lucky. Slacker. I don't think I am entirely an early riser by nature. But, my job at the high school requires it. And I don't get paid unless I show up. Pretty simple. I am aiming for perfect attendance this year. Last year, around this time, my Appendix burst. I think I missed 2.5 days of school. The Dr. said that patients normally take 2 weeks off. Maybe I should have been a Marine. We have had some, OK a lot, snow days. We were even cancelled last week because it was too cold... Regardless, today at the prayer meeting--where two were gathered in His name--we both prayed that our church--Veritas--would grow in depth. Many congregations evaluate effectiveness by butts in the seats. By ...

When I was down in Florida, I had the opportunity to see and hear the band Switchfoot who have one foot in the Christian market and one foot out there in Pop Culture. Surfing Evangelical U.S.A. I first became aware that  Switchfoot was going to be playing in Tampa the same time I was in the vicinity visiting my Madre in Sarasota down the road. The fates smiled upon me. The iPhone app Bandsintown made me aware of the overlap. There was a snag. The tix were free but one had to go to a ticket drop at local establishments in order to score a pair. I was heading in the opposite direction to Key West on the day of the drops so I sent an email to the promotions manager at the sponsoring radio station a week before inquiring how I could score the tickets. No reply. I know it was the holidays but seven days to reply should be enough time. I had started to waffle about going to the show until the day of where I was about 50...

Just returned from the land of sunshine and little lizards. Sarasota, Florida. Little scurrying lizards are everywhere. Being a Pennsylvania boy, something is quite unnatural to me to be sporting shorts and a tee-shirt in late December, At night, no less--as well as seeing lizards skirt about. It feels like a different planet. Florida is as flat as a sizzling on the skillet pancake and the roads are linear and square. One feature of Florida that I do quite enjoy is the ability to run without layers of clothing and gloves in "winter." Here in the Northeast, it takes a double-commitment to run in the winter months. Hard enough to get motivated and that much harder when it is freezing cold.  I almost felt like a nudist streaking about scantily-clad on my 8 mile trek to the beach and back, made two miles longer by my inability to find a public access path to the ocean. Those condos interlock like Lego's and keep the non-1% pieces people out. After one of my exercise ...