bierkergaard

A glass of water. Boy, rough week for America. Charleston reminds us that the ghosts of our past are not ghosts. But very real and very frightening. I always wonder why people watch fictional shows with terror on TV...just watch the news. Even good old Lancaster County has week to week new lows in human depravity. We ain't all frickin' Amishmen. A church with people praying in it should be a sanctuary of peace. Much like the womb. If either are not safe, look the fu#@ out. The gates of Hell have been unlocked. We make decisions every day as to whether we are going to be hope merchants. Christians of all people should look at darkness and light a candle. It is what we are here for indeed. How do we put hope into our and others' lives when so much of society looks the other way and locks the door? I never liked the term random acts of kindness. It is the random part. Like we live in a meaningless universe. However, random could also mean impartial, as it should be...

Acts 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. In the verses to follow, stones fall down upon Stephen for crime of blasphemy, believing that Jesus is God. Humanity wants to be God but then when God became man, (a reversal of the order of the Fall) it ignited a fury untold.  Stephen asks Jesus to receive his spirit and prays for his enemies and then dies.   Stones fall in a world governed by gravity. Gravity puts a downward pressure on everything physical on earth. Recently, I have had a spate of back spasms from lifting weights on an old bench. I have two weight benches and one of them has a barbell stand. That is the one whose backing is not broad enough for my EXLT2 frame (Extra Long Tall Body 2x). In trying to recuperate my inflamed right elbow, I went back to lifting with the barbell rather than the dumbbells, which necessitated that I switch benches. But, ...

I was hanging out with some old friends on Memorial Day. Earlier in the day, I was feeling sorry for myself because I had no plans to hang-out anywhere. I was to have been at my buddy's cabin mountain-biking but then he got a bad cold and had to cancel. We ride hard and he was at a low ebb. So, when I got the text invite to the Memorial Day party, I was happy. I almost didn't go, though...I think earlier in the day I was just enjoying feeling sorry for myself. I had got some bad news earlier in the weekend that we weighing on me but I was also sucking on it like a mint, enjoying the sting I suppose. Earlier in the day, I had prayed that God give me something to do...and when he did, I almost didn't go. I decided that it would not be a good thing to pray one way and then do another. The party was great. Good food, brew, and friends. Not too large nor small. Just right. Goldilocks would have been pleased. As the night descended, a bonfire was lit. The host husband thr...

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of  our  faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. When I moved from my previous domicile under unfortunate circumstance, and returned to my decidedly less cushy home that I had been landlording for seven years, it was a humbling redirection.  Frankly, even though I have been demoted locale-wise, I am in a much better place physically, emotionally, psychologically, vocationally, and spiritually. The road was hard but adversity has taught me well.  One thing that changed is the jogging route. For a while, I returned to my previous residence to run the roads that I had done so previously. Around a year and a half ago, I felt God was telling me to leave that behind and not to return ever again. Instead, he had a new route for me to run. Although the roads differ, both are hard in their own unique ways. Th...

On Tuesday night, my high school sponsored an "Authors Night" for those in the District that have published a book. I had my suspicions that turn out would be low and it was. A massive rainstorm and general apathy dampened the crowd.  One of the lessons of life that I have learned is that I am being called to be faithful. Not successful, faithful. So, in regards to the scant attendance, I tried to, and was able to, keep a positive attitude and not disrespect the others who came out to share their books--and to those in the audience who attended. They didn't deserve disappointment. I also kept in mind that one never knows the power of reaching one person...as the adage goes, "One can count the amount of seeds in an apple, but one cannot count the amount of apples in one seed." We forget that Jesus spent most of his ministry in the company of twelve men, one of who turned out to be a Betrayer. If we go by the 12 person model of ministry, pouring our live...

1 Peter 4:8 English Standard Version (ESV) Above all, keep lovi ng one another earnestly, since   love covers a multitude of sins. I made  a quick and not highly thought out comment on Facebook on Tuesday morning at 5:30. The early bird gets the worm and I got my share of worm Likes and several snakey ones too.  So, the above picture was posted on Facebook with an NPR article on food and water supply. The article referenced Coca-Cola not building a bottling plant in Southern India because it would have diminished the water table. Here is my comment. I was hoping to break 200 Likes but came up a little short, peaking a 191. So, I made the simple and simplistic observation that Coke was not food. It was sloppy of NPR to pair the picture of Coke with the article about food and water. So far, so good I thought. There was nothing profound here. Several commenters called me out for some reason pointing this out. Things like soda is not food which is what I sai...

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Last Saturday, after my doomed foray into the world of Mechanicalia trying to repair the mothership mower, I chilled with a few beers in addition to a shot of bourbon and cigar out back. I tweeted that I was enjoying a Yuengling Lager, rather than a Mint Julep, here in Pennsyltucky. It was the day of the Kentucky Derby, a race that I truly had no horse in. It was a throw-away comment, innocuous. Nothing bawdy or over the top of the mug bacchanalian. I mean who doesn't drink a beer after destroying the lifeblood of their mower? Like brain surgery in the hands of a butcher am I.   I do try and be careful about Twitter because anyone can see what I put out there. Don't want to besmirch my fine reputation. I found one of the students in my College & Career Class had tweeted before the class had begun that I was "annoying." Social Media has made adolescence a...