bierkergaard

Necks tattooed, sinewy frames, taut muscles, hard-rock and thug life rap music blaring from the camp sites, looks serious and stern. And that was just the women. The female gender were a definite small minority of the riders but the one's who did ride looked tough as nails. Not a whole lot of girly-girls pedi-types. To bring you up to speed, just got back from some seriously hardcore downhill mountain biking competition at Blue Mountain Resort here in Pa. About two hours away through little traffic, it fits the frame of what I would consider a picture-perfect weekend getaway paradise. The event is a big draw rider-wise and the participants were mostly from the Mid-Atlantic region. Blue Mountain Resort is first class facility with superfriendly and competent staff and management; it is a well-run operation. At the end of today when we needed a ride down the mountain after viewing the downhill race, we hitched a ride with a staff member who was driving, down treacherous paths, ...

During the school year, I typically do a devotional with breakfast. Eating food, physical and spiritual. After both are finished, I retire to the living room and spend about 10 minutes (sometimes 15) reflecting on the thoughts of the devotional and cultivating an inner space of peace and clarity before the work day kicks into gear. A daily short Sabbath of sorts. I need that time.  I am a firm believer in the weekly Sabbath. For Christians, it is typically observed on a Sunday. I avoid doing work and shopping that I can do on other days. It is not a hard and fast rule always, though. For example, today I bought a hoagie at Wawa. That is a plus in Sabbath-keeping despite shopping because I do less work. Tasks like mowing the grass, laundry, cooking large (besides a specific meal), are delegated to other days. Saturdays tend to be the day where I made a To-Do List and knock tasks off. I have to make lists, it allows me to calculate steps and how much time and energy is needed to...

Nearly twenty-five years ago, August 1992, I was suicidal. It is not easy for me to remember and write about but I want to give hope to others by telling my story... I would spend my waking hours checking the postal mail to see what rejection letters arrived that day from job interviews. Each rejection letter was another cut to my self-worth. One of the slices that cut the sharpest and deepest was from a juvenile detention facility in Delaware that incarcerated kids who had killed people. That position was a major step backwards which made the rejection even more painful.   You know your life is bad when the highlight of your day is rejection letters from job interviews.  When not reading the daily rejection letters, I perched over the john with a razor blade in my hand looking at my left wrist's veins and contemplating just doing it. I had resigned a middle school/high school counselor position (in a toxic district) earlier that summer figuring that I could get an...

For a long time, I wanted to live somewhere cool like Philly or NYC. I had a plan to go to Temple for school counseling in grad school, live in Philly, then head to a large urban center elsewhere or stay in Philly and work with city kids. Then, think about going to law school down the road a bit. Didn't quite turn out that way.   I like working with young people who don't have all of the advantages. Conversely, working with high SES (Socioeconomic Status) also means the Snot Index increases. I know, I lived in such a place growing up. Know-it-all power parents (dads and moms) and entitled kids. Not true in all cases but more true than not. Trust me. Financial reality clicked in with grad school. My undergrad alma mater Millersville University offered me a grad assistantship (all tuition paid and a $100 a week stipend) to work with mostly urban students of color (with some White and Asians kids) in a freshmen support program. So, back to Central Pa. I went. Reluctantly...

Eloisa to Abelard How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!  The world forgetting, by the world forgot.  Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!  Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd; Alexander Pope I watched the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  last night . I am not sure why I took me over a decade to partake of this thoughtful, funny, and deeply poignant film. The film's title comes from a poem by Alexander Pope (not Pope Alexander, inside joke from the film). Get this, first watched The Terminator this May! My reviews are not Rotten Tomatoes but Gone Tomatoes.  I know a good deal of my readers will be stunned by my long wait to see it and be thinking "Eric, get with it. This is old news."   Maybe it was avoidance because I knew it might stir up some memories like dust on a book taken off a shelf for the first time in a long time. Rom-Coms are not usually my go to either.  The poem by Pope is practically ...

Judges 15:15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith. About 8 months ago my dentist noted that because of the clenching of my jaw he was starting to see wear and tear on my teeth and a deterioration of my jaw. He noted that if it didn't stop I was on a course to losing functioning of my jaw in my later years and having some consequences on my teeth. The idea of sipping dinner through a straw repulsed me....so.... I made a conscious decision that day to stop clenching my jaw in an attempt of mind over matter. Two months ago, six months after the previous dental appointment, the dentist noted that I my jaw and teeth were on the way to improvement. I had reversed the decline. 8 months ago he essentially recommended that I buy a $ 200 mouthpiece to keep the grinding from wearing down the jaw and teeth. I told him that I had a two dollar mouthpiece from the sporting goods store that essentially did the sam...

Acts 9:39 And Peter arose and went with them. And when he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. For some reason, I love this verse of the Bible almost more than all others. It just strikes the chord of reality.   Intriguing it is when a garment or piece of material becomes symbolic of something great and beautiful. In the verse above, Dorcas/Tabitha (not sure why she had two names, maybe I should look it up) had died. She was a woman of good works, and when she passed, the widows that she had made coats and garments for brought them as a remembrance of her charity.  God brings her back to life through Peter's prayers. God dried the widows' tears but let them cry and experience real loss first.  My buddy Sean left his sweatshirt and my house Saturday a week ago. I may have it for awhile. We were going to have him pick it up that S...