bierkergaard

Within the last week or two, I have been on the receiving end of some very gracious gifts. A couple of canisters of homemade and well-executed kimchi, a bottle of home-brewed mead, two bags of Costa Rican coffee, and a very kind postcard from a friend who shares my eclectic insider-outsider take on Christianity. Mead and Kimchi are in the pic (I added some pan-fried sausage). For those not raised in the Church, just so you who know who were born and bred into the evangelical culture, we always feel like outsiders in some way even though we may have been years on the inside. That divide is pretty deep in the Church and not a whole lot of people talk and write about it. Maybe analogous to the Jew-Gentile divide in the early Church. Whaddya mean I can't eat lobstah? If I am not mistaken, there is only one verse said by Jesus in the New Testament while he walked and talked in the body not spoken in the telling of the Gospel but then told later (outside of Revelation which is a ...

I have a running gag with some friends that when they pass by my domain in Molumbia (the name for my postage-stamp parcel of land) that they have to get permission to fly through the air space so to speak, so I don't send my Russian Mig jets to intercept interlopers, friend or foe.  I got 'em cheap on Craigslist. Thus, yesterday I received such a call. I am thinking about granting seasonal passes so I don't have to approve each request. But, it would be wise to review peoples' status quarterly to ensure that they are still worthy of such approval. My good friend was riding his bike to the river  in the afternoon and made such a request which I benevolently approved. It is a hard and hefty ride from the city of Lancaster where he was riding from. I decided to escort him through the air space of Molumbia and beyond. We agreed to meet in Mountville (the pet name of Molumia is a mash-up of Mountville and Columbia). After two hard weeks of working on students' sched...

I am getting to the blog early Sunday due to plans of kayaking this afternoon which will then probably transition to supper and beers. And then, no desire to blog at 8:00 PM when I get home and have to get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning. I know myself and how I think. I try not to delay that which can be done now rather than later, unless it is a Sabbath rest issue where it is not essential to work or purchase something today. Do hard things first, though writing this blog is not really a hard thing. If I were dependent on my writing to pay the bills, I think my fingers would hit to keyboard like hammers. The pressure would weigh on me. Maybe it would be good. The pressure, like an espresso pull, would extract a higher level of talent. Right now, I write for fun and the enjoyment of my world-wide audience. Speaking of espresso, last night a buddy who also enjoys the finer things of life went to Cafe Bruges in Carlisle, a mid-state college town sans college students right now becaus...

2 Cor 5:14,15 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died;  15 and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. As mentioned last week, I was camping for a couple of days in the mountains of Pennsylvania recently. I am ambivalent about camping. I love the outdoors and the activities yet also don't do well in extreme heat and humidity. Camping in the summer is typically sweaty and sultry. My body develops a serious itch over the summer which makes me want to avoid the heat and humidity like Dracula does with the sun. I have tried to figure out if it is a lack of hydration, body oils, or something I am consuming. Or a combination. It happens every summer and sets in late June and doesn't depart to mid-September. I have to avoid full body showers and instead sponge-bath the crucial bodily areas all summer long. The shower d...

On Friday evening before dusk, I went for a drive up in the mountains. I was camping with a fam and they had to run some errands, including getting some Hershey Bars for smores down in the closest town of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. About an hour round trip from the campground. Why it is called Jersey Shore is puzzling. Maybe I will check into it if the question continues to pester me. Maybe not, and just savor the mystery! I went in the opposite direction, towards a town that was on the other end of the state park. I was feeling very nostalgic as the rurality reminded me of living in West Virginia from 1967 to 1970. So many hills and rivers and roads through them.  My backyard in West Virginia had a deep ravine. I love the mountains. It is in my blood.  Couldn't live where I was, though. Far too isolated from other things I like such as ethnic food and culture, etc. I am a suburban person in the end. My little patch of grass. Close to the river, work, conveniences, and ...

Continuing the Portland, Maine, thread, we had a whale of a time up in that town a couple of weeks ago. I am using  a seafaring term with whale intentionally, since Portland is on the coast. I am also picking up Moby Dick to try and read it for about the 17th time. So, I have whale on the mind. Heck, if I can read Soren Kierkegaard's Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses , I can read anything. Of course, it took me about five years to do so. Slow and steady. The final literary battle is Brothers Karamazov . The best thing about traveling is connecting with old friends and making new friends. I was able to hang out with two friends who had formerly lived in Lancaster who now reside in the Portland area. One of the guys, I had not seen in person for over a decade. Chalk up one positive to Facebook; we had reconnected there. I had forgotten how funny the dude is. It wasn't long before we were busting each others chops, the way guys do when they like each other. He and I once said...

View from a hotel in Portland A few weeks ago, a buddy texted me and asked if I wanted to do a road trip to Boston. I replied that I had been to Boston a lot in the last 15 years and would he consider Portland, Maine, instead. About three more hours up the road but a new place to explore. He was all in and we began  to plan for a visit. I dig when something goes from and idea to an experience in quick fashion. Get out of my head and onto the road. I had tried to get to Portland last summer and it just wasn't in the cards. Portland has a thriving craft beer scene and I also know people who live there, so it was a win on both the beer and relationship counts. We had a wonderful time and I may blog about it more next week with the details.   When I went to search for lodging, I couldn't find anything that seemed affordable. Corporations own the search results and there were no bargains to be had. On top of it, putting in Portland without the Maine typically always bro...