bierkergaard

Today I was doing a bit of a review on the Gospels' stories rendition on the birth of Jesus. There are 3 major towns in Israel mentioned in the Gospels concerning Jesus's first two years of life: Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Nazareth. Three radically different towns in the social strata. A strange thought came into my head afterwards when driving to school, "What store would Nazareth had if our retails chains existed back then?" I thought of the following pairings: Nazareth: K-Mart, Bethlehem: Target, and Jerusalem: Neiman-Marcus. I imagine Jesus and the Disciples buying sandals, robes, and personal hygiene products at K-Mart with the teeming masses and screaming children and turning over some display stands at Neiman Marcus. K-Mart, the Charlie Brown of the retail food chain. The least of these. WWJS - Where Would Jesus Shop? I think K-Mart...the least of these.

I have a laser printer on my desk--an HP 1100. Its printer cartridge is pretty expensive. In years past, once the telltale sign of the cartridge running low would appear, a faded stripe of text down the page, I would toss the cartridge and put in another. I have a low tolerance for things not working well. Like pens; the first sign that it doesn't write well, it is in the trash. A few years ago at work we were running low on cartridges at school with the printer in the office and the computer tech person told me to take out the cartridge and shake it for about a minute and then put it back in the printer. Well, I learned that day that cartridges have a lot more life in them than the first time they start to run low. I never realized that shaking redistributes the remaining ink dust in the printer. I thought that it was like a lightbulb--once it was bad, chuck it. The cartridge that I have in my home printer started to show that it was running low about a month ago. So, I shook it...

Today I cleaned out my bill box. It has been piling up like leaves in Autumn for months. In the pile of stuff, I saw Social Security statement and noticed that my date of birth is listed as October 11, 1973 (my D.O.B. is 10/11/1963) which would make me younger than my wife. That would mean that I started paying into Social Security in 1980 when I was seven years old. The way Social Security is looking, that ten years could make the difference between getting benefits and not getting benefits. How is it the government prosecutes all Ponzi schemes but its own? Guess I have to battle Leviathan on this one to get D.O.B. corrected. Ah, government bureacracy--you'd think the computer would catch that one. I had a dispute with Penn-Dot last year when they sent me notification that they were going to suspend my license plate for a car that I no longer owned! After I burned the old bills to ash, I closed the flu to the chimney. There was still one ember burning but I figured that it was no ...

As you can tell, I have a passion for Rocky. Being from the Philly area is a part of it. New York is glamorous, DC is powerful. Philly is, well Philly. Almost but not quite. The Rocky story is the tale of a thumb-breaking tomatoe who gets a shot and makes it stick. There are other characters that are underdogs that I dig. Here's the short list: 1) Charlie Brown - I am not sure what explains the remarkable success of Peanuts. I think all of us feel like Charlie Brown. "Why is everybody always picking on me?" Peanuts put to rest the lie of childhood innocence. 2) Underdog - A humble shoe shiner who takes a pill and turns into a superdog to save Polly. What was in that pill anyway...doggie roids? 3) Spud Webb - Winning the NBA dunk contest at 5'7"

I like to run. However, recently, when out in Minnesota visiting family for Thanksgiving, I decided to not exercise much and conducted an experiment as if I was the star in my own reality show called "The Biggest Gainer." I came back from the trip 8 pounds heavier. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I was starting to loathe myself more than usual (typically, I just have a mild self-malaise). A combination of stuffing myself with Cheetos and other crap plus laying around like a slug and watching tv motivated me to run like Forrest Gump when he grew that big old beard and hit the road. Running, not more rest, brought renewal.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving season, here are my "Top Ten" reasons for me to be thankful: 1) Salvation & Grace of God - While we were/are yet sinners 2) The Bible - How eagerly I would want it if I couldn't have it 3) My wife Lina - The love of my life 4) My family - Odd as it is 5) My Church - Wheatland PCA 6) Pastor Bruce and his wife Carol 7) Books - My friends when I was lonely 8) My Job - The kids at Northeastern HS are the best 9) Doctoral Work at Temple University 10)Yuengling Lager - Hmmm. 2nd time I mentioned this in my blog, maybe I have a problem. As we become more grateful, we become less prideful.

I usually come dressed to church like a slacker. Blue jean pants, sport shirt (if that). I think it honors the Sabbath. Dressing up in a suit and tie starts to look like work. Then, it becomes "Works Salvation." Blue jeans equals Grace. Come as you are, as you were, like Nirvana sang. One Sunday, though, after being pseudo-chastised by "No great formal dresser on Sunday" Tom Becker, I decided the following Sunday to wear my best suit--the one that my wife Lina hand-picked for me for our West Coast reception of our wedding (a lot of her family couldn't make it back East for the first wedding reception following our ceremony so we had an almost entirely Taiwanese function out in California--family and food). Well, I pulled a good joke on old Tom the following Sunday at church who immediately got the attire response gag and cackled like a crow (it was pretty obvious as I never dress up). But, alas, the joke was on me. As long as a dressed like a slacker, I was unde...