bierkergaard

So, today I decide to do a little trimming of my hair with the clippers. The right side was good, the left side not so good. Nothing like this above though...I had the good sense to stop. I am thinking that attempting to cut the hair with the right hand on the left side created an odd angle. The barber has the ability to change his body position, arm, and hand in reference to the individual's hair he is cutting. I didn't and I think that the angle just was not a good one. I swear that I don't do dumb stuff just so I have things to write about. Blog or no blog, the errors would continue unabated. I am a natural. Drives my perfectionistic wife nuts. However, she tried to cut my hair one time and uncharacteristically messed up. I remember the clippers skidding on the back of my head like a car in a wreck. Today, I just had some extra time on my  hands, the gray hairs were showing, and I had bought some new clippers that had the necessary but not not sufficient attachment....

Image courtesy of ScottCounseling Yesterday, as I was rolling my new and very cool mountain bike to my car, a dad and his daughter came pulling into the bike shop parking lot. He had to drop off his bike for adjustments. He commented that he wanted to buy the bike I did but just couldn't afford it. His daughter was about three years of age, and presumably being a family man, he had other financial priorities than buying a bike like mine. I had promised myself several years ago that once I earned the Ph.D., I was getting a mountain bike. It just took over two years to make it happen. Definitely worth the wait. Check it out, sweet on wheels.... He went inside the shop and I hoisted my bike up to my bike rack. I was chagrined to find that the hydraulic brakes on the bike caused the bike to be unable to be locked onto the rack. I tried to coax it into place but then thought maybe the bike would fit on the other side. No dice, same problem. Rather than try to force it, I st...

I am big on signs and symbols in the physical world expressing spiritual, psychological, and political realities. "A House Divided Cannot Stand" type of thing.  Thus, it is interesting that the Liberty Bell has a crack in it that renders it inoperable as a ringing bell. There is a Scripture verse inscribed on the Liberty Bell from Leviticus proclaiming freedom in the land. This should inform us that unless liberty is based on the Lord, it is fragile.   I have been reading Gary Wills "Head and Heart" Book about what he terms "American Christianities." Essentially, a historical review of the faith and its proponents and adversaries in our history. Despite what most Christians think, the Founding Fathers are as a rule were not orthodox Christians. They were Deists but not of the distant watchmaker type They believed God was moral being and not just a mechanic. However, most of them privately scoffed at the notion of Jesus being God. These men knew bett...

Normally picture of animals doing human-like things like wearing glasses, and the like, appearing perplexed and asking "Having a Bad Day?" don't do much for me. Such anthropomorphism of the animal kingdom can be mildly amusing at times at best. Downright cheesy almost always. But, these Beagles recreating the iconic Beatles Abbey Road walk is a fine piece of work. It actually shows some ingenuity. It works on so many levels. Yet, I have a confession to make. I love Beagles. Beagles make my tail wag. A new FB friend posted this picture. I hope he does not defriend me for my cutesy animal acting human critique.   I had a Beagle named Gus when a child. This dog was only a pet a kid could love. He barked incessantly, licked out of the sugar bowl on the table (leading my dad to whap him in a Pavlovian-like experiment where poor Gus associated sugar with an ass-whupping and would bark once his tongue touched the sugar, thus announcing he was in the sugar bowl yet again, an...

Of all the names Jesus called Himself, the most disarming was a Hen. I don't know about you, but I would be quite hesitant to call the second Person of the Godhead a Hen. A Lion, sure. But a Hen. Whoa! There are other terms that Jesus used for Himself like door and water and bread that reveal a deep humility, an inclination to incarnate Himself in common things. However, Hen in particular reveals His willingness to be vulnerable, a confession of His hurt at how the people He was sent to save chirped "why bother?" Their hardness of heart existed as a contrast to Christ's deep desire to save them. Wandering chicks on their own don't stand much of a chance of survival without the careful maternal eye of their mother. The Hen is willing,  the chicks are not. As Calvin writes, "Dreadful vengeance awaits us if we do not quietly hide ourselves under His wings, by which He is ready to receive and shelter us." He is more than a Hen but surely not less. ...

I have been taking Paul's admonition to the Thessalonians literally "To pray without ceasing." So whatever I am doing or wherever I am, I am praying--for others. Not myself. So many of my prayers in my past have been about me. Or at least connected to me in some manner. Now I am praying as a party not connected closely with the person. A local Harley Cycle Shop burned to the ground, I pray that they get back on their wheels. An older guy on the running trail that I encountered today, that God would bless him. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, that he be encouraged that he voted his convictions despite now being labeled a traitor to Conservatism. While lifting weights in my basement today, I prayed for the men who installed the HVAC system in the house over 20 years ago--whoever they are. It has been kind of cool. Praying as a matter of  default. Finding someone to pray for and praying.  

Talk about biblical parallels. Gotye's song " Somebody That I Used to Know" is an Edenic archetype. Male and female, naked, conflict, both blaming each other, shame, paint rather than fig leaves. All we need is a snake singing. A studio rather than the Garden. He: Now and then I think of when we were together...felt so lonely in your company. She: I think of all the times you screwed me over, having me believe it was always something I'd done.     The Fall of Humanity was mankind joining forces with Satan in his war against God. The battle was already in progress. Satan couldn't get to God directly on his own. He attacked His image-bearers and shattered them. In the fragmentation and fall-out, male and female attacked another and blamed the Serpent, refusing to own up for their own sin. Well, that hasn't changed. God pronounces curses and prophesies the coming of One who will crush the lying head of the serpent and putting an end to his smack talk--but...