bierkergaard

Ecc 7:3 Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. I have seen several really honest Facebook posts recently where people have been raw and honest about something that was weighing on them. Most Facebook posts typically are up and not down. So, this posting against the grain has been interesting. Since I work in a high school, I am very well-acquainted of the consequences of unwise use of Facebook and Twitter by Teens. I don't thinks the creators had any idea of the technological Pandora Box that they unleashed upon the adolescent world with the innovation. We as adults often have to explain and hold accountable youth who act in an inappropriate manner with their usage. Magnification of Dysfunction just ain't a good idea. Online Peanut Gallery... Yet, I believe that posts that reflect reality in general are a good thing. A good rule of thumb is that any conversation or statement that wo...

     In Lancaster City on Friday night, there was a fireworks show. By my accounting, I know of at least four fireworks shows in the last six days in the local area. Boy, enough fireworks for even the most ardent of fans. I snapped these pics a way up King Street. If you read my previous post about the abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, these pictures were taken right next to the cemetery where he is buried.    I know that the pictures look KKK'ish. The legacy of Southern Slavery and Burning Crosses is a condemnation of racism, an indictment of Southern Christianity--especially Presbyterianism, and an affirmation of God's plan of redeeming sinners through the suffering of His Son. I mean what better symbol of the raging hatred of Southern racists than the burning of a Cross. What reconciliation? The unholy alliance of the Antebellum South Christianity's to Racism is shameful and did much to harm the faith. I am absolutely...

2nd Cor. 9:6-7 6  The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully [ a ] will also reap bountifully. 7  Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Today, I walked to a new restaurant in Lancaster City. It is a Haitian place . Above is the pork, plantains, and potato plate. Good home Caribbean, which is appropriate cuisine these days because Lancaster is feeling like the tropics. I swear we are in monsoon season. I walked through the city for around a mile to get there because I wanted to also check out some houses for sale. If I can do it without too much stress and expense, all things being equal, I would prefer being out of the 'burbs. I came into the restaurant sweating like a hog and then wiped my face with a napkin which shredded it on my stubble and then flaked off my face like flurries. GQ, I know. Friends of mine accus...

Yesterday, we rode our mountain bikes through what seemed to be a tropical jungle. It has been raining every day in Pennsylvania for awhile. The land is lush, the ground soggy. The air is thick with moisture, much like the bathroom after one takes a shower. Flies and mosquitos were using my head as a mother ship. I look my shirt off and wrapped my helmetless head like a doo-rag to fend off the attacks. I expected a Macaque to cry out from the jungle. After slogging through, we came to a combination of a corn and wheat field. The corn was in ascendancy, the wheat looked like it was ready for harvest. Quite beautiful. And clear of the jungle. I don't know my wheat well but I know that wheat has different growing seasons like winter wheat. So, this wheat was white for harvest. Like the Disciples who picked the grain as they walked through the field on the Sabbath, my buddy pulled a head off the wheat and separated the wheat from the chaff through a rolling of h...

No credit needed. My pan, my pic. Curry Love. Spice, Spice, Baby...Non-Vanilla Ice. Yesterday, I went to the (only?) local Indian food (Continent, not Native peoples) store in the locale--called Everest. No mountain-setting, it is next to the car wash. I heard that there is another Indian store around but that information has not been verified. I was the only white boy shopping. Rather than getting spices in small little bottles at highly inflated prices at the Anglo-Mart, I am buying my turmeric, curry, cumin, cardamom, paprika, and red chili powder, in 1 or 2 pound bags at Indian Direct and Asian Mart. Volume. This is part of my strategy of expanding my food horizons. Spice sails into the winds of world culture. The world food ain't flat... Conservatives and Evangelical Christians do a very poor job of appreciating diversity. Diversity can mean many, many, things, depending on who is the diversity disburser. However, we can d...

Thaddeus Stevens died on 11th August, 1868. Inscribed on his tombstone were the words: "I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural preference for solitude; but finding other cemeteries limited as to race, by charter rules, I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life, equality of man before the Creator". Last night, after getting both delighted and decimated by some Chicken Vindaloo at The Himalayan restaurant in Lancaster--to be fair I asked for it to be hot--me and my companions walked through the Celebrate Lancaster crowds back to where our cars were parked. One of our companions for the night was a Chica couch-surfing from California. She suggested to calm the heat from the food that we stop for some drinks at a local watering hole. Kind of fight fire with fire, I suppose. It actually worked. Like giving Ritalin (a form of Speed)  to hyperactive children to calm them down....

Photo from here Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. In much of the culture wars (Red vs. Blue) rather than the Blue vs. Gray of the Civil War, both sides appropriate Jesus on their side, much as did the South and the North. I think it is wise to step back and first consider what Lincoln said on such sentiments: "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." Although Lincoln was not a Christian in the traditional sense--he rarely invoked Jesus's name, doubted the afterlife, did not consistently attend church--his comment is transcendent. And reflects a humility that is rare. As the Civil War ground on, a conflict that neither side imagined would last and become as horrific as it did in terms of casualties and cost, it would have easy for Lincoln...