bierkergaard

Yesterday, a little after 6:00 PM, I finished working on my part of the students' schedules. There is still work to do in cleaning things up and few hard cases where I have to wait--like letting pots and pans soak--but for the most part, this most difficult part of the summer has concluded. I dread the difficulty of the process, but embrace it as part of my job. I even enjoy it to a degree but it has a heavy cost. My school year does not end and my summer vacation does not begin until I finish. My butt hurts from such prolonged sitting. It surprises people that I don't get summers off, as if student schedules magically finish themselves. We, as counselors, get the first-drafts from the Student Information System and then have to figure out how to get to finish line for each student, where they get all or most of what they wanted. Our Assistant Principal is remarkably good at creating the Master Schedule, despite cuts to staffing. I have seen others do Master Scheduling so ...

Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American "Scholar." He has written the above book and spoken about it in-length in several interviews. Although I have not read the book, his interview on CSPAN2 BookTV, in his own estimation, was an apt and comprehensive explanation of his beliefs about religion. Although he does have a Ph.D. in Sociology and numerous other academic degrees, I think it necessary to place suspectful quotations around the word scholar above. The reason is this: His discussion of Christianity's origins and early history is so weak and inaccurate, one must wonder where he derives his conclusions from. Certainly, no honest and coherent reading of the New Testament. A first-year student at the most backward Bible College should be able refute his assertions. Professing to  be wise, becoming fools I suppose... Essentially, Aslan's thesis is this: Jesus never claimed to be God, His Disciples never thought him to be God, instead it was an invention of Paul. The...

Yesterday, I went for a five mile run around Valley Forge Park. It is about 5 miles to do the circuit. Today, my body really smarts. Not sure why it was so strenuous. Age is cruel and irrevocable. I think my exercise regiment helps keep me young but also inflicts some collateral damage. I don't just bounce back. A day off tends to get me back into a healed zone. I listen to my body but also know that it lies. It tries to persuade me that I don't need to work out and I have to treat it like a truculent child and force it out of the house. Boy, I love the word truculent. One day I won't be able to run any more, or walk. So, I try to keep this in mind and be thankful as my knee aches. It could be worse and soon will be. The resurrection is a remarkable idea and reality, physical and spiritual restoration. Jesus going through walls and eating fish on the sea shore. The run seemed like a fitting thing to do on July 4th. Independence is not easy and in a real way exercisin...

My buddy and I are back into the swing of our mountain-biking. This is not rail trail stuff. Real mountains, rocks, danger. Fun, true fun. Where the ride is real, not some video game where you can get blown to bits and then eat corn chips. If you fall, it hurts. Yet, as your ride, it is a rush of exhilaration. Constantly assessing the path and making adjustments. Last year, as we wound down because of the encroaching cold, it was a good thing since I had taken several bad wipe outs, each worse that the one before. My helmet got cracked, I got another concussion, and it was best to put the bike away for the season. Not bad though for a couple of post-50 dudes. To switch gears for a bit, I know my last couple of blog posts about alcohol and the use of violence don't fit the Left or Right Faith paradigm. With the abstention of alcohol issue, I came down hard on that teetotaler position because it is Legalism underneath. And, Legalism is deadly. We do no favors if we abstain in a...

Denzel Washington and I have a lot in common. Famous, good-looking, wealthy. Perhaps the greatest thing we have in common though is a busted pinkey on our right hands. Pinkey-in-Arms. He busted his in a basketball mishap. I busted mine on my brother's brick-hard head in a teenage fight about something stupid no doubt. Basketball was involved before and after the scrap. When my brother came to, he cackled that my right hand hand had crumbled like a stomped-on aluminum can. I felt like punching him again but I didn't pack a lot of power with my left hook. So, I took it like a near-man and sulked and stewed. I had some combo of 3-2 (two broken fingers and three broken knuckles, or three broken fingers and two knuckles). I tried to keep playing BBall after my hand shattered and I couldn't even hold the ball. I should have gone to the hospital immediately. Instead I waited about a week and when went I to the Emergency Room with my weary Mom, where I was a semi-regular, my r...

There was an essay recently in Christianity Today   where the writer expounded on why she does not drink alcohol: She lives in an impoverished neighborhood where one of the variables of destruction is alcohol abuse. She felt that drinking alcohol in that context gave the tacit approval for abuse. She writes:  When we take Communion with our friends and neighbors, we use grape-flavored Kool-Aid as a symbol of Christ's blood, shed for us . Really...tons of sugar, artificial coloring? That's truly mendacious. A lot of Americans struggle with metabolic disorders and dietary issues such as diabetes, hypertension, heart-disease, and inflammation, by the over-consumption of sugar and simple carbohydrates. Probably even a lot of people in her 'hood. Not exactly a stumbling-free substitute. Ridiculous actually. Fork over the candy bars and soda, yo. Then, she went from there into a general commentary of how drinking Christians should avoid posting picture of beer, wine, a...

I was reminded last week of a concert by the band Aradhna , who are a syncrestic blend of Hindi musicality and Christian spirituality. The occasion for the remembrance was attending The Back Porch Fest brought to fruition by The Row House, run by my friend Tom Becker. I love the tagline of The Row House on its banner: Nothing Is Not Sacred . The Back Porch Fest was a cool musical event with a diverse line-up of bands set in a barn and bucolic farmlands. A beautiful day, even the flies fit the vibe. What would a concert set in a country scene be without the flies buzzing by? Stepping back from the Fest a bit, I thought how remarkably cool the scene was and how I really appreciated Tom's and cohorts vision in putting it on. I will return to Aradhna in a bit. Sometimes when we are too close to greatness we miss the glory. The Row House is doing cool and cutting edge stuff and Church-goers should pay it some mind. Evangelical subculture generally runs a parallel universe ...