You may have been unfortunate enough to have had a forward like this creep into your email box at one time or another. Had it been from me it would have looked something like this…
> >>>> >> NAME: Nathan Lyle Bierma
> >>>> >> NICKNAME(S): Nate, Bierma (aren't those original) Beers, Beerms, Briefs, Beer Man, The Giant, Mr. Pecs (okay, I made that last one up...)
> >>>> >> BIRTHDAY: September 26, 1979, Durham, North Carolina
> >>>> >
> >>>> >> AGE:19.5
> >>>> >
> >>>> >> OCCUPATION: Student at Calvin College, part time announcer/producer at WBBL sports radio, contract writer for Sports Illustrated for Women
> >>>> >
> >>>> >> FAVORITE SPORT: Basketball, floor hockey/broomball, golf, tennis, table tennis
> >>>
> >>>> >> DO YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT: Played piano for five years. On a good day I can get some good bass by beating my belly.
> >>>> >> FAVORITE TV SHOW(S): Frasier, SportsCenter, Simpsons, CBS Evening News, Fox Sports News Primetime (if Keith Olbermann's on)
> >>>> >> FAVORITE MOVIE(S): Forrest Gump, Dave, Patch Adams, Truman Show, Ever After
> >>>> >> FAVORITE ACTRESS(ES): Julie Andrews
> >>>> >> FAVORITE ACTOR(S): Jim Carrey, and that guy who played the main character in Les Miserables
> >>>> >> IF YOU COULD MARRY A FAMOUS PERSON WHO WOULD IT BE: What do you mean by famous? I wouldn't marry anyone for her fame.
> >>>> >> FAVORITE BANDS: U2, Dave Matthews Band, Bon Jovi (back in the, like, 40's)
> >>>> >> FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC: Hard rock, classical (sometimes at the same time!!)
> >>> >> ANY TATTOOS: Sounds painful!!
> >>>> >> ANY PIERCINGS: See above. I have a birthmark smack dab in the middle of my ear lobe, which looks something like a piercing.
> >>>> >> DO YOU WANT TO HAVE KIDS: I want to have three, but I figure it sucks to be the middle child, so I have something of a conundrum on my hands. But not for a while: I want to move around for my career a bunch (6-7 years) first (plus there's that complication known as marriage).
> >>>> >> FAVORITE COLOR: Red
> >>>> >> FAVORITE FOOD: I'm fussy, but I do have several favorite choice items. By itself this category isn't very useful; I would divide this into fancy dinner, informal dinner, snack, breakfast and that meal I've invented between brunch and lunch. I'll never turn down a pizza, I like the oh-so-natural feel of salad, and eat rice by the bushel if it bathes in plain gravy. Also macaroni cheese with pieces of hot dog in it, but never as leftovers.
> >>>> >> IF YOU WERE A FLOWER WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BE: A flower? Good grief.
> >>>> >> MAGAZINES YOU HAVE OR HAVE HAD SUBSCRIPTIONS TO: Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Brill’s Content, Time, Reader’s Digest
> >>>> >> WOULD YOU SHAVE YOUR HEAD FOR $1,000 DOLLARS: With a rusty lawnmower blade.
> >>>> >> YOU COULD STAR IN A TV SHOW FOR A DAY- WHAT SHOW: SportsCenter is my dream. It would be really cool to anchor the evening news, too.
> >>>> WOULD YOU GO UP AND RANDOMLY KISS SOME ONE FOR $50?: On the lips.
> >>>> >> WOULD YOU EVER KILL SOMEONE: Never. I wouldn't even go to war.
> >>>> >> DO YOU PREFER CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA CAKE : chocolate
> >>>> >
> >>>> >> DO YOU LIKE SCHOOL: I seldom find classes and homework to be anything but useless, if not counterproductive, but teachers and extracurricular activities have shaped who I am. Education does not happen between 9 and 3 or whatever -- sometimes, sadly, that's when the least education takes place.
> >>>> >> A FREE VACATION WHERE WOULD YOU GO: I know I should be more interested in going overseas, but I just am not. I love the Smokies and the Rockies. I like travelling around the country.
> >>>> >> DO YOU LIKE TO FLY: I haven't since I was five, and all I remember is ordering duck for my in-flight meal because I had a storybook about ducks with me. It sure looks fun, though -- just so they don't show The Waterboy.
> >>>> >> DO YOU LIKE ROLLER COASTERS: Nope. I can think of various forms of amusement that don't involve travelling upside down at top speed strapped to a vehicle with no brakes. Are all those people really THAT bored? Plus, I get motion sickness fairly easily, thanks to a childhood of T-ball in which I always ran to the wrong base and had to whip back around.
> >>>> >> HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN KICKED OUT OF SCHOOL: That's a bagel. I guess I was kind of a nerd, but I had a lot of fun. And once in a while people would occasionally talk to me. I did get a vociferous reprimand once from the vice principle for questionable content in our morning announcements TV broadcast.
> >>>> >> WOULD YOU GET IN A SHARK TANK?: Not for a generous portion of Bill Gates' salary. I don't even trust those cages.
> >>>> >> DO YOU WEAR A WATCH?: This is scary, but it really throws me when I forget to put it on in the morning. I take it off before bed. And if it isn't within five seconds it bugs me. (Sign of a potential journalist??)
> >>>> >> DO YOU HAVE A CAR: I owned a 1986 Mercury Topaz but quickly sold it in lieu of a bigger and brighter (okay, it's a hatchback and you can watch it rust) 1987 Plymouth Horizon. It's a great car when it runs smoothly, but that's like saying Don King is an okay guy when he's not talking.
> >>>> >> HAVE YOU EVER CAUGHT A FISH: I've caught a few, but I hate having to impale the worms and grasping the eventual catch as it flops on the line. Fishing can be relaxing, but why not just read a good article in Sports Illustrated?
IF YOU COULD BE ANY ANIMAL WHAT WOULD YOU BE?: A platypus. Very eccentric. Overall I wouldn't want to be an animal.
> >>>> >> DO YOU LIKE PIZZA : Anytime, anywhere, but I can't get used to the idea of pineapple as a topping. So many people swear by it.
> >>>> >> FAVORITE SEASON: I really love fall, but it's kind of depressing to have winter around the corner. But I wish it were fall year round. Not just the leaves -- the smells, the breeze, the Saturday afternoons -- man, I picked a good time to have a birthday.
> >>>> >> FAVORITE HOLIDAY: There is no time of the year comparable to standing in church Easter morning singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" -- I think that counts. I also love Thanksgiving afternoon and the atmoshphere (did somebody say "fall"?) of Labor Day.
> >>>> >> DO YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND?: Her name is Andrea and her smile could light up Mammoth Cave at midnight.
> >>>> >> WHO ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS?: See above -- having a best friend in such a relationship isn't always automatic but that's how it's happened for me. Also Phil, Daniel, Nick, pretty much everybody I was in Improv and Fiddler on the Roof with.
> >>>> >> WHAT ARE YOUR CAREER AMBITIONS: I want to use my love of writing, current events, and history to enter journalism of some sort and provide a Christian voice of God's sovereignty in a new and intimidating millenium.
> >>> > > >IF YOU COULD WIN A CAR WHAT WOULD IT BE?: I would actually go for something sensible like my hatchback (if I could find one I fit in!) -- or something ungodly like a bright red Corvette.
> >>>> >> WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DRINK?: Grape pop is far and away the best, as well as Coke, Citra, Mt.Dew (but what is with those ads?!?), and orange pop. I also like lemonade,mint tea and mocha.
> >>>> >> HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU WASH YOUR HAIR A WEEK: Seven, maybe eight, and still my locks crawl with things that wave at me in the mirror.
> >>>> >> DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK :I'm pretty satisfied with how I look -- if for no other reason than I'm unimaginative about it -- although my hair can be recalcitrant at times, believe it or not. I wish I had less excess weight around the middle (and I'm going to be a writer??) and more a little higher up. I'm disgusted by those who waste away at the mall -- life's too short.
> >>>> >> DO YOU PREFER PEPSI OR COKE: Coke, but Pepsi has better versions of the (Mt.Dew, Cherry, etc.)
> >>>> >> RIGHT OR LEFT HANDED : Right, but I swing a bat, golf club, and hockey stick left handed.
> >>>> >> DO YOU HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR: Life is too short and too ripe with chances to laugh not to. I think it's dangerous when performers or writers call themselves "comedians" and "humorists," but I try to put personality into my writing and radio work -- that's when it's best.
> >>>> >> WHAT SONG WOULD YOU HAVE PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL?: When Peace Like a River. When we got to the last verse at my aunt's funeral I got a glimpse of heaven. That's what funerals should be.
> >>>> >> WHAT WORDS ARE OVER-USED BY YOU?: absolutely, edifying, yo, several Simpsons and Frasier quotes, and others I'm not aware of
> >>>> >> YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD - WHERE WOULD IT BE: There's a lot I like about Grand Rapids, but I'd like to try living in Denver and maybe Arizona.
> > >>>> >> DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE EMAIL: I live on it. Email and chat rooms have been called the devastation of diction thanks to the fragmentation of speech and writing they cultivate, and I have to guard against similar laziness. But if writing were basketball email would be the warmup jumpers.
> >>>> >> DO YOU BELIEVE IN A "HIGHER" POWER: God created nature and created humans to make culture. Everything comprises nature and culture. Both came under the curse of sin with humanity's fall, but God redeemed both nature and culture through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and one day both will be completely restored, free again to glorify him.
> >>>> >> WHAT IS THE AVERAGE TIME YOU GO TO BED? Between 11 and midnight. In my college life, if it comes down to either studying or sleep, I'll take sleep because that does more good.
> >>>> >> DO YOU WEAR CORRECTIVE LENSES? Nope. On my last eye test I had 20/13 vision which for some reason I was proud of, but that was a few years ago.
> >>>> >> DO YOU PREFER M&MS OR SKITTLES? Skittles hands down. Wild Berry is the best.
> >>>> >
> >>>> >> HAVE YOU EVER BEEN OUTSIDE THE US OR CANADA? Our family lived in Nigeria while my dad taught a class at the seminary there, but I don't remember much. On our way back we went through Germany and the Netherlands -- all I can tell you is our slides look great!!
> >>>> >> WOULD YOU RATHER TAKE A BATH OR SHOWER? A can't wake up in the morning without a shower. I like hot tubs, but not baths per se.
> >>>> >> DO YOU LIKE CATS OR DOGS BETTER? I have little affection for either. I've come to see that dogs, unlike cats, actually do more than just occupy space, but they also smell worse.
> >>>> >> I don't know if this is part of the format or not, but the last person I got this from included her favorite Bible verse, and you should know mine:
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
- Revelation 21:1-4
Few people realize the next life will occur on a renewed and purified version of this earth and that it will be a city-like existence (both beautiful symmetric ties to creation, underscoring God's sovereignty). Careful study of this passage shows this to be the case. This is one thing I would like to write a book about, as it shapes my Christian vision and injects meaning and an awe for God into my life.
Also, I want this read at my funeral. This verse more than any other can offset sadness with hope, and with such a testament to God's sovereignty, hope cannot be stopped from taking root and sprouting in our lives until the day of which this passage speaks.
