I study the topic of character traits in the Bible. I preach and teach on character traits. Many verses command us to practice various character traits. God has character traits that are mentioned in the Bible. Over the years, I have arrived at a list of 26 different character traits, descriptions, and definitions for each one. The practice of these various character traits begins as a choice to obey a command or principle given to us by God in the Bible. Fulfilling these commands requires diligence, self-examination, accountability, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. As we become increasingly successful at accomplishing God’s commands to act a certain way, we begin to change on the inside, and we acquire the character trait that the command is aiming us toward. As the character trait becomes stronger, the effort required becomes less because that is who we are, and we will naturally act the way we are in character. 

An example of a character trait is patience. The Bible says that God is patient with us. We are commanded to be patient with all people, all of the time.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

Many people will say, as they attempt to justify their anger or irritation, “I am just not a patient person.” They say that as if they think they are stuck there. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 522-23, but we must diligently pursue it. 

2 Timothy 2:24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged. 

Love is patient. We are commanded to be patient, and if we diligently pursue it, we will become patient on the inside, in our character, and then we will be patient, because that is who we are. 

God created life and causes and controls circumstances to help us become like Jesus in character. To help us grow in patience, He created mosquitoes.

Today is my last day this year of fishing in Soldotna, Alaska. It was a much smaller sockeye salmon run than normal, but I still had a great time. I enjoy the challenge of catching fish, and this year was a major challenge. I really enjoy the fellowship with the other fishermen who are here at the lodge; people who love to fish are special, and I almost always enjoy spending time with them. The beauty of Alaska is another major plus of being here. But there are some negative things about fishing here. The most negative thing was the mosquitoes. There were lots of them this year. It seems that mosquitoes are more attracted to me than most other people; at least I always seem to have more bites than the others around me. I also seem to have an allergy to mosquito bites. The bites swell up into big bumps and itch terribly. I use a lot of 100% DEET repellent, but I still get 5 or 6 bites every day. The worst time for the mosquitoes is when I am filleting salmon, and both hands are covered in fish blood and slime, and I can’t slap them when they land on me. That drives you crazy when you can feel them on your neck, forehead, and ears, and you can’t do anything about it. The second worst time is when you are just getting ready to fall asleep, and a mosquito starts buzzing in your ear. 

Someone asked me once if I thought the devil created anything. I responded that I was pretty sure that he created mosquitoes. I have no way of backing that theology up, except for my hatred of them. I was in a group discussion once, and the leader asked us to share what we were most excited about concerning heaven. I responded, No mosquitoes. Life has many irritations. Our goal is never to get upset, grumble, or whine, not even a little bit when they happen, but to rejoice always. I have never sworn in my life, but several times in the last couple of weeks I did say crapp when a mosquito bit me. 

For the last year, I have been on a diet. It is a low-carb, high-protein diet, and I have done very well on it, losing 30 pounds. But I have been at a fishing camp in Alaska for the last three weeks, and I am pretty sure I have gained at least 15 pounds back. There are four reasons for my rapid weight gain. First, there were 18 people here for two weeks, and they were all eating, so I just joined in. Second, George, the cook, fixes amazingly good meals, and it is so hard to resist eating his good food. Third, we fish, take a break back at the lodge, then fish some more, and every time we come back from fishing is a good reason to eat again. And the fourth reason is that it is only for three weeks; no big deal. I can lose it quickly when I get back home to my normal routine. 

Over the years I have seen so many people fall away from their faith in Jesus and get lukewarm. People don’t realize how easy it is. A little compromise here, just one small one, and then another, no big deal. One day of skipping my Bible reading isn’t going to make any difference, just one. A little break isn’t going to hurt anything; I will get right back to it as soon as this vacation is over. 

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

Every year, when I get home from our annual three-week fishing trip to Alaska, I feel bad because I have not been faithful in my basic spiritual disciplines. The reason is obvious: there are a lot of fish to catch, and it takes all my time. I do take the time to brush my teeth every day, and I do take time to eat three times a day plus snacks. My personal conviction is that I need to spend time in God’s Word every day. God is very important in my life, and my personal relationship with Him is important; the Bible is the key to keeping my relationship with Him healthy, strong, and growing. This year I am doing much better taking time every day to read, memorize, and meditate on His Word. The reason isn’t my self-control; it is because of the car accident I was in just a couple of days after we got here. I sprained my left shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, and my back. I can’t do my usual 12 hours of fishing every day because my injuries get too sore and tired. I am still getting in plenty of fishing, but I am taking breaks to rest, and I read, memorize, and write when I do. I am recovering more every day, but I am going to keep up my new fishing routine anyway. I expect to get home this year feeling much better about my faithfulness to my spiritual disciplines. 

I have been fishing in Soldotna, Alaska, on the Kenai River for the last 2 weeks, and the fishing has been terrible. According to the sonar counter near the mouth of the Kenai River, about 10,000 fish have been coming up every day since July 1st. That may seem like a lot, but it isn’t; it takes about 3 hours of fishing or more to catch one fish at that count. Up until yesterday, it had been the worst run in the last 30 years. But yesterday, 172,000 fish came through the counter. That is crazy good. I can catch a fish every 20 to 30 minutes with that many fish swimming by. The big discussion now with all the fishermen is “Why?”

Even though a sockeye salmon is just a dumb fish, there is always a reason for what they do, and when 172,000 decide to come up the river on the same day, there is a reason. In talking with different fishermen and reading comments on Facebook, the conjectures on the” Why” are many and different, and some are very weird. One guy suggested that aliens from outer space were herding the fish. In the Gospels, the disciples fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat. They did that and caught a lot of fish. How did Jesus do that? I don’t know how, but I do know that He did it. The big question now is, “How long will it last?” Last year we had 20 days in a row of over 100,000 fish a day. I am here for one more week, so the chances of good fishing for the rest of the trip are very good. As we all live life and bad things happen to us, we will ask, “Why?” I believe that God loves me and that He is the one controlling the circumstances of my life. Often things happen in my life that are painful, disappointing, and that I can’t fix or solve.

The question I ask is, “Why God?” Are You trying to tell me something? Are You disciplining me for a sin I have committed? Are You working on my character? In the book of Job in the Bible, Job asked that question several times. God never gave Job an answer. The thing about the fish is you can’t interrogate them; they’re not talking. So the motto for this trip to Alaska is, “When there are few fish, enjoy the fishing experience, and when there are lots of fish, enjoy the catching experience”. But the bottom line is, God did it, so in either situation, never grumble, and rejoice always. 

We got up today to head out for halibut fishing, and before we left, I called the launch site, and they said they weren’t launching any boats today because of a big storm coming in soon that will probably last into tomorrow. So we went down to the Kenai River to fish for salmon. We fished for 4 hours, and I didn’t catch a single fish. We have been here for 8 days, and I have caught only one fish. In years past, I usually catch my limit of six fish every day. In the 25 years I have been coming up here to fish, this is the worst year I have experienced. I can’t control the weather and the number of fish coming up the river, but I can control how I think and talk about all the bad luck we have had on this trip, though we know it isn’t luck. I feel bad for those who came up this year to fish, wanting to experience the awesome Alaska fishing, especially those who have never been before and those who came because of my fishing stories of how good the fishing is. Another negative is that I have been sitting in the lodge reading because I haven’t been motivated to fish as much as I usually do because of no fish, and there is a lot of food in here to snack on, so I am pretty sure I will have gained 10 pounds by the time I get home. One of the problems with feeling down because of the rotten fishing is that I try to drown my sorrows with food. Oh well, I know what my goal will be when I get home. 

Five of us went halibut fishing yesterday. When we got to the beach, all the tractors that back your boat into the surf were working, and we got launched with no problem. We motored out to my favorite spot; I have it marked on my GPS. It took us about 20 minutes. I threw the anchor overboard, but it wasn’t fastened to my rope, and I now had no anchor. The tide swings are so severe here in Cook Inlet that it is very difficult to fish without an anchor. We were right at the beginning of slack tide, so we decided to give it a shot. Slack tide is when the tide changes from going in or out. There is about a two-hour period with no ocean current, so the boat doesn’t drift. During that two-hour window, we caught 8 halibut, with several big ones. When the tide started moving, the fishing was over, and we headed back in. After we launched, I forgot to turn the lights off in our rig, and the battery was dead. But we were able to borrow some jumper cables, and a guy helped us get it started. We hooked up the boat, and we made it home in time for dinner. When we were raising our kids, camping was one of our main parenting tools, because anything that can go wrong does go wrong when you are camping, and then you teach your kids how to cope, solve problems, and choose to have a good attitude. Now my new saying is that when you are fishing, anything that can go wrong does go wrong. So now it is a matter of solving problems and choosing to have a good attitude. Life is a challenge and an adventure, so enjoy the experiences. 

We towed the boat to Ninilchik again today to go halibut fishing. When we got there, the ocean was smooth and flat, but three of the four skidders that they use to launch the boats from the shore into the surf were broken. When you get there with your boat, a very big John Deere tractor hooks up to your trailer and backs you and your boat down into the water, your boat comes off the trailer, and away you go. It is a great system, but the saltwater is hard on the tractors, and they break down. They have mechanics working constantly on them to keep them running. They did not want to launch us today because they had 20 boats out fishing, and they were afraid the last tractor would break, and they wouldn’t be able to get them out of the water. So we turned around and drove the hour back to the lodge. As I was turning into the driveway, a guy ran into the side of the truck, and we both went into the ditch. He was driving very fast and recklessly. When the police came, they gave him a ticket for reckless driving. An ambulance drove me to the hospital, where I spent the next 4 hours getting CT scans, X-rays, poked and prodded, and blood taken. Nothing was broken, no concussion, and no serious neck injury. Tonight, as I sit in my chair, I am very sore and expect to be even more sore tomorrow. My boat was not damaged, but Tim’s pick-up truck, which I was driving, was totaled. As bad as the day was, the worst thing is that I wasn’t able to go fishing today. This is the kind of day that you really need to work at rejoicing always, enjoy the wild ride, and attempt to be a good witness to everyone you talk to. 

Three of us towed my boat to Ninilchik, Alaska, to go halibut fishing today. It is an hour’s drive to get there. When we got there, the ocean was very choppy, and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We decided to skip fishing and drive back to the lodge. That was a disappointing decision because we were all looking forward to fishing. The ocean wasn’t so rough that there was any danger of swamping my boat. But it would have just been very uncomfortable and miserable bouncing around, trying to stand, and people getting seasick. My thinking process in these kinds of situations goes like this: I fish for fun, not because it is my duty, or I am under some obligation, and fishing in these conditions would not be fun. I, at times, choose to do things that are not easy or comfortable for the challenge, and the challenge makes it fun, but this wasn’t one of those kinds of situations. It would be like eating food that tastes terrible because it’s good for you. There is enough good-tasting food that is good for me to skip that choice. I choose to read my Bible every day, even though there are plenty of days that I don’t want to because I am tired or busy. The whole decision-making process is one I have thought about a lot, so I choose to do things or not to do things based on principles that come from wisdom. I make certain choices as I pursue fun and enjoyment, I make certain choices because it is the responsible thing to do, I make certain choices because it is good for me, I make certain choices because I believe it is God’s will for me, I make certain choices because it gives my wife joy, and I make choices because it will positively influence other people. I chose not to go fishing today, and I am feeling no guilt or remorse for that choice. Sometimes I make a decision in life, and afterward I wish I could undo it because, upon reflection, I know it was not the best choice. I write about that and try to gain wisdom for the next time a similar situation rolls around. 

I arrived in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday and will be here for about three weeks fishing. I am at “Funny River Fellowship Lodge” with my friends Tim and George. Tim owns the lodge, and one of the blessings of my life is that I get to come up here each year with him and catch salmon and halibut until my arm falls off. The good fishing hasn’t started yet, so I have been working on my boat for the last couple of days, giving it a fresh coat of paint and making some improvements that will help with the fishing. I plan to take it out in Cook Inlet to fish for halibut. I think we will make our first trip out into the ocean tomorrow. I say “think” because we want to go out when the waves are not too big, and the wind isn’t blowing too hard. I have an app on my phone that tells me the weather, wave height, wind speed, and when high and low tides are, in the area where we want to fish. 

Wouldn’t it be cool if we had an app that told us which choices we made would lead to a storm in our lives, so we could avoid them by making alternate choices? Some storms we can’t avoid because they are God’s will for us. Like the storm that the disciples were in on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus brought it on to test them and developed their faith and trust in Him. It didn’t last very long, and then it was over, and what a cool experience that was. But many storms we can avoid if we have the wisdom to make decisions that result in success, stability, and smooth sailing. Wisdom is a great App to have in our lives. I pay $10 a year for my boating App, but wisdom is only available to those who seek it diligently.