Today we did something I have never done before. We went out into the ocean Halibut fishing in a drift boat that the guide rowed, no motor. He rowed us out a mile and we fished out of it all-day until the wind was blowing so hard that there were waves and the boat was rocking like a bucking horse, and he rowed us back on. We didn’t catch any halibut, but we had an adventure that I will remember for a while. We took a short nap and are headed out to fish all night. There will be a couple of hours that we will need a headlamp but most of the night it will be light enough to see. The big run of salmon hasn’t started yet so we are hoping it is tonight. If it is still slow at midnight we will probably come back and go to bed.

We landed in Anchorage last night at 11:30 pm and by the time we got through the COVID line checking our paperwork, picked up our luggage and got the rental pick up it was 1:00 am and then a 2 1/2 hour drive drug out to 3 because of road construction. We got checked into our room at 4:00 am and were on the river fishing at 7:00 am. We fished until 4:00 pm, but only caught 4 salmon so we took a break, ate dinner, took a short nap and are headed out again and will start fishing at 9:00 pm tonight. It is light until midnight, but we may fish until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning using headlamps if the fish are in.

We fish on this medal walkway that the city of Soldotna built for us out of State fisherman. It is very comfortable and easy to fish from for an old guy like me😀

Me and two other guys are leaving this evening for Alaska, where we are going to be fishing for sockeye salmon for a week. Alaska won’t let us come into the State unless we have had a negative COVID test within 72 hours of entering the State. I went to a place yesterday that said we could get results back in 24 hours. I got there and went inside to answer questions and fill out papers and when I finished they said go outside and wait in my car and they would call me on my cell phone when it was my turn to get tested. I waited for about 30 minutes and then was directed to drive to a white tent where I would get tested while seated in my car. When I drove in the tent and turned off my motor they had this electric gizmo that they swiped across my forehead to read my temperature. I had been sitting in my little car in the sun so my temperature registered at 106 degrees. The young girl who took my temperature got all excited, I mean, really excited. I wasn’t sure what the problem was, but she sounded like I was on the verge of dying. I felt fine, but I will have to admit, she made me nervous. The older nurse came over and asked me to go sit inside in the air conditioned waiting room for 15 minutes which I did and it came down to 97 degrees. Whooooeee I thought I had the creeping COVID for a minute, oh yeh, my test came back negative as well.

I was talking to a guy in the waiting room who had a similar experience as I did, and he also was headed to Alaska to fish. We were comparing notes on all the hoops we had to jump through to get up there this year and he said, “ Yeh, it is easier to get into heaven then it is to get into the State of Alaska. I laughed and said, “yep, I am headed for heaven, and hopefully soon, very soon!” We had a nice 15 minute conversation between two Christians waiting for their temperatures to drop.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

If you would like to get started memorizing some key Bible verses to meditate on, and to get into your life, Philippians 4:4 is a good one. It is short, it is simple, and the truth in it is profound, be happy. Here are some simple observations and applications from this verse;

1. Most people think that our joy is a result of our circumstances; good circumstances = joy, bad circumstances = no joy.

2. If we believe that our circumstances dictate our level of joy we will feel like victims most of the time. A person with a victim mentality is difficult to have a positive relationship with, they become increasingly pessimistic about life in general, anxiety over the future increases, they are afraid to try anything new, and they increasingly become less responsible in life blaming every failure on something or someone else.

3. We can choose to act happy in spite of circumstances, and if we do we will soon feel happy.

4. Those who discover this simple law and live by it, rejoicing always, are free, they are not controlled by events and circumstances.

5. Those who consistently practice Philippians 4:4 will be very attractive to other people; people enjoy being with happy, positive people.

6. Those who consistently practice Philippians 4:4 will be healthier, have more strength, and have more energy than those whose joy is a product of their circumstances.

7. Those who faithfully ”rejoice always” as an act of their will, will be successful at solving problems and barriers in life, because their motive is not selfish but a service to others, prompting God to bless our efforts.

8. A simple way to teach ourselves to rejoice always is whenever we get down a bit because of crappie circumstances, think about heaven, the fact that we are going there, what it will be like, and how we will feel, it really does work.

The pressure to conform to the views, opinions, behavior, and attitudes of those around us has always been an issue in life, but of late it has become extreme. The average person feels more secure and accepted if they conform and mimic those who are their peers, the trendsetters, the important people, the famous people. Some things, such as style of cloths are not that big of a deal if we want to fit in, but increasingly the pressure to conform is foolish and even evil.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Peter 1:14-15 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;

One of our parenting goals was to teach our kids to “stand alone if necessary for what was right, good, and just”, and how to do that without being obnoxious, weird, or haughty. Kids take to this kind of strength if taught early and well the principles of being a bright light, a non-conformist, and a leader. When a young person does stand strong and alone if necessary for what is right, it is a tremendous builder of confidence and self-worth in their heart.

There isn’t much in life that I enjoy more than doing things with my kids and grandkids. Today, Gary Brown, a good friend took me, my son-in-law, Aaron his two sons, my two grandsons fishing, and we all had a blast. I am sure it will be a very memorable time for both the boys, and especially for me.

Life is full of trials, disappointments, hassles, and pressures, but regularly there is a break, a bright light, a really cool experience that makes everything seem right and good. Today was one of those days for me. God designs life to be a character gym, a time and place where we are in training for the purpose of growing stronger and stronger in character. But all workouts need a renewing time, and today was a day when all my gas tanks got filled full and topped off.

There are so many new phrases coming out now to describe so many new ways of thinking and acting. I am regularly googling phrases and seeing what Wikipedia has to say about it. Of late I have seen the phrase ”cancel culture” pop up a bunch so I googled it and found lots of reading on the new way to control people, and exert power over them.

CEO of Goya Foods, Robert Unanue, publically declared his support for President Trump recently, and now there are a bunch of people boycotting Goya Foods to punish him for his views. I recently had a person unfriend me because they didn’t like what I wrote in one of my blogs.

Choosing to unfriend someone on Facebook isn’t the real problem, it is when along with distancing yourself from someone you slander them, attempt to embarrass them and even ruin them. It is motivated and driven by hate, and the goal control and vengeance.

Very few things that a society or country does gives the devil more power and control of that country than a general attitude of unforgiveness, bitterness, and vengeance, it is a rule of God.

Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone of a sin or an offense against him, seven times? Jesus responds by saying seventy times seven and the disciples are shocked at that answer, and then Jesus tells one of his longest stories in the gospels to illustrate the importance of forgiving others. At the end of the story in Matthew 18:34-35 ”And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

”The torturers” are demons, and God is permitting them to do what they want to the person who doesn’t forgive from his heart. When a whole ”culture” does that, that culture becomes increasingly more evil as the devil gains greater and greater levels of control and power.

Every morning I pray a prayer of personal commitment and dedication to Jesus Christ as Lord, master, and King of my life. I make a number of commitments in the prayer, and one of them is, ”Today I choose to forgive anybody of anything that they may have done to me, no matter how bad the offense and no matter how many times they have done it. I am choosing to do this quickly, not mulling over in my head the deed or words that hurt me. I am choosing to do this, not because they deserve it, but because Jesus has forgiven me of every sin and transgression in my life.”

One of our parenting goals was to have each of our kids go to a Third World Country on a short term mission trip before they graduated from High School. We did accomplish that goal, and they went to countries like Vietnam, Haiti, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The reason for this goal was so that they could see how poor many other people in the world are, be both moved to do something to help if possible, and also to appreciate living in the United States, having a spirit of gratefulness as opposed to a spirit of discontentment, criticalness, and selfishness. Also that they would see how bad the governments in many of these countries are, how oppressive, controlling, corrupt, inefficient and ineffective, and again, appreciate what we have here in the USA.

People who are grateful, positive, and happy are attractive to others, and they influence others, things change, get better because of them.

I have six, 12-volt batteries on my pontoon boat. They run my electric trolling motor, start the 85 hp outboard motor, power the fish finder and GPS, supply power for the lights that I have on the boat for night fishing, and provide electricity for my two electric downriggers that I use when trolling for kokanee. Between fishing trips I carry them into my shop where I hook them up to a battery charger so that they are fully charged the next time I go fishing. Occasionally when I am not paying attention I will clamp the leads from the charger on the wrong terminals on the battery. When that happens, a light starts blinking with the words, ”polarity reversed.” If I left it that way, the positive terminal would become the negative one. It seems like a lot of people, somewhere in life, got charged backwards.

Often as I see pictures and videos of recent riots I think, I should make another trip to West Africa, invite a bunch of those people to go with me to build a school, help in a medical clinic, or drill a well by hand. It is a nice thought that won’t happen because I don’t have the funds to pull that off and they probably wouldn’t go, if asked, but I am pretty sure it would change their life. The polarity of their thinking might get changed back to where it should be.

Karl Marx said that those in heaven will all be equal in every way which is what makes heaven, heaven. The problem with his statement that he used as a premise for Marxism or Communism as a government form is that it is not true. Heaven is not a place where all the inhabitants are equal. if every Christian in the United States we’re polled I would guess that 80% would say that everyone in heaven will be equal, but that does not make it true. Socialism and Communism remove much of the human motive to excel and to press on to do better, become better, make more money, and to become a better person. The view that everyone who goes to heaven because of faith in Christ is equal also removes much of the motivation to grow and accomplish great things for God.

A basic tenet of Christianity is that no one gets into heaven by being good because the standard is perfection. It only takes one little sin to keep you out. Jesus as God emptied Himself of all that He was as God, became a human exactly like us and lived a perfect sinless life. He was then nailed to a cross and while there God the Father took every person’s sins and put them on Jesus, and looked at Jesus as if He actually committed our sins, and punished Him for our sins. He paid the price of our sins so we wouldn’t have to by going to hell forever. We need to acknowledge that indeed we are sinners and lost and receive, accept the free gift salvation. It is a free gift, not earned nor deserved.

The problem now is that because I am saved, going to heaven not because of any good works, there is now no good reason to do good works, unless there is a judgment of believers and a reward or loss of reward for all those entering into heaven that are significant.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Romans 14:10-12 . . .For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. . . So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Colossians 3:23-25 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

What is the reward, the recompense that we receive for what we have done when we stand before Jesus.? It is meant to motivate us to faithful, sacrificial, devoted living and service. A person who is a fully devoted follower of Jesus gives his entire life to serving the Lord, sacrificially gives his time ministering to people, sacrificially gives his money to help the poor, never seeks for personal recognition or comfort in this life, dies and goes to heaven.

Another person who has trusted in Christ as his savior spends all of his money on toys for himself, doesn’t serve in any way, attends church but is critical of most that is done and continually causes problems, dies as well and goes to heaven.

They both stand before Jesus and give an accounting of their life and are rewarded for how they have lived and what they have done. What is the difference between the two in heaven?

Matthew 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

What is the reward and does it make a difference in the quality of life one will experience in heaven? What about those who are proud, hypocritical, and do everything to be noticed by others for their praise? What is the difference in their eternity?

Matthew 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last.

This verse follows a story Jesus tells to describe the Kingdom of Heaven, and in this verse He is saying that many who are first on earth will be last in heaven. What does that mean to be last in heaven, does it matter, does it make a difference. And again;

Matthew 19:29-30 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.

1 Corinthians 15:41-42 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

Very few people who call themselves Christians are motivated by the future event called “The Judgment Seat of Christ”.

This life is short even if we live to be 100. Life after death is long, very long, in fact it is eternal. I have not personally experienced life after death, obviously, but the Bible describes it in detail. The Bible says that God has put eternity into our heart, that is, we have this internal sense of life after death, though some have stuffed that sense as part of their attempt to eliminate God from their life.

Karl Marx in his writings stated that the perfect government could produce “heaven on earth“, which is interesting because he was critical of teachings about God or heaven. He said, “if there is a heaven it is most assuredly a place of perfect equality among everyone there, which is what would make it heaven because then everyone would be perfectly happy.” It is obvious that Karl Marx’s understanding of heaven and eternity was limited.

The differences between people’s level of pleasure in eternity is going to be immense. Some people will be in heaven with Jesus and their life will be amazingly wonderful. They will have a glorified body that is like the body of Jesus that will not ache, hurt or get sick. 1 Corinthians 2:9 puts it this way, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” And then there is 1 Corinthians 15:50-52, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

On the other hand there will be those who spend eternity in the “Lake of Fire”as described in Revelation 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10 “they were thrown into the lake of fire and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Some quick applications

1. Life on this planet is short and then comes eternity. The most important thing in this life is to know without a doubt where you are spending eternity. “I hope”, “I think”, and “I am pretty sure”, don’t cut it.

2. Life on this planet is short and then comes eternity. Doesn’t make make sense to fuss a lot about a place you are just visiting.

3. If you really care about people you will work hard to be a factor in as many lives as possible following Jesus. Nothing else really matters much.

4. There is so much that is wrong in this world but when Jesus comes justice will prevail.