Over the years of traveling and speaking, and traveling on short-term mission trips I have been to about 60 different countries. In some of the countries I was in for several weeks to several months, others I was there for a day or two, and some only for a couple of hours. I have been to every State in the United States. Again some of them for a long time and others just long enough to ride my bicycle through. Of all the places I have been, my all-time favorite is Alaska. It is probably because most of the time when I come to Alaska I am fishing, hunting, or visiting family. But there is something that happens inside of me when I come to Alaska. I am not sure what to call it or how to describe it, but I just feel good. It is kind of a happy feeling with some peace and calmness thrown in, along with a sense of security in a weird kind of way, and a very real sense of expectancy, like something good is about to happen.

We got to Soldotna, Alaska, to Tim’s place today and spent most of the day getting ready for fishermen to come and spend a week fishing here on the Kenai River. There will be three groups of people each that will be here for a week fishing. We went fishing for a couple of hours this evening but caught nothing because the run hasn’t started yet, but I still had a wonderful time. It really is for me kind of a magic place.

The older I get, and the more aches and pains that I have the more I think about heaven. While I am up here in Slaska I think about heaven constantly. Heaven is a very nice thing to think about, to visualize, to dream about, both daydreaming and while I am sleeping. The cool thing is I am confident that I am going there forever because of my faith in Jesus Christ as my savior. The more I think about it the more real it becomes to me, and the stronger my faith becomes.