Patty and I are leaving for Fairbanks, Alaska this morning at 8:00 am This will be the last blog for two weeks. On the North Slope where we are hunting there is no cell service. I will take lots of pictures and write a couple of blogs about our adventures when we get back.

One of the most important disciplines in our life is reading. God sovereignly chose to preserve the Bible in written form, God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger. God created us, He created our minds, and in His choosing and planning everything He ordained that reading and writing are a major form of communicating, teaching, recording history, and learning. Every one of our kids when they were little loved for me to read to them. Often whenever I came home at least one of the youngest would come running to me with a book in their hand. Listening to someone teach and reading are the two major ways we learn and then we make it permanent in us by doing it, experimenting, and practicing.

So many adults because of busyness and life responsibilities quit reading. The day we quit reading is the day our brains start to decay. Reading is to our brain what walking, running and bicycling is to our legs. Quit exercising and you will get fat, weak, and very prone to getting sick.

When I first started Pastoring I read every book ever published on Church Growth and Health. I read biographies of healthy and growing churches, current and also historical. I read the Early Church Fathers, and I read lots of church history books. I read with a principle in mind, if Charles Spurgeon’s church grew rapidly with many thousands coming to faith in Christ, there was a reason, and I was bent on discovering that reason and putting it into practice in my own life.

Certain things you do religiously, not because it is fun but because it is right, good, and profitable for your life and promotes fruit-bearing in your life. Every person ought to make a reading goal for their life and constantly be pushing it higher. My reading goal for years has been 50 pages each week, but this year it is going to be 100 pages each week. There are so many good books, and I learn so much and I am very motivated by good books and the things that they teach in them. Some of them will be on fishing, hunting, rebuilding engines and cars, playing golf, and building things, but most will be on the book of 2 Peter, on demons and angels, on church growth and health, and on how to teach and preach better.

When Patty and I were raising our kids we read books on parenting together, and we read books on how to have a wonderful marriage together. Very few married couples do that today, takes too much time from their favorite television program.

We traveled a lot when I was a kid following my Dad on his ship. When we would drive from one port city to the next my Mom would check out a box full of books for me from the library to read while we were traveling. We had a Plymouth station wagon and the back seat faced backward. I would sit in that seat and read for hours and hours. That is probably why I don’t get motion sickness or seasick even in the worst of storms. But it is also the reason that I read so much now.

One of the greetings that I get occasionally is, “What do you know for sure?” If it were more than a greeting, and was a genuine question with interest I could list a lot of things that I know for sure. If someone asked me today I would respond, “I know it is hot!”

When I am talking to people about faith in Jesus, I will often start with the question, “If you died tonight, do you know for sure, without a doubt, that you would go to heaven and not hell?” Most people don’t give me a straight-up “yes or no” answer, just around the bush, not sure what to say, fuzzy talk. Sometimes, depending on if I perceive any interest, I will follow up with, “I know for sure that I am going to heaven when I die; I could share with you how you could know for sure as well if you wanted.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 God has also set eternity in their heart,

That verse means that all people know for sure that when they die, they don’t just turn into dirt; something in them lives on in consciousness. But because they don’t know anything else beyond that for sure, it is easier to say that beyond death, there is nothing.

Romans 1:19-20 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

The fact that there is a God is evident inside us; God puts the awareness that there is a God in every person; we know for sure that there is a God, an intelligent creator, but many ignore that evidence and even deny it.

Because I know for sure, without a doubt, that I will live beyond death, and because I know for sure without a doubt that there is a God, if I didn’t know what happened to me after I died, I would diligently seek for an answer. I don’t know how people can live in that state of limbo, not knowing for sure what their eternal destiny is and where they will live, especially in light of how hot it was today!

Starting the first weekend in October, I will be teaching weekly classes that I call “Leadership Class.” I don’t define leadership as leading officially or being in charge of something or someone. I define leadership as the “influence” you have over other people; because of your character, consistent behavior, and your words the people around you change their behavior, way of living, priorities, and character. You influenced them to change for the better by your leadership. A part of our leadership is because of the positive example that our life is to those around us, and another key part is the fact that God supernaturally works in their life through us. “THROUGH US – THROUGH US – THROUGH US.” God supernaturally works through people to cause great growth and change in others. He only works through qualified people. Leadership Class asks and answers the question, “What qualifications does God require in order to work through us?” Jesus said to Matthew when He called him, “Follow Me and I will make you a fisher of men.” Jesus was going to teach Matthew what he needed to do and be so that he could influence other people for Jesus. Jesus was making Matthew a leader.

Electricity travels through material called conductors. If we go to “Home Depot” and buy a roll of electrical wire, we are buying material that conducts the electricity to our lights, refrigerator, and oven to give them power. The top four conductors of electricity are silver, copper, gold, and aluminum. The poorest conductors of electricity are lead and stainless steel. The top four non-conductors or insulators of electricity are plastic, rubber, wood and glass. In regards to the power of the Holy Spirit working through us into the lives of others, some people are silver, copper, gold, and aluminum, others are lead, and still others are plastic, rubber, wood, and glass.

We don’t want to be non-conductors or even poor conductors, we want to be good conductors of God’s power into the lives of our kids, spouse, people we work with, friends, neighbors, those in our church, and even to people we don’t like. Leadership class teaches us how to become golden conductors.

2 Timothy 2:20-21 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, , , Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

We can be gold or silver, which are good conductors, or we can be lead, a poor conductor or we can be wood and clay, which are non-conductors.

“Leadership Class” is all about learning what makes us gold and silver conductors of God’s power into the lives of others. Most Christians are lead or even wood and clay; their godly, positive influence in the lives of the people around them is very little, if any. They aren’t necessarily bad people, just non-conductors or poor conductors of God’s power into the lives of others.

There are separate first-year leadership classes for men, and woman and there is a Leadership II class for men and woman together. Want, want a lot, want bad, really want to be a golden vessel, useful to God, and be willing to pay the price.

Way back in 2018, I got the idea to build a boat big enough to go out on the ocean with so that we could fish for halibut on it. We had most years that we had gone up to Alaska gone out on a charter to fish for halibut, which cost $300 per person. So I researched different kinds of boats, the difficulty of building various types, Alaska, halibut fishing, and available plans and instructions on building. After many hours of reading, researching, and even going for rides in some different styles of boats, I decided on a 26-foot ocean-going dory, the kind that many commercial fishermen off of the coast of Oregon use and also sport fishing charters use out of Pacific City. I bought the plans and materials, and I built it in four months in what used to be the church shop before it was remodeled and converted into a storage building. I made it and recruited some friends to help me, and we pulled it to Alaska, driving 60 hours non-stop to get it there. I took it out three times in the next three weeks and caught nothing. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t know how to fish for halibut. I got discouraged with the halibut fishing thing, called myself an idiot for coming up with such a stupid idea, and pulled the boat back home. It has been here for the last five years. That was an expensive experiment, gas is expensive in Canada, and I felt like a dummy and a failure. The most I have done with it here is to fish on the Colombia for Shad twice. The motor was unreliable and small, so I bought a Mercury 135 hp motor and had it rebuilt. It is a very reliable and robust motor for a magnificent boat. I have been planning to fish in the ocean here and do a bunch of crabbing out of it.

A couple of years ago, I was up at the Portland Sportsman’s Show, which I go to every year, and I saw a booth advertising guided halibut fishing out of a drift boat near where I fish in Alaska. I looked at all of his pictures and watched all of his videos. I was intrigued because they didn’t even use a motor; the guide rowed it out into the ocean and fished for halibut. I thought, “That is crazy!” so I booked a trip; in fact, I booked two trips and went out in the ocean fishing with him the following summer when I was up there on our annual salmon fishing adventure. It was great; it was terrific; in fact, it was awesome. I thought, WOW, I went out in a drift boat one-quarter mile from shore in 20 feet of water with this guide and caught halibut. So two years ago, I built an 18 ft drift boat up at Tim’s place in Soldotna, Alaska. Last year I built a trailer for it, and I also met a fellow that some long-time friends of mine who live in Alaska recommended that I get together with. I connected with him by cell phone and drove to his house, and talked with him for hours about fishing for halibut out of a drift boat. He was about my age, and he took his drift boat out in the ocean with his old wife, fishing for Halibut all the time and almost always limited out. So this year, I took my drift boat out six times, following all the guidelines my new friend gave me, and we caught lots of halibut; it was a blast.

All the time we were fishing in my relatively small 18 ft drift boat with a little 2.3 hp motor on it, I thought this would be so much more comfortable out of my dory. My dory is 26 feet long; you can stand up in it, you can walk around in it, and you can get four to six people in it. My dory was built for this; it would be amazing, no, it would be awesome!

So, I will pull my dory back o Alaska again next year and leave it up there. We are going to build a house for it, and we are going to catch lots and lots of halibut out of it. I am going to become an expert at catching halibut in Cook Inlet.

I love catching sockeye salmon, but there are those slow days, and now we can catch halibut on those days. I love fishing for Halibut so much; it will have to be a really hot day fishing for salmon to pull me off of the ocean.

I am stoked about my new plan, I will be looking for people to help drive next year, so if you have always wanted to go to Tim’s Place, “Funny River Fellowship Lodge – Where the Tug is the Drug”, but couldn’t afford the airfare, this could be your chance.

In the Colombia river fishing for Shad

We flew home from Alaska yesterday; Patty picked us up from the airport at 7:30 pm, we had to make several stops to deliver people and fish on the way home, and we got home about midnight and into bed at about 1:00 am. I got up at 4:00 am yesterday morning to get everything ready for flying home, so this morning, I slept until 10:00 am, and boy, oh boy, did that feel good. I have not slept in my own bed much since the beginning of May, and I had forgotten what a lovely bed it is and how much my old body likes it. I can’t imagine anything feeling much better. I honestly thought about sleeping for 24 hours; I know I could have done it. One of my new goals that I made this summer is to be done with my lifelong habit of sleeping 5 or 6 hours a night. I started that way back in my dairy farming days, and when I started pastoring, I often milked cows from midnight until 6:00 am to help make ends meet, so I got used to the short nights of sleep to get everything done.

On the bicycle trip, I got 8 or 9 hours of sleep almost every night because that is when everyone else went to bed, so I just joined them in the routine. Up in Alaska, there were many nights of fishing most of the night, but I made up for it the next day by sleeping for all most all day long. So, all in all, I easily averaged over 8 hours of sleep every day. I guess it took three months of sleeping at least eight hours most nights to realize how much better I felt. Now, as a result of getting my eating squared away, losing weight, taking a bunch of vitamins and supplements, and sleeping eight hours a day, I probably will live to be 100 years old.

The easy way to accomplish this goal is to eliminate or move all my morning commitments. But my favorite ministry is meeting with my different “Men’s Accountability Groups” each morning at 6:00 am. That is the only time that works to have them, and I believe strongly in the power of encouragement and accountability with men.

So, I guess I will have to discipline myself to be in bed by 9:00 pm. Patty goes to bed on most nights at 9:00 so I will just have to join her. Yep, I think I am going to live to be 100.

We are heading home tomorrow on Alaska Airlines, and Patty is picking us up at the airport in Portland at 7:30 pm. I have been in Alaska fishing for almost a month. Patty let’s me do it because she has all those grandkids to keep her busy, but I sure get to missing her. I am going back up to Alaska a week after I get home to go on a caribou hunting trip with two sons-in-law, but she is coming with me. Patty won’t go out in the bush hunting with us, she will stay at our daughter, Shelly’s house in Fairbanks with their six kids, yep Patty and the grandkids.

Over the last 53 years of marriage I have been gone off and on quite a bit. I used to travel a bunch for speaking engagements and then lots of mission trips around the world, and then month long bicycle trips, and hunting and fishing trips. Neither of us has struggled much with the separations, not because we don’t enjoy each others company or we don’t miss each other, because we do, it has just been part of our life and neither of us fusses much about what life dishes out for us, that’s just the way it is.

When Patty picks us up at the airport she will greet me and talk to me like we had dinner together today. For 53 years we have operated by a number of key principles in our relationship and marriage, none of them are written down, and if someone were to ask us what they were we would both be hard pressed to express them clearly, but we understand them and live by them consistently. The result has been 53 years of a great marriage and a very healthy and secure family life resulting in good kids and grandkids.

One of those principles is that the Lord is first place in our lives, nothing is more important to us than He is, not even our spouse or our kids. The Lord is our primary source of our security and joy in life, more than anything or anybody. Jesus said in

Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

The word hate here has the idea of love less to the point of being like hate because of the great difference. The love that I have for Patty is great but in comparison to my love for Jesus it is like hate. That entire concept is tough to live and almost impossible to measure. Regular separations are a good time to think about this, evaluate it, and make adjustments if needed.

God has stated clearly that He will not tolerate being second place in our life if we want to serve Him and have a relationship with Him. If we diligently seek Him first He will make all the other important things in our life amazing, especially our marriage and family.

God asked Abraham to offer up his only son, Isaac, as an offering to God. why? He wanted to see what was most important to Abraham, the Lord or his son. And because Abraham was willing to kill his only son, God blessed Him immensely.

I have been in Alaska fishing for 25 days. During this time I have been on a news/current events fast, that is I haven’t read the news, visited any of my favorite internet sights, or even gotten into discussions with anybody about politics or the latest on the economy. It has been relatively easy because fishing tends to take all my focus and I rarely think about anything else. I fish, read my Bible, memorize Bible verses, read a good theology book about demons and angels, write my blog, eat, sleep, fish some more and on and on. It has been incredibly refreshing not being caught up in all the stuff going on in our government and world.

Tonight I took a few minutes to read a few news things and listen to one of my favorite commentators on current events. The fifteen-minute experience was like WOW, I have missed out on a lot of news and things happening. I may not have read or heard about what has been happening, but I am not sure that I have missed out on anything. Life has been great, and I think that one of the reasons is that there hasn’t been much negative that has come into my mind except an occasional low fish count.

Reading, listening and keeping up with all the latest in the world of politics, the economy, and world conflicts is addicting, like watching a soap opera. I have broken that addiction and I plan on staying free from it. I am going to give myself thirty minutes once a week on regular news stuff and 10 minutes every day on sports news. Before the days of the internet I got all of my news from the daily newspaper. I spent 30 minutes reading it every day, about 10 minutes on the “Funny” page, 15 minutes on sports and about 5 minutes on the front page. Now, those were the good old days.

Fluff is my word for activities with very little value in my life. My goal is to remove all the fluff possible from my life, but occasionally I will choose to engage in fluff just for fun or relaxation.

There are only four of us left at the lodge; we will be coming home in a couple of days, fishing has slowed down, and I already have enough fish caught and in the freezer to fill two fifty-pound fish boxes to take on the airplane with me, so last night when we got back from fishing I downloaded a mystery-thriller novel into my Kindle and sat up until 3:00 am and read it. I got up this morning at 10:00 am, and it is now almost noon, and I am drinking coffee and writing this blog. Now that is about as fluffy as it gets, and for good measure, I popped and ate a bowl of popcorn. Whoooeeee, I am bad! 🤪😁

I read two or three novels a year, usually by Tom Clancy, in one sitting and almost always on a trip, in the airport, or on a plane.

The fluff that I engage in is not bad, but it does take time from other things, and it is usually addicting. I never watch television except for an occasional football or basketball game. I go to two or three movies a year, and I read two or three novels a year. All those numbers could increase significantly because of the enjoyment factor if I let them. I do watch Monday night football with a group of guys each week during football season, but the fellowship with them is much more the value than the game itself; sometimes, I hardly watch the game for all the talking that takes place.

So, I fish, I play golf, I hunt, I restore old cars, I watch sports, I sit in the hot tub, I go to movies, I read mystery novels, and I eat pop corn. How much is OK, and how much is foolish? Here are a couple of verses that I have memorized, and meditate on to help me have wisdom with this question.

Ephesians 5:15-16
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

As you know, the keyword in time management is balance. There is family, ministry, personal walk and relationship with the Lord, job, home responsibilities, relationships, personal renewal of emotional energy, physical health, hobbies, and fluff.

The key for me to maintain balance in all that I do is my personal goals. I write them, read them often, and think about how I am doing. The desire to accomplish my dreams kept hot by reading them keeps the fluff in my life from taking over. I start thinking about and writing my goals on October 1st, so I have plenty of time to think, pray, and plan my life.

This afternoon I was watching some sermons of a couple of pastors who I am coaching and periodically giving them some feedback and suggestions on how to improve their preaching. One of the things that I always recommend to all preachers is to watch their sermons. Even though I recommend that to others, I always hated watching mine and often found excuses for not taking the time to do it. I saw and heard so many things that I needed to change and work on, and it made me so discouraged that I was still such a lousy preacher and teacher after all this time. It always amazed me that I could be so blind to my faults while preaching but could see them quickly when I watched and listened to myself on video.

I know the same thing is true for me in everyday life while talking to others, living with them, having dinner with them, fishing, and working with them. I know I say and do things that are hurtful, prideful, self-serving, stupid, and not enjoyable for others, but I am not aware of it. It would be cool if the Lord would give me a video of an evening spent with others that I could watch and listen to myself. I would witness many things I needed to work on and change. I also know that the shock of seeing who I am and how I sound might drive me to be a hermit.

One part of my job and calling is to encourage and help people to change their behavior and to grow in character. The most significant barrier I face in doing that is most people don’t see their character flaws and behavioral weaknesses, and they are very resistant and defensive to finding them out. There is comfort in thinking that we are OK; it is everyone else with the problems.

One of the things that Jesus taught that speaks loudly to my heart every time I read it was, “If you are attempting to take a splinter out of a brother’s eye, take the log out that is in your eye first, then you can see to help your brother.” If I don’t work very hard at self-examination and character and behavioral growth, I will not be helpful to others in their development. Self-examination is brutal because our flesh is so prideful and defensive, even to me. I wish it were as easy as looking in the mirror and seeing some meat stuck in my teeth or looking down and seeing my zipper open.

It basically boils down to a relentless pursuit of humility. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

(By the way, I stayed in my recliner last night and didn’t go fishing.)