While in Alaska fishing for sockeye salmon on the Kenai River, we fish on docks built out over the river. The city of Soldotna has built over a mile of them. The reason was to prevent people from tearing up the banks of the river as they climbed into and out of the water, causing erosion. They are about three feet above the river and are very nice to fish off of, especially for old guys. You can note what they look like in the picture.

Tonight, a fairly large family was fishing on the far end of the dock, not far from where we were fishing. It was only the grandpa fishing; the rest watched, talked, and horsed around. We heard a splash and looked up to see one of the kids, probably about five years old, falling off the dock and into the river. The water was about three feet deep at the edge of the dock, but the Kenai River is glacier-fed and very cold and flowing rapidly. The kid was gasping for air, thrashing around, and obviously very shocked by the freezing water. The Dad immediately jumped into the water, grabbed his son, and hoisted him up to the dock. The whole thing happened in just a couple of seconds.

I thought the kid would be cold for a bit and maybe a little traumatized by the experience, but I bet his Dad is a hero in his eyes, at least for a while. If the kid had floated down the river where I was standing, and no one had rescued him at that point, I would have jumped in and rescued him, but reluctantly, knowing how cold the water was and how wet and miserable I would be afterward. I would have jumped in because it would have been the right thing. The Dad jumped in because he was his Dad, and that is what Dads do. Dads are protectors and rescuers.

God, our creator and Father, rescued us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. He became 100% man, was tempted in every way and to the extent we are, and never sinned. Jesus was nailed to a cross, and while He was there, the Father took all of our sins, put them on Jesus, and punished His own Son for our sins.

If the son who fell into the water, between gasps, had said, “Dad, leave me alone; I can take care of myself,” when he floated by me, I would have just waved and thought to myself, stupid kid!

So many people ignore God and refuse the free gift of salvation offered to us by our heavenly Father, because they think they can take care of it themselves, stupid people.

Life is full of transitions, some good, some not-so-good, and some bad. You graduate from High School, start your first job, get married, move, go on vacation, retire, get a new job, go on a fishing trip, and so on. We look forward to some events with great anticipation and dread others. Some we wish would never end, and others we can’t wait until they end. Some of the transitions we plan, and others just happen, whether we want them to or not.

All of creation is an illustration of life. Looking at it is a manual for living life if we really think and make an application. The seasons of the year and the various daily weather conditions are like our lives, constantly changing. When it rains, we wear a raincoat; when it gets hot, we wear shorts; when it gets cold, we wear a coat.

In life, there are some basic guidelines or rules for living; in the various transitions, events, and seasons of our life, make adjustments as needed, and don’t get locked into one way of doing things or running your life. In every new situation, work hard at learning and growing in wisdom and character. Trust God, who orchestrates our life for maximum growth. Ask Him for strength and wisdom. Rejoice always, and never grumble or complain, no matter how terrible a new situation or event might be; it short circuits all of the above.

For the last two weeks, I have been living in Soldotna, Alaska, fishing for Salmon ten hours a day and catching a lot of fish; it is a taste of heaven for me. I would like it if it would last longer, but in a week, I go home, and a new transition begins. I will preach on Sunday and Wednesday nights, teach leadership classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and study and write sermons, lessons, and books. I enjoy the ministry life very much and am more excited than ever for it to start because of this stint in Alaska.

We pulled my 26-foot dory to Ninilchik, where they back boats into the surf with big four-wheel drive skidders. Our plan was to get launched and then go out and catch halibut. The night before, I had watched several videos called “Deep Creek Carnage.” There were videos of launches and reloads that went bad. The boats got swamped, rolled over, and damaged extensively. We got to the beach, and the surf was higher than my weather app said. We drove an hour to get here and wanted to catch some halibut, but I started thinking about those videos. We sat there in the pickup, looking at the surf, trying to decide what we were going to do. I thought to myself, “Don’t be a chicken. Go for it.” Just then, one of the skidder drivers came to the window and said, “We don’t recommend that you launch today.” Oh well, “thank you for making up my mind!”

Sometimes, the line between being an overly cautious chicken that does little because of the fear of something going wrong and being reckless is hard to discern. I have tended to be impulsive and reckless in my life, and I have had many adventures and things going wrong because of it. But I think that the person who isn’t afraid of failure will accomplish much more with their life than the person who waits for perfect conditions to do something.

I have noticed that the older I get, the more cautious I am in my decision-making.

This is the 25th year in a row that I have come to Alaska to fish for salmon. In the past years, I have fished for 12 to 14 hours each day. I figured I could catch up on sleep time when I got home. The joy of fishing motivated and energized me. But, alas, I am almost 76 years old, and my body won’t keep up or cooperate with my brain anymore. I was supposed to get up at 3:00 am and fish with my son Seth. When the alarm went off this morning, I told him to go without me, and I slept until 9:00 am. The group returned from fishing a few minutes ago and caught lots of salmon, and all said to me, “You should have come, Dee; fishing was awesome!” I felt like a lazy old man. ‘Two Bible verses have become a focus in my meditation lately and have helped tremendously in accepting my need for increased sleep and rest time.

Psalms 37:7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of life’s limitations.

Psalms 131:2 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.

Such is life; enjoy it.

In the 75 years I have lived in all the activities and areas of my life, nothing has been more important than my wife, Patty, and our eight kids. The kids are all gone, married with their own kids now, and I don’t see most of them much now. So when I get an opportunity to spend some quality time with any of them, it is a special time. Our son Seth lives in Idaho with his family, so I don’t get to see him often. He just had his 40th birthday, and his family gave him a gift to come to Alaska and fish with me. We fished with our kids a lot as they grew up, and Seth was particularly good at it, even when he was little. We were fishing this morning at 4:00 am, and he caught his second salmon and yelled for everyone to hear, “Dad, one fish, son, two fish!”

The Bible makes it clear that God desires our fellowship with Him. Jesus died for us so our sins, which are the main barrier between us and God, could be taken care of, erased, canceled, buried, never to be remembered again. God created prayer as the primary way to spend time with Him, get to know Him, and experience His presence. When I think of how important time with my kids is to me, I am often convicted by the relatively small amount of time I give to God, seeking Him, drawing near Him, and talking to Him in prayer. I have to set goals, commit to specific times, and keep track of my prayer time. If I don’t, everything in life sucks up my time, and I get to the end of the day and have ignored God.

I am having a very good time in Alaska fishing on the Kenai River. We are catching a lot of sockeye salmon and eating lots of food. George is an amazing cook, and I am sure I will gain at least 5 pounds while here. I am also having incredible times of fellowship with the other guys here fishing. There is something about fish camps and hunting camps that produce a unique bond between guys.

I am big-time sleep-deprived, often getting up at 3:00 am and occasionally fishing all night. I am trying hard to keep up with my Bible reading, Scripture memory, and prayer time, but I usually fall asleep while reading. We see moose most days, as well as otters and other wildlife. A plus for this year’s fishing trip is that my son Seth is fishing with me. Because he lives in Idaho, I don’t get to see him often, so I am very much enjoying this time.

‘I tell the Lord “thank You,” every day for the privilege of fishing in Alaska. James 1:17 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”

The day started great as we launched off of Ninilchick beach with my boat. They back you up into the surf with big tractors and pick you up the same way. It is rather exciting. We motored out about a mile and anchored and started catching fish. But after we caught several nice halibuts we started catching nothing but sharks, small four foot sand sharks. So we moved locations and we started having trouble keeping the outboard motor running. In the process of continually starting it we ran the battery dead. We had a small trolling motor on the boat as well and as we started back in with it, it froze up and wouldn’t turn over. We called the launch service and they called a boat that was out fishing who came and towed us into the beach and we were able to get the boat on our trailer. Being out in the ocean with no power is a scary experience. As many adventures as I have had this was one of the best or worse, depending how you look at it.

Lots of Christians try to live their lives with no power. It doesn’t work very well. We need God’s power to successfully navigate life. God loves to give His power to those who ask Him for it, and ask a lot. Believe me, I was asking a lot today.

As we drove from Oregon to Alaska with its various stops, and here in Soldtna, as I went to various places to get stuff to fix the boat, we ran into cheerful people who treated us with respect and graciousness, and we dealt with grumpy people. The tow truck driver who picked up our boat when the tongue broke was one of the grumpiest people I have experienced. The people at the border crossings treated us as a major infringement on their lives.

People who are grumpy, if called on it, always have a justification that has to do with their circumstances. Being nice to people is a choice we make in spite of how bad our circumstances may be. We don’t have to treat people poorly because we are feeling poorly. Treating people with respect, honoring them, and giving them grace by the way we talk are the foundation of Christian behavior. The main command Jesus gives us is to love people as much as Jesus has loved us.

Grumpiness is selfish, childish., and very displeasing to God. Being nice is a choice we can make at any time because it is the right way to live.

Three friends and I left for Soldotna, Alaska, Sunday at 5:00 pm, pulling my 26-foot dory boat. We planned to drive the 2850 miles straight, stopping only for fuel and potty breaks, rotating drivers, and sleeping in our seats. Our goal was to drive it in 60 hours, which ended up taking 72 hours. The reason for the extra hours was because of all the adventures we had. The first delay was at the border. We must have looked suspicious because they went through the pickup after interrogating us, and we were there for an hour. The next adventure was when we noticed the hull was developing some cracks. The motor was pretty heavy, and the road was very bouncy. We decided to take the motor off and lay it on the boat’s floor. The problem was that the motor was very heavy, and we didn’t think the four of us could lift it into the boat. So I googled “truck mechanics” to find someone with a hoist, and the first one I called said they could help us. We drove to their shop, and a young kid working there helped us unbolt the motor. We used the hoist on their truck to pick it up and lay it in the boat. They didn’t charge us, so we gave the kid $100 for helping us. The next adventure happened at 10:30 pm when we stopped at a rest stop. We noticed that a bolt had ripped through the trailer tongue and that the trailer was about to come loose from the pickup. That would not have been a pleasant experience to have that boat come loose while we were driving 60 mph down the road. We called AAA and had them take the boat and trailer to the next town. It was 2:00 am now, and nothing was open, so we left the boat and trailer at the towing yard and got a motel room. In the morning, we bought a cordless drill, drilled a new hole, and ran the bolt through it. Off down the road we went, wondering what our next adventure would be. We made it to fish camp with no further mishaps, it was kind of boring.

I have been on over 40 short-term mission trips to other countries with groups, hunting trips, fishing trips, and school trips, and on most of them, something happened from a minor interruption to a major crisis. It is always interesting to see how those in the various groups react to the unexpected challenge and how they work together to solve it. My experiences have gone all the way from major disunity to a wonderful time of solving problems together that results in awesome stories to tell later and relational bonding. The amount of laughter is a huge clue to what kind of experience this will turn out to be.

The determining factor is how many in the group have grown in character and faithfully practice James 1:2-3, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

At the beginning of each new trial, one of the guys in our group would say, “We are building character!”

Several verses in the Bible scare me. It isn’t the verses that scare me. It is not knowing my own heart very well.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

They scare me because I don’t know how much money controls my life, and the consequences are severe. I don’t know how much the pleasures of life and the things I own control my life. I say that I love God and say, “I love You, Jesus,” every night when I go to bed, but do I?

I often tell Patty that I love her and have written out ten commitments that my “I love you” to Patty means. The first one is, “You are the only woman in my life, physically, mentally, and emotionally.” I work very hard to control my thoughts, what and where I look, and avoid tempting situations. I have not been perfect at controlling my thoughts and eyes, but I think I am doing pretty well and always getting better.

The point is, I have a good idea of how I am doing being a “one-woman man,” but how well am I loving only God and not money or the world? I am not sure, and that scares me. It isn’t the amount of money we have or don’t have as much as our total focus on God as the source of our joy and security.

It is worth thinking about.