I have had trouble walking for a while, so I had X-rays taken in Albany, and it was recommended that I see an orthopedic surgeon in Portland. We had a meeting today, and he said both my hips were “train wrecks.” So we will schedule a hip replacement surgery and then a second one about three months after that. It looks like it will have to be in August because I have an Alaska fishing trip in the last week of May, a bicycle trip in the last ten days of June, and another Alaska trip from July 14th to August 7th. I asked what he thought of that, and he said, whatever I could handle. I have been limping around for the last year, so I didn’t figure that another three months would matter that much, pain pills are cheap and work relatively well. The doctor was a good salesperson and said that judging from the ex-rays, I would feel much better and would be climbing in and out of fishing boats easily and walking very comfortably in my hunting adventures. That all was excellent news to me because I had decided to retire from hunting and fishing because of its pain, but now I can pursue both for another 20 years. For the last couple of years, I have had to lay my bicycle down on the ground, straddle it, and pick up the bike under me because I couldn’t lift my leg over it. I thought it was because I was just stiff, but I have some bone spurs that have grown on my hip joint, greatly restricting my motion. I anticipate that I will be like a new man, and I am looking forward to renewed physical activity, hunting, fishing, biking, and working around my house. When Jesus comes back I will get a brand new, glorified body, like that of Jesus, and it is incomprehensible how great that will be to live in. This will be a small reminder of that day, which is true because of what Jesus did for me on the cross and my faith in Him. 

As I get older, my energy level is shrinking. My gas tank is shrinking. Sometimes, I take a nap after just thinking about doing something. I definitely sleep much more than I used to. I have always wanted to do ministry right up to the day I died, so I have been praying and asking God for some easy ways to do ministry. That is kind of a funny prayer request, and does seem on the lazy side. A couple of days ago, I received an email from a missionary friend of mine. He had gone through my leadership class several years ago and had been using the material to disciple Christians where he was ministering. He had told me that one of his goals was to translate the material into the language of the people he was working with. One of my goals this year was to rewrite and improve all of my leadership class lessons I have been teaching for the last 45 years, teach them in the Wednesday night service we have at JBC, and have a good quality video recording done for each lesson. Once we had that done, I could give the videos and lessons to any church that wanted to use it. A number of Pastors have already started using the videos on YouTube. My missionary friend took the videos and, using AI, translated the entire thing into the language of his country. He sent me a video of me teaching my leadership class lesson in a different language. The voice was my voice, but the words were definitely not my words. It even had my mouth and lips synced with the words. It was amazing to watch myself teaching in a language that I had no clue how to speak a single word in. As I watched it, I wondered how many people in this country would hear my leadership classes and have their lives changed by it. I thought, thank You Lord, it doesn’t much easier than this. 

I am sorry that I haven’t blogged for several days. I have been in Eastern Oregon shooting sage rats, whose official name is Belding’s ground squirrels, and catching big monster trout. There was no cell service where we were, so I was forced to just hunt and fish! About 20 of us went over together, and we had great fellowship as we camped, hunted, and fished together. We built a huge campfire, sat around it in the evening, talked, and some roasted marshmallows and made smores. I go on several hunting and fishing trips during the year, and this is one of my favorites. However, it is usually the last trip I went on that is my favorite, so this year’s “rat hunt” will fade in the favorite column until next year, when it will bounce back to first. Why is a particular trip a favorite? Because it is the most fun or enjoyable for any number of reasons. The Lord made us beings in His image that can experience joy. Sometimes, we call it having fun or being happy. God designed our strong desire for pleasure to motivate us to seek Him. Psalms 16:11 says that “in His presence is fullness of joy.” Heaven will be the ultimate experience of joy forever, and hell is the total absence of joy forever. Life is full of miserable times; I think about heaven during those times. It won’t be that long, and I will be there with my new glorified body. 

One of my greatest strengths over the last 55 years of pastoring has been my love for reading, studying, and learning. A Pastor is called on to do various things, but the most important thing is the quality of his teaching and preaching. People don’t go to church because it is their duty; they go because they want to experience God and learn how to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Anointed preaching and teaching of the Bible so that it becomes life-giving is the engine that makes any church go. Good preaching has several ingredients, but a major one is good studying and preparation. There has to be substance to the content. 

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

My Mom read to me a lot before I could read, and then when I could, she would constantly take me to the library, and we would leave with a big box of books. It wasn’t simply the ability to read that I got, but the love of learning. 

After I started pastoring, I read commentaries on the Bible, many books on leadership, books written by successful pastors who had built huge churches, and books on the various skills that I needed to be a good Pastor. Besides reading their books, I took many successful pastors out for lunch, getting counsel from them and picking their brains for some information that would help me. Now, at this stage in my life, I am trying to pass on information I have learned to some young pastors and pastor wannabes. 

Today, I attended Jefferson Baptist Church at the 8:30 a.m. service and was blessed by the entire service; it was terrific. Then, I drove up the road to Jefferson Evangelical Church, where I am pastoring now, and had another super fantastic service. We had two different people give testimonies of how the Lord changed their lives, three special music performances that were anointed, and I wrapped it up with a ten-minute sermon. Then, we had a big family gathering with around 50 people in the JBC gym, which included dinner, an egg hunt, lots of games, and lots of conversations with each other. It was an unbelievably blessed day for me. Now, I am sitting in my recliner, thanking the Lord for my incredibly blessed life. I have the world’s best marriage to an angel of a wife, eight children who are all champions for Jesus, six sons-in-law and two daughters-in-law who are amazing, and 28 grandkids who all are lovers of Jesus. I have pastored Jefferson Baptist Church from its small beginning of a handful of people for 50 years, and now I am pastoring another church with a wonderful family of 50 people whom I love and who love me. Thinking back on my life, I can’t think of anything I would change. I have been a journal writer most of my life, and much of what I write about is all of the sins I have committed, the dumb things I have done, the stupid and prideful stuff I have said, the conflicts with different people I have had, and the poor choices I have made. I try to write in such a way as to learn what not to do again so that I can learn from my failures and grow in wisdom. Knowing how much I have failed in my life and then reviewing the fantastic blessings of family and ministry I have experienced, I recognize what a recipient of God’s love, grace, and mercy I am. It is very humbling and overwhelming. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for a perfect Easter Sunday. 

Romans 5:6-8 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ died for me. Jesus was one with the Father; He was God. God the Father took all of my sins and put them on Jesus. He looked at Jesus as if He actually committed my sins. The Bible says He became my sin. The Father then poured His wrath out on His Son for my sin, He turned His back on Jesus because He had become my sin, and their oneness was broken for the first time in all eternity. I was saved, born again, adopted into the family of God, forgiven, and destined for heaven when I admitted that I couldn’t save myself, believed the gospel, accepted the free gift of salvation, and committed to following and obeying Jesus, my Savior, and Lord. 

This morning, at 4:30 a.m., my alarm went off because I was going to attend prayer that started at 5:00 am as part of JBC’s five days of prayer, and I jumped out of bed to turn it off. When I did, I got this awful vertigo. I didn’t know which way was up. I grabbed the counter’s edge where my alarm was on and asked Patty to help me get back into bed. I stayed in bed, slept until 10:00 am, and cautiously got up. After showering and dressing, I looked back in my journal because I remembered this happening before but couldn’t remember the details. I discovered this same thing happened in the last two five-day prayer events, both on Wednesday morning. I thought maybe it was the devil trying to keep me from prayer, and then, as I looked back in my journal, I saw where this also happened in Alaska last year while fishing. It looks like I have this reaction whenever I go two days in a row with five hours or less of sleep. There was a time in my life when five hours was the normal amount of sleep I got, and I functioned fine. Oh, the trials of getting old! Oh well, I will plan and adjust accordingly. I wonder if we will sleep in heaven. We will have glorified bodies like Jesus so that sleep won’t be needed for health, but maybe there is another reason; we will see when we get there. Sleep is a reminder of death and resurrection. When we go to sleep it is a picture of our dying and when we wake up, it is a picture of our resurrection to new life with a new body in heaven. That is going to be so wonderful and I am anxiously waiting. Easter is our celebration and reminder of the basis for our faith in that amazing day in the lives of those who are fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. 

Today was the second day of our “Five Days of Prayer.” We pray from 5:00 to 10:00 am and 5:00 to 10:00 pm Monday through Friday. We do this four times a year. My goal is to pray for 30 of the 50 hours of prayer. It has been a very good prayer time. Last night and tonight we had about 90 people in the prayer room. During those prayer times, many people would pray out loud, so I didn’t feel compelled to pray out loud as much as usual. I listen and agree in my heart with those who are praying out loud. During these times, my mind doesn’t wander, but it goes into this sort of spiritual mode where I am thinking about God, heaven, angels, eternity, and my past life, reminiscing on how much God has blessed me. Even though I work hard to stay focused on what those around me are praying so that I can enter into their prayers mentally, I enjoy these wanderings off into spiritual bliss. I don’t try to go into these times of spiritual daydreaming; it just happens periodically. However, it isn’t that surprising because of the strong sense of God’s presence in the prayer room. I often switch my mental meanderings to thinking about people I know who have no faith. I feel very sorry for people who don’t have the peace, security, and joy I have in my relationship with the Lord. If you live close enough to attend part of these prayer events, you should give it a shot to see what happens. 

Today was the second day of our “Five Days of Prayer.” We pray from 5:00 to 10:00 am and 5:00 to 10:00 pm Monday through Friday. We do this four times a year. My goal is to pray for 30 of the 50 hours of prayer. It has been a very good prayer time. Last night and tonight we had about 90 people in the prayer room. During those prayer times, many people would pray out loud, so I didn’t feel compelled to pray out loud as much as usual. I listen and agree in my heart with those who are praying out loud. During these times, my mind doesn’t wander, but it goes into this sort of spiritual mode where I am thinking about God, heaven, angels, eternity, and my past life, reminiscing on how much God has blessed me. Even though I work hard to stay focused on what those around me are praying so that I can enter into their prayers mentally, I enjoy these wanderings off into spiritual bliss. I don’t try to go into these times of spiritual daydreaming; it just happens periodically. However, it isn’t that surprising because of the strong sense of God’s presence in the prayer room. I often switch my mental meanderings to thinking about people I know who have no faith. I feel very sorry for people who don’t have the peace, security, and joy I have in my relationship with the Lord. If you live close enough to attend part of these prayer events, you should give it a shot to see what happens. 

I wrote about pain yesterday because of some physical problems that I am going through presently. I thought I would repost a blog I wrote several years ago on a long bicycle trip on the same subject. 

A bicycle is an instrument of pain; the Seat makes your butt hurt, the handlebars make your hands, wrists, and neck hurt, the peddles make your feet hurt, and the whole bicycle makes your legs burn. Why would anybody in their right mind choose to expose their body for 8 to 10 hours a day to such a machine of pain? I played various sports in High School and College, and the training and practice sessions were intense and hard and brought a lot of pain. I remember guys stopping and throwing up in a garbage can as we ran the bleachers in the gym. Many friends chose not to participate in sports because it was too hard. The coaches repeatedly quoted several mottos to quote to us: “No pain, no gain,” and “Pain is the gas peddle or the brake pedal in our life; we choose.” I hear some people say of themselves, “I have a low threshold of pain,” and I wonder if they think that they were born that way and that they are stuck there. Our threshold for pain goes up as we choose to move over the line a little bit, a little bit more, a little bit more, and a little bit more. As our pain threshold goes up, so does our character growth rate and our potential for accomplishment. Pain is not our enemy, nor our friend either, but it is an adversary we compete with. Pain wins if we quit because of it or avoid important choices because of it, but I win if I endure despite it, if I grow because of it, and if I accomplish more as a result of it. The challenge is doing something hard and winning. Someone asked me if I enjoy the pain that bicycling long distances brings, and I responded, “No, I hate the pain, but I love the challenge.”