I started getting sick on the airplane and by the time we got here I was feeling terrible. I went fishing for a couple hours and then came back to camp and went to bed and stayed there for 20 hours straight except for the hourly trip to the outhouse. It is now 5:30 pm and the other guys are eating dinner, but I am going to hold off on any food for awhile. We are going to leave for fishing about 7:00 pm and how long we stay will be determined by how many fish we catch. We are just on the front end of the sockeye salmon run and there aren’t a lot of fish in the river yet. They tend to come in slugs so if we get there and we are catching fish we could stay all night. If I get tired I will go sleep in the van, I am bringing an extra coat in case I get cold sleeping. I am once again reminded of the verse in Proverbs, ” man plans his way but God directs his steps”. A little bit of a glitch in my plans of catching millions of salmon, Oh well, we will make up for it this next week. Life is good. God is good.

I am leaving in the morning for Soldotna, Alaska where I will be with about a dozen guys from jbc fishing for Sockeye salmon, commonly called reds. I have gone up to Alaska every year for over 20 years fishing for sockeye during this time. I usually come home with a 50 lb box full of fish and some years 2 50 lb boxes, this year my goal is to have 2 50 lb boxes of salmon and a third box full of halibut. Of all,the things that I do each year, bicycling, hunting, fishing, this trip, in the middle of July to Soldotna is by far my favorite. I am not sure why, but it is. We catch lots of fish, we eat really good food, we have great fellowship, the country is beautiful, the facilities are super, but I go on other trips that is all true as well. For what ever reason it is my favorite and I can’t hardly stand myself I am getting so excited about leaving in a few hours. I will send you pictures of the fish I catch.

Paul was in prison when he wrote the letter of Philippians. It was a special kind of prison situation in that He was chained to a Roman soldier instead of being in jail with bars. Can you imagine being chained to Paul, what you would hear. Talk about a captive audience. Paul says, ” the whole Praetorian guard” heard. Paul was rejoicing in his difficult situation because as he says, ” my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel”. Not only did he get to share about Jesus with soldiers that couldn’t get away from him, but he goes on to say that many other believers were sharing the gospel with great courage and without any fear because of Paul’s example. Paul‘s driving desire was to share Jesus with those who didn’t know Him and were not believers so that they would come to believe in Him and follow Him so that they could live for all eternity with Jesus, and not be lost forever in the “Lake of Fire”.

Trials and difficult situations in a person’s life don’t automatically result in greater opportunities to share the gospel. A person must respond correctly to their trials if they want to be used by God to attract people to Him.

Philippians 2:14-15 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

This verse says that if you “do all things without grumbling” you will appear to those around you as perfect, people will know that you are connected to God, and you will be a light that will attract people to your faith.

The greatest joy in all of life is being used by God to attract and influence another person to a saving relationship with Jesus, but those who grumble and complain about trials, problems, and difficulties will probably never experience that joy. Paul rejoiced when trials came because he knew God was setting him up for some cool ministry and witnessing opportunities.

This Fall I am going to teach the book of Philippians on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm and on Sunday morning 8:00 am. It is going to be a very good series of teaching with some very practical pointers from Paul on how to have joy all the time in your life. He is in a Roman prison when he writes this letter, and they were not know for comfort and accommodations, yet the letter is overflowing with joy and positive statements on how good life was for Paul. In this letter he,twice says ,” rejoice always” and in chapter 2 he says, “don’t grumble about anything, ever”. In the letter he doesn’t just say “rejoice”, he gives very practical guidelines on how to be full of joy in spite of your circumstances. I am in the process of writing these down as I study this book. I think I will call the sermon series, “A Dozen Ways to Have Joy in Spite of Life.”

I don’t like to admit it but at 70 years of age I am definitely in the category of “old”. I have observed that old people tend to be set in their ways, that they have definite opinions on most everything, they are often difficult to get along with, and they have regular bouts of grumpy. I have worked hard at not letting another characteristic of old people be part of my life, and that is “fat and out of shape”. So if I can do that, I certainly should be able to keep the “hard to get along with and grumpy” out of my life. A part of my personal mission statement is, ” pursue peace with every person, no matter what”. It is based on these Bible verses:

Romans 14:19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

1 Peter 3:11 He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.

“Pursue peace with all men”, that is a very hard command, but a command from the Lord, therefore we must take it seriously. To be at peace with every person in our life will require a bunch of apologies, and those are always difficult. It will require that we admit we were wrong. Sounds to me like pursuing fish

I have read one chapter in the book of Proverbs, along with other passages in the Bible every day for over 50 years. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs so by reading 2 chapters on the last day of the month on months with 30 days I am able to read Proverbs through once a month. So 50 years multiplied by 12 months equals 600 times I have read the book of Proverbs. Proverbs has some themes that go through the book, and once you discover what the themes are it opens up some great Bible studies in those themes. One of the themes in Proverbs is diligence vs laziness and there are lots of verses to study on the topic. I have collected all of the verses in Proverbs that have anything to do do with diligence and laziness and occasionally I read them all. If you have been even a little bit lazy in the past week and then read these verses it will feel like someone hitting you on the head with a 2×4. The verses are very motivational and also very convicting, but even reading them through once each month is very profitable, and will move you towards being a hard working person. Whenever I feel myself getting even a little bit lazy, unmotivated, or even just casually complacent I read through the verses and whamo, my can of spinach.

I am memorizing the book of Philippians and Colossians in the New Testament because I am going to teach through both books this Fall. Memorizing them well and then going over and over the verses in my head all through the day really helps me understand the meaning God wants us to get from these two books. 4 verses that I memorized yesterday and have been going over since is Philippians 1:21-24

” For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.”

Paul says, “to die is gain” and “I have the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better!”

That is quite an amazing attitude to have. It would give a person a freedom from fear of dying, and a peace in the face of the worst problems life can bring on us.

I am pretty sure that by memorizing these two books and meditating on them, especially verses like those I did yesterday, that I will become like Paul. That will be something.

Well, the 2019 bicycle trip is over for me. Tom and I drove 492 miles in his motorhome and we got to my house at 4:30 pm, and I am sitting in my recliner writing this. The odometer on my bike says that I rode 1183 miles total for the trip. I actually pedaled my bicycle for 17 days which is an average 69.58 miles per day. My odometer which actually is a little computer which also is a gps and records elevation gains and loss and according to the record it kept I climbed a total 84,879 feet. My fastest speed recorded was 37 mph. I lost 12 lbs. My resting heart rate went from 62 beats a minute to 57 beats a minute. I wrote 22,876 words total in my IPad which included my blog, personal journal, and sermon ideas, notes, and outlines. I read for 31 hours. I prayed for many hours as I rode along on my bicycle observing the beautiful creation of God. I memorized Philippians chapter 1, which is 30 verses. I had a super, great time. I feel like I am 50 years old instead of 70. I grew in character. And I grew closer to Jesus.

Today I rode about 40 of the 80 miles we had a goal to do, and the bearings on my crank went out. The crank is the whole pedal assemble, and because that is where all the pressure is applied to make the bicycle go the bearings are pretty substantial. The slop in the pedals got to be so much that the chain would come off the sprocket. The nice thing about having a support vehicle along is I called Tom on his cell phone and asked if he would pick me up. He had already parked the motorhome and was off on a ride, but said he would go back to the RV and come pick me up. He took off riding when he got me, and I drove the motorhome to Swanson’s house, where we are staying tonight, just out of Coeur d’ Alene, and here I sit in a lawn chair in the shade writing this blog, waiting for them to get home.

Thinking about riding the TransAmerica bicycle route unsupported, and possibly by myself if no one else wants to do it with me. I would fly to the East coast to begin, and start at Yorktown, Virginia and finish at Newport, Oregon. I think that a bag with some spare bearings, extra spokes, tires, tubes, extra brake and shifter cables, and a variety of screws would weigh about 5 lbs and would be weight worth carrying. That trip would be about 4,000 miles and would take about 80 days to do. I think I would start April 10th and finish June 30th. A trip that long, and being unsupported would require a lot of planning, which is my favorite part of these trips. If I do it next year I only have 10 months to plan so I am thinking that it would be better to wait until the following year to do it.

Tom and I are heading home in the motorhome tomorrow morning, about 500 miles driving, and Cliff and Kathy are going to finish on their bikes. It will be good to get home, and get some things scratched off of my to do list before I head up to Alaska fishing, in 9 days.

I have been thinking a lot while riding about what I want to do in the next 10 years. When I think back 10 years ago about what I was doing I realize how short that time really is. In 10 more years I will be 80 years old, and I may or may not have energy, health, or even a sound mind. I have written out the beginnings of 10 new B-Hags, “big, hairy, audacious goals” in regards to ministry accomplishments, and I will work at filling them out in the next several months.

Today we took a break from riding our bicycles, slept in, and had a wonderful breakfast cooked for us by our host Beth McCain. After breakfast we drove in to Bonner’s Ferry and went to church together. It was a wonderful church, the people were super friendly, the preaching was excellent, and the worship was engaging. I just woke up from a nice nap on McCain’s front porch sitting in a comfortable chair. Our next destination is the Swanson’s house near Coeur d’ Alene. They have been at JBC for a number of years and Kevin, the husband and Dad, has been in one of my “Men’s Accountability” groups with me, and a good friend who has regularly hunted and fished with me. They have recently moved to Idaho so it will be great to stay at their place and see their new home. The distance to their place is 112 miles, but we have decided that we are going to load the bikes in the motor home in the morning, and drive through the construction in Bonner’s Ferry, and then bicycle the last 85 miles. 112 miles would move past “challenge” to self inflicted torture. The forecast is for comfortable temperatures with no rain, little wind, and very few big hills so it should be a great ride. One of my goals for this trip was to memorize the first chapter of Philippians, that is 30 verses. I am up to verse 20 and I don’t think I am going to make 30, we will see if I can pour it on this next couple of days. Memorizing Bible verses is the most powerful discipline that I do to bring about change in thinking, attitude, and behavior in myself. If you doubt the power of God’s Word hidden in our heart and mind through memorization and meditation read Psalms 119 everyday for a month and see what happens to your faith in this discipline. It is amazing the direct correlation to between how difficult it is to start and maintain a discipline to it’s effectiveness in producing life change in us. The easier it is the less change takes place in us, the harder it is the more change takes place. But so many people don’t do things because they are hard, and because of that choice to take the easy way they stay where they are, they don’t grow stronger, and they don’t do much with their life that really matters for all eternity. In the words of Jesus, “choose the narrow and hard way, not the broad and easy way”.