Have you ever been at a place in your life when you knew what you should do, but you didn’t feel like it, not just passively, but quite aggressively, you know, with a bit of a growl in your voice when you said, “I don’t feeeeel like it”. So what now? Do you just pass on it, and declare your flesh the winner? If you do it will happen again, and then again with increasing regularity. But sometimes you are just plain tuckered out and there isn’t much fight in you, your self-control level is way down on the dip stick. Like tonight, I still have 14 chapters in my Bible to read, and it is 9:30, and boy did that 98 degree heat sap my energy, “I don’t want to read my Bible tonight”! So what I do at this point is not make it a fight, but instead motivate myself to the point of wanting to , a little bit anyway. I have a list of 25 very cool blessings that comes into the life of those who honor God by honoring His Word, and it takes just a couple of seconds to look them up on my phone and read them reflectively, pondering on how each blessing would impact me as a pastor, husband, dad, and grandfather. There is something about reward and blessing that really motivates me, and takes away the resistance.

As you have read on this blog sight before, I have identified 26 different character traits such as patience, kindness, and diligence. In studying each of the 26 it is clear that some are easier to acquire than others, and that some are more important in our life than others, though we definitely want to pursue all of them. I believe that the most important of all the character traits is endurance. James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” According to James all of the other character traits grow out of endurance, because to be “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” is to have grown mature in each of the 26 character traits. Endurance is the soil that your garden grows in, endurance is the foundation your house is built on, and endurance is like the bones of your body. The level of endurance in us as a developed character trait dictates the level of every other character trait in us, if you are low in endurance you are low in everything, and basically useless as a disciple of Jesus. If you started and finished a marathon, that would be an indicator of your level of physical endurance or if you began and made it to the top of Mt Adams in 6 hours. In life what is there that would indicate that you are high in this very important character trait? I think it is important for us to look at our heart, our inner person, the person that lives forever, the person that leaves our physical body when we die, that we examine who we are, really, and accurately assess our endurance level, and that we have a plan and strategy to grow stronger and stronger in endurance. How many people do you think regularly reflect about their endurance level and have a plan that they implement daily to become a stronger and stronger person. Not very many, is my observation. Why? I don’t think the average person actually realizes that they can proactively pursue endurance, most tend to think, “what you have, is what you have, and I don’t have a clue how I got what I have or how to get more”. We will talk some more tomorrow.

It was hot today, and I guess because it as so hot I started to think about hell. What it is like, how hot is it really in hell, what does a person do who is in hell, just stand there forever, is there conversation with others, what would they talk about, do those in hell feel any remorse, I wonder what the first thought is of a person the moment they enter hell, maybe, “oh oh, I was wrong”, does a person get used to the agony, will those in hell have any idea what heaven is like, and on my mind wandered through the questions and mysteries of hell. There are many descriptions and comments about hell in the Bible. One of the more interesting is in the Gospel of Luke as Jesus describes this place of torment.

Luke 16:23-24. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.

The Bible clearly teaches that every person who dies enters either heaven or hell. Very few people are anxious about that fact, in fact most have denied the reality and existence of hell either consciously or subconsciously. It is funny that people think they can decide what is true and real, simply on the basis of “that is what I believe”.

God created the beauty and glory and joy of heaven, and He created the agony of hell. He also is the one who makes the rules, and He is the one who decides as we stand before Almighty God at the end of our life. There won’t be any arguing or defense by those who are condemned to the fire.

If I didn’t already, I would want to know for sure, without any doubts, where I was headed and how I could be transferred to heaven if I discovered I was headed for hell. There is simple naive, and then there is stupid naive. Forever is a really, long time.

The mind-set all around us is relentlessly focused on the here and now. Are we happy right now? Are we comfortable right now? Are things going our way right this minute? If not, let’s quit what we’re doing and find something that feels better. This mind set is in my observation, the number one reason for bad choices that don’t result in the happiness so desperately sought, but just the opposite, it results in failure, irresponsible behavior, growing unhappiness, depression, and misery. The character trait of endurance is the ability to remain faithful, responsible, and positive in spite of bad times, knowing that things will change for us as God guides and blesses, because of our endurance.

When I was in the 6th grade, I had a life defining and value shaping experience. It was in health class, taught by the same man who taught PE, and he also was the track coach, I don’t remember his name. He had a Snickers candy bar, my favorite, and a $10 bill in his hand. He said, “I can give you the Snickers now or the $10 bill in one month”, “which one will you choose”? Back when I was in the 6th grade I could buy a Snickers for 5 cents, so the choice was one Snickers now or 20 in one month. He then went on to say, “A little kid will take the Snickers every time because they can’t “see” a month away”. He went on to say, “At some point in their growing up they will be able to see that far, and then they will make the wise choice, that is called ‘Maturity’, but the sad thing is many never grow up and become mature, and they keep living for the now instead of the future, and keep making low value and unwise choices in life”. As my PE teacher taught this lesson to a room of a dozen 12 year old boys I clearly remember thinking to myself and making a personal resolve, that I wouldn’t think, act, and choose like a kid, I would “delay gratification” for the wise choice, the choice with true and lasting value. I made that resolve the best a young boy can, but I have remade that same commitment over and over again in my 58 years of living since that time. That lesson pops into my head regularly as I choose whether I am going to read my Bible now or tomorrow, give money to God or spend it on myself, and this principle is very powerful in maintaining moral purity, so many choices seem nice now, but they have a huge price tag in the future. The problem is many can’t “see” that far.

I talk and teach a lot about the “Judgment Seat of Christ”, that event that occurs at the end of our life when we enter heaven and stand before Jesus and are rewarded for the works we have done in this life. These rewards are significant and eternal, their value is 100 fold greater than any reward on earth. As I teach this truth to a room of people, I often think, there are many hearing this who can’t “see” that far, it doesn’t compute, they will continue to make choices based on the “now” instead of the “then”. Thank You, Lord, for a PE teacher that You used in my life, so that I can now “see”.

We all took tests in school. We take driving tests, medical tests, tests at work, and on the last list goes. Sometimes we do well on the tests, and sometimes we flunk them. In Revelation 2:10 it says that the devil tests us, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” It is really God who is doing the testing, but He is using the devil to do it. The testing involves suffering, and to pass the test is to be unafraid and faithful to the end. The word faithful in this context would have some synonyms such as “strong”; be strong until the end, also “endurance”, endure to the end. Why? What motivation is there to be faithful, be strong, and endure to the end? The “Crown of life”, God says that if we are faithful until the end He will give us the “crown of life”, that sounds like a time of great honor and glory to be received right from Almighty God.

While fishing for Sockeye salmon in Soldotna, Alaska last night I snagged up on a rock and broke off all my fishing tackle, so I had to rerig. This is a regular occurrence when fishing in a river using lead in order to fish the bottom of the river where the fish are.  When I had finished rerigging I noticed I had forgotten to put the fishing line through the little hole in my level wind reel, so I cut it off and rerigged again. This time I noticed I had not put the line through several of the Ferrell’s on my rod, so I cut it off and rerigged once more. Those kinds of mistakes happen in life, where we say or do something in the business of life that is dumb, bad, hurtful, and sometimes costly. We didn’t premeditate the act, word, or decision, it just sort of happened. It would be so nice to eliminate those blunders of life from our life, and one of my strategies for doing so is to memorize and meditate on and pray the words of Psalms 19:12-14, “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

I am sorry about no blogs of late. I have been fishing most of my waking hours. We fished all night last night from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm and then from midnight until 8:00 am this morning. The fish have finally come in and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. I will fish tonight from 7:00 pm until the morning at 7:00 am, and should catch 2 limits, one before midnight and one after. Saturday I am going out in the ocean with my boat Halibut fishing. I am getting in an hour each day for Bible reading, scripture memory, and prayer, but not much more. We are planning on attending a local church on Sunday.

The main run of sockeye salmon haven’t come in yet, but have still managed to catch some fish. I am looking forward to the next couple of days when the fishing gets better and better.