There is a group of 12 of us at Soldotna, Alaska fishing for a week for Sockeye salmon. We have done this for years now and every year we have hit the run right on the nose, but right now there are very few fish. Usually we have our 3 fish limit in less than an hour, but I fished for 12 hours today and caught 2 fish and the others have not done much better. We have been here 2 days and have 6 more to go so we are hoping the run comes in soon. I enjoy fishing even if we don’t catch fish but we invited some new guys this year and told them all the stories of previous years so I feel bad that they are not catching many fish. While I am fishing I think a lot about different things. Today I was thinking about whether it was ok to pray and ask God for fish. Jesus gave Peter and his fishing buddies fish 2 different times, so Jesus has done it and I wouldn’t be asking for 153 fish! Maybe I should just ask for joy whether we catch fish or not or strength to manage well the disappointment of few fish caught. Well, after thinking about it I went ahead and prayed an official prayer for fish with passion. If the run comes in tomorrow I will praise the Lord. If it doesn’t I will rejoice anyway.

With all the negative news happening it was so nice to be part of the Serve Inc event today where 150 people from 7 different churches in the Jefferson area spent the morning painting the inside of the Fire Station, the outside of the Jefferson Community Center and landscaping the Conser House and painting the Gazebo next to the Conser house as well as cleaning up the street and sidewalks around those same buildings. Everyone worked hard and had a very good time fellowshiping together as they worked together. In The Gospel of Matthew Jesus said, “Let your light shine in such a way that the world may see your good works and glorify your Heavenly Father”. I believe that when we truly do something that brings pleasure to the heart of God that we sense that pleasure in our own heart with a sense of our own personal joy. I came home today after being involved in this great project with a deep inner sense of joy that I am sure was from God.

One of my goals this year was to study all about aquaponics and then to set up my own system. I built a 10X12 greenhouse and put a 300 gallon IBC tank in one corner, built 2 grow beds that were 3X10 feet and 1 foot deep, filled with 3/4 pea gravel. The top of the grow beds are 3 feet from the ground so I can work on them without bending over. Water pumps out of the fish tank into the grow beds and then back onto the fish tank. The water is filtered and the plants that grow on the gravel get lots of nutrients and grow very fast. I put 100 little 1 inch long baby Tilapia in the tank on January 7th and today I harvested my first fish, actually 6 fish. They weighed about 3 lbs each and made some very nice fillets which we ate for dinner. At some point I think I will be able to raise all the vegetables that Patty and I and all of our kids and grandkids in the area can eat plus all the fish we want. As I get this down as a smooth running system I may see how much I can sell and make a little profit to boot. The fish tasted delicious by the way. One of my favorite things to do is learn about something I know nothing about and become somewhat of an expert on it. I wonder what it will be next year?

Well, I had a pretty good night. Sorta, kinda. Went right to sleep on my new bed and then as usual I woke up 3 hours later with the muscles in my legs set up like concrete. I went into our exercise room and peddled on my exercise bike hard for 15 minutes and read my Bible while I did then I got into our hot tub that is on our back porch. It is just a little cheap one that only holds one person but it is nice and hot, 104 degrees and the jets blow super hard. I sat in that for 15 minutes praying through my kids, son in laws, daughter in law, grandkids and Mom from memory, and then I crawled back into my nice new bed and slept like a baby for another 3 hours. Slept like a baby is a bit of hyperbole, but you know what I mean. Making adjustments to changing health issues and circumstances in life seems part of God’s plan for our lives. I am sure it is God’s will that I make these adjustments without grumbling, or feeling sorry for myself, but to just do it seeking strength, joy and peace from Him as I do. Christ like character is always God”s plan for my life. Thank You Lord for wanting me to be like Yourself so that we can enjoy each other in eternity, and working out the circumstances of my life perfectly to shape and mold me into your image and likeness.

While I was gone on a trip our daughter Sherri started a fund raiser to buy Patty and I a new bed. I sleep very sound for About 3 hours and then I wake up because I am so stiff because of my Parkinson’s. I get up and go sit in my recliner and can usually get another couple of hours in a semi sitting up position. My chair is outside Sherri and Thomas’s room so whenever Sherri got up to take care of their little boy Courage in the middle of the night I usually was in my chair. I think she assumed that I spent most of the night there when in reality it was only half. Anyway, the new bed came today. It is like a hospital bed in that the head and foot of the bed will raise and lower. It is really two beds connected, Patty’s and mine. The idea is that when I wake up I will stay in bed but raise the head and feet a bit and go back to sleep. Tonight is the maiden voyage, we will see how it works. I will give you an update tomorrow. The word “rest” is a very nice word, it makes me feel good just writing it. In Hebrews 3:9-11 it says, “so then, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors even as God did from His. Let us make every effort to make sure we enter into that rest”. I think tonight when I lay down in my new bed I will say, “this is nice, but nothing like the rest I will have when I enter into heaven”.

My alarm went off at 4:30 am this morning. I got up and showered and shaved and prayed and committed myself and the day to Jesus as Lord of my life asking Him for wisdom and guidance, strength and open doors. Drove to Albany and met 5 other guys at Denny’s for breakfast and accountability. At 6:30 am a second group of guys came in for breakfast, coffee and to enjoy fellowship and holding each other accountable for 10 goals that each of us has set. At 7:30 the third group came in and I had my 6th cup of coffee for the morning. All 20 guys who are in the 3 groups are super serious about growing closer to the lord and I am super serious and excited about helping them and growing as a result of their encouragement and friendship. After the third breakfast meeting I went down the road a bit to my good friend Denny Fryman’s shop where he and I worked for a couple of hours on my recumbent trike. I determined that I was going to get one since my bicycle trip across the U.S. To Portland, Maine. They are so expensive That I decided to build one from plans downloaded from the Internet. It is going to be a very nice recumbent trike and I am going to ride it with a couple of friends from San Diago, California to St Augustine , Florida in March and April. At noon I went home for lunch and then down to my office and worked writing about 50 birthday and anniversary notes. At 6 pm I went back down to the church where I had a marriage counseling time. The 1 hour of marriage counseling was fun and I enjoyed helping the couple grow and become a bit more wise in building their own marriage. Then I went to an hour Men’s prayer time. After it was over I headed home and now I am sitting in my recliner reading, writing and thanking God that I got to do some signifant things today. Busy is good, working fast and smart is good, pushing all day to get everything on my todo list done is good.

In the Bible passage that was part of my reading this past week was the story of the destruction and capture of the nation of Israel by the Assyrians in 2 Kings. It says that Israel worshiped the Lord, but that they also lived the way of the world around them. The Lord was angry with them for this unfaithfulness to Him and destroyed them as a nation. We do that today. We declare that we believe in God, and then live like the world around us. That is like being married and having an affair with another person besides your spouse, your spouse isn’t going to go for that arrangement and neither does God. Either get on the boat or stay on the dock, but don’t stand there with one foot on both because it won’t be long before you are in the water! If God is God then serve Him and follow Him, and if He is not then do whatever you want. Lots of really good people drift away from their faith in God, because they are living in both worlds. It can’t be done and Gods blessing will be lost. It is a gradual thing that usually isn’t noticed until it is to late. I will serve the Lord and be devoted to Him with all my heart and I will renew that total commitment to Him every morning.

I exercise for an hour each day to keep my Parkinson’s at bay and it works good. I haven’t been exercising very much of late because of the heat. I got on the scales this morning and with the much lighter work out that I have been doing I have gained 8 lbs in the last 2 weeks. Yikes!! Well, I either have to get back to my normal exercise routine or eat way less. Maybe I will do both so I can get it off faster. I came home from my bicycle trip across the U.S. at 188 lbs, a 40 lb weight loss, this morning I weighed 208 lbs. that means I have gained exactly half of it back and it has been only 10 months. I don’t think anything makes me feel more wimpy than my failure at maintaining my weight. Sunday nights I am always a bit down from the emotional output from the weekend services, and my “upper” of choice is food, preferably ice cream, chips, cake, pie, stuff like that, makes me feel sooooo good! Well, just sitting here writing about it has motivated me so I am going to go peddle my exercise bike for an hour, it has cooled off a bit. I think the best thing about heaven and my new body is I will be done with this exercise/dieting curse! Hallelujah!!

My purpose in life is to attract people to Jesus. I have a personal relationship with Jesus by faith in the gospel, and as a result my sins are forgiven, I am adopted into the family of God, and I am given the gift of eternal life in heaven. I know many don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, but I do because that is what the Bible, the Word of God says. Because I believe that with all my heart I want to do all I can to persuade people to believe the gospel and follow Jesus. What works most effectively to attract people to Faith in Jesus? That is a question I have pondered on for many years. I have come to the conclusion that if people aren’t attracted to me on the basis of my character and behavior they won’t be attracted to my savior. I don’t have to be perfect but I do need to treat people well, to honor them, to meet needs, to be gracious, kind, considerate, patient, self-controlled, forgiving, accepting,and to be basically a nice guy. It is very much like when I was 20 years old courting Patty, I was on my best behavior so she would be as attracted to me as I was to her. So thinking about this from the other side of the mirror that I am using to look at myself to see if I am attractive I know what would make me unattractive and even downright ugly. Obnoxiousness, arrogance, criticalness, being argumentative, judgemental, unforgiving, grouchy, irritable, complaining and grumbling. One of the observable facts of life is that many Christians are not a good advertisement for Jesus. It isn’t because they are bad people, but because they haven’t identified what their purpose in life is. There is a lot in life that God will do, they are His job by His design. God has given us some things to do and the main one is be a witness for Jesus. We tend to do God’s job and neglect our own responsibility. God has given us everything we need to do our assigned job, but He has given us nothing to try and do His.

The Men’s Accountability group that I am in that meets once a week at 5:30 am at Denny’s Resturant went golfing this morning at the Par 3 place on the way to Corvallis. We met first for breakfast at Pop’s Branding Iron and I had sausage, eggs, hash browns and toast. There was five of us but there weren’t many there so they let us stay together as a group. There is a lot more fellowship with Par 3 golf because holes are only about 100 yards from the Tee so we are all within talking distance most of the time so trash talking is easy to do. You only need a 9 iron and a putter so there isn’t much discussion on club choice. We were having so much fun we didn’t even keep score though I think I easily came in last. On the drive home I was thinking what a great group of guys this was and how much I personally profit by my meeting each week with them. We each have 10 goals that we are pursuing and each week we give a report how we are doing. We give encourement, good natured ribbing, and an occasional scolding if someone is being lazy. Many men have struggles living a faithful, responsible life. The difference between living life successfully by yourself compared with living life with a group of friends who really do care for each other and work hard at motivating, encouraging, and praying for each other is truly amazing. So few men are part of this kind of group because of the time it takes, but I can’t think of anything that is more effective in helping me be the person I truly want to be.