I put on a T-shirt the other day, and it said “Stick’s Tavern” on it. It reminded me of one of my favorite stories. In about 2011, I decided to ride a motorcycle across the United States and hit all 48 States in one month. I was going to start and end in Jefferson, so I plotted a route that stayed on all back roads, which was about 9,000 miles. The plan was to ride 300 miles each day for 30 days; I finished it in 33 days. The crazy part of this goal was that I had never ridden a motorcycle except for a small dirt bike in the pastures of our farm as a kid. I bought a Yamaha 1100 and learned to ride during the trip. When I was in Rhode Island, it was raining like crazy. I had all of my camping gear, food, and clothes in dry bags on the back of my motorcycle, but really didn’t want to camp in this rain. I stopped at a “Dunkin Donuts” place to get some hot coffee and take a break from riding in the rain.

I walked around the place asking the customers if they knew of a church in town. I planned to contact a church, tell them I was a Pastor from Oregon, and ask if I could sleep in their church. The second guy that I asked was a bit grumpy and asked me why I was looking for a church. I pointed out the window at my motorcycle and explained what I was doing. He got all excited when he heard my story, and he said, “I have a Biker’s bar, and we have two rooms with beds and bathrooms for guys who get too drunk to ride their motorcycles home, so they sleep it off in one of those rooms. You are welcome to stay in one of them if you like. I followed him to his bar and helped him clean up one of the rooms; it had recently been used and smelled like puke. He took me out to dinner, and we talked late into the night, mostly about his problems in life. I talked to him about the Lord, and he promised to start attending a local church. I don’t know if he ever did. The next morning, as I was leaving, he gave me a T-shirt with his Tavern logo on it, “Stick’s Tavern.” Stick was his last name. That T-shirt has lasted a long time. 

I am going archery hunting for deer and elk in the Steens Mountains on the last Saturday of August and will hunt for a week. The Steens is my favorite place to hunt because of its incredible beauty. I haven’t shot my bow for several years now, and in fact, I haven’t even pulled it back. I got it out a couple of days ago and had to back off the poundage a bunch before I could even pull it back. I have 16 days until I leave for hunting, so I better get with it. I shot a bunch yesterday and today, and my arms are killing me, but I did crank the weight back up to legal weight for elk. I am hoping that the camper for my pickup that I am building will be done for the trip. We camp next to Fish Lake while we are there, and I actually do more fishing than hunting. There are lots of monster trout in the lake, and I bring my pontoon boat.

Everybody has key dates in their calendar for the year. Mine have always been hunting and fishing dates. Everything else just fits in between. I am also leaving for a rifle hunting trip for elk with two grandsons on August 24th. August 24th is Patty and my 57th wedding anniversary, but we are going to celebrate it on September 24th this year. Patty is a good wife. I became a follower of Jesus and was born again when I was 13 years old on July 10th, 1962. Now that is an important date in my life, but the most important date in my life is the day I step into heaven and get my new and glorified body. There are a lot of people who have never trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and the absolute worst day of their life will be the day they die.

I brought home 100 pounds of sockeye salmon and 50 pounds of halibut from Alaska. Patty was going to cook up a bunch of halibut and invite kids and grandkids over to eat with us. She asked me what my favorite way of eating halibut was, and I said, “The way they fixed it in Alaska when I ordered fish and chips using halibut; it was delicious, and it was expensive.” I said that I was sure that they used some kind of beer batter. She got her cell phone and said to Siri, “beer batter.” Siri thought she said “hear better,” and gave her instructions on cleaning out earwax. Needless to say, Patty was quite confused by the directions on making beer batter. She eventually got a good recipe, and we had a feast. In the Bible, the devil is called “the deceiver.” He deceived Eve, and he is always working to deceive each one of us. The word “deceive” has as part of its meaning to confuse. When we get confused, we don’t know what to do, where to go, or what to say. The key to conquering confusion and the devil is wisdom. Let me share with you my five steps in pursuing wisdom. (1) Don’t assume that you are wise now; those who think they are wise stay stupid. (2) Ask God for wisdom every day. God loves to give His wisdom to those who know they need it and pray a lot. (3) Read the Bible every day. The more you read, the more wisdom you will get. The Bible is the mind of Christ. (4) Read good books, and get counsel from wise people. Proverbs says that if you want wisdom, seek it more earnestly than gold, silver, or treasure. There is so much wisdom available to us if we would read and be humble enough to ask. (5) Journal about successes and failures. Life is full of wisdom lessons every day, but if we don’t think about life and record what we learn, it will fade away and be lost. 

I had a professor in College who used to say that the Bible is infinite in its knowledge. No matter how much you have learned from a passage, there is always more to learn, always more. I have read the Old Testament through every year since I was 13 years old, the book of Proverbs every month, the Psalms every month, and the New Testament four times each year. As I read it over and over, I remember the teaching of my college professor: there is more, but only for those who truly seek more. Tonight at Jefferson Baptist Church, Dr Matt Bain was preaching. He is one of my favorite preachers because I always learn something new from him, just like my college professor said. Tonight he said, “genealogies” are considered boring by most people, but there is a lot of information and knowledge in genealogies. I thought to myself, “I usually speed-read genealogies and sometimes skip over them altogether.” I determined that I wouldn’t do that anymore, but that I would seek more knowledge and more information from them; they are part of the God-inspired, inerrant Word of God. It is obvious that going deeper into the Word of God is not easy; otherwise, many would be doing it, but most don’t. Most Christians don’t even read it daily. A major advantage that I have in studying the Bible is that I read large volumes of it and have memorized and regularly meditate on almost 1000 Bible verses. A major law of understanding the Bible is to interpret the Bible with the Bible. I read, memorize, study, and meditate on the Bible as much as I do because I believe it is the Word of God and the mind of Christ, and God will bless those who devote themselves to it. There isn’t anything better than being blessed by God. 

I study the topic of character traits in the Bible. I preach and teach on character traits. Many verses command us to practice various character traits. God has character traits that are mentioned in the Bible. Over the years, I have arrived at a list of 26 different character traits, descriptions, and definitions for each one. The practice of these various character traits begins as a choice to obey a command or principle given to us by God in the Bible. Fulfilling these commands requires diligence, self-examination, accountability, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. As we become increasingly successful at accomplishing God’s commands to act a certain way, we begin to change on the inside, and we acquire the character trait that the command is aiming us toward. As the character trait becomes stronger, the effort required becomes less because that is who we are, and we will naturally act the way we are in character. 

An example of a character trait is patience. The Bible says that God is patient with us. We are commanded to be patient with all people, all of the time.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

Many people will say, as they attempt to justify their anger or irritation, “I am just not a patient person.” They say that as if they think they are stuck there. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 522-23, but we must diligently pursue it. 

2 Timothy 2:24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged. 

Love is patient. We are commanded to be patient, and if we diligently pursue it, we will become patient on the inside, in our character, and then we will be patient, because that is who we are. 

God created life and causes and controls circumstances to help us become like Jesus in character. To help us grow in patience, He created mosquitoes.

Today is my last day this year of fishing in Soldotna, Alaska. It was a much smaller sockeye salmon run than normal, but I still had a great time. I enjoy the challenge of catching fish, and this year was a major challenge. I really enjoy the fellowship with the other fishermen who are here at the lodge; people who love to fish are special, and I almost always enjoy spending time with them. The beauty of Alaska is another major plus of being here. But there are some negative things about fishing here. The most negative thing was the mosquitoes. There were lots of them this year. It seems that mosquitoes are more attracted to me than most other people; at least I always seem to have more bites than the others around me. I also seem to have an allergy to mosquito bites. The bites swell up into big bumps and itch terribly. I use a lot of 100% DEET repellent, but I still get 5 or 6 bites every day. The worst time for the mosquitoes is when I am filleting salmon, and both hands are covered in fish blood and slime, and I can’t slap them when they land on me. That drives you crazy when you can feel them on your neck, forehead, and ears, and you can’t do anything about it. The second worst time is when you are just getting ready to fall asleep, and a mosquito starts buzzing in your ear. 

Someone asked me once if I thought the devil created anything. I responded that I was pretty sure that he created mosquitoes. I have no way of backing that theology up, except for my hatred of them. I was in a group discussion once, and the leader asked us to share what we were most excited about concerning heaven. I responded, No mosquitoes. Life has many irritations. Our goal is never to get upset, grumble, or whine, not even a little bit when they happen, but to rejoice always. I have never sworn in my life, but several times in the last couple of weeks I did say crapp when a mosquito bit me. 

For the last year, I have been on a diet. It is a low-carb, high-protein diet, and I have done very well on it, losing 30 pounds. But I have been at a fishing camp in Alaska for the last three weeks, and I am pretty sure I have gained at least 15 pounds back. There are four reasons for my rapid weight gain. First, there were 18 people here for two weeks, and they were all eating, so I just joined in. Second, George, the cook, fixes amazingly good meals, and it is so hard to resist eating his good food. Third, we fish, take a break back at the lodge, then fish some more, and every time we come back from fishing is a good reason to eat again. And the fourth reason is that it is only for three weeks; no big deal. I can lose it quickly when I get back home to my normal routine. 

Over the years I have seen so many people fall away from their faith in Jesus and get lukewarm. People don’t realize how easy it is. A little compromise here, just one small one, and then another, no big deal. One day of skipping my Bible reading isn’t going to make any difference, just one. A little break isn’t going to hurt anything; I will get right back to it as soon as this vacation is over. 

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

Every year, when I get home from our annual three-week fishing trip to Alaska, I feel bad because I have not been faithful in my basic spiritual disciplines. The reason is obvious: there are a lot of fish to catch, and it takes all my time. I do take the time to brush my teeth every day, and I do take time to eat three times a day plus snacks. My personal conviction is that I need to spend time in God’s Word every day. God is very important in my life, and my personal relationship with Him is important; the Bible is the key to keeping my relationship with Him healthy, strong, and growing. This year I am doing much better taking time every day to read, memorize, and meditate on His Word. The reason isn’t my self-control; it is because of the car accident I was in just a couple of days after we got here. I sprained my left shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, and my back. I can’t do my usual 12 hours of fishing every day because my injuries get too sore and tired. I am still getting in plenty of fishing, but I am taking breaks to rest, and I read, memorize, and write when I do. I am recovering more every day, but I am going to keep up my new fishing routine anyway. I expect to get home this year feeling much better about my faithfulness to my spiritual disciplines. 

I have been fishing in Soldotna, Alaska, on the Kenai River for the last 2 weeks, and the fishing has been terrible. According to the sonar counter near the mouth of the Kenai River, about 10,000 fish have been coming up every day since July 1st. That may seem like a lot, but it isn’t; it takes about 3 hours of fishing or more to catch one fish at that count. Up until yesterday, it had been the worst run in the last 30 years. But yesterday, 172,000 fish came through the counter. That is crazy good. I can catch a fish every 20 to 30 minutes with that many fish swimming by. The big discussion now with all the fishermen is “Why?”

Even though a sockeye salmon is just a dumb fish, there is always a reason for what they do, and when 172,000 decide to come up the river on the same day, there is a reason. In talking with different fishermen and reading comments on Facebook, the conjectures on the” Why” are many and different, and some are very weird. One guy suggested that aliens from outer space were herding the fish. In the Gospels, the disciples fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat. They did that and caught a lot of fish. How did Jesus do that? I don’t know how, but I do know that He did it. The big question now is, “How long will it last?” Last year we had 20 days in a row of over 100,000 fish a day. I am here for one more week, so the chances of good fishing for the rest of the trip are very good. As we all live life and bad things happen to us, we will ask, “Why?” I believe that God loves me and that He is the one controlling the circumstances of my life. Often things happen in my life that are painful, disappointing, and that I can’t fix or solve.

The question I ask is, “Why God?” Are You trying to tell me something? Are You disciplining me for a sin I have committed? Are You working on my character? In the book of Job in the Bible, Job asked that question several times. God never gave Job an answer. The thing about the fish is you can’t interrogate them; they’re not talking. So the motto for this trip to Alaska is, “When there are few fish, enjoy the fishing experience, and when there are lots of fish, enjoy the catching experience”. But the bottom line is, God did it, so in either situation, never grumble, and rejoice always. 

We got up today to head out for halibut fishing, and before we left, I called the launch site, and they said they weren’t launching any boats today because of a big storm coming in soon that will probably last into tomorrow. So we went down to the Kenai River to fish for salmon. We fished for 4 hours, and I didn’t catch a single fish. We have been here for 8 days, and I have caught only one fish. In years past, I usually catch my limit of six fish every day. In the 25 years I have been coming up here to fish, this is the worst year I have experienced. I can’t control the weather and the number of fish coming up the river, but I can control how I think and talk about all the bad luck we have had on this trip, though we know it isn’t luck. I feel bad for those who came up this year to fish, wanting to experience the awesome Alaska fishing, especially those who have never been before and those who came because of my fishing stories of how good the fishing is. Another negative is that I have been sitting in the lodge reading because I haven’t been motivated to fish as much as I usually do because of no fish, and there is a lot of food in here to snack on, so I am pretty sure I will have gained 10 pounds by the time I get home. One of the problems with feeling down because of the rotten fishing is that I try to drown my sorrows with food. Oh well, I know what my goal will be when I get home.