There are approximately 30 people on the Excel, including eight crew members and 22 fishermen. The boat is about 2,500 square feet, about the same as our house. We have 11 living in our house, and we often think it is crowded. The crowded condition in our home is not a problem because we are a family and get along well. There are small groups of friends on the boat, but most of the people on the ship don’t know each other very well. There are some very nice individuals and some not-so-nice ones, so at times it can be a bit stressful for me. I have never done this kind of fishing before, and several people on the boat have done it frequently. Some of the experienced guys are very gracious in their teaching and explaining to me how to fish for various species of fish, but some are arrogant know-it-alls who make my temperature rise. I have developed six guidelines for these ten days of fishing on this boat, to be a positive influence on the others and to make the trip personally enjoyable for me.

1.      Smile a lot. Several people in the past have said that I have a nice smile, so I am going to use God’s gift to me of nice teeth to connect positively with people.

2.      Honor each person by paying sincere attention to their words as they talk, maintaining eye contact, even if they cuss a lot.

3.      Ask questions about fishing and their personal lives.

4.      Pray for people silently as I listen to them, that God would bless them and bring them to Himself, and help me to love them.

5.      I haven’t caught nearly as many fish as I thought I would on this trip, and I have had numerous seals steal my fish, and I have caught a bunch of junk fish that we throw back. But I am committed to rejoicing always, grumbling about nothing, and rejoicing with those who catch more fish than I do, though that is hard.

6.      Make the trip about growing closer to God rather than about catching fish. Sitting out in the ocean, taking in the beautiful sunsets, has been a great reminder of God’s power, His attributes, and His love for me. The time I have been able to spend praying has been great.

Today, I had a seal grab my fish and almost pulled all the line off my reel. I didn’t lose my line or my jig, but I did lose my fish, and by the time I was done fighting that seal, I was totally exhausted. Another guy lost most of his tuna to a shark. We fished for yellowtail most of the day, and the boat caught 79 of them. We had another beautiful sunset as we watched the sun sink into the ocean. Being on the sea is a constant reminder of God’s creative power, and I have been blessed by my times of reflecting on God as I observe His creation.

It is always fun to have “firsts.” Today I saw my first flying fish. They have wings and launch out of the water, gliding a considerable distance. I hadn’t actually seen them glide yet, but I did see one in the bait tank. One of the deckhands caught it with a hand net and put it in there, but I have been assured that I will see some flying this evening. Another first was that an owl was roosting on the top of our boat’s mast. We are 100 miles from shore, so I am not sure why he was out here; he must have gotten lost. I caught two nice yellowfin and two big Dorado so far today. The boat rocked so much last night that I hardly slept. Finally, I tucked some dirty clothes under one side of me and managed to sleep a little bit. We ended the day by catching a lot of Dorado fish. The sunset tonight was amazing. It was so beautiful it took my breath away. I don’t know of a time when I have felt closer to the Lord than tonight.

The boat trolled for Wahoo all day yesterday. Five rods are going out the back of the boat. When one rod is hit, a deck hand blows a whistle, and the Captain stops the boat. Those with the other four trolling rods reel in, and the one with the fish fights it. Everyone else on board the vessel casts out their rods all over the boat, away from the one being fought. Usually, there are two or three more hook-ups while the trolled rod is fighting its fish. When the fish hits the deck, everyone reels in, and the troll starts again. When you catch a wahoo on the troll, you are out of the rotation until everyone has caught one. There are 25 people fishing, and I was the second-to-last one to catch one. The one I fought and landed was the hardest fish I have ever fought, including halibut and sturgeon. When I finally got him in the boat, I was sure I was going to need CPR. Wahoo are like a Marlin without the sword.

We had yellow fin tuna for dinner last night, and it was the best-tasting fish I have ever had. It was so good. All the food has been exceptional, but that was the best.

The weather has been sunny every day, with temperatures around 70 degrees, and the ocean is relatively calm today. I am getting my sea legs and can now walk without holding on to something all the time. I am sleeping well, despite rolling around on my bed.  

While we are trolling, I spend most of my time praying. I have gone through all my kids, their spouses, grandkids, their friends, siblings, their families, and Patty numerous times. I also pray for my church, and I include a prayer for fish regularly.

Fished today. I landed four yellowfin tuna, lost three, and threw back two small ones. We are currently trolling for wahoo and will switch to tuna fishing a little later. It is a bit wild, tuna fishing, because there are almost always three or four people with fish on at the same time, and you have to pay attention to avoid or navigate over or under people’s lines as their fish run up and down the railing on the boat. I pretty much know everybody by this point, so as the guys catch fish, everyone works together as we catch fish. The ship caught 40 tuna and 20 wahoo today, and we didn’t start fishing until 1:00 pm, so hopefully tomorrow will be better. I had a funny thing happen today. There is a big rack that holds everybody’s fishing rods. When the bite starts, everybody grabs their rod and starts to fish. I grabbed what I thought was my rod, and then when I got it over to the water, I realized it wasn’t my rod; I had accidentally grabbed someone else’s. I got it back before anybody noticed.

The meals on the boat are excellent. Tonight, we had steak, and it was one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. My goal was not to gain any weight on the trip, but I think I abandoned that goal tonight. Fishing starts at daylight tomorrow, so I am going to try to be in bed by 9:00 pm, and it is 8:00 pm right now. Everybody is sitting around playing cards and some crazy dice game—lots of laughing and telling fish stories. I am reading and writing this blog. I am working hard to read my Bible every day and spend time memorizing Bible verses, but it is tough to squeeze it in between fishing bouts, eating, and games. I am enjoying my experience very much and have declared this trip a success even if I don’t catch any more fish. 

This is the second day of fishing on the Excel. Actually we aren’t’t fishing, we are traveling SW at 15 mph from noon yesterday, all night, and all day today to get to where the good fishing is. There are some pretty good size waves and the boat is rolling quite a lot. I have to be careful walking, hanging on guard rails all of the time. I woke up about every thirty minutes last night literally rolled over in my bunk. We have rails on the bunks so we don’t’t fall out on the floor. I have the lower bunk so I don’t have far to fall if I did. With just travel these two days I have had lots of time to read, memorize, and write. There are about 20 other guys on the boat so we do a lot of visiting. I have shown a lot of pictures of my grandkids.

One of the major blessings in my life are the number of different experiences that I have had. There is something about new experiences that spices up life and makes your energy level rise. I am at the age (my birthday is today and I am 77 years old) where new experiences aren’t as appealing at first because they usually move you out of your comfort zone, but now that I am in it I am very excited to be here. I can’t imagine what the experience of entering heaven will be like and it will continue to be new and exciting for eternity.

We got up at 5:30 am, and I had three hard-boiled eggs at the motel’s complimentary breakfast and a cup of coffee. We then got carts and hauled all of our stuff down to the boat and got on board. We took off at noon and stopped at a fish market, where we purchased thousands of live little herring that we will use for bait. They keep them in these large tanks, and we reach in and catch them with our hands, then put them on our hook for bait. They swim around with our hook in them, and hopefully, a big tuna eats them. We are now cruising along on this 124-foot boat at about 15 knots. We will continue nonstop until about 5:00 pm tomorrow, when we arrive at the location where the fish are. Scott and I share a room that is approximately ten feet square. He has the upper bunk. The boat rolls quite a bit from side to side as we cruise along, so I have to be careful as I walk. Especially when I go down the stairs to the sleeping rooms, they are really steep. They have a TV on board, and they can get a signal from somewhere, somehow. I have been watching football all day. They also have pretty good Wifi so far. They have a wide variety of snacks and food available all the time, so I will probably gain a few pounds, but so far, I have been doing well. I am also spending time memorizing Bible verses and reading. After tomorrow, I hope to be fishing 16 hours a day.

The fishing trip to San Diego has started. Over the last two days, we have driven from Jefferson, Oregon, to San Diego, California. The first day, we drove for twelve hours to Bishop, California, and stayed overnight in a motel. Today, we drove for eight hours to San Diego. The driving was mainly on back roads, and it was beautiful, with mountains and two herds of elk. I am going on this trip with my friend Scott Haven, and he drove the entire time, both days, so I have had a relaxing time looking at the scenery, sleeping, and reading on my iPad. Tonight we went out to a very nice restaurant and had a great meal. Tomorrow begins the adventure. In the morning, we get checked in and board the boat with our luggage. There will be 28 people on the ship, including captains and deckhands. It will be noon before everybody gets checked in and their gear is hauled on board and stowed, and we head out to sea.

This trip is a lot like going to heaven. I am very excited about going, but I have never experienced this before, and all the unknowns make me anxious. My nervousness is not based on fear but simply on not knowing what is going to happen. It is a good kind of anxiety. An eagerness to get on board and catch my first fish, but not knowing how it will come about. There are so many unknowns about death, going to heaven, and my new glorified body that I get anxious. Not a bad kind of anxiety that is related to fear, but simply not knowing and wondering. It is an eagerness that results in nervousness about the unknown. It is a good thing.

One of the mysteries in life for me is the balance between my choices and efforts in living life and God’s sovereignty and part in my life. I need to choose, to obey, to strive, to seek, to read, and to be faithful. It is also clear that apart from God I can do nothing. If I seek the Lord diligently and obey Him completely, will I live forever? No, that is obvious. Well, if I pray without ceasing with great faith, will I be free of all sickness? I would probably significantly reduce my sick days, but life is still life, and sickness, heart attacks, and cancer seem to be part of it by God’s design. I am 77 years old, and my physical conditioning and energy levels are significantly lower than they once were. If I ask God for His strength every day, and exercise, work out, ride my bike, lift weights, eat right, and take the right supplements, can I have the strength and energy of a 20-year-old? I did a devotional for the Santiam Christian High School football team yesterday. Before I spoke, I watched them practice for 30 minutes. The athleticism, strength, speed, and energy of those young men were impressive. I was very envious. No matter how much faith I have and what I do, those days are long gone for me. That too is part of God’s plan. But I want to do as much as I can with the life I have left. I don’t know how many days or how much energy I have left, but I will choose to push right up to the edge. I am not going to be naïve and think that I can do everything and anything. Still, I am going to be diligent to run the race with endurance, be very faithful in exercise, eating right, stewarding my physical body, and then I am going to get as close to Jesus as I can, walk in the Spirit, pray for strength constantly, and look for open doors He is giving me to step through. I don’t think it is a lack of faith for me to admit that what I can do for the Lord is getting less every day, but I won’t let that admission give me freedom to do nothing.

I am leaving on Friday morning for a fishing trip. We will drive for two days to San Diego and board a 120-foot boat, where we will live for ten days. There will be 28 people on the ship, including the captain and deckhands. We will fish together and eat together. I am sure that I will get to know some of them reasonably well in the ten days. I want to be an incredibly positive witness for Jesus during the days we are together. I am praying now that God will work in every heart and that He will give me some divine appointments. I am also praying that I won’t get distracted by the great fishing to miss any of the opportunities that God will supply. I am praying for opportunities, for attentiveness not to miss them, the boldness to step through the doors that God opens, and the wisdom to say just the right thing at the right time, neither too little nor too much. Being a witness for Jesus is one of our primary responsibilities given to us by Jesus. We are His ambassadors. Please pray for me that God will open doors for the Word and that I will make the gospel clear and compelling whenever I share it. I am bringing 30 tracs with me that I wrote with the gospel clearly presented in them. I will be fishing for tuna and for men.