This afternoon I was watching some sermons of a couple of pastors who I am coaching and periodically giving them some feedback and suggestions on how to improve their preaching. One of the things that I always recommend to all preachers is to watch their sermons. Even though I recommend that to others, I always hated watching mine and often found excuses for not taking the time to do it. I saw and heard so many things that I needed to change and work on, and it made me so discouraged that I was still such a lousy preacher and teacher after all this time. It always amazed me that I could be so blind to my faults while preaching but could see them quickly when I watched and listened to myself on video.

I know the same thing is true for me in everyday life while talking to others, living with them, having dinner with them, fishing, and working with them. I know I say and do things that are hurtful, prideful, self-serving, stupid, and not enjoyable for others, but I am not aware of it. It would be cool if the Lord would give me a video of an evening spent with others that I could watch and listen to myself. I would witness many things I needed to work on and change. I also know that the shock of seeing who I am and how I sound might drive me to be a hermit.

One part of my job and calling is to encourage and help people to change their behavior and to grow in character. The most significant barrier I face in doing that is most people don’t see their character flaws and behavioral weaknesses, and they are very resistant and defensive to finding them out. There is comfort in thinking that we are OK; it is everyone else with the problems.

One of the things that Jesus taught that speaks loudly to my heart every time I read it was, “If you are attempting to take a splinter out of a brother’s eye, take the log out that is in your eye first, then you can see to help your brother.” If I don’t work very hard at self-examination and character and behavioral growth, I will not be helpful to others in their development. Self-examination is brutal because our flesh is so prideful and defensive, even to me. I wish it were as easy as looking in the mirror and seeing some meat stuck in my teeth or looking down and seeing my zipper open.

It basically boils down to a relentless pursuit of humility. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

(By the way, I stayed in my recliner last night and didn’t go fishing.)

There are four of us left at the lodge and we have four days of fishing left before we come home. We fished last night until midnight and caught 20 salmon and then we got up this morning and went Halibut fishing and we caught eight halibut and a big flounder. We came home and processed all of the fish, vacuum packing all of it and putting it in the freezer. By then it was dinner time and I am now sitting in a recliner trying to decide if I am going to go fishing tonight and catch some more salmon or continue to sit in my chair and read between naps, and be in bed by 9:00 pm. Part of the equation is tomorrow is Sunday and church is at 9:30 am and we need to leave here at 9:00 am to make it on time, and I hate falling asleep in church. Typically what we do at night is to fish until 1:00 or 2:00 am so we can catch two limits of fish. The limit is six now so if we fish on both sides of midnight we can catch twelve. We are sitting here discussing various options. We can fish tonight, get to bed by 3:00 am, get five hours of sleep, get up at 8:00 am and sleep in church. Another option is to go to sleep now for five hours, be at the river at 11:00 pm and fish until until 9:00 am and go to church in our waders, and sleep and smell bad. Another one is to go fishing now and listen to a sermon on line while we are fishing and call it good, then come home and go to bed and sleep as long as we want. So the question now is, “what will win, my desire to catch more fish or my weariness?” I will tell you tomorrow.

This is a rather boring blog; I am sorry about that; I couldn’t figure out how to jazz it up without making longer than it is. My goal is not to impress you with my busy schedule but to motivate you to make the most of your time, bear fruit, much fruit, and more fruit for the Lord. Over the years, I have taught myself to enjoy being “busy” without letting it burn me out and to accomplish as much as possible with the time I have been given.

On May 6th, Patty and I flew to Fairbanks, Alaska, to visit our daughter Shelly, her husband, and six kids. We had a wonderful time, and on May 23rd, we flew home, and on May 25th, six of us left on a 2,000-mile bicycle trip from Canada to Mexico along the Pacific Coast. We finished the trip and arrived home on June 23rd. On June 26th, I drove to Huntington, Oregon, and camped and fished for catfish on the Snake River, the Brownlee Reservoir, for five days. I then went to Twin Falls, Idaho, to visit our son Seth, his wife, and four kids for a couple of days, and then drove ten hours home on July 2nd. On July 13th, I flew to Soldotna, Alaska, to fish for salmon and halibut, and I am here now having a wonderful time at “Funny River Fellowship Lodge – where the tug is the drug.” In six days, on August 10th, we fly home, and I will bring with me a hundred pounds of frozen fish. On August 17th, Patty and I will fly back up to Fairbanks, Alaska, where she will hang out with Shelly and the grandkids, and I will go with my sons-in-law, Philip and Kyle, to the most northern part of Alaska to hunt for caribou. I plan on killing one and bringing back on the airplane a hundred pounds of frozen meat. We will fly home on August 30th, and on September 1st, I will put my Pastor hat back on.

This year I will be teaching four weekly “Leadership Classes,” a weekly discipleship hour class on “Demons and Angels,” I will be involved in five “Men’s Accountability Groups” each week, I will attend and be involved in staff meetings, Elder meetings, I will do a variety of kinds of counseling, I will travel and speak approximately once each month, I will meet with and coach three or four other Pastors in other churches, I will have a mentoring relationship and teaching time with a young guy wanting to be a pastor, I will occasionally preach at JBC weekend services as needed, and I will preach each week at our Wednesday service through the book of 2nd Peter. I will also pray an hour each day for those in JBC with the goal of praying for everybody once each week, attending three corporate prayer times at JBC each week, and praying for 40 hours in each of our four “Five Days of Prayer.” I will write 100 handwritten notes each month to people in our church; I will write my blog daily; I will write on a couple of book projects; I will study, read, and write sermons and lessons. I will coach people in JBC who want to start ministries, I will oversee the “Parking Lot Project” until it is finished, I will begin to develop and work with people in a new major ministry called “Care and Shepherding,” I will meet with various staff, Elders, and key leaders as needed. I will attend various meetings with other pastors approximately monthly, I will participate in several different seminars for pastors, I will work on and teach several seminars at JBC and other places, and I will work on plans to start another daughter church, someplace and some time.

In the midst of that ministry schedule I will I will maintain my own daily and weekly spiritual disciplines, I will keep the Lord first in my life, and seek Him diligently as I serve Him. I will be very faithful to my exercise goals and routines. I will work on home projects, I will finish the restoration project on the 1969 Mustang, I will start restoring my 1950 Ford Club Coupe, I will play golf and work on becoming a better golfer, I will visit our kids and grandkids regularly, and often, I will fish and hunt periodically, I will pray with Patty every day and take her on a meaningful date every week.

In order to maintain that schedule faithfully, I will write and read goals and daily “todo” lists.

Also, in the process of pursuing ministry, family, and personal goals, I will be flexible, not rigid; I will rejoice always and never get uptight about deadlines and schedules, I will be gracious and kind to people no matter how much I am pressed and behind schedule, I will get plenty of sleep, and I will eat right.

Then in May, I will put my “play” hat back on. Hallelujah, I am looking forward to that.

I am still working on discovering foods I am allergic to which cause a muscle reaction, that is, my muscles twitch, get charlie horses, or hurt. Glucon is a major one, additives in some foods like hot dogs are also a big one, and today I figured out that most things that are “diet” foods because of aspartame or some other stuff, is also a significant contributor. I am not sure how many different things I will find are a problem, but I know that since I have been extra cautious of my eating, I have been feeling better and better. I have had this severe restless leg, restless arm syndrome for years, and I have lost more sleep than I can remember. It is kind of sad to think that I could have possibly been free of this aggregation years ago had I known what the problem was. It is my fault because I have, for most of my life, been very undisciplined in my eating. I should have guessed because when I would fast for a prayer event, I would always feel better. I suspected a food issue, but I was so addicted to eating whatever I wanted I blocked it out of my mind. Several years ago, I quit eating wheat and sugar and noticed a marked improvement in my health, but I was so stupid I started eating it again. Oh well, better late than never, and I am 74, so it is later.

The older I get the more I realize that self-control is the major issue in most areas of our life. My flesh, the world, and the devil have been major controllers of my life for most of my years. Read the Bible every day, pray every day, don’t get angry at anybody for any reason, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and on the list goes. Self-control is a character trait that we grow stronger and stronger in as we work on it, and it is also a “fruit of the Spirit,” that is self-control isn’t possible without God’s power working in us, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t work in us in a vacuum, we work together with Him.

If I live to be 120 years old I may have this figured out, but I will be so senile I will have forgotten it all!!

I got up this morning and headed for Ninilchik, Alaska, pulling my drift boat with two other anxious and excited fishermen. We planned to launch the boat off the beach into the ocean, motor out half a mile, and fish for Halibut in 20 feet of water. We did that yesterday, and we limited out with six halibut in less than two hours. The ocean was flat, the sun was nice, and the fellowship was great.

This morning when we got to our launch point, the wind was blowing, the sea was rough, and the fog was so thick we couldn’t see the shore when only 50 feet away from it. We fished for two hours, and we didn’t have a single bite. It was freezing cold, and one of the guys was seasick. We got back to the lodge, and we decided to go to the Kenai River and catch sockeye salmon. So many fish have gone up the river at this point that Alaska Fish and Game permitted the commercial fisherman to put their nets across the entire opening of the river. Needless to say, we didn’t catch a single salmon; I didn’t even have a bite.

Bad fishing day, at least the catching part.

One of my goals is never to complain, grumble, or fuss about anything and to rejoice and praise the Lord for everything. Some days I do good, and others, I do bad at keeping that goal. I am doing much better now than last year, and the bad days are getting farther apart. That goal was much easier to write than it is to do, at least consistently. My biggest struggle is when I am with a group, and they are fussing with each other about fishing, government, weather, or whatever, and not join in the conversation with them. One of my most significant failures happens while watching “Monday Night Football” or another sporting event with a bunch of guys. The “group gripe” really takes over, and it is so easy to join right in, and it is even fun.

But my greatest struggle in not being negative and rejoicing always is with my health and how I feel. It is such a bummer not feeling well, having continual pain, being tired all the time, and not being able to do what I could do just a couple of years ago. I am getting better and better at accomplishing this goal with my mouth, but my main struggle now is in my thinking. I find myself sinking into a “poor me” self-pity self-talk regularly, especially at the end of the day. My method of conquering this problem in my flesh is to memorize many Bible verses on praise, rejoicing and to set my mind on them when I catch myself sliding into self-pity thinking.

I have six books on my IPad on the theology of Demons and Angels, and have been reading them during my time in Alaska when not fishing. I have been writing a lot on my thoughts and reflections on this reading and my Bible study on the topic. I am planning on teaching a class during our discipleship hour on Sundays on this topic starting this Fall and I expect that it is going to last through April. I have enjoyed learning a lot on this topic and I am very excited about teaching on it as as well.

As with all my teaching the bottom line will be practical. How can we live successfully as Christians overcoming the world, our flesh, and the devil, and grow in our character as we struggle and strive in our life. We can successfully resist the demons assigned to us and can get stronger and stronger in our faith as we do. It is like playing football; you train and work, you compete, and you win. If you know the principles, the rules, and follow them you win.

2 Timothy 2:5
Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

I love teaching the Bible and the principles in it that allows us to grow in character and bear much fruit for Jesus. I hope to do that until I step into heaven.

I am not as bad or as good depending how you take it, as some when it comes to doing things that are risky and even dangerous. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkey but don’t hold a candle to some, like my son-in-law Aaron Eveland. He does things that I only do in my dreams.

One of my things is to attempt several B-HAGs each year. A B-HAG is a “ Big Hairy Audacious Goal.” They are not necessarily dangerous, but they do require a great deal of determination to accomplish. One of my B-HAGs this year was to bicycle from Canada to Mexican along the Pacific Coast, and we accomplished that 2,000-mile trip. I heard so many say to me on the trip, “I would never do that, I would be too afraid someone would hit me with a car.” I was sitting in a hot tub at one of the campgrounds we stayed at and one of the other people in the tub got angry with me when she heard what we were doing, “That is stupid! You are risking your life for no good reason!” Another B-HAG was to fish for a month in Alaska for salmon and Halibut and take the drift boat that I built out in the ocean to catch halibut. I am doing that now and it looks like I will finish strong. Someone said to me, “ You are taking an 18-foot drift boat with a 2.3 hp engine out in Cook Inlet in Alaska?! That is crazy! don’t you know that they have 20+ foot tide changes there, I would never do anything so dangerous as that!” Another B-HAG is to go caribou hunting in the “North Slope” of Alaska with two sons-in-law. Where we will be hunting is as primitive as it gets and there are lots of grizzly bears. I won’t bore you with some of the responses to that one. I responded to one lady who was reminding me of my age, “yes, I know, but I will be with two young, tough, resourceful sons-in-law who like to take care of me!”

We live in an age where many people live with a high level of fear of the unknown and unexpected, and doing everything they can think of to protect themselves. Tools and other things are so inundated with protective devices on them to make some of them almost unusable. Parents are so protective of their kids that they often grow up to be fearful and unwilling to do anything that has an element of risk involved.

The response of Israel when God tried to take them into the promised land.

Numbers 13:33 – 14:1
There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim; Men of great stature) and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

Matthew 14:29-30
Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and began to sink,

If you haven’t yet watched this short video that my son-in-law made with his kids you should. It is a great illustration and instructions on dealing with risk and danger as he dialogs the adventure their family had rock climbing.

Colossians 3:12-13 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Fishing in Alaska when the fish are running is often called “combat fishing” because of the number of people and the close proximity that people are to each other as they fish. It is usually “no problem” and is often a lot of fun as you talk, net each other’s fish, and enjoy the excitement together. But occasionally, there are regular line tangles, casting across others’ lines and causing someone to lose a fish. Then conversations can get a little heated, and occasionally there is a person or two or three who is just a plain ole jerk. Every problem is someone else’s fault; they have an anger problem, they have a swearing problem, they have a “no brain” problem, they have a “don’t know how to fish problem,” they have an “I am the only one who knows how to fish” problem, and they have a “their parents should have spanked them more” problem. Anyway, you get the point.

One of my goals while fishing is to talk nice, be nice, and don’t get upset at anybody, no matter what they do. That is a tough goal to keep when someone keeps casting over my line and then swears at me when he causes the tangle. It is hard on my teeth as I clench and grind them in my attempt at self-control. Several days ago, there was this guy, and his wife that were terrible fishermen, and their language was almost unrecognizable as English because of all the swear words thrown in. He was lecturing me on my fishing etiquette, and so I asked him if there was any problem in his life I could pray for. He was surprised by the question and sputtered and muttered for a few seconds, and then said, “Why do you think I need to be prayed for?” I said, “I am a Pastor, and one of the things I do is pray for people and ask God to bless their life; everyone has problems, and I could pray for yours if you wanted; if not, that is OK; I will go back to praying for my 28 grandkids.”

He never did share a problem that I could pray for, but the swearing stopped, or most of it did, and he quit yelling at me when our lines tangled.

I am not sure he will choose to fish next to me again. We will see.

I will be 75 years old in October, and in those years, there have been many chapters, segments, and areas like everyone else’s life. My first twelve years were when my Dad was in the Navy, and they were marked by lots of travel and many moves, including 18 months on Midway Island with the Gooney birds. The following 15 years were farming years on two farms in Oregon and Washington, from 1976 to the present, were my Pastoring at Jefferson Baptist Church years. The most significant chapter has been the 54 years married to Patty and raising a family.

Of those significant chapters in my life, there have been various segments and areas that had a major part in shaping me and determining the course of my life. One of those that doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but has been, is fishing in Alaska.

I have been coming up and fishing for salmon for at least a week at a time, in Alaska for 25 years in a row. For a few years, we fished the Situk River in Yakutat, Alaska, but all the rest have been on the Kenai River in Soldotna, Alaska. The time up here is one of my favorite events each year, and my experiences in Alaska fishing have been a significant shaper and maker of who I am in character. It seems funny to say that fishing could be that significant in a person’s life, but it has been in mine, and I think only death will keep it from happening in the years ahead.

It all began when my friend Jay Goold who had lived in Jefferson and attended Jefferson Baptist Church, moved to Anchorage, Alaska, because of a work promotion and invited me to go fishing with him in 1997. I flew up with my friend Stan Hilton who paid for the entire trip, and we fished for two weeks. We fished in many different rivers, including Montana Creek, Sheep Creek, Bird River, the Susitna River, the ocean at Valdez, the sea out of Homer, the Russian River, and the Kenai River at Soldotna and Cooper’s Landing. That was one of those trips of a lifetime.

I continued coming up with Stan and others for several years, renting motorhomes in Anchorage and driving them to Soldotna. Chik Fisher, a friend in Lebanon, Oregon, bought a place in Soldotna and invited friends to stay with him and fish, and I did that for several years with many different people. About 2012, my friend Tim Groome bought a place in Soldotna as well that has evolved into “Funny River Fellowship Lodge,” where “the tug is the drug.” I have been fishing there since then, with some years being a month-long fishing adventure. For most of those years, Tim has paid for all the expenses of coming up.

I have been spending some time in the last couple of years writing about my life history. There is so much that has happened over the years that I have forgotten, but photographs, talking with others, and writing have brought most of it back.

As I write, look at pictures, and visit with people, some key things stand out. One of them is that very little of my life did I plan, it just happened, usually because of another person’s influence. Another is how well it fits together as a wandering stream, as if God were planning, directing, and causing it all to unfold.

I am looking forward to the rest of the story of my life and how it unfolds. I am especially looking forward to my life after this life with Jesus in a completely different setting, but with even more adventures and excitement, and I wouldn’t be surprised if fishing isn’t part of my experiences in the next life.

Deuteronomy 30:15-16 & 19 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. . . . .I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So CHOOSE life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

We all make many, many choices every day. Some are very important in that the results or consequences of our choice are significant in our lives and those around us. Other choices matter little.

It is like planning a route across the United States on a bicycle. There is the starting point which is usually the “present location,” and there is the desired finishing spot. Once the route has been planned, it is divided up into daily courses, with each day moving us closer to our desired finishing place. At the beginning of each day, the route is downloaded into our phone, and the phone is attached to the handlebars of our bicycle. During the day, at every intersection, we can look down at our phone and see on the screen which way to turn. We make choices all day long designed to get us where we want to go.

I am in Alaska fishing for sockeye salmon and halibut. Where do we fish? When do we fish? How do we fish? If I am not catching fish, I change something; I keep changing and experimenting until what I want happens. If I see someone else catching fish when I am not, I watch them and try and learn what they are doing.

Psalms 37:4-5 Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

What are my desires? What do I want to happen? Where do I want to go? What do I want to accomplish? What kind of person do I want to become?

Psalms 50:23
And to him who orders his way aright will know God.

I write my goals for my life, yearly goals, monthly, weekly, and daily. I pray, ponder, think, and get counsel concerning what my goals should be. I read my goals often to keep my focus on what I want and where I want to go.

Every morning and all through the day, I pray and ask God to lead me and guide me into His perfect will for my life, and then I choose.

I want to know God more intimately every day; I want to become like Him in character more every day. I want to bear much fruit for him every day; I want to love and serve my family well every day; I want to be a golden vessel for God’s use to use my giftedness to build His church every day.