I am starting to write my goals for this next year. I like to have them all done by my birthday on October 27th, and I also want to have them done so I can use them as an illustration for my teaching on goal setting in my leadership class that starts the first week in October. For the last 60 years of my life, I have had one goal for every year old that I am, meaning that I increase the number of goals I have by one each year. Last year, I had 76 goals and should have 77 this year, but I will change that this year. Call it old age, but I could not maintain enthusiasm for that many goals this last year. About halfway through the year, I picked the key goals and reduced my list to 44 goals. I think I will list 40 this year, maybe 45, we will see. The goal-setting discipline I started at age 13 has been the number one key in my life for maintaining faithfulness in my Bible reading and Scripture memory. As I increased the number of goals through High School and College, I began to include my finances, grades, sports, cars, and even my dating and relationships with girls. As I have gotten older, pastoring, being married, raising eight kids, and managing my time have all been added to my goals. It is easy to observe that nothing has been as important in my life as setting and pursuing goals. I have maintained balance with my family, ministry, and hobbies because of planning and goal setting. I am sure that balance has helped me pastor for 50 years without burnout or quitting. I have had regular times of discouragement and weariness over the years,  but managed to get through those times stronger because of the disciplines that I faithfully maintained in pursuit of my goals. One of the key benefits of my goals was the encouragement from others, which I received because I had shared my goals with them. Encouragement from others is critically important to faithfulness in life, and is accepted only by those who know it is essential and seek it. It is hard for me to understand why so few people thoughtfully set and pursue goals for their lives, and why it is so hard to persuade people to do it. This last year, an individual said that goal setting was so natural for me because I am so disciplined. My answer is that goal setting doesn’t come from discipline; discipline comes from goal setting.

Occasionally, I am asked why I am such a fanatic about fishing. The short answer is that my Dad was a fanatic about fishing. I can remember fishing with my Dad first on Midway Island. My Dad, who was in the Navy for the first twelve years of my life, was stationed at Midway from 1957 to 1959, when I was 10 to 12. Most people know Midway Island because of the Battle of Midway during World War II, June 4th, 1942. It is said that this battle was the turning point in the war. Midway comprises two Islands: Sand Island, about a thousand acres, where we lived, and Easter Island, about 500 acres. Easter Island had no facilities or people on it when we were there.

Both Islands were surrounded by a reef about 50 feet across and several feet above the water. At some point in its history, an opening was made in the reef for ships to come in and out to the shipping center on the Eastern side of the Island. Those docks and the concrete sea wall were where Dad and I would walk to go fishing. There were many kinds of tropical fish, and I caught many of them. Several species were big, and attempting to bring them in gave me an incredible thrill. The reef created a wave barrier for the island, so the water at the beach was very flat and calm. It was also warm and blue. We swam a lot, and Midway is where I learned to swim well and love the ocean. We would often swim out to the reef and snorkel and spear Parrot fish with hand-made and hand-thrown spears made out of 3/8 inch bronze rods that Dad would bring home from the Base. We would file a barbed point on one end of the four-foot rod and slay us some fish. We had to be careful that we didn’t spear too big a fish, or they would swim off with our spear. We would swim out to the reef, pulling an inner tube behind us with a dishpan tied in the center, where we put our fish until we towed them back home. The parrot fish had a four-part beak for a mouth and ate coral. They would have their head in the reef, nipping away at coral, and wouldn’t see us as we swam up close and speared them.

As I think about my life’s history, it reminds me of building a house. There is the foundation, the framing, the siding, the sheetrock, and many more parts to the completed building. God created the world and everything in it in stages or days, and He has built me and who I am in the same way.

Psalms 139:13-16 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will thank You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

God created my physical body, but the critical creation has been my character, who I am, the part of me that lives forever. We all have unique histories and important stories of how God has molded and shaped us into His image. One of the Bible’s clear messages is that we must cooperate with God as He does His work in us. That cooperation is called trusting, obeying, and seeking.

It is incredible how much better I feel now with my new hip. I was going to get my right hip replaced as well, but it has been feeling fine so far. I have recently made a goal to walk for one hour three days a week, bicycle for one hour three days a week, and lift weights three times each week. I will have one day when I do no exercise. I also made a goal to climb Mt Adams next year, and to ride across the United States on my bicycle in 2035. That will make me 86 years old, and a guy in Bend just broke the Guinness World Book of Records by riding across the USA at 85. How crazy is that!😀

I know that all of that may change next week. I very well could plop over with a heart attack tomorrow. Lots of guys my age do. But as long as I feel good, I will dream a bit; it is fun. In a week, I might not be able to get out of bed, but I will pretend that things will continue as they are now for 14 more years. I feel good today, so I will plan as if that continues. If it doesn’t, I will thank the Lord for the good days he has given me, and make the best of the ones that may not be so good. I will not grumble or feel sorry for myself if I have bad days; I have had too many good days to let myself do that.

I am pretty sure that one of the reasons I am feeling so good is the weight I have lost and the good discipline I am practicing in my eating habits: no sugar, no grain, no artificial sweeteners, no food with additives or artificial coloring, lots of green vegetables, fish, and meat. I have lost about 30 pounds and have another 20 pounds to go. When I do that, I will probably feel like Superman. We will see.

I have been on a diet since April 1st. I went from 230 pounds to 199 on August 14th when I left for Alaska for three weeks of fishing. The food cooked and prepared by George Coulter for those at fish camp is the best, so I decided I would go off my diet while I was there. I still didn’t eat anything with gluten, though George found some gluten-free pasta and pancake mix for me. I ate two small bowls of ice cream while there, but nothing else with sugar in it, and I gained six pounds in the 21 days I was there. I am now back on my diet, and my goal is to weigh 180 pounds and lose 26 pounds by my birthday on October 27th. I plan on celebrating with a big bowl of ice cream. All I need to reach my goal is self-control. I need self-control to eat what is on my diet plan and follow my exercise schedule. I plan to eat lots of fish and very few carbs. All I need is self-control to read my Bible daily and spend time with God in prayer every day. All I need is self-control to talk nicely to everyone in my life. All I need is self-control so as not to spend any money not within our budget. All I need is self-control to rejoice always and grumble about nothing. Self-control grows as muscle strength does; work at it, exercise, and it grows. Self-control grows only if you recognize the need for it, the deficiency of it in your life, the strong desire to grow stronger in it, the exercise and effort to grow in it, and constantly asking God for His strength. Remember, God will not honor our request for His strength if we are lazy and half-hearted in our desire and effort. Very few people will say they have strong self-control, but it is certainly possible for those who want it and work at growing it.

The goal of every Christian ought to be to grow in the character of Jesus, to become like Him, and to act and live like He would. Our character is primarily revealed in how we treat people and deal with trials, minor irritations, or major crises. People often say or do things to us that are hurtful, inconvenient, a mistake, or even wrong. Many of us will become impatient,  irritated, and angry, and treat those inconveniencing us with rudeness and dishonor. That is the way the world is, and that is how they act. Being rude and dishonoring people with our words and attitude doesn’t fix anything or improve things. Others don’t improve their service or work because we treat them poorly. The biggest problem is that our ability to be a witness for Jesus is gone when we act and respond to events the way the world does.

My new pair of glasses broke before I left on my three-week fishing trip to Alaska. I took them to the eyeglasses department where I got my eye exam and glasses, and they said they would fix them for me. It would take two weeks, and they would text me when they were ready to pick up. So I wore an old pair of glasses to Alaska. Today I called and asked whether my glasses were ready to pick up. There was some confusion at my call, and after being on hold for ten minutes, the receptionist said they had lost my glasses; she didn’t know where they were or what had become of them. I asked What now? After being on hold for several more minutes, she said they would reorder a new pair and be here in two weeks. Then I was put on hold again, and when she came back, she said they had lost my prescription and order details. I again said, “What now?” I was again put on hold, and after some time, she returned and said they had located my information. I hope the glasses that come will be my order and not someone elses. If they are the wrong ones, I will have another blog topic. I am pretty sure that my words and tone during the conversation were gracious and patient. At the start of the ordeal, I felt myself getting upset and said to myself, “Act like Jesus.” I wanted to talk in such a way that if given an opportunity later, I could lead this person to faith in Christ because of how I had honored her. I have often seen servers, receptionists, store clerks, airline flight attendants, and secretaries treated with dishonor because of selfishness and lack of patience. Christians are to be the world’s light; their opinion of Jesus will be their opinion of us. I have blown it so many times in the past. I truly wish that I hadn’t, but I am determined to grow in character and to live my life in a way that pleases my Lord.

I got home today from my three-week fishing expedition in Alaska. I brought home 150 pounds of fish, including salmon and halibut. We fish a lot, often all night long and during the day. I take my dory boat out in Cook Inlet for halibut during the day and fish for salmon on the Kenai River at night. I used to be able to do that consistently for three weeks with a couple of hours of sleep between outings, but this year I had to take some days off and rest and get caught up on sleep. I enjoyed the marathon fishing I used to do from the challenge point of view, but I enjoyed a more relaxed pace this year even more. I have been thinking and planning for improvements on my boat for next year and the year after.  I get to wondering how long I can keep this up. I am almost 77 years old and in ten years, 87. Can I keep fishing until I am 90? I have been fishing in Alaska every summer since 1993, 32 years ago, and just 13 years left, maybe less. Oh well, take it one year at a time, one fishing trip at a time. This October, for my birthday, I am going on a ten-day fishing trip on a big boat out of San Diego to fish for big tuna. I am planning on bringing home a thousand pounds of fish! I get closer to eternity with Jesus and my new glorified body as I get older. It used to be like thinking of a fairy tale or science fiction; it was just too far away to seem real. Not any more, dying and going to heaven is a regular thought, at least daily, and I am eagerly looking forward to it. In the meantime, I will preach, teach, and fish.

This year has been a record run for the Kenai River sockeye salmon. As of today, there have been 2,789,817 salmon that have entered the Kenai River and have been counted at the sonar counter 19 miles upriver from the mouth. With all the publicity of the huge and record-breaking run, many people who want to catch salmon have shown up. The Kenai River is world famous for salmon fishing, and there are people from all over the world. I hear people talking in many different languages. As we fish around these people, it is quite remarkable how different their personalities are. Some are very nice, fun to fish with, and enjoyable to visit. But others are aggressive, grumpy, mean, and difficult to fish around. The worst thing is that the ornery ones usually don’t know how to fish very well, so they get upset at us for catching so many fish. It is a challenge to be a peacemaker, kind and gracious, and return good for rudeness. Most of the people in our group do very well at being courteous and talking to people with discipline and kindness. We had two groups this year. The first group was made up of 15 people, and the second group was made up of 18 people. I had a super enjoyable time with them all at the lodge and fishing. It is fun to come to Alaska fishing, and even more fun when there is such great fellowship with the people we are fishing with. I wonder sometimes how and why some people grow up being nice and others grow up being mean. As Christians, a significant responsibility given to us by God is to be a witness for Jesus, and we attract people to faith in Jesus. A meaningful way we do that is to influence people by our treatment of them as people. We are commanded in the Bible to honor and treat people as we want to be treated.  

At the end of older movies is the caption, “The End.” Every good thing and every good event comes to an end. We only have five more days of fishing in Alaska. Sometimes we know the end date, and other times it is a surprise, but we still see that the end is coming. Some bad situations and experiences, we are glad when they end. My Dad used to say when things were bad, “Just be patient, it will come to an end sooner or later.” Psalms 30:5 says, “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” I love coming to Alaska to fish, but I know it is for three weeks and then it is over for another year.” I love the summer months when the weather is warm and the sun shines at home, but Winter is not far off. But because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I will live forever with Jesus with infinite joy and a glorified body that will never get old or wear out. It is difficult for my feeble mind to grasp the truth of eternity, but I still enjoy thinking about it.

When you go into a store, everything has a price tag. The nicer the product, the higher the price. Coming to Alaska to fish for three weeks has a cost. There is the obvious cost of flying here via Alaska Airlines, the out-of-state fishing license, food, gas for vehicles, fixing and maintaining my boat, launch fees, and fishing tackle. But another cost is five hours of sleep each night. Also, my hands get dozens of “fish bites” where I get scratched with salmon teeth while getting them out of the net, getting the hook out, and cutting their gills. They get infected from the fish slime and hurt like crazy. Also, I fillet and clean a lot of the fish everyone catches, and my hands ache from that work. And then there are the hours of standing fishing for and fighting salmon, which causes my legs, back, and shoulders to ache. I have been catching my limit of six salmon every day.

Nothing is free and the greater the benefit, and the greater the blessing and joy, the higher the cost. So I am not complaining or feeling sorry for myself for the price I pay to fish. The joy and blessing that I receive is more than worth it. Many people won’t pay the price for a good marriage, good relationships with other people in their lives, or a growing relationship with Jesus. Jesus’ words are clear: if you want to follow me, take up your cross daily. The most significant cost that there is, is the price for our sins, and Jesus paid that price with his death on the cross. Many people think they can pay that price; they can’t, but they refuse to let Jesus pay for it. The greater the benefit, blessing, and joy, the higher the price for anything worth having or experiencing in life. Be willing to pay the price; there is no free lunch. But we can’t pay the price for our eternal life; the price is too high. Be willing to let Jesus pay for it.

One of the cool things about Alaska this time of year is that there is only three hours of darkness. There is a prolonged dusk time, but it is plenty light to see to fish. When it is totally dark we wear head lamps to fish. At the end of June it is light for 24 hours. About eight years ago I ran a 10K race in Fairbanks, Alaska with my daughter Shelly that started at midnight and the next day I played golf with my son-in-law and his family starting at midnight. There are lots of verses in the Old Testament that describe the Millennial Kingdom, the time when Jesus rules on the earth. Isaiah 60:20 is one of those verses. “Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane; For you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be over.” Creation was intended by God to be a continual reminder of the Lord and His power and of our future life with Him. It is sad that so many regard the world around us and it’s beauty as an accident rather than a work of God. And it is even more sad that so many don’t have a relationship with the Lord Jesus and that Isaiah 60 is not part of their future. When I had my hip replacement surgery they asked what I wanted if my heart stopped on the operating table. I said, “Don’t resuscitate me.” I want to go to Jesus and get my new glorified body and be done with this life.