Today, Patty and I drove up to Trout Lake, Washington, where I lived with my family on our dairy from 1965 until 1976. I graduated from High School there in 1967 and would still be there if God had not called me to be a Pastor instead of a dairy farmer. We drove up to see my sister Laura and her husband Monte because today was her birthday. While there, we also stopped and visited with my youngest brother, Jeff, and his wife, Beki, who runs a Christian Camp in Trout Lake. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. One of the bonuses was that they had about a foot of snow, and it was snowing very hard when we left. It was beautiful.

As we drove through the Trout Lake area both up and back, I got to reminiscing about my high school years and early married years on the dairy. It is funny how physical visuals will push buttons in our memory and cause all kinds of memories to come rushing back into our minds. My years there in Trout Lake were terrific, with a great family life, a very small school (5 in my graduating class) but super experiences and an excellent education, a great church with lots of spiritual growth, and wonderful experiences and memories of life on the farm.

I was again reminded of what a blessed life I have had. All of the wonderful experiences I had in those formative years of my life were not chosen or arranged by me; they were just part of God’s plan. I didn’t earn or deserve them; God just decided that would be my life. I don’t know why, but that was my life. So much of what and who I am today in character resulted from those years in my life 50 years ago.

It would be incredibly arrogant to say or think, “Wow, look what I have done!” I should always say and think nothing but “Thank You, Lord, I love You!”

Way back when I was 20 years old, just married for one month, a student at Seattle Pacific College, now University, I had a part-time job with a freight company. My job was to find records of items shipped that didn’t arrive at the point of destination, at least claimed by those who were supposed to have received the item. The claims were primarily bogus, so they could get a refund for what they had received but claimed that they hadn’t. This was before the days of computers, so all records were on paper in cardboard file boxes stacked in piles in the basement of the freight office. There were no stairs to this basement, just a freight elevator, raised and lowered by an electric winch on the top of the wooden box that one rode from the main floor to the basement. My job was to go through the boxes and find the records proving that the item shipped had reached its destination. I got paid $2.00 an hour, but I received a bonus for every claim that I proved was not true or at least not our company’s fault. There was one light bulb in the basement over a table, so I would carry a box that I thought had the information that I needed to the table and go through it, and if I didn’t find the evidence I needed, I would carry it back and do the same thing with another box. This era was before headlamps and LED lights, so I had a big, clunky flashlight with 5 D batteries. Did you know that D batteries have been around since 1895? I used that flashlight to read the labels on the front of the boxes and to find my way around the basement that was my office.

I would get to the freight office at 2:00 pm and work until 5:00 pm each weekday when they closed. One day, I got so intent on my detective work that I lost track of the time and went well past the 5:00 pm closing time. The workers on the main floor thought I had already left, so they all left and turned off the electricity in the building. The light in the basement went out, and the elevator no longer worked, so I was stuck in the basement of this office building on Queen Anne Hill in downtown Seattle. I hunted around the basement with my flashlight, looking for some outside entrance or way up to the main floor. I found a metal chute where mailboxes were sent down to the basement from an outside hole. The chute was held up tight to the ceiling by springs, but when it was loaded up with mail, the weight would cause it to sag to the floor, and when the mail had slid down, it would pull back to the ceiling. I stacked cardboard boxes to stand on to reach the chute, but the boxes kept collapsing under my weight. Finally, I found some heavier boxes to hold my weight, and I reached the chute and pulled it down. I had to climb up this steep, slick metal chute to the small hole to the outside and freedom. I was trying to grip the outside edges of the chute and kept badly cutting my hands on the sharp metal edges. By the time I finally managed to climb the chute and squeeze my way through the hole, I had blood all over me from my cut hands. When I climbed out, many people were walking along the sidewalk, and they looked at me, screamed, and ran away. There were a couple of guys who offered to help me; I looked like I was the victim of an axe murderer who must have chopped me a bunch of times. Patty always picked me up from work in our 1952 Volkswagen Bug, and she had been driving around and around the block because there was no parking, wondering where I was. She came around the corner and saw me shortly after these two guys started trying to help me. She saw me covered with blood, her eyes got huge, and it looked like she was trying to scream but nothing was coming out of her mouth. I jumped up, ran around, and got into the car before anybody could call an ambulance. I yelled at her, “Go, go, go!”

On the drive to our apartment, I explained what happened to Patty but never said anything to my bosses. I always kept an eye on the time after that.

Psalms 92:14- 15 They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that the Lord is upright.

I want to keep running the race, doing ministry, and doing something with my life that matters to God, but things are changing a bit as I get older. I don’t have as much energy and drive as I once had. So, I need to make some adjustments in my major ministries. Praying is easy in a recliner and hot tub, so I am increasing my prayer time. The cool thing about praying is that I probably accomplish more per hour of activity than anything else, though I won’t know what it is until I get to heaven. Another activity I can do in my recliner is write, so I am devoting more and more time to writing. The cool thing about writing is that if it is any good, it will stick around for years after I die, and people can still read it and be blessed.

One of my goals is to have my blog readership, those who are subscribed to it, so it is automatically emailed to them each time I write it, grow to 900 people at the end of 2024. It is 815, so I need 85 more, and I will reach my goal. You can help me with this goal if when you read one of my blogs on Facebook and like it, you share it with your friends. That will help me a lot reach my goal.

I still love to teach, but it is a very draining activity if I pour myself into it the way I like. One of the things I do now with my teaching ministry is cram most of it into one day and then rest most of the next day. That has been working well for me. I teach for eight hours on Sundays and sleep until noon on Monday.

My exercise routine is still the key to my endurance and energy, so I try not to compromise. The other thing I do is keep my thoughts positive about life and my aches and pains. Negative thinking and self-pity thinking are a considerable energy and motivation drain. The Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, the book of Revelation, 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John in his 90s, so if he can do it, so can I.

If you want to accomplish more with your life, you can, but you have to want to.

Two undefeated college football teams, Michigan and Washington, faced off tonight for the national championships. Michigan won the game and is the National Champ, 34 to 13. I was rooting for Washington, but it is my first time on their side this entire season. They were the Pac-12 champs, so I was hoping they would win.

Winning or losing a game of such magnitude and with such a large audience has got to be a significant emotional high or low, depending on which team a person was on. I expect that the players on the Washington team will replay at least a dozen plays over and over in their minds for the next several weeks, plays that were so close but didn’t quite have enough of something to make a difference. It will be the ultimate in “if only” thoughts.

Imagine standing before Jesus at the end of your life at the “Judgment Seat of Christ,” and He does a replay of your life. Not your entire life, just those moments where you had an opportunity to do something with your life that mattered, but you missed them or you chose not to do them because it was hard.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 Each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Matthew 25:24-28 And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his Master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave.

Heaven is heaven, but I think there will be a lot of regret on the part of many people. I wonder how long it will last, that “if only” thinking.

Today was the last day of the regular season for the National Football League. There are 32 teams in the league, and at the beginning of the season, they all were aiming to be the Super Bowl Champions at the end of the season. Now, there are 14 teams remaining in the hunt to be world champions. After this next weekend there will be eight teams left, then four, then two and then the Super Bowl. All the experts are making their guesses, and millions of dollars are being bet on the outcome, but nobody knows for sure. All the players are practicing hard and giving it their best shot to be the winner, but only one team will be left when it is all over. It reminds me of my favorite Bible passage.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

The effort those football players are giving to win a perishable prize we ought to be giving to win a prize that will last forever at the Judgment Seat of Christ, are you?

We went and saw the movie “The Boys in the Boat” on Christmas Day, and since then, I have been watching YouTube videos of various history stories of the different guys in the movie in real life. It is so interesting to see the histories of different people across multiple time slots. I wrote out the history of my Mom from a variety of sources we found in her archives after she died. I read through that again the other day. She had a fascinating history that resulted in me being a person.

So many people traveling through life intersecting in various ways, meeting people, getting married, having kids, and going on in the journey. It fascinates me to think about an infinitely wise and loving God planning, watching, causing, tweaking, and hoping as He watches it all unfold.

Psalms 33:13-15 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works.

I am one person in a sea of humanity, but I have a story, a history, and I am self-aware of myself, almost as if I am the only person because I am the only one who is me, that I live in, that talks to me on the inside. I have never won a gold medal in the Olympics, and I didn’t live during the “Great Depression,” but I have done a bunch of other things that are unique to me.

It seems like from God’s perspective, it all fits together, all these different people with their own unique story, somehow fitting together like a bunch of varied colored threads in a big quilt. God, the quilt maker, is fun to think about and write about.

I got your attention on the title, didn’t I 😜. I am not dying right away, at least not that I am aware of, but I am getting older every day and wearing out rapidly!

Years ago, a middle-aged person in our church received news that they wouldn’t live longer than three months. I went to visit them, and they said to me, “I am so scared!” They were a believer, but the unknown about what happens at the point of death freaked them out (their words).

I have thought about death a lot in the last couple of years, partly because of my age and partly because so many people that I know have died. I can genuinely say that I have zero fear of dying, and I am looking forward to it. I am asking the Lord to move the date up; I am more than ready to come home unless there is some significant job He wants me to do.

I got to thinking the other night as I was sitting in the hot tub there isn’t much I haven’t experienced or done in life. My kids are raised, the grandkids are all doing well, the church is cruising along, and things pick up whenever I am gone for several months in a row.

I have lived a full life and enjoy sitting in my recliner doing nothing. I still enjoy preaching, teaching, fishing, hunting, writing, and working on my old cars, but I have to take more breaks and naps now, so it takes a long time to get any project done.

I know I am going when God decides, but it is nice to be looking forward to the day I die rather than dreading it. I look forward to going to Alaska for a month this summer to fish till my arm falls off, but I look forward to seeing Jesus and getting my new body more!

There are many mysteries in the Bible. A mystery is a previously unrevealed truth or understood truth. One mystery is God becoming flesh and blood, just like us, with all our weaknesses. That is truly incomprehensible.
Hebrews 2:14: “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same,”
Another mystery is us being transformed into the image of Jesus. Wow, that one is hard to grasp, for sure.
Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
But the greatest mystery is Jesus living in us now. It is easy to say and write, but do I really get it? Almighty God is living in me.
Colossians 1:27: “To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode in him.”
As I ponder that mystery to try and get it clear in my thinking, I wonder what that means practically for me in my day-to-day living and if I am experiencing the full power and blessing I should be experiencing as a person walking around with God in him.

Starting on January 2nd, one of my new goals is to get up Monday through Friday at 4:30 am and go to the YMCA in Albany with Patty. She will do “Swim Aerobics,” I will run on the treadmill and lift weights. I got up fine yesterday, our first morning, to do this new routine, but last night, I didn’t get to sleep very early, and when the alarm went off, I was dead asleep. Patty said that the first words out of my mouth were, “Oh, Crapp.” I talked her into letting me skip and sleep some more. She is a wonderful wife, but I will try hard to get to bed by 9:00 tonight.

I made this goal for three reasons; the first was to do something with Patty. It is a thirty minute drive in and a thirty minute drive home, so we can talk during that time. If we pick up a cup of coffee in the snack area of the “Y” I will call it a date, and get two goals knocked off at once. The second reason is to get more faithful in my exercise. At home I kept missing and was sporatic in keeping my exercise goals because there was always something else that needed doing that was certainly more enjoyable than running on a treadmill or lifting weights. The third reason is that I was slipping a bit in my time management and was wasting more and more time watching YouTube clips of news and sports in the evening and getting up later and later in the morning. That is why I was late getting to bed last night.

I taught a class in Leadership Class this weekend on “Time Management,” and one of the key verses was, “Make the most of your time because the Lord is coming!” Yikes, how can I teach that and not do it!” So, if I miss a few times writing this blog in the next month or so, it is probably because I wasn’t disciplined enough to get it done before 9:00 pm

And the forth reason is to grow in self-control.

I like new beginnings. No matter how well things went in the past and how well I think I did, there are always a ton of things that I messed up on and many areas that I could do so much better in. As I look at all of the failed goals and poor decisions of the past, I can think of dozens of ways to do better, so with a new beginning, here is my chance to at least improve, if not knock it out of the park.

The desire to improve, get better, and grow is a very good desire and one I believe God put into us by design and creation. Over the years of living, we can cause that desire to increase, and we can cause it to decrease, even to the point that it is almost dead. In Revelation 3, Jesus is talking to the church of Laodicea, and He says that because they are lukewarm, He will spit them out of His mouth. A person is lukewarm when their desire to grow and to accomplish more is mainly gone.

That is a sad place to be, but many Christians are there. One main reason is that many people fear personal failure, and striving to get better at anything is extremely intimidating, so they coast and stay lukewarm.

A very effective way to increase our desire to grow and improve is by writing goals for our lives and then reading those goals every day. It is a simple thing to do, and it works very well. Give it a shot this year.