Live With Faith & Adventure

After climbing the wrong mountain, my dad and I were only 20 feet from cresting the flat top of mountain number 2. We knew that there were several cow caribou and that they would be in easy shooting range. Just as we were cresting, a cow caribou spotted us and the small herd took off running. At the same time, I noticed enormous tines from a bull's antlers. He was laying down, so I couldn't even see his body. I whispered, "There! There! There!" as I pointed in his direction. But my dad saw another nice bull running behind the cows. He said, "What about that one?" I shouted in a whisper, "No! Here! Here! Here!" as I continued pointing. Just like that, the giant bull jumped to its feet on a dead run. 

Unlike me, my dad has always been an expert shot at running game. One shot and this bull was down- a bigger bull than any I've taken in my decades in Alaska. THIS was the moment i'd been asking the Lord for.THIS was the experience I had prayed we would have. After four days of drizzling rain and no game, after a seemingly hopeless start to our final day, we were packing meat off a mountain!

What if we had given up when things got hard? What if we had refused to climb? What if we had chosen comfort over challenge? The victory would have been lost, and we would never even have known what we gave up. This is why Paul said, "I press on to reach the goal..." He compared life to a race and said, "Run to win." Friends, life is filled with challenges to do good things- at times even great things. Don't seek ease and comfort. Live with gusto. Share your faith- first with your words, but also by living a life of adventure that appeals to the lost world around you. Do this, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

Written on February 11, 2025