Go Deeper

July 26th, 2026
by Pastor Brad Rud

Dall sheep hunting in Alaska is extreme. There is a certain willingness to embrace suffering that is an absolute necessity. Carrying a heavy load up a mountain is crushing. Carrying a ram down a mountain is even worse. You must be prepared to sweat profusely as you climb, to be wet for days on end, and to be shivering cold when you stop to glass. The payoff for those fortunate few is a beautiful ram and some of the best eating wild game in North America. My good friend and assistant wrestling coach Tim Hand took me on my first sheep hunt. At 5' 7" and over 200 pounds, he is pound for pound the physical strongest man I've ever known.

We set up camp 25 miles into the mountains, the last 8 miles traveling on foot. Though the weather was perfect and though I had been hunting since I was a boy, this was a level of work I had never imagined. More than that, I didn't understand how we could travel mile after mile in beautiful mountain country without there being a single Dall sheep. I asked Tim about it, and he said we had to GO DEEPER. Eventually we got deep into the mountains- deep enough to find little bands of ewes and lambs, and finally a band of rams.

So often in life I have been wrestling with a decision and not finding an answer. But as I have gone deeper with God- spending more time in His Word, spending more time in prayer, spending more time in spiritual conversation with brothers in the Lord- the answers I needed have come. God has an answer for every struggle you face. When indecision stops you cold- GO DEEPER! God tells us, "When you seek me you will find me, when you seek me with all your heart." When you cannot find the answers that you need, GO DEEPER, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

My first sheep camp.

Written on July 13, 2026