Posts with the category “daily-devotions”

Each year our church fasts together and then breaks the fast together with communion and a simple meal at our Good Friday service. Why fast? 1) Fasting is an act of OBEDIENCE. Giving instructions to his disciples, Jesus said, "WHEN you fast..."  He did not say, "IF you fast..." 2) Through fasting, we force our flesh to come under the control of our Spirit. SELF-discipline is hard for all of us to ...  Read More

Successfully fishing Southeastern Minnesota trout streams requires expert casting. The first reason for this is that the streams are lined with brush and low-hanging branches that dangle just above the surface of the water. Those who can't cast well spend more time with their hooks snagged on the brush than they do fishing. My brother John and I spent hours practicing in the backyard with a 1 oz s...  Read More

I just got back from an amazing weekend with 50 other men. Pastor Dean Burris challenged us with great messages on Biblical Masculinity. We had ring toss contests and ping pong, golf on the lake and trap shooting. Men played board games and cribbage, skied and rode snowmachines... We had incredible times of worship, laughed together, made new friendships and strengthened ties with those we already...  Read More

My brothers, John and Jim, are good hunters. I told them that if they would take vacation time the first week of August and fly up from Minnesota to hunt with me, that I would buy their plane tickets. I told them to come for a minimum of 10 days, but they were each only able to get 5 days of vacation time. I drove over 200 miles to pick them up at the airport and then drove over 800 miles to hunt ...  Read More

When Laura and I taught school in rural Alaska, we were each allowed to take one caribou. The problem (from Laura's perspective) is that she was not a hunter. In fact, she would not even cut up a whole chicken that you bought at the grocery store. I, however, had no intention of shooting HER caribou. We needed the meat- she needed to hunt. It was that simple. But I had an even stronger motive for ...  Read More

I talked about the importance of having a partner when you get stuck. What about those times when you are utterly alone? I was on a narrow trail in a spot that looked like you sliced the 3' tall sides of a trail with a knife. I was high centered and could not stand on either side of the machine to lift, and I did not have a winch or a rope. In my frustration and impatience I expended a tremendous ...  Read More

A person who is afraid of 'getting stuck' simply can't hunt on Alaska's trail systems. Countless times I have driven into a bad place that I KNEW I couldn't get through. Why? Because there was NO OTHER PATH. So- how DID I get through? With the right tools and partners. I have a heavy duty winch, a strong rope, hip boots, and at least one other person. We help each other get through. There are so m...  Read More

Your name is important to God, but only because it is attached to you. YOU are important to God- important enough to die for. 1 John 4:10 "This is love- not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." In the same way that a young man works overtime for months so that he can buy his future bride an engagement ring, love ALWAYS sacrifices. But imag...  Read More

Our common travel today was unimaginable even 150 years ago. I am reading the life story of a missionary to the polynesian islands around 1810. It took him a full year to sail there from England because of continuous storms and difficult weather. Today we would get on and off the plane the same day and complain about a 'long' flight. From the standpoint of sharing Christ, our ability to travel gre...  Read More

Experienced riders on mountain sleds (snowmachines) are able to go amazing places. What my 'non-motor' outdoorsy friends don't realize is that riding into high country is a tremendously athletic workout. Skill, strength and agility are baseline requirements. I have personally never been interested in 'motorized adrenaline rushes' on my snowmachine, but I respect the strength and skill of those who...  Read More

We woke up to bitter cold. I estimated the temperature at −15°. Shoving my feet into frozen boots was not only unpleasant, but soon painful. I tried to move my toes as much as I could to try to get some blood flowing, but I knew that they wouldn't warm up until I started to climb. We put on our crampons, stepped into our harnesses, grabbed our ice axes and roped together. We were most probably the...  Read More

I discovered early on that having climbing 'partners' made all the difference. Over the years about half dozen different men have stepped into that role. When Jon Boone invited me to climb Mount Rainier with he and his daughter, we began intensive training. This culminated with an overnight in very cold temperatures where we dragged sleds full of gear 7 miles in to the base of a coastal mountain. ...  Read More

I learned early on that hunting sheep on foot involves a lot more 'going home empty' than success. My most common experience is to find nothing to hunt. I can go for several years at a time without even seeing a legal ram. So why go? It's hard to explain. Of course, I would love to fly into sheep country to hunt, but that's never been in my budget. I go because there is something viscerally appeal...  Read More

I've always loved winter, but staying active during 6-7 months of dark and cold is a challenge. When I lived in Alaska's interior I could be hunting, trapping or snowmachining in the wilderness in minutes. That's no longer an easy option. This is why I started climbing mountains. It isn't easy, and it's not what you would describe as 'fun,' but it's good. It's good FOR me. Right now I'm in terribl...  Read More

When I started teaching in the Copper River School District, the hunting season for Dall sheep and caribou was August 10th to September 20th. The hunting season for moose was September 1-20. With school starting the middle of August, this meant I had 5 or 6 days to hunt sheep and then 5 more weekends to hunt caribou and moose.The year before, Laura had reserved the church for August 15th for our w...  Read More

When I finally climbed out of the tundra and into the gray rock, the mountain became steeper. The climb, still grueling, was less difficult. As I continued to gain elevation, my heart began to soar. This, battling through brush and tundra and vertical climbs to the very top of my small part of the world, is an experience that very few ever earn. The most surprising lesson that I learned is how muc...  Read More

As I slowly made my way in along an unfamiliar trail, I experienced the joy of seeing new country for the first time. Again and again I took out my spotting scope and 'glassed' for sheep. Finally, about ten miles in, I spotted rams. They were so far above me that even with a spotting scope I couldn't tell if they were legal. I simply shouldered my pack and started to climb. The base of these mount...  Read More

The mountain was steep and I had to bust my way through alders at lower elevations. As difficult as my first sheep hunt was, this climb was much harder. I finally broke out on top and found myself on the rim of a beautiful, large 'bowl'- but there were no sheep. I was able to cover some ground and glass great distances with my spotting scope, and there were NO sheep- none- zip- nada. By the time I...  Read More

After taking my first Dall sheep ram I felt that I was officially a 'sheep hunter.' At that point in my life I had already taken deer, elk, antelope and black bear with a bow and arrow, but this was BY FAR the most difficult hunt I'd ever been on. It was also a great confidence builder, because this was the first time I had ever camped and hunted alone deep in the wilderness. (I had partners, but ...  Read More

God not only sees the end from the beginning, He also sees the beginning from the end- from the middle- from wherever you are in life right now. In other words, when God looks at you He still sees the three year old girl who loved to twirl and dreamed of being a princess. He still sees the four year old boy who wanted to be a superhero. God delighted in your innocence then- it's a place that he'd ...  Read More

In the same way that 'hunger' is the best seasoning for food, exhaustion is the best ingredient for rest. And yet we've all learned that it's impossible to rest when we have today's responsibilities and problems and stresses and challenges and offenses swirling around in our brain. Life is OFTEN very hard. The things that we carry are OFTEN very heavy. God knows. He understands. He will not remove...  Read More

I've always been wired for a challenge- for adventure- for exploring new territory. Many times I have hiked for miles into a new stretch of mountains and looked longingly at all of the country that I did not have time to explore. If a broken world contains so much beauty, what must it have been like when God first created it? While there is comfort in the familiar, there is something invigorating ...  Read More

My Dad and I were talking last night about our best fishing trip ever. In truth, it would be just about anyone's best fishing trip ever. It was the middle of June on a river in Alaska's interior, and the King salmon were running. Along with two of my friends, we launched 2 rafts about 11 PM and floated and fished from shore until the following morning at 6 AM. It was not uncommon for all 4 of us t...  Read More

For me the dream was never 'Alaska', it was simply to serve my country in the military. I was out of college and teaching school, but always regretted not serving. It was my decision to enlist in the infantry (hoping to be stationed in the south where I could get a good tan) that led to my being stationed in Alaska. As a young boy I could never have imagined that decades later I would be running a...  Read More

Though we didn't realize it at the time, my brother John and I entered our final season of trapping together my freshman year of college. He was a sophomore, and both of us were attending Rochester Community College. We bought a 1961 Plymouth Valiant with a push-button transmission for $50 to use as our trapping car. We both had 8 AM classes, so we would split up in the morning and run our traplin...  Read More

Games were played on Friday night under the lights, so one Friday after school John decided that we should run out to a spot we knew on the Zumbro River where we might jump some wood ducks. John was an excellent shot, but I couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun unless I was shooting from inside the barn. For that reason, John always let me shoot first. We did find ducks, and as I pulled t...  Read More

Having the right equipment changed everything. For the first time we had everything that we needed to be successful. Winning the prize drawing at the trappers' convention paid off big time, as we were now thoroughly equipped and catching fur almost every day. Professional athletes prepare for years- decades- to be the very best that they can be. God calls us to this same level of commitment. 2 Tim...  Read More

While we were busy year round, fall became the time of year we most looked forward to. We fell into a rhythm that included wading the Zumbro River in the dark before school, checking our muskrat, mink and beaver sets. Then we were walking woodlines and windrows checking sets for fox, racoon and badger. Then we would race home, take a shower, eat breakfast, and head to school. After school, we had ...  Read More

Just a year older, my brother John was the 'Daniel Boone' in the family. Knife throwing, axe throwing, slingshot, BB gun and arrow shooting, raft building, crayfish spearing, gopher trapping and fishing were all on his resume before junior high. As his trusty sidekick, they were on my resume too. About junior high age, we decided that we were going to earn money trapping fur. We had no idea what w...  Read More

I was accustomed to marching long distances with a heavy pack from my infantry days, but this was different. We weren't starting fresh. We were both young and strong, but we had 14 miles on our feet before starting this last eight mile push. The footing was exceptional- some of the best I've ever had. Even the valley floor had a hard packed game trail. Even so, the weight of our packs and the grav...  Read More

By the time Tim and I got back to our camp we already had 14 miles on sore feet. We broke down our tents and gear and carried everything down to the ice patch. I was already bleeding just above both hips. Carrying my Dall sheep and camp off the mountain, my pack was so heavy that I rubbed through the skin a patch about the size of a golf ball on each side. Once we added our meat the packs were so ...  Read More

We woke up to beautiful clear skies. This was 4 days of sunshine and perfect weather in a row. Tim kept saying to me, "This isn't sheep hunting." In a lifetime of Dall sheep hunting, I have never again had such perfect weather. This was good news for Larry, because he had spent the night somewhere in the mountains lying on the ground. We had to repack our meat in new ice because the large chunks t...  Read More

Leaving our meat packed beneath snow and ice, we filled our water bottles, shouldered our packs, and they led me up onto small bench where they had camped. By now it was late afternoon. Larry said, "I'm going to walk 7 miles to the head of this drainage to snoop around. Don't worry about me, I'll spend the night up there." Larry had a sleeping bag, but no tent or sleeping pad. He had no cook stove...  Read More

As I laid sleeping on the ice, Tim and Larry had been stalking a ram. They got close enough for a shot and then settled in to wait for me. Tim and I had taken turns packing a large Sony video camera in a waterproof case. Our hope was to get a great hunting video of one of us getting a Dall sheep. When we split up the day before they took the camera because I was by myself. They finally decided tha...  Read More

Tim and Larry Hand also had a great story. When they got up that morning and saw that the 7 rams we intended to stalk were gone, they decided to head up the valley. After I shot my ram, the other 7 headed deeper into the mountains. They didn't hear my shot, couldn't find me anywhere, but eventually came upon those same rams. They were experienced sheep hunters and between them had killed many rams...  Read More

Larry asked, "Where did you go? When we got up in the morning the sheep were gone, so we waited for you but you never came." I said, "I shot one too."He asked, "Where did you find him? There was only one legal ram in that bunch of seven."I said, "Another ram must have joined them overnight. When I found them this morning there were eight in the bunch with two legal rams. After I cut mine up I brou...  Read More

I was startled awake out of a deep sleep. With my head laying directly on the ice, the 'crunch- crunch- crunch' of footsteps echoed like a megaphone. A man was 100 feet away, walking toward me on this small ice field. I glanced at my watch. After the grueling ordeal of getting my pack and Dall sheep off the mountain, I had been asleep for 6 hours! When I sat up, I also startled him. He hadn't seen...  Read More

Though all I was wearing was a light t-shirt, the sweat was pouring off me. By watching for exactly the right places I was able to navigate my way  with close to a 200 pound backpack down, down, down to the valley floor. All the way down I was looking for my hunting partners, Tim and Larry Hand, but did not see them. My patch of last year's snow was mostly ice. I had finally arrived but I wasn't f...  Read More

My pack, with my entire camp AND a whole Dall sheep, was so heavy and the mountain so steep that I continuously had an image in my mind of my knee joints bursting like you pop the knuckle on a chicken bone. Soon my quad muscles were quivering like jelly. For a long time it seemed like my goal- a tiny patch of snow on the valley floor- was not getting any closer. My exhaustion seemed to increase th...  Read More

I had never mounted an animal and had no idea how to cape out a Dall sheep. I had skinned a lot of furbearers and knew how to dress out a deer, but this was different.I kept looking for my partners, but no luck. By taking my time, I was able to get the cape off and bone out all of the meat while keeping it clean. The old arctic winter army packs have enormous volume. They also have long straps so ...  Read More