Posts with the category “daily-devotions”

Coming home from the airport at 3 AM I received a toll free call. The caller was not identified, so, of course, I didn't answer the call. Who calls at 3 o'clock in the morning? I figured that if it was something important, they would leave a message. Well.... I DID have a message. The call was from the airline to let me know that we had forgotten one piece of luggage. IF I had known who was callin...  Read More

Very few Alaskans travel to cold places over Christmas. Here in Minnesota, the temperatures have ranged from 34° on arrival to well below 0°. We've also had several days of snowfall. My parents hosted 30 for Christmas, 17 New Year's Eve, and dozens in between. Why would they go through all of the hard work, all of the inconvenience, all of the sacrifice? LOVE for FAMILY.  Where God gives blessing,...  Read More

My grandfather Ellsworth 'Al' Rud loved to fish. He also loved a good 'fish story.' When I was a young man teaching school in Montana, he once made the 800+ mile drive to come and see me. We caught our limit of beautiful rainbow and brown trout weighing between 1.5 and 3 pounds. He was so excited to show off these fish to his friends that he didn't even spend the night. We packed the fish on ice, ...  Read More

According to the way some people think, anything stored in a car garage must be an automobile. After all, they assume that they are Christians because they 'go to church.' If this is true, then why did Jesus call a group of religious leaders- people who NEVER missed church- a "nest of poisonous snakes?" In fact, he said to them, "You belong to your father, the devil." But notice- it is without que...  Read More

Though I am thousands of miles away, yesterday our church had its annual 'Timothy Challenge' Sunday. We passed out thousands of dollars in $20 bills to children and young people from kindergarten through college-age. They use that $20 to buy ingredients or materials to create things to sell to raise money for foreign missions. For the next 3 Sundays our church will have dozens of tables set up aft...  Read More

We had our family Christmas yesterday. My parents not only hosted a sit-down meal for thirty, but did most of the cooking as well. Not only that, but my mom purchased and wrapped 380 gifts for a musical gift exchange for the whole crew. I am reminded once more of the precious gift of family. God told Adam and Eve to 'be fruitful and multiply.' FAMILY has always been his plan for us. This is why Sa...  Read More

This is a picture of the Danesville store. It is also a picture of the city of Danesville- just one tiny store out in the middle of farm country. When I was a boy, my grandfather Wilford Burgess 'dehorned' cattle for all of surrounding farmers. This was rough work. My brother John and I loaded the cattle one at a time into a heavy chute, locked their heads in place, and my grandfather sawed off th...  Read More

I had an unusual Christmas Day. A good friend arrived just before 3 AM to take us to the airport. I had been up til after midnight waiting for my son to arrive, and then got up again at 2 AM to get ready to go. Around 5 AM we were on our first of 3 flights to Rochester, Minnesota to spend Christmas with my parents and family. And then it occurred to me- everything about that long day was because o...  Read More

Christmas. A day set aside to remember the most incredible gift ever offered. The birth of Christ was miraculous and momentous, but the gift goes much deeper than "God With Us." The true Christmas gift- the true Christmas miracle- is "God IN Us." That God would take up residence on Earth is wonderful, but that God would take up residence in the human heart is even more amazing! And what does God l...  Read More

I was able to break away and spend about 3 hours in the mountains yesterday. Yes- it's still bitterly cold. I listened to several sermons as I drove. This not only made the drive faster, it made it engaging and productive. God SPOKE to me through his Word and through other pastors. Through technology, we have the ability to listen to the Word of God, to Christian books, to excellent pastors and te...  Read More

As I was putting on my climbing gear, I saw on my phone that the temperature was 16°. I was wrong. I didn't notice that it was −16°. The moment that I stepped outside to put on my crampons I knew that it was cold. My years running a trapline in Alaska's interior have given me good internal temperature gauge. It was easily −20° at my house. Don't get me wrong- that's not a terrible temperature if y...  Read More

How hot was the fire? It burned everything that would burn. ALL of the glass, ALL of the tires, ALL of the dash, the steering wheel, ALL of the seats and upholstery had 'disappeared'... only metal remained. This is a picture of how God will deal with every Christian at the end of his or her life. Everything we've built- everything we invested in- will be tested by fire. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 says,...  Read More

Years ago- when all 5 of our kids were teenagers, we bought them an old SUV for driving to school. One day I got an interesting phone call. It was one of my sons saying, "Dad, the car's on fire!" After making sure everyone was safe I told him to run to a house to see if there was a fire extinguisher to put it out. He said, "We can't put it out, it's too big." This is the kind of fire that you and ...  Read More

I am active in winter, but nearly everything is harder in the cold. I can't drive with my winter gear on, yet when I park my truck and step out to gear up my fingers typically freeze before I'm finished putting everything on. Climbing generates a lot of body heat. If I dress so that I'm warm at the beginning I will be overheated when the mountains go vertical.We layer, yes, but no one wants to cli...  Read More

Yesterday I spent much of my day sawing wood with a hand saw and moving deadfalls in temperatures that were well below 0°. The strong winds the past 2 weeks (70 - 100 mph) blew over many trees across my trails. When I finally reached my cabin, the largest tree of all had fallen perfectly in such a way as to completely block my access. But there was a big difference- at my cabin I had to chainsaw. ...  Read More

Psalm 119:105- "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." When I am climbing in the early morning darkness, I use a very bright headlamp. This gives me enough light to stay on the path- enough light to take the next right step. Several times over the years my battery has died mid-climb. When this happens I will twist my ankles or lose my balance dozens of times from taking a wrong...  Read More

As a boy I shot thousands of rounds through my .22 rifle, but I never shot at anything that was moving. I had never shot clay pigeons with a shotgun, and only had a few 'misses' to my credit on flying pheasants. After college, when I moved to Montana, I found myself in country full of fish and game beyond anything I could have imagined.A rancher invited me to hunt deer with his family, but the onl...  Read More

At lower elevations, I climb through timber. I see very little other than the trail and the trees surrounding me. As a boy I never understood when adults would say of someone, "He can't see the forest for the trees." They were speaking of someone who loses sight of the 'big picture' because of all of the concerns and details of life surrounding them. It would be like my losing sight of my goal (th...  Read More

As we draw near to Christmas, to "God with Us," to the miraculous birth of our Savior here on Earth, I find myself continuously amazed at the thought. Young Mary was very pregnant at this point. Young Joseph had taken her home to be his wife, and yet had honored his commitment to stay separate until after the baby was born. They've had nearly nine months to talk about what all of this means- how t...  Read More

The wind was roaring as I climbed. Blowing snow was freezing to my eyelashes, causing my eyes to stick shut. I usually stop to pray, but the wind drove me off the top of the mountain. For over an hour, my eyes had been focused on the trail in front of me. Now that I was descending I got my first look at 'the view.' The night sky was so beautiful that it reminded me of a Christmas card. I was stand...  Read More

A week of gale force winds often exceeding 80 miles per hour, a 7.0 earthquake, bitter cold- Alaska has had an interesting start to December... but we don't have snakes. I smile as I write that because my wife grew up in Alaska, and while there are a number of things she sometimes lists that she doesn't like about our state, whenever she does this she adds at the end, "But we don't have snakes." E...  Read More

I'd forgotten the stillness. Climbing a mountain in the early morning darkness- the white of the snow touching a sky lit by stars and moon- the only sound is my soft breathing and the rythmic crunch of my boots on the snow. It's been cold, true, but the air is crisp and clean and somehow exhilarating. From high on this mountain, 'Peace on Earth' actually seems possible. Luke 5:16 says, "Jesus ofte...  Read More

Several weeks ago I got ready to climb. I set out my crampons, poles, gaitors, boots, headlamps, pack and gear. I put on my climbing clothes and was ready to go. Then Laura reminded me of an important appointment early that morning. I didn't have time to climb. Then for three weeks or so, there were many mornings when I COULD have climbed, I just lacked motivation. Yesterday I finally did it- my f...  Read More

It was a sunny morning in the middle of August- the kind of morning sheep hunters remember. Of course, hunting is when you go where the animals live and try to get one. It's more accurate to say that I was 'hunting for a place to hunt.' I hadn't seen any sheep, didn't know if there were any in this stretch of mountains, but it was too beautiful a morning not to climb. Besides, I only had two days ...  Read More

I'd only been to this mountain one time before. It had involved side-hilling through heavy brush right at treeline. I had to 'walk' the machine down several steep cuts and then winch it back up the other side. It was extremely slow, extremely difficult, and very dangerous. Not only that, but it didn't get me 'to' the mountain, it only got me close. Now, years later, I found myself on an old trail ...  Read More

Cold and dark. That's our Alaskan morning. We all know that 'cold' is a word we use to describe the absence of heat, and 'dark' is the word we use to describe the absence of light. Our God is a Consuming Fire and The Light of the World. Heat and Light.But more than that, God is GOOD. Thus, the ABSENCE of GOD is the ABSENCE of GOOD. This is what makes hell so terrible. If you want nothing to do wit...  Read More

As I walked into the empty church in the early morning darkness, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful Christmas scene. Trees are lit and covered with ornaments, garland and lights decorate the stairwell, and somehow the combination blankets me with a feeling of peace.... and joy... and gratitude... For me, there is something holy about Christmas lights shining in the darkness that makes me want to w...  Read More

I spent much of yesterday in the wilderness. Although the sun was not yet up at 10 AM, the temperature was a balmy 10°. The only problem is that there's so little snow that I have to ride an ATV. In fact the freezing rain last week settled the snow down to about 8 inches off the trail. What we need is at least 2 feet- 3 feet is better. The moose population in my area is at a historic low. In over ...  Read More

I laid awake that night with my foot throbbing in pain. When I got up in the morning my foot was so stiff and swollen that I could barely make it down the stairs. I allowed things to 'settle' for 2 or 3 days and then I climbed again. Each climb was not quite as slow as the one before and my recovery time got better. As the first few months went by, I continued to climb- continued to get stronger. ...  Read More

A normal, good pace for me coming down Bear Mountain (which is faster than going up) is about 40 minutes from the summit to my house. I was still near the top and 40 minutes were already behind me. The first hour stretched slowly and painfully into the second, and I was still a long way from home. With my damaged and swollen foot, coming down the mountain was far more difficult than climbing up. I...  Read More

By the time I reached the summit, the other climbers had long passed me by, yet I was so overwhelmed with thanksgiving that I had tears in my eyes as I  was pouring out praise to God. The others were standing around a blazing fire as I hobbled into to the circle. I didn't stay long. I was cold and knew that I was going to have a hard time of it going down. Much of the descent was near vertical, an...  Read More

The night finally came- New Year's Eve. When I walked downstairs wearing my climbing gear, Laura's first question was, "What are you doing?" I hadn't shared my plan with anyone until that moment. When I stated nonchalantly, "I'm going climbing," I was met with a chorus of, "You CAN'T do it, you're not ready!" "You're NOT doing it!" "PLEASE don't do it!" But I was determined. A group of local climb...  Read More

Many times each day I forced my swollen foot into my climbing boot. I timed how long I could stand the pain before pulling the boot off. Soon I could endure a minute and then two minutes and then five minutes. By the end of two weeks, I could leave my foot in the boot for an hour and was able to hobble around the house with both boots on. My goal was to climb Bear Mountain on New Year's Eve- exact...  Read More

I spent several days looking at my climbing boots and gathering up my nerve. My plan was to shove my foot (thick and swollen and full of stitches) into my climbing boot so that the rigid boot would force my foot to heal into the shape of the inside of the boot. That way I would be able to continue mountain climbing. I had my son, David, bring me my boots. He saw what I was thinking and said, "Don'...  Read More

I asked my spinal surgeon what kind of activity my back could withstand. He said that I could do anything that I could stand- that I would have pain but was in no danger of further injury. In fact, he said that those three fused vertebrae were now the strongest part of my spine. Now I could focus all of my 'rehab' attention on my foot. That got me thinking about climbing. I always tell people that...  Read More

In addition to my crushed foot, I also needed surgery to fuse three crushed vertebrae. So as not to leave me completely immobile and bedridden, they decided to do the spinal fusion after I got the cast off my foot. Every month I had to go in for a back x-ray to make certain that those damaged vertebrae weren't moving. The day finally came, my cast was removed. I was shocked by the length of the th...  Read More

Crushed vertebrae, a crushed foot, and over 3 1/2 months in a wheelchair. My leg was in a cast, my body was in a shell, and I was in a lot of pain. I was content to lie still from the end of August to the middle of December. I love to climb mountains, especially in the snow. According to my journal, the previous winter I had summitted 83 times. That summer I summited Mount Rainier. I mention this ...  Read More

I still needed to butcher my deer and get it in the freezer, but it was in the truck and I was pointed toward home. The moment I started my truck and put it in gear I felt an enormous sense of relief from not only half a day of grueling hard work, but also from the intense mental pressure of needing to get this deer out. Almost like flipping a light switch, everything changed in an instant. I was ...  Read More

I was drenched in sweat and my shoulders were raw from the thin rope harness I made to drag my deer, but I somehow made it up out of the coulee onto level ground. But I faced another problem. Directly between myself and my truck was an old barbed wire sheep fence with wires stretched so tight and low to the ground that I couldn't get the deer under it. It took all of my strength to cut the wire wi...  Read More

The antlers made nice handles, but I couldn't budge the mule deer even one inch up the side of the steep coulee. I decided to backtrack, climb out on my own and head back to get my truck. My hope was that I would be able to drive around the coulee and park close to the upper edge. In my truck I found a 10 foot piece of rope, cut it in half, made two loops and tied one on each of the buck's antlers...  Read More