Posts with the category “daily-devotions”

Fall began in Montana's Little Belt Mountains chasing elk. While I loved the hunting, I felt guilty that I wasn't working. My delayed entry into the army was still several months away. I rented an empty farm house from a rancher friend. I caught Brook trout and shot ducks, pheasants and deer on the creek behind the house and caught a five pound rainbow trout in the pond out front. The highlight of...  Read More

A friend that I grew up with moved into our trailer in the Spring and slept on the couch. Brad G. was all about Montana and still lives there to this day. Recruiters were always coming into the school and talking to students, and I had always regretted not serving in the military. Just like that, the two of us enlisted in the infantry on a 6 month 'delayed entry' program so that we would be able t...  Read More

As a Montana resident, I could finally hunt deer, antelope and elk. For me, the most exciting hunting was going after elk with my bow in the early season when the bulls were bugling. At 20 yards, I was an excellent shot with my bow and arrow. At 40 yards I was not. Why is that? Because I was not properly equipped. Not only did I shoot instinctively (without sights) but my arrows and broadheads wer...  Read More

Year two in Moore, Montana, was even busier than year one. I also taught a unit on evolution. I had been thoroughly indoctrinated and believed (as I was taught) that evolution was a proven scientific fact. In fact, I didn't know that there were ANY people who didn't believe that evolution was fact... until the parent of one of my students came with a simple request: "If you are going to teach abou...  Read More

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! This was the sound of arrows hitting the side of my neighbor's garage. Oh, he had straw bales and a target, but from 20 yards, he regularly missed the bales. From the sound of things the bullseye was nothing more than a pipe dream. In his defense, learning to shoot 'instinctively' (without sights) is a far greater challenge- especially without someone to teach yo...  Read More

My second year in Montana was even better than the first. I moved out of my apartment in Lewistown and into a trailer that I shared with another teacher across the street from Moore's school. This cut my rent and utilities by more than half and I no longer had to buy gas to commute. What did I do with the money I saved? I traded in that humiliating Plymouth Horizon and bought a small, 4 wheel driv...  Read More

And just like that, the school year was over. I caught beautiful rainbow and brown trout on Spring. Creek,  had become not just good, but to my utter surprise an excellent 'wing shooter' (before Montana I could only hit the side of a barn if I was shooting from inside the barn), and had fallen in love with the people and mountains of Montana. A local rancher, John Hertel, hired me for the summer, ...  Read More

I soon made another good friend. Dan Marshall had graduated from Moore High School and was finishing his last year of college in Bozeman. He regularly drove up on his weekends to hunt. There were so many upland game birds that I literally learned how to wing shoot without ever having a lesson or shooting trap at a range. In fact, I went hunting every day after school during the season and shot thr...  Read More

Another teacher quickly took me under his wing. Doug Bingeman loved to hunt and fish and was the Moore Bulldogs' biggest fan. I was a first year teacher and Doug gave me a lot of sound advice. He also LOVED a practical joke, and was somewhat famous with both students and staff for his classroom antics. Doug reminded us all that working hard and having fun were not mutually exclusive. He did both, ...  Read More

In those days Moore, Montana was an athletic powerhouse. They were state champs in '6 man' football, but basketball was king for both boys and girls. My first year of teaching they actually closed the school several days because so many people were gone for away basketball games that it didn't make sense to stay open. During the off-season, high school boys and girls worked out 'jumping boxes' wit...  Read More

Whitetail deer, mule deer, antelope, sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge, pheasant- as I drove a few miles from the town of Moore, Montana into the foothills of the Little Snowy Mountains, I had never seen such game-rich country. The wheat harvest was in full swing, and this new place seemed to overflow with abundance. I had come from a place where the average farm was 160 acres, but here the av...  Read More

The town of Moore, Montana, is situated at over 4,000 feet on a high plain that was once covered with massive herds of buffalo. The gravel road next to the school leads through giant wheat and barley fields and straight into the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. I decided to do a little exploring, but hadn't gone a quarter mile in my car when a large grain truck was coming straight at me down the ...  Read More

I rented a basement apartment in Lewistown, Montana, and headed out to set up my classroom 17 miles west in Moore. I would be teaching the largest class in the school- a combination class of grades 5 and 6 with 22 students. The start of school was several weeks away, but when I arrived I found half a dozen high school boys playing basketball in the gym. I wandered all over the school and couldn't ...  Read More

My 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (the engine was called the "350 Rocket") got 14 miles per gallon. I let someone talk me into selling it and buying a 4 cylinder Plymouth Horizon, one of the greatest automotive embarrassments in history. BIG mistake! The engine didn't 'purr,' it sounded more like you were shaking marbles in a coffee can. I couldn't even drive the speed limit up a steep hill, and ...  Read More

After five days, four of them on a Greyhound bus, I was back in Minnesota without a teaching job. Montana was beautiful. I loved the mountains, the dry heat ( Minnesota is extremely humid in the summer) and the lack of mosquitoes. There was a teacher hiring freeze across the entire state of Minnesota, and the only job posting (other than Montana) at my college placement office was in Kuwait. I wok...  Read More

I thought that my interview with superintendent Rich Hughes went well, but I didn't have any indication about whether or not I'd be offered a job. The bus only came through once a day, so I borrowed a ride to Lewistown, Montana, to find a place to spend the night. The next day I was back on the bus for a 2 day trip home to Minnesota. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. I had...  Read More

I stood for a moment on the gravel street, suitcase in hand, wondering which way to go. The 'bus stop' was the Farmers' Co-op gas station. I asked the employee- Ralph- the only person I had seen, how to find the school. He pointed to a green, metal 'pole barn' looking building at the end of the street. It turns out that the gravel road I was standing on was Main Street in Moore, Montana. There wer...  Read More

Life was in some respects more of an adventure before we could 'Google.' I rode a Greyhound bus for two days to get to my first teaching job interview. I stepped off the bus on a hot summer day, wearing a corduroy sport coat and carrying a suitcase (yes, in those days they did not have wheels). It was my first time in Montana, and the only thing I knew about this little town was that they needed a...  Read More

Two tundra swans glided silently by as a loon's morning song echoed across the surface of the lake. A light fog is hovering over the water. There's something peaceful- something good for the soul- about being next to 'still' waters. As a young man tending sheep, David must have shared this feeling. He was a musician and is the most famous song writer of antiquity.  He wrote, "The Lord is my shephe...  Read More

I was out caribou hunting in the Alphabet Hills with one of my wrestlers. It was his first hunt. As I led the way down a very steep hill, I had an interesting experience. A rock was jutting up in the center of the trail about 3 or 4 inches... I thought. My small machine had 6 inches of clearance, so I paid little attention... until I was summersaulting over the top of my handle bars... feet high i...  Read More

A friend is taking me flying this morning. It started me thinking- it's been almost 30 years since I've flown a plane. I've flown IN a lot of planes since then, but never as the pilot. There is something that is very comfortable about letting someone else fly the plane- letting someone else handle the controls. I can simply enjoy the ride. This is the way that God wants us to live our lives. I onc...  Read More

My daughter and I were climbing a mountain the other day and nearly caught up with an older climber who had started long before us. In fact, I wondered if he was going to make the summit because he looked like he was struggling. I was shocked later that day to see him climbing an even higher peak farther into the mountains. I could see that he knows the 'secret' to climbing a mountain. What is tha...  Read More

So there I was, standing in the black spruce getting eaten alive by mosquitoes- stuck. My 4-wheeler was high centered in what amounted to a narrow, deep trench. Somehow I needed to tilt it up on its side so it would no longer be resting on the skid plate, and then throttle the 2 left wheels forward. I knocked down and limbed a spruce tree that I could use as a pry bar. By jamming the 6 inch end of...  Read More

Getting stuck in Alaska's wilderness on an a small 4-wheeler presents unique challenges. I'm certain that I've faced this more than 100 times, and many of them while hunting by myself. On this particular day I was 'high centered.' Not only could I not physically lift the front or the back of the machine, but even if I could, I had nowhere to move it. Each wheel rut was up against a solid earth wal...  Read More

I had snowmachined into the high country with some friends, and we were stopped just below treeline. I had hunted dall sheep in this country and knew how tough the peak and ridge above me were- both to get to and to walk. Imagine my shock when I looked high above me, and, standing on a windswept rock outcropping, were four moose... in the middle of winter... on a jagged mountain... far above treel...  Read More

One feature of Alaskan life is midnight airport runs. The 'red-eye' flights are popular because they're cheaper. In mid-summer our outside guests are always amazed that it's still light out. Light brings a degree of comfort and security along with the amazement of being able to see snow-capped mountains at midnight! Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." Light overcomes dark, we all understand...  Read More

How wide is your social circle? When is the last time you did something fun with someone new? Only NEW friends ever become 'old' friends. INVITING and INCLUDING others is hard work at times. I understand. We are busy people and only have so much extra time. For many years, I have viewed friendships from the standpoint of eternity. In other words, I may not get to spend nearly as much time with you...  Read More

Back when I was a school teacher, I was always looking for a way to support my family over the summer. I already had my private pilot's license, so I decided that I would get my commercial license and try to get a job flying for a fishing lodge during those long summer days. I was flying out of Merrill Field in Anchorage and was perhaps halfway through my training when Laura and I were offered a t...  Read More

When I went to buy a battery for my 1981 GMC 1 ton pickup, as he entered the truck details in his system, the parts man asked. "What color is it?" I laughed out loud. You see, my truck has panels from five different trucks. From back-to-front it's brown, yellow, blue, black, and red. I've met many who claim to be Christians who remind me of that truck. The 'color' of their faith seems to change de...  Read More

When Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the good news- "God himself has paid the penalty for our sins and Invites us to become his children"- this became the centerpiece, the driving force, the all-consuming passion of those men and women. Why? Because Jesus, the miracle worker, the man crucified by the Romans because of the demands of Jewish leaders, walked out of the grave alive! Jesus PRO...  Read More

What activities fill your day? Life itself takes a lot of work, doesn't it? Cooking, cleaning, laundry, yard work, chasing after kid activities, our own hobbies... all of that before we even talk about earning a living. If we don't INTENTIONALLY keep our relationship with Jesus Christ (and our mission) at the center of our lives, we will unintentionally LEAVE GOD OUT. My prayer life has not been w...  Read More

And so it begins. Our longest day of the year was gloriously sunny, but now we start marching the other way. For the next six months each day will be shorter than the one before it. We have four months- maybe a few weeks more- before the snow comes to stay. Between now and then, life for 'outdoorsy' Alaskans becomes almost a little frantic. Hiking, climbing, camping, fishing, dipnetting, berry pic...  Read More

Small irritants can cause big problems. When ignored or not dealt with properly, they can negatively impact how we think and speak and act in other, more important situations. I was by myself and knocked a bull moose down in heavy brush. I was in a 'walk in only' area. The 'no-see-ums' were so thick and biting my exposed skin so relentlessly that I could hardly stand it. I started cutting very rap...  Read More

When Solomon was made king, God told him that he would grant him whatever he wished. Did he ask for wealth? Did he ask for long life? Did he ask for victory over his enemies? No, none of those. He asked for wisdom so that he could rule the nation of Israel with justice. God was so pleased that he gave him greater wisdom than any person who ever lived on earth (and whoever will live on earth). But ...  Read More

I hauled a large extension ladder deep into the woods. Don't ask me how- that's a story in and of itself. I also carried in a large 2-seater ladder stand piece by piece. I climbed about 20 feet up the ladder with a drill and 2 eye-bolts. It was a little precarious, but I drilled a hole in each side of the tree and screwed in the eye-bolts.Then I threaded a rope through each 'eye' and pulled it dow...  Read More

We see a great battle between good and evil being played out in America today. A single political party is orchestrating and paying for riots across America. It's the party of slavery, the party of the Ku Klux Klan, the party of segregation, the party of the welfare state, the party of illegal immigrants casting votes, the party of many billions of dollars of secret government corruption, the part...  Read More

There is a remnant in Israel. God's 'chosen' people are to be respected, loved, and honored. Salvation of mankind came first TO and then THROUGH the Jews. Our Savior, Jesus, was a Jew. This is why Satan has always hated Israel. They are a constant reminder to him of God's mercy and grace and of Christ's victory over sin and death. Consider the striking difference between Israel and her enemies. If...  Read More

On this Father's Day I want to give thanks for my own father. My grandmother (his mom) told me that my dad took his first job at 10 years old, earning $2.50 a week. She told me that he gave her two dollars of that money to help pay the bills. My dad gave his three sons a picture of a strong, masculine man. He was a hard worker, an excellent employee, and demanded that we also work- even as very yo...  Read More

Another glorious morning. We can pretend that the weather doesn't matter, but it does. We know that sunshine is a gift because in a perfect world, at creation and all the way to the days of Noah, the sun was shining every day. But it wasn't Arizona desert sun. God watered the earth every day with morning dew and with springs bubbling up out of the ground. And what do we receive from the sun? Heat ...  Read More

A weary body is one thing. A weary soul is quite another. A body that is weary from the hard toil of serving others- of working to provide- of physical exercise and training- soaks up rest like a dry sponge soaks up water. But physical rest becomes very difficult when a person has a restless soul. Every soul that is not anchored in Christ is in danger of drifting into troubled waters. People seek ...  Read More