Yesterday I climbed a mountain with our youth group. We had a total of 51 people climbing, over half of whom had never climbed a mountain before. For the first time in a number of years, NO ONE QUIT! It was relatively easy for a handful of super-athletic kids. It was very hard for most. It was grueling for some. In life we will all face many mountains. Some will be relatively easy, some will be ve...  Read More

After yesterday's devotion, I got to thinking about all of the different times I have been upside-down under a machine. Off the top of my head, I could think of five times. All but one were because of bad decision making. In my many years as pastor I have seen dozens of lives turned upside-down by bad decision making. Sexual immorality, alcohol, drugs, dishonest business practices, even laziness a...  Read More

One of the functional advantages of 'mud-gripper' tires on an ATV is that they extend well into the sidewall of the tire. This gives you a tremendous amount of pull when going through muck. But they also come with a unique problem. When you bump the edge of a front tire against a tree or cutbank, the machine will often begin to climb straight up. Under speed, this can lead to an immediate 'flip' u...  Read More

When my daughter Sarah was 11 years old, our friend (and hunting guide) Terry Holiday flew us out of Iliamna on her first caribou hunt. We experienced a night of wind like nothing I've ever seen. Our tent was literally called a 'Bomb Shelter', and with its heavy steel pipe frame and 16 tie-down ropes to anchor us in place, we managed to weather it through. Other hunters with the same tent didn't m...  Read More

For many years Laura and I were locally famous for our car stories. More accurately- for our car troubles. You see, building a church, raising five children of our own and helping to raise nearly two dozen more kept us on a slim budget. In fact, we drove two vehicles that had both been totaled (and not fixed) for many years. Understanding that those two were our 'good' vehicles, you can imagine ho...  Read More

We had driven over 100 miles- the last 60 of it washboard gravel. From there, we shouldered heavy packs and walked at a pace so frantic that at times we were 'shuffling' (an 'almost jog') to add speed. We were hiking along the edge of a glacier and had to be careful not to turn an ankle on the loose, rocky ground. We were after Mountain Goats, but without flying the country we honestly had no idea...  Read More

My wife, Laura, loves to be out on the water IF the water is calm and IF it is warm outside and IF the sun is shining. She also loves fishing IF she is catching fish. She does not, however, have any interest in spending her day being cold and wet and miserable. In fact she once told me that her idea of a perfect hunt would be to cuddle up with a blanket in a motorhome reading a book and wait for s...  Read More

Perhaps you've heard the expression, "It's just the tip of the iceberg." We were snowmachining in what appeared to be a wide open plain at the foot of a glacier. Here and there we saw unusual formations jutting up from the landscape. It wasn't until we got close that I realized we were actually riding on a frozen lake in deep powder, and that the 'land formations' were the tips of icebergs. The ti...  Read More

Before telephone navigation, I often carried printed pages and folders with specific directions to my destination when we were traveling out of state. Our phones are now a wonderful navigation tool. They are usually right. They are almost always right. Almost. But if you are wise you wouldn't stake your life on the accuracy of its navigation. You wouldn't want to bet your house. Why? Because ALMOS...  Read More

One of the best ways to guarantee terrible weather in Alaska is to plan a Dall Sheep hunt. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. In over three decades of stomping around in Alaska's high country, I can only remember a handful of beautiful, sunny days. I'm not saying that we only HAD a few, I'm just saying that those aren't the days that left a strong impression on my memory. Days on end of cold...  Read More

Normally my friend Ed and I have floated Eagle River in our pack rafts several times by this time of year. This year the combination of nasty weather and our own busy schedules have kept us off the river. I have been missing it. There is an old hymn that says, "I have peace like a river in my soul." There is a certain peace- a certain calming of the soul- that I experience when I am on a quiet, me...  Read More

Many years ago we had a visitor from out of state on a Sunday morning who attended a church twice our size. Upon coming in she said to me, "I can't believe the number of men you have serving at this church. I couldn't give you the names of four men who serve in any way at our church." We see this pattern all over America: when a commitment to TRUTH leaves a church, masculine men leave the church. ...  Read More