Maybe you remember the old riddle: Q: How do you eat an elephant?A: One bite at a time!Large projects can seem daunting up front. When Pastor Robert Chadwick and I, along with a small group of men, decided that we could build 'a church that could seat 1,000' we had about 200 attenders. Our plan was to do it completely ourselves- all volunteer labor. I was in charge of the fundraising pledge drive ...  Read More

Every hunter knows that the moment of success is when the work really begins. A large animal needs to be cut up right there on the ground. That's hard enough, but when you finish that you need to start packing heavy loads of meat. Once you get the meat home, you need to process it and get it in the freezer. Then everything needs to be cleaned and put away for next time. Work, work, work, work, wor...  Read More

The first time I brought home a bearLaura was a little hesitant about the meat. This was new for both of us.I had taken a big black bear with a bow and arrow and had kept the meat meticulously clean. Even so, I had to 'bargain' to get her to try it. I said, "We'll put a roast in the crock pot before church, and when we come home, if it smells good, we'll try it. Otherwise, we'll go out for lunch."...  Read More

One primary key to a productive life is repetition. But then, repetition is also one primary cause of a destructive life. You see, when you do a good thing again and again, you develop a HABIT, and your habits form your LIFE. Repeating good things- healthy things- is like putting money in the bank. When times get hard or you face BIG challenges, you have an 'account' to draw from. Good habits posi...  Read More

I was sitting on a small cutbank with my legs dangling. About twenty feet beneath me was a tiny trickle of water. I saw the tiniest flash of brown in the brushy bottom, and shortly after saw two grizzly cubs, each about the size of a football. They were followed by the largest interior bear I'd ever seen. Everything had gone from peaceful to extreme danger in a moment. I had my rifle with me, but ...  Read More

As a teenager and young man out working in the world, I always thought I was a Christian. I never read the Bible, I never prayed, I rarely attended church after high school, and I cursed continuously. Then I got saved. A godly pastor suggested that I should get baptized. I resented his saying that. After all, I had been baptized as an infant. In fact, I had never seen or heard of a baptism that wa...  Read More

What comes to mind when you think of Vacation Bible School? We just wrapped up an incredible week of pouring Jesus into children. We had over 200 volunteers, including more than 50 teenagers. We had over 400 children in attendance. We had a worship team and drama team and kitchen team and outside activities team. We had teachers and craft leaders and clean-up crews. We had a tech team that include...  Read More

It had been a long day, and much longer for my young son. I don't know how many miles we walked, but we had been walking all day. I was actually thankful to spot my bright yellow tent in the distance, because the sun went down just before we got back to camp. Thankfully we still had enough light to shoot, because a caribou glided past about 100 yards from the tent. Hunter made a great shot, and as...  Read More

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