Several years ago, when my uncle Jim and aunt Kathy came to Alaska with my mom and dad, my friend Dan took us fishing on the Kenai. We had missed the run, but through persistence we were able to land a few fish. When fishing salmon in Alaska, TIMING is everything. When Jesus called his first disciples (who were commercial fishermen), he said, "Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men!" 

 As their life circumstances change, as loved ones die or they experience other hard things, many will come to the place where the timing IS right. They will remember your words and will come to Christ by faith. Never be discouraged! Continue to fish for men, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

Lifting a bear off the ground is kind of like trying to pick up a handful of jello... that weighs hundreds of pounds. Everything moves away from whatever spot you are trying to lift. Even so, with two men working, we were able to lash the entire bear on a pack frame. That's when the real work started. If you are going to be successful and happy in life, you need to learn to carry your own weight. It is not the responsibility of the government or any other person to take care of you. 

Scott 'carrying his own weight.' 

The thing about hunting in Alaska is that if you don't find what you're looking for you might find something else. You may be moose hunting in an open area and go home with a caribou or a black or grizzly bear. You didn't get the 'good thing' you were after, but you got a different 'good thing.' This is so often true in the life of a Christian. We are PRAYING for something, LONGING for something, WORKING for something, WAITING for something, and it never comes... Instead God brings us something different, but something GOOD! 

Friend Scott with a nice black bear on an unsuccessful moose hunt.

Three times in my life, friends have flown myself and one (or two) of my kids in a Supercub to go hunting.  Skilled pilots are able to land and take off in a very short distance on extremely difficult terrain- gravel bars, mountain tops, and open tundra. You see, Alaska has many places (including more than 100 villages) that are only accessible by plane. It's true that a person could say, "I'm going to drive there," but there aren't any roads. A person might say, "I'm going to walk," but mountain ranges, dangerous rivers and miles of tundra swampland would stop you at every turn. 

Written on August 25, 2026

Backpacking Crow Pass was an annual adventure for our high school youth group for several decades. The night before this four day adventure was our annual 'gear check.' This is where 40 students would lay out every item from their backpack on the floor and our leaders would go through each pack- item by item- to make sure that students had every single piece of gear that was on our official packing list. Every backpacker also had a maximum weight limit for his or her pack. Each pack was weighed and many unnecessary things were left at home. Finally, after gear check, the backpack stayed at the church! 

Preparation is key to success. Open your Bible and pray every morning. Attend a Bible teaching church. Get into a Bible study during the week with a small group of believers. Serve in your church. All of this prepares you for the challenges life brings. Become a 'Total Package' Christian, and you will be blessed -Pastor Brad 

What really matters to you? Making money? Having fun? Finding the right person to marry? Getting a good job? Those are all good things. But think about the only PERFECT life- consider Jesus. He wasn't focused on making money or having fun or stepping into the right career, and he never got married. When we devote ourselves to pursuing GOOD things in life, it is easy to miss out on the BEST thing- the only thing that matters for eternity. 

Written on August 23, 2026

It seems a lifetime ago that my good friend, Dan Marshall and I spent the night on the snowy ground to fish Montana's Ruby River. Growing up in mountain country, Dan well understood the importance of good gear. After building a roaring fire, Dan laid a quality sleeping pad down on the snow, crawled into a heavy down sleeping bag and went to sleep. Growing up in Minnesota, even though I had been hunting and fishing and trapping since I was a boy, none of those things involved sleeping overnight. 

God has given a detailed instruction manual to equip us to meet every need. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Spend time in the Word of God. Equip yourself, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

Why is a glacier blue? I don't know, maybe for the same reason that the sky is blue and in many places,that the ocean is blue. Color is a wonderful thing, isn't it? One thing we know- it's all wrapped up in how  the addition of LIGHT impacts 'matter'- the substance of a thing. There is something stirring to the soul about a blue sky after days of rain, a blue ocean at the end of a desert, or even the blue ice discovered up close in a glacier. Jesus said, "I am the LIGHT of the world." 

It is a little known fact that caribou love the high places. What I mean is that they love to be on the very top of the tallest mountains, and are very often seen higher than the Dall sheep. When you look up at the cliffs and grey rock, it doesn't seem that there would be anything for them to eat, and yet when you climb those high mountains, you discover that there are tufts of grass and tundra everywhere. It's as though they live at an 'all you can eat' buffet. 

When we live in the high places- drawing and staying near to Christ- all of the bothersome troubles of this world fade into the background, and the schemes of the devil, who wants to destroy us, can be clearly seen and avoided. Live in those high places, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

Written on August 20, 2026 

Being alone in the wilderness is something very few people ever experience. And yet... there is something about the wilderness that has always drawn me. As a young man I was out continuously. My life largely consisted of packing, going, unpacking, and dreaming of going again. As I have grown closer to the Lord my priorities have changed. I still love the wilderness, but I go much less often. Why? Because people are more important to me. Because Christ has called me to tell the world about his love- to point every person to his or her need for Christ's forgiveness and salvation. 

Written on August 19, 2026

I've never seen anything like it. It was flat- perhaps twenty feet off the ground at its highest point- and it was below me. I could see it touching the ground on both sides. I could easily have marked the spot. Having a large, full rainbow beneath me and hovering, just off the ground was a new experience. But the purpose of the rainbow has never changed. That part wasn't new. God gave the rainbow after the flood of Noah as a sign to humanity that he would never again destroy life by covering the earth with a flood. It's a promise God continues to keep. 

Written on August 18, 2026

Over the years, I couldn't tell you how many times i've found 'life' in unexpected places. I was snowshoeing across a smooth blanket of snow at −30°, when all of a sudden little white heads started popping up through the surface of the snow. Ptarmigan had been living under the snow. I would never have imagined it. The first time that I saw Dall sheep living up in the craggy gray cliffs, I was surprised- not that they went there to escape danger, but that they actually lived in those rocky places. Again, life where I didn't expect to find it. 

Find the life in this photo. 

I was sitting outside my tent at 10 PM enjoying the last rays of sunshine. In less than an hour, 59 caribou walked right past my tent. Two things on my part were critical for this experience: my STILLNESS and my SILENCE. We miss so much of the life and beauty that surrounds us because we are so seldom still and so seldom sit in total silence. Too much activity and too much noise not only drown out much of the life surrounding us, they will also drown out the voice of God. 

Written on August 16, 2026

A part of me was made for wilderness. In the past two days I saw hundreds of caribou and a great deal of wolf and grizzly sign. I climbed two mountains in a place so remote that it is very likely that no one has ever set foot on the ground where I was walking. I was contemplating this almost magnetic 'draw' I feel in those places. I've decided that it's a longing for home- for eternity- and that those wild places almost taste of 'forever.' 

Written on August 13, 2026

I was in the mountains without cell reception today. Though I am getting older, the 

'high country' remains my happy place. When I am alone, the climbing is easier. This

Every person has an individual 'rhythm' for optimum productivity. Some people 

Written on August 12, 2026

Climbing a mountain isn't something that appeals to everyone. It isn't pleasant... often it isn't fun... but it's GOOD. Most of life's GOOD things include HARD things... GOOD HARD things... things like work and study and effort and sacrifice. But those who spend their lives trying to avoid hard things end up in a much harder place! 

Laura climbing with me this week- a GOOD hard thing. 

Heaven is real. It's a place, it's out there. Jesus literally ascended into heaven- disappearing in the clouds as his disciples watched. He will return the same way- coming in the clouds. This is a profound mystery, because things happen in the spiritual realm that are much different from the normal 'laws of nature' on earth. 'Ascending' defied gravity. 'Appearing' in the room with his disciples (though they were behind a locked door) defied laws of space and matter. Laying dead and mutilated in a tomb and then walking out alive after three days defies all of the laws of medicine and physiology. 

We are under the impression that what we experience each day is true life, while eternity is a gray, fuzzy 'kind of' life. We have it exactly opposite. THIS life simply prepares us for the next. The Apostle Paul told Timothy to teach the Christians to 

1 Timothy 6:19 "In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may TAKE HOLD of THE LIFE that is TRULY LIFE. This life matters to be sure- it matters a great deal. But get ready. Eternity with Christ is right before us- all around us- and is the life that is TRULY life! Be blessed! -Pastor Brad 

Written on August 10, 2026

We had the coldest spring in 50 years and the wettest July on record. This made for an even shorter summer in a place that is known for short summers. My lilac bush bloomed late in the first week of July, and in the first week of August almost all of the blossoms are gone. It simply reminds me that we are surrounded by 'temporary' things. Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever." 

Written on August 9, 2026

39 roses. It's an odd number, to be sure. Each one represents a different year of my life. No, I'm not saying that I'm 39 years old- that birthday is well behind me. It's been 39 years since I said two little words that changed my life. I said, "I do." Those words are not a guarantee, they are a covenant promise. A bride and groom promise to LOVE each other. They do not promise to be IN love. They do not promise to always FEEL love. They do not promise to "love my spouse IF my spouse loves me." No, the covenant is much more simple and practical than that. 

Written on August 8, 2026

Except for the fortunate few who live in remote places, the logistics of hunting Alaska are very different from climbing into your tree stand after work. For most of us, every hunt is an expedition. Planning and packing are critical to success- even more so if you are flying in a Super Cub. Weight and volume matter. The goal is the lightest and best quality and least amount of gear that you can get by with. For backpack hunters, your home (tent), kitchen, sleeping bag and wardrobe are almost as critical as your rifle and optics. 

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." We get one short period of history to bring God glory through our lives. Run to win, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

Occasionally, when hiking across the arctic tundra, you'll see a flash of pure white on the ground in the distance. Like deer, moose and elk, every year caribou shed their antlers.  It is possible to go for days without seeing a caribou, and yet to pick up a number of sheds or even an entire skull and antlers off a wolf kill. It is rock-solid evidence that life was once here- that a caribou once stood in this very spot. Evidence is important. If I believe that I'm in caribou country and find sheds, that confirms my belief. If I don't believe there have ever been caribou in a particular place and find sheds, that evidence proves me wrong- changes my mind. 

Daughter Sarah with bleached-out skull and antlers

In the mountains, the weather can change almost in an instant. On our first morning in the Brooks Range that worked in our favor. All night was 100% cloud cover and rain, so when we stepped out of our tent early in the morning to blue sky, it immediately lifted my spirits. A lot of time and effort went into this hunt, and I wanted the girls to enjoy it. Good weather is a gift that Alaskan hunters do not take for granted. 

After all, even if good things do not come to me, I am able to breathe GOOD- hope and love and encouragement- into the lives of others. Friends, THAT is worth living for! Sometimes you simply have to bring your own 'sunshine' with you. Choose to make this a great day for others, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad

After driving nearly 800 miles and then flying in a bush plane, I was disappointed that I couldn't get my girls on a nice bull caribou. We were hunting for our winter meat, and a big bull has fully twice the meat of a cow. Even so, my girls both shot caribou and then helped cut them up and pack them out- one load of meat at a time- in their backpacks. There was no complaining, no "This is too hard," they simply loaded up a heavy pack, then headed for camp. 

That's a serious thing in God's eyes. In fact, when Jesus talked about the terrible times the world would experience in our day, He said that one of the signs would be that people are ungrateful. CHOOSE joy. CHOOSE to smile. CHOOSE gratitude. CHOOSE to have a good attitude, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad 

When I say that the great strength of a woman lies in her femininity, I do not mean to equate her feminine nature with being afraid of hard labor or getting her hands dirty. Actually the contrary is true. My daughters are as comfortable in the wilderness wearing a backpack as they are in a city wearing a dress. When I took the two of them caribou hunting north of the Arctic Circle, I was proud of their toughness and adventuresome spirits. I also thoroughly enjoyed all of the added conversation and laughter that are a natural part of a hunting trip with girls. 

Daughters Ariel and Sarah north of Alaska's Brooks Range

To be a 'princess' is wrapped up in the heart of a girl. And why not? Deep inside every little girl knows she was created to be a daughter of The King. Her true strength- her greatest strength- is found in her femininity. It is a magnificent thing to be 'woman' created in the image of God. There is something forceful- regal- about a woman's strength when it is cloaked in gentleness and good humor. 

-Some of my 'princesses.'