Posts with the category “daily-devotions”

There is a certain sense of satisfaction that farmers and gardeners and hunters and fishermen get from 'living off the land.' My moose was home, but the work was far from over. Hundreds of pounds of steak, roasts and ribs needed to be cut and wrapped, and all of the scrap needed to be ground into burger. Add another day of work. On top of all of this, my hunting and camping gear needed to be clean...  Read More

Pulling the trigger was the easy part. My moose was down. I've done this by myself many times, and to be honest, there is always a moment of exhale where I think something like, "Lord, what have I done?" The first long job was to get the hide and meat off one side and then the other.  I am also meticulous about keeping my meat clean. On a good sized bull this can take 2 or 3 hours by the time I'm ...  Read More

I managed to stay on the bull- just a glimpse here and there as he made a beeline through the timber. I got a good look at him when I first saw him, and I knew this was a legal bull. When he stepped behind a small patch of low-to-the-ground spruce trees, I steadied my rifle against a birch tree and waited. I couldn't SEE him, but I KNEW I had him. It's actually very common for us to KNOW that we h...  Read More

Hunting moose in the timber is far from ideal, yet I've 'stumbled upon' legal bulls several times in my life. I was a little frustrated with my day. It had taken a long drive and a lot of work to get deep into those mountains, and the low clouds had driven me out of my hunting spot. To make things worse, my ATV had a flat tire and I was literally driving on 3 wheels and a rim. I still had a day an...  Read More

If I'd have had a few more days to hunt, I would have waited for the clouds to lift. With less than two days, I decided to break down the camp I'd just set up and move to lower elevations. Eventually I got beneath the clouds, but this put me in very mediocre country for hunting. But given the dense fog up high, mediocre was better than the place I'd come from. If we waited for circumstances to be ...  Read More

I was by myself- deep in the mountains- hoping to find a moose. Well, that's not exactly accurate. I hunt hard and I ALWAYS find moose. I was trying to find a LEGAL bull. For those of us who are stuck hunting off the road system, this is the area where skill and hard work play a minimal role. You see, we can only shoot a spike/fork or a bull with an antler spread greater than 50 inches. So- I was ...  Read More

Many studies have been done proving that physical appearance provides great advantage (or disadvantage) for career applicants. Beauty and fitness for women and strength and height for men are a distinct advantage. But here's the thing- those qualities have no correlation to excellence in performance of the job.What correlates to high performance and success? Kindness, work ethic, being a 'team pla...  Read More

So yesterday I had an 'emergency' root canal. It's a little bit like self-inflicted torture. Why in the world would a person put himself through that? Not only was the procedure extremely uncomfortable, but it cost more than I paid for my truck. The answer is obvious- I did it because of the payoff on the other side. I had a painful infection that was severe enough to keep me up all night- for sev...  Read More

Though primarily looking for moose, I planned to check on my ram the following morning. If he was still there I planned to go get him in the daylight, when my hunting partners would be able to watch me in the spotting scope the whole time. In the morning, my sheep was gone. Circumstances often dictate our plans, don't they? Other than a grouse that I knocked out of a tree with a rock, the day was ...  Read More

I was serving as 'guide' to a father and adult son on a moose hunt. Both of them were out of shape, and they were very insecure woodsmen. I spotted a legal ram on the other side of a small, steep gorge. By myself I could easily have been on the ram in less than an hour, but it would have been well after dark before I had it packed out. I was facing a dilemma. Neither of my partners were fit enough...  Read More

I know that you have faith, but is it STRONG? More than strong, is it VIBRANT? In other words, is your faith not something you 'believe' so much as it is a reflection of who you are? Vibrant faith impacts every moment of the day, every decision, every relationship, every conversation. You weather life's storms because life for you goes much deeper than your present circumstances. Jesus said, "Come...  Read More

The temperature is a balmy 5° and it's snowing again. First, the clouds move in, hovering over the mountains, then the heat rises, and then the outpouring begins. Years ago on the Isle of Lewis in the New Hebrides, a spontaneous worship service was finally dispersing close to midnight. God had been stirring the hearts of the people for many weeks. A young man told pastor Duncan Campbell, "The Spir...  Read More

The temperature warmed up to −5° yesterday, so I decided to break in a snowshoe trail. This serves two purposes. First, the snow where I've broken trail will 'set up' and become hard and thereby easier to walk on. Second, the next time we get a big snow dump my trail will still be visible. Having a path to follow, especially in the dark or in white-out conditions, is a tremendous advantage. When f...  Read More

The 4' tall grass kept moving above us as some kind of large animal made its way toward us- 15 yards... 10 yards... 20 feet... 10 feet... We had our rifles up and ready to 'fire.' It was a little surreal. The animal was so close and yet completely hidden. Though I was new to Alaska and had never shot a bear, I couldn't imagine what else it could be. Whatever it was, it was walking right into us. A...  Read More

I was backpacking with a friend into Ptarmigan Lake near Moose Pass. We were on a narrow foot trail about halfway up a mountain and paralleling the valley. In some places grass about 4 feet tall bordered the trail. We paused at one of those places to glass the valley below us for bear. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the grass above us moving. Something big was walking toward us, but it wasn...  Read More

5:15 AM and I've been shoveling for the better part of an hour. The weather is clear and cold. Though not full, the moon is just bright enough to cast faint shadows on the ground. For me, there has always been something peaceful about shadows. Psalm 91:1 says, "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." We rest secure knowing God is with us. We see the...  Read More

Last night I shoveled snow for the first time since November. It felt good, but only because we've waited so long for snow. Sometimes you GO to work and sometimes work COMES to you. Either way, the ability to work is a gift, a blessing. When the world was perfect, God gave Adam a job. He put him in the garden of Eden and told him to care for it. We've all been given our own 'garden'- the place and...  Read More

The weather finally broke. It's 5° at my house and we have several inches of fresh snow. I'm looking forward to 2026. Will this be the year that Jesus comes? Will this be a year of great revival in Alaska? Will this be a year of breakthrough for those struggling with addiction? For those suffering from depression? For those in bondage to the same old sins? Let me answer those questions according t...  Read More

The temperature at my house hovers around −20°. I feel like I've been cold for weeks. When it's this cold, everything seems to get harder. Cars don't want to start, fingers freeze against the cold steering wheel, on the gas pump, and even the on car door getting in and out. But... life must go on. We all have places to go and things to do. We cannot allow life's little inconveniences to disrupt ou...  Read More

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Christian, this is YOUR spirit, the spirit God GAVE YOU. Instead of fear, POWER. Instead of fear, LOVE. Instead of fear, the ability to SEE and UNDERSTAND things as they really are. If you have already died to SELF, if you've already truly surrendered your life to pleasing God and doing his wil...  Read More

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