I heard a 'huff' off in the distance and knew it was a big bear. I was in the foothills of the mountains in spruce and birch forest, and the 'huff' sounded like it was no more than 100 yards away. For the past hour the woods had been almost completely silent. This sudden noise was a reminder that in the Alaska wilderness you are never really alone.God sent me another reminder last night that he so...  Read More

Still climbing in the snow. Still need my crampons. This is not like climbing mountains in Arizona. Each place has its own distinctive beauty. Each has its pros and cons. Arizona has blistering heat for months, while central Alaska has 6-7 months of winter. What do they share in common? Many things, but none so important as this- they are both filled with men and women and children who were create...  Read More

There are many things in life that we 'don't like' that we've never actually tried. I'm like this when it comes to food. The look, the smell, even the 'idea' of eating some things is distasteful to me. If I shoot something, I want to eat it. For years in Alaska's interior I 'passed' on grizzly bears because I didn't want to eat one. I heard the meat was no good. Then a friend of mine served me a g...  Read More

'Wing shooting' is one of the most exciting ways to put food on the table. Ducks and geese, ptarmigan and grouse, (and for those of you outside) pheasant and quail- there's nothing quite like it. I had an opportunity to hunt ducks and geese for the first time in many years in January. As enjoyable as it was, nothing stirred me like the beauty of the sunrise. I am continuously in awe off God's crea...  Read More

Snow this morning. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I have to work on that. Just yesterday, I was thinking to myself about how great it was that the roads were dry. This disappointment and 'longing for the new life of Spring' may be just the tiniest taste of what the early Christians felt as Jesus lay in the tomb. They had tasted life- TRUE life- HIS life, but now they were longing for it....  Read More

Drawing a blank. Have you ever been in a situation where you really wanted to say something- felt like you needed to say something- but your mind was absolutely at a loss? Later, after the opportunity is behind you, the thoughts come flooding in! 'Drawing a blank' is a natural response to stress, but it can most certainly be overcome. How? By training yourself to PRAY for the other person even in ...  Read More

I spent four hours in the mountains yesterday on a climb that was new to me. Other than 'post-holing' through some snow patches near the top, it was glorious to be climbing on bare rock and ground. It was much steeper than I expected and much farther to the top, but the time seemed to pass quickly because I was hiking with a good friend. We shared hunting stories and bear stories and life stories ...  Read More

We have over 3 dozen teenagers and adults in North Carolina right now. They are serving people who were devastated by Hurricane Heleine. More importantly, they are doing it in the name of JESUS. This is a MISSION trip, not just a 'helping' trip. The youth group and Christian school raised thousands of dollars, while the parents and students themselves paid thousands more.Why? Because Jesus said, "...  Read More

Alaska has more public land than you could walk in a lifetime. It has more mountain peaks than you could ever climb. It has more lakes than you could ever fish. We have a 'super abundance' of wilderness, but how do we ACCESS this abundance? There are so many roads going in and out of Los Angeles that google can't even give you a number. But Anchorage has 2 roads, one north and one south. We have o...  Read More

As a boy, virtually everything I loved involved a ball. Baseball, kickball, dodgeball and football were often included multiple times in the same week. Countless games of 'horse' were played on the basketball hoop my dad planted in the middle of the grass in our back yard. I wasn't born with a ball in my hand, but as you can see, I started early. Kicking, throwing and catching seemed to come as na...  Read More

I was meticulous when it came to keeping my meat clean. The snow helped but I still had to be careful where I laid it down. It was strange. The palms of my hands were hot from working with the meat, but the blood on the back of my hands glazed over into ice. It was a new and unpleasant experience, one I've had many times since. I continuously held the backs of my hands against the warm meat to tha...  Read More

With the fresh snow I didn't have to worry about finding my way back to camp. The caribou tracks were easy to follow, and my feet and body began to warm. I was still cold, and was thankful for the work of carrying a pack and rifle over uneven terrain covered with snow. Suddenly there they were- seven cow caribou and one young bull. Though the limit was five caribou, I only shot the bull.I had been...  Read More