I am thankful for the opportunities God gives me to preach. But if my ONLY witness for him is preaching, I am missing out on what it means to truly be a follower of Christ. My goal is to be a witness EVERYWHERE to EVERYONE I encounter.'Religion' only meets on Sunday (and weddings and funerals). Relationships are the most vital part of daily life. In God we have a Father, Lord, Savior, Counselor, F...  Read More

Every muscle was taut- arms, shoulders, legs- as I continued to hold the machine 'almost' upright- 'almost' to the tipping point where it would land upright on its wheels. I was talking to God out loud the whole time. The machine was still idling, and I only had two options: 1) give up and let the machine settle back on its side under the mucky water; or, 2) gently feather the throttle in the hope...  Read More

If I relaxed for even a moment, the machine would be back on its side, half underwater, in a deep, ugly muckhole. My arms were stretched as high as I could reach and yet under the pressure of a significant amount of weight, but because I was standing nearly to my waist underwater in a deep rut, I wasn't quite tall enough to push it upright onto its wheels. What I needed was power outside of myself...  Read More

This was not life-or-death, but it was most definitely an emergency situation. My gun boot was under the sludgy water, my gas can was bobbing up-and-down in the water behind me,  and the only solution was for me to stand up a machine and gear that weighs well over 1,200 pounds. On my first attempt at lifting, the machine didn't even budge. I was asking, "Lord, help me. Help me. Help me, Jesus. Hel...  Read More

I was standing almost hip deep in the grey, muddy water- in the deepest part of the bog. My 1,200 pound ATV was laying on its side, half under water with the handlebars submerged somewhere around my knee level. My body was the only thing keeping it from rolling completely upside down. With 2 or 3 other guys to help, it would simply have been an ugly moment to laugh about, but by myself, it was a s...  Read More

I forgot rope and a tow strap. Hunting solo with an ATV requires thoughtful preparation. It is very common, especially when going through mucky terrain, to need far more than 50 feet of winch cable. Trees don't grow in the muckholes, and without another machine, trees are all you have for an 'anchor' to winch out. I usually have a tow strap and 100 feet of heavy rope. Because I didn't have those t...  Read More

The mountains are calling. Something about the wilderness stirs my soul. We were created to live in perfect harmony with the natural world. I'm already anticipating the mixture of scent coming from the. fireweed, spruce, and lush green. The stillness is only broken by songbirds, flowing water and the wind. Fall colors are full on at higher elevations- yellow, orange and red, with a massive carpet ...  Read More

During the summer a truck could drive on this trail, so I was leading the  heavy equipment in. We had to 'walk it in' (drive it) about 6 miles. Our piece of equipment was half off the trail with the right two wheels in a muckhole and perhaps 4 feet lower than the left two wheels (which were still on the trail). We brought along two heavy chains, but I did not believe that my truck could pull it ou...  Read More

It could have happened to anyone. It was just a tiny swerve to miss a pothole- to make the ride smoother- and two wheels of an 11,000 pound piece of heavy equipment were off the road and buried in a quagmire. 'Off the road' in a thousand other places wouldnt have been a problem. This was one of the very few 'soft spots' on a trail that was many miles long. The narrow strip of gravel was safe, but ...  Read More

I could clearly see two 'forks' on the young bull moose. This made him legal, and I almost pulled the trigger at 300 yards. I was calling him in by imitating a cow 'call' and a bull 'grunt.' I almost shot him at 200 yards. I almost shot him at 100 yards. It wasn't until he stepped out of the brush at 50 yards that I noticed a third tine on both antlers. This meant the bull was NOT legal. I almost ...  Read More

One of the differences between summer rain in Alaska and most other places is that our rain is cold. I don't mean 'refreshing' cold, I mean if you're out in the wilderness and are unprotected you could die of hypothermia. While the wild animals are seemingly comfortable in every kind of weather, you and I need to clothe ourselves properly. The same thing is true spiritually. Collossians 3:12 says,...  Read More

After three spectacular days, it's raining again. Water is life-giving. It's essential. There's nothing quite so peaceful as being next to a clear, trickling brook on a warm, sunny day. But water can also be dangerous, violent, contaminated- leading to death rather than to life. The Word of God is pure Living Water. It is both life-giving and life-sustaining. But if it is contaminated by false doc...  Read More