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