Have you ever considered how blessed you are, if the graybeards in your family are/were God-fearing, gentle souls? I look at my own family and feel cheated that my grandfathers hoarded their wisdom and experience during their golden years. I never met Grandpa Smith. He commercial fished in the Gulf of Mexico. He was a…
Lately, a trip to the ER reminded me how quickly my life can be upended. I weathered the overnight ordeal, but came home as weak as a kitten. Then, not 5 minutes ago, as I sat at my computer writing this, a 5.9-point (on the Richter scale) earthquake hit the Anchorage area. Every nerve in…
Mrs. Clancy’s husband died in his leather recliner — an island surrounded by half-empty pill bottles, moldy food on plastic plates, man-sized diapers, and Car and Driver magazines. Mr. Clancy, in his prime, had owned a car dealership. He bequeathed his unhappy wife substantial funds from an insurance policy which she spent liberally to satisfy bizarre hoarding…
Jesus tells the story (parable) about three managers who were given wealth to invest for their employer. Two wise managers increased their patron’s funds by 100 percent. (Matthew 25:14-25) But one of the three managers believed that their patron was prone to exploitation ——– · To protect himself, the fearful manager buried the patron’s funds.…
Carol and I offer this glimpse into our 48-years of marriage to remind you that Jesus heals all wounds. Don’t give up! ———– SHE SAID: Love isn’t always normal. You romanced me with nothing. You drove an old pickup. You lived in a studio apartment. But I said “I do” to a boy with a…
“All my life I was taught how to die as a Christian… but no one ever taught me how I ought to live in the years before I die.” – The late Billy Graham in his book Nearing Home. >>>>>>>>>>> I know what he meant. My grandparents failed to warn me about what I’d face……
It might be the right season. It might be the right reason. But it may be the wrong place… Late one night, a neighbor in Kodiak, Alaska, noticed two bow hunters driving along the street “stalking” a bear that had been busy foraging in trash cans. The street was clearly within city limits, and…
– It’s Not Always a Bad Thing… Every Christ follower will cross the line into the “zone of uncertainty.” The zone of uncertainty is territory where we acknowledge and trust God’s wisdom and motives in the face of nagging doubts. Crossing the line into uncertainty feels intimidating — but when we cross, our commitment to…
Isa. 64:4 “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” —– In other words, God’s way of deliverance will shock you. You will find no logic in it. Acting on your behalf has its…
A C-124 Globemaster, one of the Air Force’s largest heavy transport planes in 1952, hit a cliff on Alaska’s Mount Gannett, killing 41 passengers and 11 crewmen. Due to severe weather, the military gave up trying to reach the crash site. Layers of snow and ice entombed the shredded plane, as well as the remains…
What God sees when he sees me: My future:God sees all of my next thoughts, next mistakes, next hopes, next decisions, next relationships, next commitments, next desires—and my final breath. At this moment, God sees me living with him in his spiritual realm forever. My present:He sees all my immediate thoughts and why I am…
Shadows of spawning salmon fascinate my dog, Ruby. Salmon live at sea for years before traveling up Alaska rivers and streams to spawn in brooks or lakes. In these water courses, male salmon fertilize the eggs that females lay. The eggs hatch into alevin (hatchlings) then grow into fry. From fry they grow into smolt…
With sticky watermelon slices in our fingers, my sons and I hiked toward the sound of a frothy roar. The boys trotted ahead and found a flume spewing water through a natural canal. My eight-year-old gauged a leap to the opposite side of a concrete structure and bounded like a whippet. He waved his melon…
When Belle was a girl, she listened to Deg Hit’an legends told by her elders in kashims (community houses). She never imagined that someday she would be honored as an Alaskan Native artisan in Washington D.C. Belle lived around Grayling and Anvik, Alaska, where Deg Hit’an men sawed trees to power the steamships…
A family can learn a lot from Alaska’s singing voles. This rodent constructs a labyrinth of chambers about seven inches below ground. The singing vole prefers raising a family just a little above the tree line, in the “moderate” climes of northern and southern Alaska. Our vole vocalist is also called the hay mouse,…
“How would you feel if your baby died?” Chief Marie, the last Indian fluent in the Eyak tongue, explained how she would have felt if she had allowed her ancestral language to become extinct. According to linguists, 19 of the 20 indigenous languages in Alaska may die out as English replaces everyday Native words. Linguists…
A few of us are blessed with a primeval sense of abandon. We live for the satisfying shudder, bungee jumping from a rock face, or standing pat in the face of a grizzly’s false charge. Far more of us are contented to partake of the perils on the Last Frontier at the safe end…
Soldiers in Afghanistan have reported a sense of desperation at times, when IEDs (improvised explosive devices) surround their positions. They say that it’s smarter to risk a sniper’s bullet than to “guess” their way across a zone not officially cleared of landmines. In my frantic everyday life, I, too, can feel hemmed in — by…
Psalm 94:17-19 If the LORD had not been my help, My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul. How embarrassing…When I agree with my…
When I reach down deep and nothing reaches back. When my heart beats hard and I have no strength. When no one knows the darkness inside. When something whispers, “Run!” but I stay. When hope is a mirage. When love is a word without substance. When all that is familiar seems foreign. When making sense…
When my granddaughter and I reached our car with a load of groceries, we discovered that our eggs had rolled helter-skelter inside their carton. Naturally, an analogy came to mind… Our emotions often roll and tumble during upheavals in our lives–like eggs spilt in their carton. In time, we fit each “egg” back into its…
And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matt. 21:22) When Officer Noah, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spotted beluga whales marooned in the Turnagain Arm, he flew his Piper Cub to 500 feet to get a better look. A little west of Bird Point (Southwest of Anchorage) the…
The mundane. Such monotony. Sameness, day after day — until the lightning strikes. And in a flash of recognition you know God is speaking. His contact comes in a thousand different ways: while you lend a hand to someone; or give of your substance; or speak encouragement; or you listen to someone who needs to…
It was April in Alaska, when steel-gray skies weigh upon the heart, and birch trees seem to dress in mourning attire. About mid-month we hadn’t packed away knit caps yet, and underfoot my wife and I crunched traction sand on pavement that finally replaced black ice. As we ambled along, we desperately searched for…
Cache of Grace 