Alaska Dipnetting

One of the perks of living in Alaska is the privilege to "dipnet". Dipnetting is fishing with large net at the end of a ten-foot long pole. The point of dipnetting is essentially practical: get as much fish as you can for your freezer.

Three young men from the church were gracious enough to take me along on a dipnetting trip to the Copper River. Our goal was Copper River Red Salmon, the tastiest salmon of all according to those who know.

Here is a picture of the river from one of the spots where we fished. The water is milky-gray because of all the glacial silt in it. It is also deep, very cold, and fast-running. And, there is very little shore to stand on. At some places we tied ourselves off to trees to keep from falling in as we fished.


Like all fishing, dipnetting isn't as much fun when you don't catch anything. And that's what happened for the first several hours, at least for me. I finally netted one, though, and had one of my young guides take this picture of me with the fish. It isn't a particularly large red salmon, but it was my very first fish caught in Alaska. So, it was worthy of a snapshot.


All told, I netted twelve fish. One particularly sweet catch was this King. In an earlier post, I wrote of my utter failure in catching a King this summer. I'm no longer wearing the collar!


I've never worked harder in my life to catch fish as I did on this trip. All of the spots we fished were at the bottom of steep embankments, 150 feet or so in height. The trip down was precarious; the climb up exhausting. The three young guys zipped up and down these embankments like they were a flight of stairs in a house. And they kept up the pace after hours of no sleep and eating nothing but pretzels and Runts!

The dipnetting itself was laborious, too. Imagine stirring a large vat of molasses with a broom handle. That is what it feels like sweeping a dipnet through a strong river current. I came home exhausted, dirty, and sore.

But there is something about catching a fish that makes it all worthwhile. I can't wait to try it again next summer.

"Reaching Out without Dumbing Down," by Martha Dawn

A few months ago I bought several books on worship, and am still trying to work my way through them. I haven't gotten very far, but I did finally finish one - "Reaching Out without Dumbing Down," by Marva Dawn.

The title nicely captures the essence of Dawn's plea. She urges churches to carefully consider their worship practices in light of pervasive cultural factors without the church, and idolatrous tendencies within the church, that threaten to mute the church's ability to bear witness to the truth of God in her worship. The less self-reflective the church becomes about her worship, the more likely her worship will conform to the values and norms of the world. Not only will the church fail to honor her Lord in this way, but she will have nothing of true value to offer the world around her.

One point I found particularly helpful was Dawn's emphasis on the role of worship in building Christian character. The worship practice of the church will have a tremendous influence on the thoughts and lives of Christians over time. This is a perspective that I think is extremely important to bear in mind when Christians discuss (or sometimes, argue about!) worship. Worship is far more than our experience of it (as Dawn reminds us, it is ultimately about God, who is both the subject and object of worship), but it has a large part to play in forming our character as Christians. Dawn discusses all the implications this has for the content of worship.

While Dawn at times tries to rise above the "traditional" vs. "contemporary" debate in the church's worship wars, in my mind her book unquestionably makes a strong argument for worship practices that are usually considered "traditional." Whenever the church overly accommodates herself to the prevailing culture, which appears to be the major problem with many contemporary worship practices, she becomes unable to create a genuine Christian counter-culture that preserves the weightiness and majesty of God, that fosters genuine community, and that forms godly character.

The one weakness of the book that came to my mind is also a strength. Dawn rarely cites Scripture to support her thesis. She quotes at length the studies of other sociologists, philosophers, and theologians, but hardly ever directly appeals to Scripture. However, her analysis is not thereby undermined. Rather, this perspective that is really based more on observation than exegesis, serves to complement well principles of worship that are taken directly from Scripture. In other words, Dawn's book affirms from empirical study the importance of being faithful to those principles of true worship that God has revealed in his Word.

Troubling news

One of the elders of our church, Dr. Bob Martin (or "Dr. Bob", as he likes to be called), just found out this week that he has advanced prostate cancer. He's looking at surgery next month, and other possible treatments yet to be determined.

It was a shock to Dr. Bob, and a shock to all of us. It is at times like this that the twin truths of God's goodness and sovereignty become especially precious. By faith we know that Dr. Bob's life is in the hands of his faithful Redeemer (John 10:28). This bad news, too, is part of the mysterious but glorious plan of the One who "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11).

As I write this, I am reminded of something I heard on the radio the other day. A talk-show host was interviewing a professor who had written a book on chance and the nature of randomness. This talk-show host is Jewish and believes in God. However, he said he had no problem believing that some things happen more or less purely by chance. In fact, he said, if something terrible happens to you, it could have happened outside the will of God.

I wonder, what kind of comfort does that "God" offer to someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer? None that I can think of. Thankfully, God is in control of all things, and while we cannot know why he allows tragedies, we do know - by faith - that he works out all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). This God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the God of all comfort who invests our suffering with meaning, and has a redemptive purpose for us even in affliction.

King Salmon 9, Johnsons 0

That's the final score this summer after nine tries at landing a King salmon; we came home empty-handed each time.

This was our first summer to be able to fish as Alaska residents, which means it became affordable to buy the necessary license and king salmon permit (you actually have to but a separate "tag" for the privilege of fishing for a King). I've done a little fishing here and there in the past, but what was most surprising for me about fishing in Alaska is how much it revolves around the salmon runs. The Kings are the biggest, and according to some Alaskans, the tastiest (though the most-coveted salmon for eating are Copper River Reds). They also "run" first, coming out of the ocean and beginning their final swim inland to spawn and die.

When the Kings started coming in, we bought a rod and reel, and some tackle and bait, and spent a Monday trying our hand at Alaska fishing. We had no bites and saw no fish, but it was our first try so it didn't matter too much.

As the weeks went by, we (or sometimes just me) tried other spots, again with no success. In fact, we still hadn't even seen an actual flesh-and-blood King. As far as we could tell, it was a mythical creature of Alaskan lore, something like the Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch.

But on another Monday, we went to Ship Creek in downtown Achorage and actually witnessed King salmon being caught. What a sight! My past fishing has mostly been for Rainbow Trout. But even a large Rainbow looks like a minnow compared to a King, which average (I would guess) 3 - 4 feet long and 30 - 40 pounds each. It was a thrill to see these monsters coming out of the water. I wanted to catch one!

Our best chance was last Monday night. The word was Montana Creek was "hot" (news of a productive fishing spot spreads quickly among Alaskans). While friends from church graciously watched the two older girls, Robyn and I drove up to Montana Creek with Sander and Moriah, hopeful that this might be our time.

I've never had a fishing experience like that before. There were dozens and dozens of Kings swimming just feet away in the clear water. Every so often one would splash the surface, or jump out of the water entirely. And the anglers were standing side by side, concentrated next to one hole in particular where the fish were thick. Every minute or so someone shouted, "Fish on!", and the fight began. Sometimes they landed the fish, but more often the fish cut loose, or they were "foul-snagged" which meant they had to be let go (in fact, many of the fish swimming below had brightly-colored lures still attached to them).

After an hour or so of casting near the most productive spot, I got a hit. The pole arched, the fish pulled hard, and I started pulling back and reeling it in. Some of the more experienced anglers coached me along the way: "Keep your pole up!", "Pull up and then reel down!", "Point the pole toward the beach!", and so on. Two helpful guys even fixed my reel with the fish still on, since the arm that reels in the line had come loose (I made a mental note then: "Next time, do NOT buy the cheapest rod and reel Wal-Mart sells.").

But just as the fish was about to be netted (thanks to another friendly fisherman), it cut loose and was gone. He told me that it was snagged, so I would have had to let it go anyway. But the fight was still a lot of fun.

Robyn and I had a couple of more fish bite after that, but none that stayed on more than a few seconds. Midnight struck, and the fishing was officially over. So, we came back home sans salmon one more time. But at least now we have some fish stories to tell. And that means we've become a little more Alaskan over the summer!

Family visit from Montana

A couple of weeks ago, my parents, along with my aunt and uncle, made the long trek up the Alaska Highway to visit us. They camped in a pop-up trailer along the way, and survived mosquitoes and $7-a-gallon Canadian gas for the privilege of saying they have done the "Al-can."

At least during their time with us, they got to sleep in real bedrooms, take hot showers, and not worry about putting down the camper every morning.

We packed in quite a bit during their stay here. On Sunday night, our family drove up to meet them at Denali National Park, where they had arrived after driving down from Fairbanks. It rained on and off all day Monday, which is par for the course for Denali. But, we were able to get in some hiking in the park. Here is Dad and Sander walking on a trail next to Savage Creek.




One of the highlights was getting to see "Arctic Thunder," a bi-annual air show held at nearby Elmendorf Air Force base. Here are my parents, and Michael and Maryan, standing in front of one of the many jets on display at the air show. After a week of living together in the car and the camper, they're still all smiles!



Not everyone enjoyed the loud jets. This is what Sander looked like most of the time.



The FedEx plane was a huge hit with the kids. It made such an impression on Sander that he can now spot a FedEx vehicle from miles away. The other day I was driving him and his friend Christian around, and suddenly Sander screamed, "FedEx"!! I looked around and about 3 blocks away a small FedEx van was driving down the road. When Christian asked, "What is FedEx?," Sander said with confidence, "It's an airplane."



Speaking of Sander, this is a picture of him after long day away a few weeks ago. Despite what it looks like, he hasn't converted to Islam! This is where I left him for a minute to keep unloading the car, and this is where he decided to take a nap.