“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 NLT

Tom and I have a lot to process from our trip to Alaska. All the planning paid off, and God did so much more for us than we could have imagined. You will hear more about it in the coming weeks, but here are a few photos and some quick takeaways.

Dinali (aka Mt. McKinley, the highest point in North America) We are in the 30% club! Only 30% of visitors get a view of the mountain. Most visitors don’t get to see it because of cloud cover. The clouds are always shifting, so parts of it may be visible, but rarely the whole mountain. We had beautiful views of the whole mountain more than once. This shot is from about 40 miles away!

Margerie Glacier (Glacier Bay National Park) What a spectacular sight! Visitors hope to see the glacier calve, when large chunks of the blue-green ice shed into the ocean with a dramatic crash and splash. We didn’t see that, but as you can tell, we had glorious weather and beautiful views.

Ketchikan, Alaska Ketchikan was the port furthest south in our journey. We had a beautiful, warm, and sunny day to walk around and enjoy the city park and to stroll along the famous Creek Street and Salmon Walk. Summer visitors watch the salmon swimming upstream during the spawning season. No coats needed this day!

My biggest takeaway for you today: The most important preparation I did was to prepare my heart for the unexpected. I will tell you more about that next week. Check my post from May 30, Don’t Sweat the What-ifs for a preview. Every thought and Scripture I shared in that post came into play during the trip. I am so glad I had those tools ready!

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September 19, 2026

Clarity After Action, Not Before

“The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.” Genesis 12:1-4 NLT

Many of us who follow Christ often struggle with knowing what God is asking of us. At least, I do. Maybe I am alone here, but I think not.

Often, the question is, “God, what are you saying to me?” What I’ve found is that I keep asking the question even when I feel like I have a sense of what God may have spoken. I have an inkling of what God is asking of me. I can see the next step. But I hesitate to take it because I can’t see where that step will lead. I can’t see a clear outcome, so I hesitate. Anyone else?

What I see in the life of Abraham is that he took the step of obedience even when the outcome wasn’t clear. He demonstrated faith and trust in God by acting. He went without knowing because he knew that God said go and had promised to bless him. No detailed action plan with stated outcomes. Just, “Go. And I will bless you.” So, Abraham went.

The thing about Abraham is that he didn’t do that just once.

He left Ur.
He divided the land with Lot,
He went up the mountain prepared to sacrifice Isaac.

He didn’t always do it perfectly. (Ask Sarah or Hagar.) But overall, Abraham demonstrated a life of obedience before clarity. A simple principle. Simple, but not easy.

It seems like Abraham lived a life that had a simple theme: Obey first. Understand after.

I don’t know about you, but I like to understand before I act!