Well at least I got some nice pictures.

And they just kept coming in the boat. I kept telling him he had his limit but he said that he was working on mine.

James First Sekiu Salmon

Jimmy, James and I went to Sekiu to do a little salmon fishing. James took to it well and showed us older folks how it is done. And he thinks he is coming back with me to do this again. Hmm, we'll just have to wait and see.

More Hawaii musings....

I had a couple more things I wanted to share about our time in Hawaii and a change in perspective in myself. The resort sat on a point that stuck out into the ocean. The point is nothing but hardened lava so it is difficult to walk on, but so worth it, just to walk out to the very tip and watch the waves rolling BY me. We are so used to standing on shore and seeing waves coming at us, and hearing the roaring and crashing sound. But standing on the point, the waves came toward me, and then divided up and rolled right on past me on either side of me. I could stand there and watch them from either side and look right down the inside of the tube. Beautiful blue tubes rolling past and making no sound whatsoever! Amazing. I wonder sometimes if I don't look at what God is doing and see it all skewed, from my human point of view, and not notice the beauty in the details of life...even the ones I am not really enjoying so much. Maybe I watch trials coming at me and hear them crashing toward me, and don't look within to the gentle quietness that comes when I just simply gaze at the One who dwells within me.

That lava that I was walking on is so hard and cold and lifeless. Who could imagine anything good coming out of it? I had a couple of neat blessings as I walked and just focused on all that I have in my relationship with God and with the people He has placed in my life. One thing was just a little chance happening that would mean nothing to anybody else, but it is one of those things I have come to expect from my Father any time I am at the ocean.

From my days of walking the beaches with my friend Marie, I learned to look for one special shell or rock that would be a good reminder of that particular beach walk. He has never failed to give me one very significant thing to bring home and a story to go with it. But standing there on the lava, I would not have expected anything pretty or even resembling a shell! The waves don't often wash up over that part of the point. But there in front of me one morning was a beautiful shell! There was not one other shell within 100 yards of there or even a rock! Just a sweet little reminder that God can do anything! And He loves to do sweet things for ME! As I delight in Him, He delights in me, and blesses me in wonderful ways, big and small. I think maybe I like the small ones best :-)

I often wonder how God can make anything beautiful out of the hard things in our lives. He seems to specialize in taking the ugly, hard trials and tragedies, and turns them into something meaningful and rich. I loved looking down ever so often at the lava beneath my feet and seeing a lovely green plant growing out of that dark & dry stuff! How does He do that!? All I know is I can trust Him with all my hurts and my concerns, knowing He will turn my sorrow into joy and my mourning into laughter. How great He is!

Carol's Hawaii lessons

OK, so I wasn't going to get involved in all this blogging stuff, but I am always filling my friends' e-mail inboxes with my weird insights, so have decided to just go ahead and start adding to this blog myself! Mostly because while we were in Hawaii, I went with a ton of stuff on my heart that was just bogging me down and hindering me from having a consistently good attitude!

We stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu and it was beautiful! And very restful. We did so many fun things, and expereinced pretty much every kind of weather during our short week.

One thing I noticed as we walked around though, was that even though we were there to try to slow down and just enjoy the sites, we continually found ourselves speed walking! We would laugh and remind ourselves that we were on vacation and that we should slow down and relax! So, we would slow down, only to find about ten minutes later we were walking fast again. This so parallels my walk with the Lord sometimes. I recognize something as being His will, so I hurry to make it happen before His perfect time is right. I try to run ahead of God and when I do, I suddenly find myself feeling pretty alone...I have to stop and turn around and see what God is up to! Usually I discover that I am missing out on what He is doing in my life presently, because I am so focused on the future! If I don't stay in step with Him, I miss out on not only what He may be doing in my life and my current situations, but also what He might be working out in somebody else's life, which I could be celebrating along with Him! And I might even miss out on His call to join Him in what He is doing!

Galatians 5 tells us over and over to walk in step with the Holy Spirit...not ahead of Him or behind Him or off on some human rabbit trail, but in step with Him! The lesson for me was that my faith doesn't have to be FAST, but steady, in surrendered obedience to Him. And I don't get so out of breath that way!