The other day I was asked by my friend, “Where are you now?”
This blog post is here to emphasize two things (1) we are in Hawaii and (2) we are NOT camping on the beach.
It’s different being in Hawaii as staff instead of students. In fact, the whole outlook changes. As students everything was new, different, and exciting, you want to meet everyone and see everything. As staff, you’ve met everyone, and gotten used to the system. As a student I feel like I could reel off dozens of facts about Hawaii, as now, as an old hand, I have trouble knowing what to write for a short blog post.
I’m going to joke in a postcard (that hopefully will make it to my class before they graduate) that I came back to Hawaii because I didn’t get enough of a tan the first time. (I’m kidding.) There are more - and better - reasons we came back, most of them based on the spiritual climate and not the physical (the headquarters for a missionary organization is here).
The tourist brochures paint a nice picture comparing Hawaii to the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden almost everything was perfect, in Hawaii dishes still need to be washed.
Classes need to be taught, lessons in homeschooling need to be finished, and work duties (jobs the campus assigns) need to be done. So, as I said earlier, No, we aren’t camping in the sun (but I can wish).
Oh, and as I type, another reminder of why Hawaii is not the Garden of Eden just walked across the counter - our apartment is infested with termites. (I guess bugs like warm climates just like we do.)
Of course, we didn’t come to Hawaii to keep our faces the same colour as computer programmers either. Most Sundays we manage to go to visit the ocean, because our church is within walking distance of a nice beach. Last Sunday I was burnt like a lobster (which made me happy).
But that’s enough about beaches. Today was Good Friday and the campus went down to a service in the Ohana Court (the campus meeting place and gym).
The speaker asked loads of rhetorical questions about Good Friday (Why do we call Good Friday ‘good’? Is it ‘good’ that He was betrayed by a friend he spent three years with? Is it ‘good’ that the man He choose as the foundation of the church decided to deny him publicly three times? Is it ‘good’ that He, the Son of God, was whipped, beaten, tortured?... Why do we call Good Friday ‘good’?) and summed it up with the thrilling words (alright, maybe I’m a little too dramatic) “On that day humans were at their worst, and God was at his best. On that day GOD was shown ‘good’.
He showed grace to the sinners, forgiveness to the repentant, and reconciled man to him.
And just as he summed up his message, so I sum up this blog post: Happy Good Friday!
This blog post is here to emphasize two things (1) we are in Hawaii and (2) we are NOT camping on the beach.
It’s different being in Hawaii as staff instead of students. In fact, the whole outlook changes. As students everything was new, different, and exciting, you want to meet everyone and see everything. As staff, you’ve met everyone, and gotten used to the system. As a student I feel like I could reel off dozens of facts about Hawaii, as now, as an old hand, I have trouble knowing what to write for a short blog post.
I’m going to joke in a postcard (that hopefully will make it to my class before they graduate) that I came back to Hawaii because I didn’t get enough of a tan the first time. (I’m kidding.) There are more - and better - reasons we came back, most of them based on the spiritual climate and not the physical (the headquarters for a missionary organization is here).
The tourist brochures paint a nice picture comparing Hawaii to the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden almost everything was perfect, in Hawaii dishes still need to be washed.
Classes need to be taught, lessons in homeschooling need to be finished, and work duties (jobs the campus assigns) need to be done. So, as I said earlier, No, we aren’t camping in the sun (but I can wish).
Oh, and as I type, another reminder of why Hawaii is not the Garden of Eden just walked across the counter - our apartment is infested with termites. (I guess bugs like warm climates just like we do.)
Of course, we didn’t come to Hawaii to keep our faces the same colour as computer programmers either. Most Sundays we manage to go to visit the ocean, because our church is within walking distance of a nice beach. Last Sunday I was burnt like a lobster (which made me happy).
But that’s enough about beaches. Today was Good Friday and the campus went down to a service in the Ohana Court (the campus meeting place and gym).
The speaker asked loads of rhetorical questions about Good Friday (Why do we call Good Friday ‘good’? Is it ‘good’ that He was betrayed by a friend he spent three years with? Is it ‘good’ that the man He choose as the foundation of the church decided to deny him publicly three times? Is it ‘good’ that He, the Son of God, was whipped, beaten, tortured?... Why do we call Good Friday ‘good’?) and summed it up with the thrilling words (alright, maybe I’m a little too dramatic) “On that day humans were at their worst, and God was at his best. On that day GOD was shown ‘good’.
He showed grace to the sinners, forgiveness to the repentant, and reconciled man to him.
And just as he summed up his message, so I sum up this blog post: Happy Good Friday!
Nice post Josh! I agree with what you said about Good Friday, humans were terrible and yet God still showed mercy to them! (BTW, in case you didn't know, Shannon wrote this!)
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