Skip to main content

New Article: We Must Celebrate and Be Glad

 

            On a beautiful afternoon in October of 2024, Kahiau Kawai and his high school kayaking team hit the waters off the coast of Oahu.  It was a great day; until it was not!  Around 4 pm, a storm began to roll in and everyone headed for shore.  It was then that they realized that Kahiau was missing.  At 6:30 pm, 911 call went out and soon search and rescue helicopters and boats were searching the ocean for the 17-year-old.

Darkness fell and there was still no trace of the boy.  Others joined in, fearing the worst.  Surviving in the open sea is hard enough when one is well-equipped.  It is another thing in a storm without a life jacket.  Kahiau’s family gathered and began to talk about his funeral.

Finally, at 4 am, after searching for more than eight hours, a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft spotted the boy’s kayak and dropped a flare at the location.  Rescue boats rushed to the scene.  When they arrived, they not only found the kayak, but Kahiau clinging to the side of it.  After being in the water for nearly 12 hours, Kahiau was taken to a nearby hospital.  He had hypothermia, but considering what he had been through, he was in remarkable condition. 

If you Google his name, you likely come across a picture of Kahiau and his mom.  It was taken when she got to the hospital.  It was taken after she got her boy back.  The first time I saw that picture I thought, “Every day from now on will be different for them.  Every Christmas and every birthday will feel like a gift because her boy was saved!”

Our spiritual salvation story ought to work the same way.  It should never become something that happened long ago having little to no effect on us now.  Rather, it should change how we see every day and everything that happens to us.  It should be the lens through which we view the world, and that lens ought to help us see better.

Salvation, when it is real, cannot be forgotten.  Rather, it must be held onto and cherished.

As the Father in Jesus’ famous parable observed, “We had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32).

We must learn to celebrate too!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: What is so Great About Grace?

If you were to drive by our house, you would see that Sara loves plants.  Our yard is full of flowers, and Sara lovingly tends every one of them. Which is why I was so afraid when she left town and put me in charge of keeping things alive. She must have been a little concerned, too, because she sent me two videos with specific instructions on how to water, when to water, and what to do.  Honestly, those first two videos helped, but the third one she sent was the one I liked most.  In that one, she said, “Please do your best. I want the yard to look good for the family reunion in two weeks.  However, if something dies, we will dig it out and pretend that it never existed!” That is what grace looks like!  Try your best, do what you can, but if it goes wrong, it will be ok. Sometimes we talk as though grace and effort are opposites.  That is not true.  They are partners. In one place, scripture asks, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Press The Button!

  Consider This:  Press the Button! My favourite TV game show is Jeopardy.  I used to like it even more when my kids were younger, because I could easily beat them and look smart.  These days, after they have grown up and gone to university, it is much more difficult.  However, Jeopardy is still the only game show I will watch. In a book I read, a contestant who did very well on the show shared the secret to his success.  He said (and I am paraphrasing here), “You must press the button before you know the answer.  Everyone on Jeopardy is smart. Everyone knows the answer. The key to winning is to act.  You must jump in and press the button, assuming that your brain will catch up and supply the answer.  If you wait until you are sure, you will be too late!” Press the button! Too often, we hesitate, not because we do not know what to do, but because we do not want to do it.  Sometimes, we fail to act because we are not sure how the situatio...
Post a Comment
Read more