This may seem like a strange title, but we recently returned from a very fun trip that I thought would be a good opportunity to encourage you to get out and travel!
My wife and I are going on 30 years of marriage, but my parents just this year celebrated 60 years!
We were fortunate enough to be able to go on a cruise together in Hawaii and greatly enjoyed our time there and together.
Now I realize that not everyone can travel long distances because of various constraints, but you still can do short adventures. What these trips do is to help us see beyond our everyday lives. They expand our horizons and help us to see what a beautiful creation God has made throughout this earth. In fact, He does mention that in Psalms 19:1-2: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge."
The picture above I took off the Napali Coast on the island of Kauai, Hawaii last Friday. We even were fortunate to have a rainbow showup while we were there. There isn't much more thrilling to me than being on the ocean and seeing God's creation. It's a wonder to behold!
It also gives a sense of peace that God in His infinite power and wisdom can do anything! When we look at His creation as a child, we can be filled with awe and wonder again.
A couple of other significant events happened while we were gone that I'd like to mention here.
Three separate times I ran into people who either live very close to us, who know someone we do, or who know others that are friends of ours.
Think about that for a minute - here we are almost 3000 miles away and we just by 'chance' run into people we know? I don't believe in coincidences, but I do believe in the hand of God orchestrating divine meetings.
The strangest one was on the island of Maui. We were there for a day and happened to go to Lahaina. The famous 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' restaurant is there named after the Jimmy Buffett song.
My Mom and Dad decided to wander down the street into a small shopping area.
I saw a Ukulele shop and thought I would try out an expensive one. Not really having played the instrument much, I asked about the tuning and started playing the song 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' as done by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole.
I didn't think it sounded very good, but amazingly someone else did. As we talked, I found out that he was a retired UPS driver who used to deliver in the neighborhood we used to live in and knew the driver who took over. He even knew some of our current neighbors. Amazing!
My encouragement to you today is to get out there and experience life. Travel, make friends, experience God's creation and the beauty of it.
You never know, you might just meet someone you already knew and what a kick that would be!
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