Sunday, October 15, 2006

Earthquake

Aloha family and friends-


What an odd morning it has been! I awoke to my entire house shaking, windows clattering, and pictures falling off of the cabinet. Oddly enough we had an earthquake and after shocks this morning. The first quaking lasted between 30 and 45 seconds, which doesn’t sound that long until the ground under your feet is moving and you can’t do a thing about it. After that we had a few minor tremors. FYI- It had a 6.5 magnitude and an epicenter between Big Island and Maui. Thankfully there was no major damage at least on Molokai. On the other islands, there were power outages, rockslides, and some structural damage.

Here I am prepared for the tropical storm that was supposed to hit the islands this morning but totally surprised by the movement of the land under my feet. We were just talking on Thursday night in our Bible study on the book of Revelation, how the whole earth is groaning for the Lord to come back (Romans 8:22). God made this earth and it is crying out for his return. His return will happen and it looks soon.

In Matthew 24:6 and 7, Jesus is talking to his disciples about the signs of the end of the age and he says “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Sound familiar- just listen to the 6 o’clock news and you will see these things taking place.

Now I am not writing these things to scare you but to show you that there is hope. Jesus is coming back soon to take his children to heaven. Are you ready? If not, talk to Him, tell Him you are a sinner and you need His forgiveness. He died on the cross to pay for your sins and mine. He conquered death and the grave by rising from the dead. He wants us to choose Him for eternal life. We can’t do it in our own strength. It is all Him.

One of the songs we sang in church this morning was Not to Us by Chris Tomlin.

The cross before me the world behind
no turning back
raise the banner high
it's not for me
it's all for YOU
let the heavens shake and split the sky
let the people clap their hands and cry
it's not for us
it's all for YOU
CHORUS:
not to us but to YOUR name be the glory
not to us but to YOUR name be the glory
our hearts unfold before YOUR throne
the only place for those who know
it's not for us
it's all for YOU
send YOUR holy fire on this offering
let our worship burn for the world to see
it's not for us
it's all for YOU
for YOU

CHORUS
the earth is shaking
the mountains shouting
it's all for YOU
the waves are crashing
the sun is raging
it's all for YOU
the universe is spinning and singing
it's all for YOU
YOUR children dancing
dancing
dancing
it's all for YOU it's all for YOU my all for YOU my all for YOU

This song really pointed out that it is ALL for God. I especially like the verse that says…

“the earth is shaking
the mountains shouting
it's all for YOU
the waves are crashing
the sun is raging
it's all for YOU”

…not just because of what happened this morning but God is calling out to us all through creation. I went to the beach yesterday with Candace and the waves were pounding. We were out past the break swimming. There was one point when we turned around and there was a wave behind us that was towering over our heads by about 8 feet. We cruised over the wave landing safely on the other side and waited till the set died down before we made our way to shore. It was an amazing thrill! But again it is not for us but for His glory!!!

I think of each of you often and pray that I will see all of you in Heaven one day whether we die to get there or the Lord comes back first. What a glorious day that will be!! There are some of you that I won’t see again on this earth but God allowed our paths to cross and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will stand with you in Heaven. If you have any questions about joining us in Heaven, email me or call me. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon!

Much love and God’s blessings,

Angela

Sunday, October 1, 2006

Changed by His love

Aloha friends and family-
Wow, what an awesome day/weekend it has been! But… before I go into the events of today, I have to say I typed up a different newsletter a few days ago to send out over email. This was requested of me by a friend but when I went to send it my email would only allow me to send it to just her. The following email God laid on my heart today and I thought I would share. So… this is going to be sent out to everyone even if I have to snail mail it because I want to brag on the awesomeness of my God. So here goes…
Today started off like any other Sunday morning. My alarm went off at eight o’clock am, I rolled over, and reset it for 8:45am! (Normally Sunday mornings are the only opportunity I have to sleep in so I have figured out the latest I can sleep and still make it to church on time!) Any way before my alarm could go off for a second time, the phone rang. It was a potential preschool parent telling me that she wasn’t going to be at church today for our scheduled meeting because her son was sick. Once we hung up, I started praying that God would make today special. All of my close friends are off island and I didn’t have any plans all day, so I gave the Lord my day and boy did He make it memorable!!

As I made my way into church, I was talking with some friends sharing the news of Sybil (my coworker and friend) having her baby yesterday and the preschool winning fourth place and $200 in the Aloha Week Parade Float competition yesterday. When we came together to open our church service with praise and worship, each song seemed to just open my heart up more and more. By the third song, I was on my knees before God. The words of the song were…

Majesty (Here I Am) by Delirious

Here I am humbled by your Majesty
Covered by your grace so free
Here I am, knowing I'm a sinful man
Covered by the blood of the Lamb
Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice
Majesty, Majesty
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed, but alive in your hands
Majesty, Majesty
Forever I am changed by your love
In the presence of your Majesty
Here I am humbled by the love that you give
Forgiven so that I can forgive
Here I stand, knowing that I'm your desire
Sanctified by glory and fire
Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

Boy, was I humbled! The wretched sinner that I am, God still chooses to bless me with precious gifts like the birth of a friend’s baby and winning a prize for our float.

God didn’t tell me… ‘In order to be my child, you have to clean up your act.’ No! In fact, His loving hand picked me up right where I was and He loved me! He loved me enough to die for me. That has changed me forever- Not only do I get to spend eternity praising my precious Savior in Heaven but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing I do will change God’s love for me.

That is such a humbling thought that He loves me even when I do things that He has specifically told me not to do like “Do not worship other gods” and I turn around saying “I am doing this today.” By me planning my day without asking God what He wants me to do, I am worshipping me and making an idol out of my time. God totally blew me away today by reminding me that when He is included first in the day, the day goes so much smoother and I get blessed in return.

So after an awesome message through song, we watched a slideshow of our high school students at “See You at the Pole”. On our small island, 43 students showed up and prayed for their school, families, friends, island, state, and nation. Seeing all of those young people bowing their heads, standing in the gap for the place where they live. It was powerful!! God convicted my heart that I don’t pray enough!

All of the “lessons” took place before Pastor Randy even started his prepared message. God was about to teach me a couple of other very important lessons. Remember when I said I didn’t have any plans for the day, God had plans already set up for me. We had an island wide prayer meeting scheduled for 3 o’clock (that I had forgotten about) and then a preschool family invited me up for dinner.

At 3, I went down to New Hope Retreat Center for ‘United in Prayer’ for a time of youth led worship. Then we broke into teams and went to all of the different schools on Molokai walking and praying around the school building for the students, faculty, staff, and administrators. I chose to pray at Akaula with Pastor David and Shirley Nanod. What a blessing it was for me to spend time and pray with this couple who love the Lord and this island!

Aunty Shirley and I worked together last year and became friends and prayer partners. So she encouraged me with the work at preschool and we prayed for the children and their families. We also got to catch up on what was going on in one another’s life. When I got back in my car to leave I felt like I could have floated home… Such a feeling of peace and excitement for what the Lord is doing in this place.

I headed up to the Go’s for dinner and was treated to a wonderful home cooked dinner of porkchops, salad, and noodles. We talked story for almost four hours but it was such a blessing to finish up my day fellowshipping with friends.

By now it is after midnight, I am very thankful I am on fall break, so I don’t have school tomorrow. I love each one of you so much and pray that each of you will experience the greatest sacrifice when Jesus laid down His life for you. May you be changed by His love, too!!!

Much love and God’s blessings,

Angela