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