This temporary life

Chris and I recently listened to an excellent sermon by our favorite Bible teacher, Jack Crabtree, in which he discussed this parable from the 12th chapter of Luke:

     "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."'
     But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
     "This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Jack's sermon said the man's mistake was not in storing up grain, but in making the things of this world important instead on focusing on God and life in His eternal kingdom. When the man's life ends unexpectedly, he is prepared to live many years on earth in comfort, but he is not ready for heaven. Scripture also reminds us to be ready to meet our maker because he will come unexpectedly, "like a thief in the night."

Last week, Chris and I sat behind Willy at church. This week we attended his memorial service. No one knew he would die suddenly from a heart attack, but we all know he believed in the promises of God and was sold out for Jesus. He was ready to die at any time. Chris also lost his aunt, Mary, this week. She died after a short battle with cancer. And yesterday, we rode our dirtbikes up Mauna Kea and explored wreckage of a military fighter jet that, years ago, crashed into the mountain. I doubt the pilot expected the plane to crash before take off. We need to be ready. Everyone dies so this seems pretty obvious, yet it's easy, at least for me, to get distracted by the here and now instead of laying up treasure in heaven. The Bible says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. God has so many awesome things in store for those who belong to Christ, I hope this post encourages you to chase after God and His kingdom.

Chris inspects wreckage of some sort of military fighter jet we found at approx. 11,500 feet elevation on Mauna Kea.

Chris and Christoph examine the evidence and try to piece together what happened when the plane went down.

Adz

Chris and I have gone up Mauna Kea twice looking for the adz quary that we are told lies somewhere near 11,000 feet. Apparently, lava broke out under a sheet of ice during the ice age and cooled very quickly, forming a dense, non-porous rock great for making tools. I am told rocks from this spot have been found throughout the Hawaiian islands. We thought it was be interesting to see the site and evidence of chiseling. We did find pretty dense rock and some evidence of human disturbance, but Chris doesn't think it was "the spot."

We also hiked up this puu near Onizuka Center at around 9,000 feet.

Uhu

Folks might get tired of seeing dead fish pictures, but I have to show off this nice uhu I shot with my speargun off the Kona Coast a couple of weekends ago. It's the nicest uhu I have ever shot and these fish are pretty wise to divers so they're not easy to get.
I dove down to make my move on the fish and he started moving away, but my husband helped herd him back toward my direction. So I placed a rock between me and where I hoped the fish would swim so he wouldn't see me, and when the uhu came around the other side of that rock I shot him. We ate half of it for dinner and the other half is in the freezer.
Someone asked me if I am sure the fish is a "he" and I am sure. Only "super males" get this color. From what I understand, super males have a harem of red female uhus, and when the super male dies, the alpha female changes gender and becomes the new super male. I think it's more complicated than that, I don't quite understand the details. But you can read all about it in the best Hawaii fish book I have ever seen, Hawaiian Reef Fishes by John P. Hoover.
I really enjoy diving, we go about once a month and pretty much always bring home something to eat. I love seeing all the different critters in the ocean, learning to hold my breath longer and improving my skills as an underwater hunter. It's a great way to spend a Saturday.