Perspective

The other night I got to thinking about our kayak misadventure (which I wrote about here ).

Mary tells a story that is a little different than mine, but that’s because her perspective was different than mine. We were both swept out of our kayaks and in the water, but she was separated from her kayak while I had both of them very close to me. And I was able to flip them both over and get back into mine, but she was holding onto a tree branch in rushing, almost roiling water. So our circumstance looked different to each of us:

Mary was in the water, no kayak, separated from the take out by a good stretch of water marked by a strong current, and I was not in sight.

I, on the other hand, was in my kayak and had my paddle. And event though I was also separated from the take out by a good stretch of water marked by a strong current, I was in the kayak and had already crossed it once.

How differently we each viewed the situation! And how differently we felt about it – Mary was faced with uncertainty, and her version reflects this. On the other hand, I had regained control and my version reflects that. Perspective. Part of what I was able to do was help Mary get a new perspective.

As I thought about this, I thought it was a good picture of faith. I don’t mean that I represent faith and Mary represents unbelief. I mean, perspective is a picture of faith. What you see determines what you believe. And my mind jumped to the story of the 12 spies sent out to spy out the land. They all went and saw the same things, but how different was their report!

Ten came back and said,
We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.  
Is there anything not true in what they say? Basically, their perspective was, “They are more than us, stronger than us, better armed than us, more experienced than us, and a lot of them are bigger than us.” All of which is true. So, from that perspective their conclusion was: We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

But the other two, Joshua and Caleb, had a different report because they had a different view. Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. Why? How? He saw the same things the 10 saw. Joshua and Caleb said, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.  If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. Amen!

All that the ten saw was the more numerous and better armed people, and giants among them. I admit, that is a daunting view. But Joshua and Caleb saw all that and more – they saw God. When all you see is giants, you’re going to be afraid. But when you see God, them giants better be afraid!

Reminds me of a hymn we used to sing. In the blue C&MA hymnal it was across the page from The Lily of the Valley and made for a great pair of songs!

Others saw the giants, Caleb saw the Lord; 
They were sore disheartened,  He believed God's word; 
And that word he fully, fearlessly, obeyed-- 
Was it not sufficient that the Lord hath said?


I will never leave thee; 
Go in this thy might; 
One shall chase a thousand, 
Two put ten to flight.


O to follow fully like this one of old; 
O to be like Caleb, doing what is told; 
Then the Lord's rich blessing will be ours today, 
He will prosper ever those who Him obey.


If we are half-hearted, we'll not taste God's best; 
Those who follow wholly will be wholly blest, 
Blest in soul and spirit, body, mind, and heart, 
Rich in heav'nly treasure, which He will impart.


O to have one Master, only One to please; 
O to have one purpose, not our will or ease; 
Pressing ever onward to the goal before, 
Serving gladly, wholly, Him whom we adore.  

Caleb Saw the Lord  by Mabel J. Camp

Now to bring this back to our kayaking adventure. I suppose you could conclude that I had more faith. But that was only because I had a better perspective than Mary. After all, I was in my kayak. With my paddle. And as soon as Mary knew these things, her perspective changed, and her uncertainty was replaced by an increasing confidence. Perspective. What you see determines what you believe.

So I have to ask myself, Am I looking at those really large, scary, shadow casting giants, or am I looking at the Son? If I let the giants block my view, then I will be filled with fear. But, if I see God then I will rise in faith and be able to say, we are well able to overcome it.

A review of The Reckoning of Time

A review of The Reckoning of Time by Bede the Venerable

Two weeks ago I was able to obtain from the library, via Inter-Library Loan, The Reckoning of Time by Bede. I had only two weeks to read it, since you cannot renew ILL materials. I read his work but not the commentary, and now the loan period is up.

First, the man. Bede lived from A.D. 672 – 735 and is also know as the Venerable Bede. He was an English monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth. He was sent to the monastery when he was seven years old, and spent the rest of his life there. He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The Father of English History". I first encountered Bede through his Hisotry of the English Church and have liked him since. He was a learned man, and he had a living faith.

Now the book. Here is how the publishers describe it:

“From the patristic age until the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582, computus – the science of time reckoning and art of calendar construction – was a subject of intense concern to medieval people. Bede’s The Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione) was the first comprehensive treatise on this subject, and the model and reference for all subsequent teaching, discussion and criticism of the Christian calendar. The Reckoning of Time is a systematic exposition of the Julian solar calendar and the Paschal table of Dionysius Exiguus, with their related formulae for calculating dates. Bede sets calendar lore within a broad scientific framework and a coherent Christian concept of time, and incorporates themes as diverse as the theory of tides and the threat of chiliasm.”

And that pretty much captures the book itself. ☺ Large portions of it were ’pert near incomprehensible to me. A lot if it because the translator kept the original Latin words with no English equivalents. As a result I couldn’t follow the concepts. And I confess, while reading many of Bede’s explanations, I felt like I was lost in a labyrinth.

BUT, the comprehensible parts were awesome! He obviously had a vibrant faith and it was his intent to apply the faith to every are of life. And he was not alone, he was building on the works of many other brothers. The church fathers wrote extensively in an attempt to understand the world around them from the perspective of the faith. We dismiss this today and assume they were so childish in their understanding both of the faith and the world around them. WRONG! In addition, we are told that Christians believed the world was flat until either Columbus. I don’t know if anyone believed it was flat, or if they based it on the Bible, but Bede knew the world was round: he says, not like a shield, but like a ball. And he quotes others, both Christian and pagan, who knew this.

I liked his explanation of day: ‎"Day is air which is lit up by the Sun, and derives it name from the fact that it separates and divides the darkness... But properly speaking, a day comprises 24 hours, that is, a circuit of the Sun lighting up the entire globe. The Sun always and everywhere carries the daylight around with itself."

And his comments about the night: "The seven parts of the night: dusk is uncertain light, that is, between light and darkness; eventide is when the star of the same name appears; the first part of the night is when everything is hushed, that is, silent; dead of night is midnight, when, in thte deep sleep of peace, there is no time for activity for any creature; cock-crow is when the rooster lifts up its song; early morning is between the departure of darkness and the arrival of dawn; and daybreak is when a bit of light first appears. Dawn lasts until sunrise."

I also found his ideas of the Ages of the World interesting (and once again, he was not original, all the fathers accepted some version of this). He says there are eight ages of the world. There are six ages of this world, and he was firmly convinced that the years mentioned in the Bible were literal. So convinced of this that he dated each event in the Bible and the world by its years from creation. In the year 3952 from Creation, “In the forty-second year of Caesar Augustus, and the twenty-seventh after the death of Cleopatra and Antony, when Egypt was turned into a province, in the third year of the one hundred and ninety-third Olympiad, in the seven hundred and fifty-second from the foundation of the City [Rome], that is to say, the year in which the movements of all the peoples throughout the world were held in check, and by God’s decree Caesar established genuine and unshakeable peace, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hallowed the Sixth Age of the world by His coming.” Amen.

The Eight Age of the World comes after the second coming, the resurrection, and the day of judgment. “This eighth day will so follow upon the preceding seven, that it will not have other days following it of which it will be the first, but it alone will abide, one and unending, in the eternal light. Hence, the prophet, thirsting for the vision of that day, rightly called it “one”, saying, better is one day in thy courts than a thousand.” Amen!


When I first discovered this book, I wanted to buy it. Then it was $40-60, for a used book. The problem was locating one. Now a search reveals that a used edition is $160+! Could it be that my searches caused the value to rise? Hope not. Would I buy this book? Yes – for $40-60. But not for $160!!

A Double Wow! in Zechariah

At the end of May I wrote a post about something a brother said about Zechariah 11. You can read that here. A short time later, I decided that when I finished reading Luke I would read Zechariah. And I did. And I got to tell ya, Zechariah opens with a bang!

First Wow
1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Verse 3 is a ‘Wow!’ verse. What a sweet promise! Turn to me and I will turn to you.

As I marveled at the amazing grace displayed in this verse, I began to think, “What did it mean for them to turn to the Lord? and what did the Lord mean by He would turn to them? It seems simple enough to me. For them, to turn to the Lord meant first, in their hearts they would turn to Him, look to Him, seek and call upon Him to save and restore them (after all, they were in Babylonian captivity), and second, they would frame their doings to please Him, that is, they would begin to obey His Word and follow His ways. God says that if they do that He will then turn to them, meaning, as He had been against them to send them into captivity, He would now be for them, bless them, restore them to their land and His presence and promises and purposes. I believe that’s a fair summary and I think the rest of the book bears this out. God is saying, “I want to bless and restore you, I want to be for you and not against you, turn to me and I will do this.” Amazing promise! Every time I read these words and think about this, I get excited. I wish someone had put this to music! I wish I could make a song out of this!

Second Wow
As I meditated further on this wonderful verse, I got to wondering about the relationship of turn to me and I will turn to you and the Gospel, specifically repentance. Does this describe or illustrate repentance? Since I can get around in Greek a whole lot better than Hebrew, I examined it in the LXX (Greek translation of the OT). And, this will probably not surprise anyone who knows me, I looked at every occurrence in both the Old Testament and the New and had another Wow! moment.

Let me just summarize what I discovered:

† The word ‘turn’ occurs often in both Testaments. The basic and literal meaning is to change directions, and it carries this into it’s use in a spiritual sense.

† It is not a synonym for repent. It is something additional, something more. In fact, it is used with repent, as in

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out… [be converted sounds passive, but this is an active imperative, just like repent ye]

Acts 11:21 …and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

† It is a more comprehensive term than repent, it includes repentance and faith, but also more.

† This is the word used to describe people coming to Christ, ‘they turned to the Lord.’

What’s the wow in all this? Just this, so often we reduce becoming a Christian to a simple matter or moment of faith – “Repeat this prayer after me” or, in the extreme easy believism of our day, “If you want to be a Christian, raise your hand. I see that hand – you’re in!” But the prophets and the apostles talked about ‘turning to the Lord.’ Turning your heart to believe in and call upon the Lord, of course, but also a determination to follow Jesus. Turning to God and away from idols and sin. In other words, that old fashioned and more robust word conversion.

Acts 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

Acts 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

That was the Wow!

What an awesome promise:

Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, 

and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Our kayaking misadventure

Last Monday, Mary and I set out to go kayaking. Since we didn’t get away until around 3 pm we headed to the dam. 

When you go to the dam boat ramp, you see the dam on your right. Straight ahead is Fewell Island. The main course of the river goes to the left of the island and there is a smaller path to the right, between the island and the mainland. The island and the mainland here are mostly the property of Camp Canaan. When you put in here and plan to take out at the same spot, usually you make a course around the island. That’s what we planned. You can see a map here.

First thing we noticed was the water level was way up! Obviously, they had recently released water from the lake. Probably because of the heavy rains the day before. The water was up, the current was fast. We had to decide whether to go in or not, since coming back we would have to fight the current. It was at this point that I made my first mistake. I figured that by the time we got to the end of the island and started back, the water flow would have slowed. But, alas, it didn’t seem to.

We went down a ways, tested it, thought it was ok, so we proceeded. I think about halfway down the island, Mary began to have some concerns about being able to paddle back against the current. So we turned around and headed back. And sure enough, it was tough going. I’ve done this a few times and it is tough, but it is fun to pit your strength against the current. But Mary wasn’t making much progress against the current. So I suggested she pull over to the shore and wait while I paddled back to the landing and got some rope from the jeep. Which I did. I got the rope and came back to where she was. (She had made some more progress toward the dam by this time.)

I attached the rope to both kayaks so I could help pull her and we set off. Let me tell you, that’s not smooth paddling! But we were making progress.

As we got nearer the dam I thought it might be helpful if we broke up our trip back and made a couple of stops so we could rest. We stopped first at a grassy area. After a minute or two I made my second mistake of the day – I pointed to the point of the island and said, “Let’s go there and take a breather. Then we can head for the take out behind that little island (between the point of Fewell Island and the dam).” We made it to the point and stopped to rest. I moved forward so Mary could hold on to a tree branch. Suddenly, the water was turbulent and my kayak started twisting and no amount of paddling worked to control it. Next thing I knew, I was in the water! The kayak smacked my forehead and I thought my glasses had come off. But they hadn’t. (They haven’t fit right since, but that’s another story!) And I still had my paddle in my hand – I have been knocked out of my kayak twice, and both times held on to my paddle. I looked behind and there was Mary’s turned over kayak. But no Mary!

Mary was still holding on to a tree branch. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her. She was calling out to me, a little concerned about being kayak-less in the river. I flipped the kayaks and got back into mine. I said, “Mary, let go of the branch. You can swim.” After a couple of encouragements she let go and floated down to where I was. We were back at the grassy area and she got back into her kayak. But she had lost her paddle. I took a quick look and there it was! Just a short way away. We retrieved it and took further stock: she had lost her t-shirt and shoes, and we both lost our water bottles. I looked down river and saw one water bottle, but decided it wasn’t worth it. ☺ We headed back toward the take out and made it.

Despite the excitement, it was fun. Pitting ourselves against the river and making it. And this is one of the things I like about kayaking/canoeing: When you get on the river and get in a fix, it’s up to you to get yourself out of it. And that’s what we did. It was fun and we praise the Lord for our safety.

But, I have reached a decision. Every time I put in at the dam planned to take out at the dam, they have released water, which makes it (very) difficult to get back. One other time, when I went out by myself, I made it to the same point and had to pull my kayak out of the river and wait for the water to subside! My decision? From now on, when we put in at the dam, it will be a one way trip!

On Parenting

I recently had a brief discussion with someone about an article that we both had read. They suggested that we differed on some parenting principles. That got me thinking about the parenting philosophy and principles that guided us as we raised our children. And we definitely had some! I can’t recall all the influences and helps we had along the way, but one was the book, The Christian Family by Larry Christenson. But what all these folks provided was teaching on the biblical truths concerning the family and practical help on applying them. 

The foundation is this, Children are a Blessing from God:
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.  
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Therefore, we were and are grateful for every one of our girls.

And we believed Malachi 2:15 (And did not he make one? …And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed) to mean that the goal in raising these beautiful children was to raise them to be a godly seed, and that God had given instructions for that.

Such as Deuteronomy 6:6-7:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
I believe this passage tells us three things: 1) the Word is to be in your heart, 2) you are to diligently teach this Word to your children, 3) this is to be done in the most natural ways, applying the Word to everyday life and living (sit, walk etc)

Then Paul admonishes us in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.  
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)  
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.  
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.  
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

I believe it is the job of every parent is to teach their children to obey and honor their parents and thus find the blessing of God. This is a hard job and we often lose sight of the goal and parenting becomes a war between parent and child. That’s why he also has a word for the parents. And notice, he addresses the fathers. We believed the Bible teaches the father is responsible for the teaching and training of the children. And to fathers he gives a two-fold instruction: 1) don’t provoke your children (by being harsh, unfair, unloving and generally overly hard on them), lest they be discouraged; and 2) bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hear are some great thoughts on nurture
“The whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment). It also includes the training and care of the body, and also cultivates the soul, by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.” Thayer

Then there is Proverbs 22:6,  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And this is how we looked at this:
“The Hebrew of this clause is curious: "Initiate the child at the opening (the mouth) of his path." When he comes to the opening of the way of life, being able to walk alone, and to choose; stop at this entrance, and begin a series of instructions, how he is to conduct himself in every step he takes. Show him the duties, the dangers, and the blessings of the path; give him directions how to perform the duties, how to escape the dangers, and how to secure the blessings, which all lie before him. Fix these on his mind by daily inculcation, till their impression is become indelible; then lead him to practice by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, till each indelible impression becomes a strongly radicated habit. Beg incessantly the blessing of God on all this teaching and discipline; and then you have obeyed the injunction of the wisest of men.

The word which we translate train up or initiate, signifies also dedicate…Dedicate, therefore, in the first instance, your child to God; and nurse, teach, and discipline him as God's child, whom he has entrusted to your care."  Adam Clarke

And then there is that matter of discipline. We felt that we were blessed with these children and that God expected us to disciple them to become followers of Jesus. One small part of that is punishment and the Bible speaks to that as well (Proverbs 13:24, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15). We understood there were two truths that guided all this: Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Discipline or chastisement is one of the ways of correcting this.

These were some of the principles that guided us as we raised our girls. Now, of course, the question is, How did we do? Have you noticed that I haven’t mentioned any failings on my part? That’s because all you have to do is ask my children and they will gladly tell you - they seem to take special delight in reciting them ☺ Nonetheless, they have all grown up to be productive citizens, and most of them are now parents themselves – of some extraordinarily beautiful children I might add.

As I said at the beginning, our goal was to be obedient to the Lord and apply the principles and truths of His Word. Would I do anything different? Well, I wouldn’t fail as much. And I would pray more. Otherwise, the principles are sound, it is the vessel that was unfit. And in the end we are cast upon the mercy and grace of God.

The inestimable cost of sin

We all know Christians who have fallen into sin. I have heard people fretting about them, “They’re going to get away with _______.” The unstated idea is, “I live right and do everything the right way . .. . and they live like this and get away with it.” I have always been astounded at this thinking and believe it says a lot about the maker of the statement. But let’s consider this idea of “getting away” with sin.

There are many ways to approach this, but I will take just one, simply a few verses from Psalm 51. This is “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” So he had sinned big time. In 1-9 he asks God for His forgiving mercy, then says:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.  

Behold how awful are the consequences of sin for the believer! It affects the heart, the spirit, the presence of God, and joy.

Create in me a clean heart – “Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted.” “Out of [the heart] are the issues of life”. Sin is not just a little drop of water, it is like mustard or blueberry or oil on nice, white cloth. It gets in the fabric. It is so hard to get it out, and the more you rub it the deeper it goes and the farther it spreads! A ruinous stain.

and renew a right spirit within me – “a constant, steady, determined spirit; no longer bound and degraded by the sinfulness of sin.” This is “the deceitfulness of sin:” it promises one thing but delivers only bondage and degradation.

Cast me not away from thy presence – Whatever your view of eternal security (whether the right one or the other one!), this much is without a doubt certain, Living in sin has an impact on the presence of God in your life. You lose the presence of God, or the blessed sense of His presence. In addition, sin usually impacts your relationship with other believers, the Church, and when you stop assembling with the saints you lose that measure of the presence of God as well. One of the saddest statements in the Bible is made concerning Samson. It looked like Samson really was getting away with sin: he had the anointing of the Spirit while at the same time he was living in sin. Then one day he was waylaid by the Philistines and we read, And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD was departed from him. Behold the deceitfulness of sin, the awfulness of sin: “he knew not that the LORD was departed from him.”

And take not thy Holy Spirit from me – “I know I have sufficiently grieved it to justify its departure for ever, in consequence of which I should be consigned to the blackness of darkness, - either to utter despair, or to a hard heart and seared conscience; and so work iniquity with greediness, till I fall into the pit of perdition. While the Spirit stays, painfully convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment, there is hope of salvation; when it departs, then the hope of redemption is gone. But while there is any godly sorrow, any feeling of regret for having sinned against God, any desire to seek mercy, then the case is not hopeless; for these things prove that the light of the Spirit is not withdrawn.”

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation – “This is an awful prayer. And why? Because it shows he once Had the joy of God's salvation; and had Lost it by sin!”

And uphold me with thy free spirit – “Prop me up; support me with a princely spirit, one that will not stoop to a mean or base act.”

Does it look like David is “getting away” with anything? This is the inestimable cost of sin. How do you count this? How do you measure this? When you see a brother or sister fall into sin don’t fret, “Oh great, they get to have God and sin. They get everything.” The truth is, they get nothing. They lose what they had. When you fall into sin you lose with the Lord and the pleasures of sin are only for a season. What should you do when you see someone falling into sin? If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. Everything should be bathed in this prayer.


It seems to me that there are two requests in this Psalm: forgive my sin and restore me. That is, restore to me what I had with you – presence, clean heart, right spirit, joy, and ministry - before this sin. Was his prayer answered?

Forgive my sin – I have always been told that Psalm 51 is the confession of his sin and Psalm 32 is the answer. And in Psalm 32 he wrote / sang,
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. 
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; 
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.  Amen.

Or as in another Psalm:
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. And again I say, Amen.

Restore me – but was he restored? Was David restored to his pre-sin heart and ministry? His desire was, Restore unto me . . . then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Did he see that? I confess, I struggle with this.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.  

We used to sing this and you can too. Go here.

Hawai’i

Three words come to mind when thinking of Hawai’i: perfect, paradise, home. 

Perfect
Is Hawai’i perfect? It is a great place, a beautiful place, but clearly not perfect. There is crime, and drug abuse, and poverty. Any place with problems is obviously not perfect.

Paradise
Is Hawai’i paradise? It is often portrayed as such. But, No, it isn't. Paradise is the presence of God and Hawai’i now is no more in the presence of God than any other place on the planet. Besides, there is sickness and death in Hawai’i, and, despite the aloha spirit, there are bad attitudes as well – just ask any haole, pake, grunt, papolo, or potagee!

Home
Hawai’i may not be perfect or paradise, but is it home? Again, I have to say, No. “Home” is that city “which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Besides, I have grandchildren and I need to be near them!

All this being said, Hawai’i is in a real sense home to me, the place where I’m from, the place that defined and shaped me like no other earthly place. I am Hawaiian in my heart. I fly the flag. Literally. And I will never forget where I’m from! Just listen to my heart.

And I wear aloha shirts all the time. Notice, I said aloha shirts, not Hawaiian shirts. That's what we call 'em. I've been wearing aloha shirts since I was Tiernan's age. No big deal, braddah: aloha shirt, shorts, zoris; all da time. By the way, zoris are what mainlanders call flip-flops.

I watch Magnum P.I. and (the original) Hawaii Five-O so I can see places I been. And Hawaii Five-0, despite it's obvious efforts to be 60's hip, shows more local flavor than Magnum. And did I mention that my sister was on an episode? I knew it but never saw it until this year. And she solved the case!! So cool. I'm almost a celebrity.

So, Hawai'i. Home. If only I could manage to get my ohana to move there!

Shhhhhaka braddah!