Eternal Perspective

E is for eternal perspective. Eternal perspective changes everything. If our minds are set on this earth and an earthly perspective, we will accumulate stuff and avoid losses at all cost. Any loss will be devastating.

It was eternal perspective that helped us the most as we walked through the intensely difficult experience of losing our middle son. When we were in the depths of despair, realizing we would never again see our son on this earth, God reminded us that we would have eternity together with him in God's presence.

One of the most profound movie lines comes from The Gladiator when Maximus says, "What we do here echoes in eternity."

Someone else once compared this life on earth to a dot and eternity to a line that continues on and on and on with no end. And what we do in the dot, the decisions we make, determine what eternity will be like for us. As we tried to get our minds around this concept of eternity, it dawned on me that the length of our lifetime here on earth is relatively insignificant whether it is a day, a year, twenty years or a hundred years. It is still like a dot compared to the ongoing line of eternity.

Some who read this may scoff, thinking that we are just fooling ourselves and that what exists here and now, the things we can see and touch, are the only reality. But there is spiritual reality that will exist for eternity even though we cannot see it at the moment.

The book of I John in chapter 5 verses 11 and 12 states: "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." The writer wanted his readers to have the absolute certainty of a life for eternity with God and made it very clear that that was only available to us through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Our son John wrote this in his journal just 6 days before he disappeared:

Most importantly, I’m a child of God and I know where I’m going – I just need help finding out what to do in the meanwhile.

Without a shadow of a doubt he was sure of his eternal destination and for him, life here on earth was a temporary habitation. What a difference that makes in the way we look at life, death, relationships, losses - virtually every aspect of life.

My prayer is that I would live my life with the perspective of eternity each and every day. What about you?

The Ditch and Disappeared

D is for the Ditch and for Disappeared. One of the places a team of searchers looked when our son disappeared in November of 1999 was the Ditch. The Ditch is located in the Kohala Mountains. It was built in 1905 and is a vast network of flumes and ditches, measuring 22 miles in length, and was originally used as a surface irrigation system to distribute water to the sugar cane fields.

At the turn of the last century, there were seven independent plantations cultivating approximately 10,000 acres of sugar cane in the Big Island's district of North Kohala. It takes a ton of water to produce one pound of refined sugar. Because of the drought that plagued the area at that time, some of the plantations were receiving only 15 to 25 inches of rain per year. As a result, yields were low, putting the plantations in financial jeopardy. The solution to the problem seemed simple: transport water from the verdant valleys, where rainfall averaged 150 to 300 inches a year, to the dry plains where the cane fields were located. Engineers evaluated the feasibility of such an irrigation system and recommended against it due to heavy rainfall, rough terrain and unstable soil conditions.

Nevertheless, John Hind, one of the plantation owners, decided to proceed. He found an investor in Sam Parker, the grandson of John Parker (founder of Parker Ranch), who contributed about half of the $695,000 cost of the ditch. The balance of the money came from Hind and a few other entrepreneurs.

The group hired M.M. O'Shaughnessy, a noted civil and hydraulic engineer, to design and oversee the construction of the system. O'Shaughnessy hired 600 men, most of whom were Japanese immigrants, and work began in 1905. At the 1,050-foot elevation in often cold, wet, windy conditions, the laborers used dynamite, picks, shovels, hammers, chisels and their bare hands to painstakingly dig an average of 350 feet through the mountains each 12-hour workday. They lined the tunnels' walls with hand-cut rock and grout, and stabilized the ceilings with concrete.The project took 18 months and the loss of 17 lives.

When it was completed, the Kohala Ditch was hailed as an engineering marvel and received widespread acclaim.

The Ditch was later used by ranches, farms, and homes. A section of the Kohala ditch, which diverted water from Honokane Valley to the sugar cane fields of the North Kohala district, ran along the sides of Pololu Valley. Hikes to and in the ditch were offered by a tour company. A portion of the ditch became a tourist attraction called "Flumin' Da Ditch" offering kayak tours down old Kohala Ditch water flumes, used originally by sugar plantations to transport freshly cut cane. The cane would be cut on higher elevation lands and tossed into the flumes, which would carry the cane down slope to sugar mills on the coast. The flumes fell out of use as large trucks became more prevalent and began to be used to transport cane. Flumin' Da Ditch functioned as a tourist attraction until the flumes and the Ditch were damaged by the 2006 Hawaii earthquake.

After the earthquake in October 2006, the owners of the Kohala Ditch – the Surety Kohala Corporation – finished an evaluation of the damage to, and future safety of, the “Ditch.” They determined that they could not repair the ditch to allow the flumin' the ditch tours to continue safely so the tours have been discontinued. Over 150,000 people in the 10 years prior had enjoyed this 22-mile (35 km) kayaking tour down the old irrigation ditches.

As I understand it, the Ditch was repaired sufficiently by 2008 to once again provide irrigation water for the macadamia nut orchards and other farming ventures in North Kohala. But the structural damage to the Ditch was too extensive to be able to repair it enough to make it safe for tourist ventures.

We had the opportunity in 2004 to hike along the Ditch trail that lined the sides of Pololu, the same trail our son took in 1999 when he disappeared. It was an awesome experience and we could understand why he chose to hike that trail. The breathtaking waterfalls, the jungle growth that reminded him of his home in the Amazon jungle, the stream from which the Ditch received its water, the precipices - everything was awesome.

But he disappeared - never to be seen again.

Do you know anyone who has disappeared? Or did you have the privilege of "Flumin' Da Ditch" when it was still in operation?

Captain Cook

Captain Cook is a well known figure in the history of Hawaii. Although he is credited with discovering the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, that is only from a European perspective. In reality some very brave and adventurous navigators who possibly originated from Fiji, navigated their way in canoes across the Pacific until they came to the beautiful Hawaiian Islands and settled there.

The Polynesians had chanted geneologies going back to creation and stories telling of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the great flood, Abraham, their ancestor and their migration from the middle east to India to the islands of the South Pacific and from there to the Hawaiian Islands that were so similar to the Garden from which their ancestors had been expelled.

These original Hawaiians worshipped 'Io the 'Most High God' who was a benevolent and loving creator. But they did not remember Him well, nor did they know about His Son Jesus. But they had prophecies that had been passed down by the priests of 'Io that the day would come when the knowledge of the true God would return and that would come via a ship with "white wings." That ship would bring a book that would teach them about their true creator God and would set them free from the "Nats" (demons).

Captain Cook's arrival fulfilled some of their prophecies, but not all of them. They initially considered him a deity. But when he set sail and then returned to repair a broken mast, his return was unwelcome and resulted in fights between the Europeans and the Hawaiians. Captain Cook was killed in one of those fights. There is some controversy as to whether the Hawaiians did indeed deify Captain Cook and then took his life when they realized he was not a god. Nevertheless, the Hawaiians continued to wait for the fulfillment of their prophecies.

What do you know about the true history of Hawaii? Is your knowledge based upon the errant "facts" from Michner's historical novel, Hawaii? Find out more about the true history of the Hawaiian people.

Get ready for future posts.

This week:
Monday - Captain Cook
Tuesday - the Ditch
Wednesday - Eternity
Thursday - Friends and Family
Friday - Gratitude
Saturday - Hope, Hilo and Heiau

Big Island

The Big Island of Hawaii is the largest of the eight major islands that make up the state of  Hawaii. The state counts a total of 137 islands including Midway which isn't technically part of the state. Only seven of the eight major islands are populated.

There are approximately 20 of the world's 26 climatic zones found on the Big Island. You can go from desert to savannah to subtropical to tropical rainforest in no time at all. On all of our visits to Hawaii we have been impressed by the non-commercial nature of the Big Island. On our last visit we still found roadside fruit and vegetable stands that were completely unattended, leaving to the honor system the exchange of cash for produce. It had a neighborhood atmosphere that was appealing to us and made us feel right at home unlike Oahu which had much more of a cosmopolitan feel.

Our first visit to the Big Island was December of 1999. Our son John had gone in September to work as an intern there and we kept promising him that we would be coming out to see Hawaii while he was there. Unfortunately, our visit was to try to find him, not to visit him. In that process of searching for him we grew to love the Big Island and its inhabitants.

We've had the privilege of returning to the Big Island twice since then and each time has been special. On one of those occasions we had the opportunity to take a spin around Oahu as well.

Have you ever visited the Big Island? What did you like best about it?

The meaning of Aloha

Aloha is a word that means so much more than simply "hello" or "goodbye." The Hawaiian dictionary translates "aloha" as love, affection, compassion, mercy, sympathy, pity, kindness, grace, charity and beloved.

Daniel Kikawa states in his book Perpetuated in Righteousness that "aloha is the Hawaiian word for God's unconditional love; what the Greek Bible calls agape." In addition he says, "Aloha means literally, 'The Spirit of the Son of God.'"

So the next time you say or hear the word "aloha" think about its profound meaning. That is why we chose to give our book the title, Aloha is Forever.

What does "aloha" mean to you?