I Heart Sleep

Sometimes I sleep because I love it so much.  Naps in the middle of the day.  Sleeping in and staying in bed in the morning.  Going to bed early with nothing better to do.

Sometimes I sleep because I am so tired.  Almost like a passing out.  Comatose.  Fall on my pillow and out like a light.  It is in this state of sleep where I sleep talk.  I have even been known to sleep walk.  My phone has also been known to butt-dial people.  This state of sleep will most often end in the classic drool on pillow.

Then sometimes I sleep to pass the time.  Looking forward to the next day.  During sleep, time seems to fly by in the blink of an eye.  Lie in bed, fall asleep, wake up 8 hours later.  In these anticipated times of sleep I dream the most exciting dreams.  I always look forward to dreams like these where I can be somewhere I'd rather be.  Looking forward to the future.

Moral of the story:  Sam Loves Sleep
Goodnight

Into A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day...

"Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who preformed great exploits. ...He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. ...He was held in greater honor than any of the thirty, ...and David put him in charge of his bodyguard." (2 Samuel 23:20-23)

Imagine facing a lion head on.  Imagine a 500 pound animal looking at you and the only thing it is thinking about is eating you.  Imagine now instead of running away you give chase.  Now this animal begins to run and you chase it into a pit.  This pit is not only the new home to a 500 pound man-eating animal and you, but is covered in snow causing the ground to give way and lose all traction.  This is the basis of a quick story most miss in the pages of the Bible.  I have been learning so much through this quick passage.

How many times do I turn the other way when challenges face me?  How many times do I choose to not take that leap of faith?  How many times do I regret not taking that risk?  When that lion comes face to face with me, I will chase it and take that risk.  Become a lion chaser.

Love is...

Patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not rude or self-seeking, blah, blah, blah...

Words are pretty and they often sound so good.  We can formulate sentences and thoughts that sound pleasing to other people.  We can remember scripture that tells us what love is, but what is true love?  How can I experience, share, give this love.  Where is the love?

In trying times I feel overwhelmed with emotions and wonder if these emotions are something from within or just a product of my surroundings.  Love can be downplayed so easily in our world through fleeting words and careless conversations.  If I can clarify things a little, I'm not sure anyone can completely express true love to another person.  I think love is something from above, God is love and to experience love is to experience his grace and power.

As mere humans, we can attempt to love people as God loves us, but in our faults we will often fail.  The only true way (as I am learning in the past couple of days) to love someone is to look at them through God's eyes.  See that person as God would, through the shortcomings and failures.  Only in this way can we even attempt to love in God's capacity.

Thanks for being faithful.  Thanks for sharing your heart.

Tsunami came and tsunami went

5:00 am wake up call.
5:30am gas station run to fill up the STN vehicles
6:00am still sitting in the gas station line.  Hawaii State Civil Defense sirens went off.
6:30am meeting in the bar with STN peeps.  What are we doing today?
8:00am Skype time to talk with loved ones
10:00am second meeting in the bar with STN peeps.  Lots of meetings lots of praying for Chile
11:20am watched news on the internet for updates and live footage of the tsunami hitting Hilo
11:50am still watching news.  Some wave activity, nothing spectacular
12:20pm third meeting in the bar with STN peeps.  Tsunami looks like it will be nothing major
1:00pm went to Kamehameha Ho'olaulea for food.  Tsunami warnings are going to be called off
3:00pm all tsunami warnings have been called off.  Praise the Lord.

Pray for Chile

Images: Hawaii Effects Of The Tsunami - Photos - KITV Honolulu

Moloka'i no ka 'oi

In a blink of an eye, my time on the small island of Molokai was over.  This trip was highlighted by the Freedom Skate Contest, but there were many other awesome moments.  Our team served the community here on Molokai over the past 2 weeks through yard work and other odd jobs: weeding, lawn trimming, killing wasps, and planting trees.  We worked down at Kalaupapa, the Drop-in Center in Kaunakakai, several churches around the island, and even out at Mo'omomi planting native Wiliwili trees.

The greatest part about all the yard work was getting to know the people we were serving.  One of our friends from Molokai asked if we would be willing to help out his father's family's house.  After working in their house and cleaning up their yard, the family invited us to spend the day with them and their relatives on the beach.  We barbequed fish and venison, things that they had caught.  It was an amazing opportunity to be invited into someone's family, especially a local family inviting a group of non-locals into their house.  Truly a clash of cultures.

Freedom Skate Contest 2010

This weekend was jam packed with so much things going on.  We held the 2nd annual Freedom Skate Contest on Molokai this past Saturday.  It was so much fun and a lot bigger than last year's contest, there were 34 contestants.

As the person who was planning this contest, I am now relieved to have finished it.  Not that I am glad it is over, because the contest was amazing.  But the pressure of planning the event, making sure things go according to plan, organizing and carrying out everything is now finished.  I know that I lack certain leadership skills like organization, that's why I had to take extra precaution to make sure this contest was organized and planned properly.

Everything did go smoothly and I was stoked to see how motivated and enthusiastic the kids were.  They were so excited from last year and most of them improved.  Last year there were some kids who couldn't even skateboard.  Rolling around the park was the best trick they could do.  But this year they were dropping in to the ramps, grinding rails, and launching bigger airs than I could even imagine myself doing.  I was excited for them.

Wish you were here.  It was a lot of fun.  Shoots!!!

Divison 1 Finalist

Division 2 Finalist

Division 3 Finalist

I like to do the dance they do to the Molokai Slide...

I like the sand spreading out to the sea, I like the tropical moon and the lazy palm tree.

Just got in to Molokai yesterday morning, and just like the song says "there's no place I'd rather be." After 2 days I have fell in love with this place.  It's more of the people and atmosphere than the place itself.  The land and ocean looks all to similar to Oahu.  It's the laid back feeling and the island style that really gets to me.

We have our skate contest that we are planning.  It will take place this Saturday which is only a couple of days away.  Normally, in a moment like this, I would be stressing out and rushing to get everything figured out.  All the who, what, where, when, and whys would be flying around in my head.  But in Molokai, it is so hard to stress out.  You really have to try to stress out here.  It's a nice change of pace to put worry on hold and just sit back and enjoy life.  Cause life is happening all around me.  God will put everything together according to His plan, we just have to be faithful.  "Do not worry about anything."

As I head of to bed I can just imagine what it must be like to live in a place like this.  The town has everything that you need and the land has everything else you could ask for.

Stay tuned for some live updates from the 2nd annual Freedom Skate Contest this Saturday.