A Reminder For This Special Day. Happy Easter!

The Loss of a Friend

On Saturday, February 28th, I and America heard of the passing of someone who has been considered a friend for a long time. Paul Harvey, that all too familiar voice on radio, went home to be with his bride Angel. I'm sure she was there to welcome him home. Paul Harvey seemed like a friend to me, ever since I remember listening to him on WABC-AM 770 through the kitchen radio every morning as I was eating breakfast and getting ready to go to school. "Hello again, America! I'm Paul Harvey--standby for news." It was a voice of trust and assurance that millions of us have listened to lo these many years. But that is what a friend is--someone whom you can trust to tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear, and say it in such a way that is always inviting, and cannot be ignored. He loved what he did and knew all too well the magnitude of responsibility that had been entrusted to him. Never had he misused or abused that privilege, but made sure that what he said was with authority, and with heart. Sometimes he would sneak in a chuckle with a "For what it's worth..." anecdotal story such as:

Ed Ruffing reports in the Utica, New York, Observer-Dispatch
Burglars in suburban Marcy were carrying the TV set from the house down the driveway when the next-door neighbor called out:
"Hey, are you going to fix her television set?"
And the burglars called back, "Yes."
And the neighbor asked, "Mine needs fixing, could you take it too?"
And the burglars said, "Be glad too."
And they did.

Paul Harvey, Good Day!

Everyday listening to Paul Harvey was a good day. I shall miss his voice and his heart. It would be really great if someday, his son Paul Aurandt would put together a CD library of some of his dad's broadcasts. I would definitely treasure them.

Thank you Paul Harvey! Good Day!

Unusual Weather We're Having

This has been an unusual winter in Hawaii. Having lived here for more than 11.5 years, I have never experienced a winter quite like this. I have gone through 4 blackouts here in the Olomana community in Kailua because of lightning, high winds, and lots of rain. Whew! Oh well, I am sure that my buds on the mainland would have preferred what was happening here than going through the bitter cold and snow.

So, here's an explanation as to why we have been experiencing this unusual weather:

Hawaii has been hit with some unusual weather lately. On top of recent reports of hail, a tornado hit Lanai at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Traylor Brother’s company reported one of its construction trailers was destroyed and two others were lifted off their foundation at the Kau-mala-pau Harbor.

Serena Kaldi, 18, from Kaneohe, was born and raised in Hawaii and said the heavy dose of wintry weather has caught her by surprise.

“Every other day it seems to be like thunderstorms and lightning,” she said. “At home, thunder was shaking my house and I’ve never seen it like this before.”

Andy Rodriguez, 63, however, said he’s seen the rainy conditions plenty of times.

“It’s always rained here,” Rodriguez said.

KITV 4 News’ Dan Meisenzahl spoke with one weather expert to bring some light to the unusual weather.

“In normal times, it would come for a day or two, then move out,” said Nezette Rydell, with the
National Weather Service. “For a number of reasons, globally this winter, the pattern has remained static, and this low-pressure system is not moving out.”

Rydell said the persistent low-pressure system northwest of the islands is causing the strange conditions.

“It is creating more instability in the atmosphere, allowing the thunderstorms to grow to sizes and heights that we don’t normally see in Hawaii,” Rydell said.

Rydell said the conditions would stay around until next week.

2009 New Year's Prayer

A NEW YEAR’S PRAYER FOR OUR NATION--- 2009


Lord God, maker of all that is good, and true and beautiful, all that is right, and righteous, and holy, all that is giving and forgiving and merciful, we entreat you on this day to have mercy on our nation America.

We confess to you that we have been self-centered, self-seeking, self-indulgent, self-absorbed. Sometimes we have even assumed that we are your favorite people, but Lord in our better moments we know that arrogance and ignorance dull our spiritual senses and cause us to over-estimate our standing with you, over-compensate for our own sense of being a young and inexperienced nation, and over-react to those who would do us harm.

How much of the bounty you have bestowed on us have we wasted in over-indulging ourselves, in greedy pursuits? How much of the largesse you have bequeathed have we wasted on fighting unnecessary wars, alienating both friend and foe, wasting our moral capital on pointless pursuits and vain strivings, all for little or naught. In the eyes of even our allies we need a complete makeover, but more importantly Lord, where do we stand in your eyes? Are you ashamed of your violent children who refuse to trust you and leave vengeance in your hands?
And now Lord we are experiencing correction, economically and otherwise. Help us to receive it as the discipline we need. Help us not to point fingers of blame at others, but ask ourselves--- Is it I Lord? Have I contributed to our being a debtor nation? Have I spent money like there was no tomorrow? Has my capital run through my hands like water through a sieve? Have I built my financial house on sand or on solid rock?

Forgive us Lord our sense of entitlement, our sense that it is ‘owed’ to us, often without hard work, without fulfilling the Genesis mandate. Forgive us for seeking short cuts to success, to wealth, to opulence—gambling, lotteries, and the like. Help us to remember Lord that work is a gift from you, and while ‘the workman is worthy of his hire’, we are not entitled to riches, or early retirement or pension, simply because we have worked hard. Forgive us our dishonesty Lord… for seeking ‘something for nothing’ for seeking compensation without real injury, for seeking good goods for little or no money, and thus driving out of our nation the artisans, the blue collar workers, the furniture makers, the textile experts, and many others. We are reaping what we have sowed Lord, and the fruit is bitter. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves much less loved our enemies, but rather we have loved things more than we have loved people, and so we have used people to get the things we love, rather than the reverse.

And Lord what of our leaders? We remember the stories in Samuel about how Israel got the king that they deserved, rather than the leader that they needed. We ask Lord as we stand on the cusp of a new administration that we will have godly leaders equal to the awesome tasks we face with daunting troubles both at home and abroad. Give us patience with our leaders as they try to dig us out of the enormous holes we have dug ourselves into. Lord, remind us to pray for our leaders even when they exasperate us, perhaps especially when they exasperate us. Give us leaders that promote a culture of life, not death, peace not war, equity not privilege, justice and liberty for all, not just for privileged few. Give us leaders that will appeal to our best and most Christian instincts, not our worst ones, leaders who will make faith rather than fear based decisions about our drastic circumstances.
Lord we do hereby repent of all our sins as individuals and also as a nation, but help us to daily live out that repentance by actually turning away from the very things that made for debt, death, destruction, disaster, and the demise of our nation.
We know you are not finished with us yet, and there may yet be more painful corrections along the way, but Lord we take them all as tokens of your love, for we know you chasten those that you love so deeply, so that our relationship with you will not go forfeit, so that we will seek your face when all else around us is falling apart and the dark clouds loom.

We remember your promise ‘If my people who are called by my name will repent and turn to me….” and we cling to it, like a man clinging to a rope from a helicopter who is being rescued from a raging sea. Lord, teach us to truly put you first in all that we are and all that we have. Teach us the meaning of doing justice, loving loving kindness, and walking humbly with You.

Most of all, Lord, we ask in the New Year that your Son’s image might be better reflected in our demeanors, our behaviors, our beliefs. Lord we ask in the New Year that when the world looks at us, they may get a glimpse of you. And for us Lord we ask that we might see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly every single day of 2009.

In Your Blessed Name we Pray these things,

Amen.

The Bridge

Please go to the website below and watch the video--Mahalo!



http://www.maximumreferrals.com/videos/bridge/bridge.html

One of my Favorite Christmas Hymns

When I was in a junior high school choir, I remember singing the hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel while entering into the auditorium. I was glad I found a sort of treatise about this beautiful hymn which I hope will bless you during this Advent Season.


O Come Again, Emmanuel: An Advent Meditation

Although the author of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” ambled into history as “anonymous,” his poignant song has traveled from 12th century monasteries to modern-day hymnbooks. The mournful melody juxtaposed with the lyrical command to “rejoice” may strike some as peculiar, but for Christians, the song reaffirms our heart’s deep desire for Christ’s return, even in troubling times.

O come, O come, Emmanuel… Whenever we sing this carol, we ask, not once, but twice that Emmanuel come. Perhaps the author who penned these words was so driven by a heartfelt longing for God’s return to earth that he felt he must ask twice for Emmanuel’s advent. Or maybe he wanted to remind us that the Savior would indeed come again. Israel’s cry in the first century was for the Messiah’s first appearance. Two thousand years later, we cry out for His Second Coming.

Emmanuel. God with us. The name that sums up what Christmas means for the believer. It’s not that God simply chose to become a man so that He could feel what it’s like to be in our shoes. Or that we needed a friend in God, and He wanted to be more accessible. God made Himself a servant. The infinite God enclosed Himself in a woman’s womb for nine months. God Himself was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a feeding trough for a bed. God made Himself vulnerable. Picture Jesus, the firstborn above all creation, the one through whom God spoke the creation of the world, sitting on His mother Mary’s lap, learning to read and write! Such mysteries can never be fully explained. But it’s the story of God coming to man – God’s being with us - that lies at the heart of the Christian worldview. O come, O come! God, be with us!

And ransom captive Israel… The Jews were not praying for the Messiah’s appearing as one would hope to see a solar eclipse or desire to witness a fascinating event. They knew that when the Messiah would come, He would ransom captive Israel. Surely, God had seen their mourning in lonely exile under Babylon and now Rome. Their warrior – God’s Representative would soon be on the way. Most Jews looked forward to the day when God would come and put His world to rights, end their exile, fulfill His promises and rescue His people. But those events would not transpire until the Son of God appeared.

Rejoice! Oppressed and languishing in a spiritual state of exile, first-century Jews could still cry out with expectation and hope, Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel! Like a prisoner who weeps when he discovers he will soon be pardoned, Israel could rejoice through the tears of exile, because they knew their God to be a God who keeps His word, One who always fulfills all He has promised His people.

O Come, Thou Dayspring! The second verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” although not as well-known as the first, communicates our longing for the Messiah’s return. Just as the morning star serves as a sign that morning has broken, so Jesus’ first advent stands as a “flash-forward” of God’s glorious future for His people. Now, we await the return of the Day-Spring.

Come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here. We are comforted in knowing that the coming Day of the Lord will be one of judgment. Many today deny such notions of wrath and judgment when it comes to God and instead emphasize only His mercy and love. We should instead take comfort in knowing we serve a just God – who in His justice will one day right all wrongs, overturn the tables of human “justice” and tyranny and declare His judgment on rebellious humanity. On that day, all who are “in the Messiah” will be spared His wrath. Not only will Christians be spared, we will be vindicated. God will uphold His people with His strong and powerful arm, and yes, our spirits will truly be cheered by His advent.

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night. We await the noonday sun of the new creation that God has promised. The sin that clouds our hope and distorts our view of truth will cease to exist. All creation groans in anticipation of God’s healing hand and swift justice – the moment when the clouds of night will dissipate in light of the returning King Jesus.

And death’s dark shadows, put to flight! Jesus did not only defeat sin and evil; He conquered the greatest enemy to God’s good creation – death itself. We await the Final Resurrection – the moment when the dark shadows of death will be put to flight forever and there will be no more pain, crying, sorrow, shame, or death. But God will not only end future death. All past death will be reversed! God will raise up the remains of our earthly bodies, transform them into the likeness of His Son’s resurrected body, and we will inhabit His new world for the rest of eternity.

Rejoice! Thus we can, even two thousand years later, through the tears and pain of suffering in this broken world, proclaim Rejoice! Rejoice! Yes indeed, Emmanuel will come again to thee, O Israel. People of God, rejoice! The long night of exile will not last long. The Morning Star has risen in the sky. The dawn will soon break and night will be over forever. This Christmas season, with one voice, may Christians everywhere join together in song: O Come again, Emmanuel!

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer-Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Lord, so often times, as any other day
When we sit down to our meal and pray

We hurry along and make fast the blessing
Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing

We're slaves to the olfactory overload
We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold

But Lord, I'd like to take a few minute more
To really give thanks to what I'm thankful for

For my family, my health, a nice soft bed
My friends, my freedom, a roof over my head

I'm thankful right now to be surrounded by those
Whose lives touch me more than they'll ever possibly know

Thankful Lord, that You've blessed me beyond measure
Thankful that in my heart lives life's greatest treasure

That You, dear Jesus, reside in that place
And I'm ever so grateful for Your unending grace

So please, heavenly Father, bless this food You've provided
And bless each and every person invited

Amen!

--Scott Wesemann