Overcome by Rainbows (written by my husband)

Overcome by Rainbows

My family and I were blessed today by such an amazing display of nature- we were overcome by rainbows!  As we were enjoying a sunny drive along the Hamakua coast I caught sight of a little lone rain cloud out at sea- you could see it was raining underneath and a rainbow proceeded out in front of it.  I was fascinated by that little rain cloud with the rainbow out in front and wanted to find a place to watch it move along for a while, but everyplace I stopped had trees screening the view.   (Rainbows are really common at least on the area of the island where we live, and also much more brilliant than I ever remember seeing them in Michigan, but as you can tell, we still aren't used to them yet). 

  

We continued along the highway, which runs about 500 ft above the water, and we continued catching sight of rainbows out at sea.  Seeing a road marker for Laupahoehoe Point, I turned off the main road, hoping to find a safe vantage point of the ocean, but the road we turned down just wound us down a valley to about sea level and we emerged from jungle into a grassy park past which we could see great waves splashing high into the air as they crashed into the lava rock sea wall.  We drove to a parking area near a protected boat launch and rushed out of the car and the boys and I were naturally drawn to the waves to see how close we dared to get to the massive, reckless waves that were battering the sea wall.  From there we finally had a clear view of the rainbows out at sea. 

We were pretty satisfied with what we had already seen and started walking along the coast to see what the view was on the other side of the park when it started to mist, and when we looked up we could see there was the most brilliant double rainbow- it appeared to be springing out of the sea just offshore and we could see it all the way from one end to the other!  As the misty sprinkles thickened the ends of the rainbows grew and the ends appeared to bending toward us even to being almost in our hands!  We were all so thrilled and excited that God had put us here in Hawaii and at that place at that moment!  

The sprinkles intensified, but all the time the sun was still shining brightly above us, so that when we looked back over the park toward the ravine we had come down, we could see the sun lighting up all the raindrops as they fell on top of us and around us.  We could feel the rain starting to dampen our clothes and start dripping onto our faces and we all started dashing happily back toward the car. 

That unexpected trip to Laupahoehoe point is really what Hawaii has meant to me and my family.  The places we plan to take ourselves in our afternoon or in our lifetime are not nearly so extraordinary and exciting as the places God would take us if we don't ignore the directions He gives.  As thrilling and full of wonder the natural surroundings of Hawaii have been for us, what is more thrilling is the places we see God is taking us in our relationship with Him as we give up more and more on our own schemes and rest in Him.