I was off today, but it just seemed to fly by without me getting anything productive accomplished. It was a fun day. I had lunch with Peter Oswalt and then went to see the Book of Eli again. Twice in one week. I think that is the first time I’ve done that in a long time. The movie was better the second time than it was the first. I won’t reveal any details because I don’t want to spoil the storyline for anyone else. It has been bone chilling cold all day long. The wind chill was well under 30 most of the day. As I kept getting in and out of the car, I found myself thing back to our time in Hawaii. For almost 5 years there was no winter. Julia had a harder time with that than I did. I could go with out winter all the time. I do like spring and fall seasons, but I do not like winters.
I wish that I could say that Julia and I both heard God on our first date, and that He told us to get married. I do believe God used us, but neither of us was walking with Him when we got married. I never remember asking God if I should marry Julia, and she didn’t ask Him about me either. So with that background, when we got to Hawaii, church was not on our priority list. I think we were both nominal Christians. We both had been raised Baptist. She was probably more inclined to go to church than I was. I was still burnt out after being raised a preachers kid. I never wanted to sit foot in a church. So, for the whole time we were in Hawaii I think I remember going to church maybe twice.
Our Sundays were usually spent on the beach. Hawaiian beaches are a lot different than the Atlantic or the Gulf. The sand is a lot coarser, and sticks to you more. Also the beaches are usually coves that are small and very steep. You can take three of four steps and be over your head. Plus the waves are bigger and have more power. Needless to say, you have to know what you are doing, or you can get into trouble very quickly. There were a couple of places that were not like that at all. One was Bellows Air Station. Bellows is an old WWII air station with an abandoned runway. It is right on the shore, and has one of the best beaches on Oahu. Since the property is owned by the Air Force it was a natural to become a prime recreation area. It used to take about an hour to drive across the island to Bellows. But it was well worth the drive. The beach was long and fairly wide. It was a great place to body surf, or to surf for that matter. It had picnic tables and camping facilities. You could rent cabins just off the beach for the weekend, bring your food, sheets and just stay there. Also since it was military, only the military could use it. It was never really crowded. It was our favorite spot. We had a friend with a catamaran and we would often go sailing off the beach. So this is how we spent our Sundays. Normally Saturdays were too busy doing other things like shopping and getting ready for the next week. Julia would shop, and I would often play golf. So Sundays were our day together. They were the day we spent talking with each other and with our friends. They were really the day we got to know each other. It seems like every other day of the week we were each busy with our jobs and what all that entailed. Sunday was our day to spend together. I really believe that God gave us so much grace because He knew what we needed. At that time we needed to know each other more than we needed religion. If we had gone to church back then it would have been out of a religious duty rather than a desire to know Him more. So that brings up the question. When is it better not to go to church than to go to church? I don’t have an answer for that except to say that you should do what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do. If you don’t hear the Holy Spirit, chances are you are doing it out of a religious spirit. That can be good or bad. That’s food for thought.
Anyway, I was thinking back on those warm lazy Sunday’s on the beach today. I was thanking God for letting us have them together, and I was thanking Him for bringing us together in Him, so that we could really grow close.
I know that winter is coming to a close, and sooner rather than later the temperature will rise, and spring will come. But for tonight, I think that I am going to try to drift off to sleep remembering the Sundays on the beach at Bellows. It’s hard to believe that was so long ago.
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