We often take it for granted that the structures we build on this earth will stand. But as we’ve learned with our house in recent months, that isn’t always the case.
So it hit me a little bit harder when I heard the news and saw the images coming out of Lahaina in Maui. We visited Maui back in 2004. We are not really beach people—though there we could be, with the clear water and extraordinary view—but we absolutely loved the historic town of Lahaina.
Lahaina was once the capital of the kingdom of Hawaii from 1820 to 1845, but it had been used as an American whaling port since the early 1800s. So many of the buildings in the town dated back nearly 200 years. And now, suddenly, it’s essentially gone. The facts of the history remains, but the evidence of it will be left to pictures and our imaginations.
Except somehow in all my computer migrations in the past almost 20 years, I no longer even have the pictures of our trip. 🙁
I guess it’s all just another reminder that nothing in this world will last forever. That we are to live on this earth, even enjoy it, but that we are to keep our focus on the spiritual, not the temporal.
I’m so glad that, as we are told in Romans 8:38-39, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not life or death, not angels or principalities, not things present or things to come, not powers, not height, not depth. Not any created thing. In light of the devastation of Lahaina—a place which seems to us to have lasted a long time—this verse a comforting thought. A truth to build our lives on. The rock which keeps our faith from being shaken even in a world where everything is temporary.
What an analogy! Thank you, D’Ann for this. A prayer request for my granddaughter and her husband. Because of the extreme drought we’re having in our part of Texas, their house has shifted as much a two inches in some parts and the cost of repair is in the many thousands. They are a young couple with a one-year-old and this is a great expense. Please pray for their peace in this situation.
I will definitely be praying for them! Especially since we are in the middle of that circumstance many times over (only ours was from an improperly installed French drain!). That is stressful and frustrating. I’ll be praying for peace for them as well as unexpected provision!
Thank you. I pray for your situation, too.
Thank you so much!