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James Pence

James Pence

How God is Faithful Through Loss and Adversity

Never Lose a Sense of Wonder.

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Kiluea Lighthouse on Kauai, Hawaii

Recently, through some friends’ gracious gift, Laurel and I got to take a dream trip to Hawaii (Kaua’i). Most of the time, we just chilled; but we did do a little sightseeing. One of our favorite side trips was to the Kiluea Lighthouse.

There were quite a few interesting things to see there, but one little boy found something so captivating, that the rest of the surroundings faded into insignificance.

Little boy looking at a bug

His find? A roly-poly (or doodlebug, if you prefer). To that little boy, the tiny bug he held in his hands was the most fascinating, wondrous thing he’d ever seen. He was transfixed for the better part of a half-hour. 

That might not be significant, except for what was going on right behind him.

Someone had spotted some humpback whales and a crowd lined up to watch them as they played in the water nearby. 

The little boy’s father called to him several times to come watch the whales, but he wasn’t interested. He found the roly-poly bug to be infintely more fascinating.

Whale watchers at Kiluea Point, Kauai

So what? 

I guess you could draw many lessons from this, but for me it was a simple reminder to never lose a sense of wonder. The crowd was amazed and full of wonder at the sight of a humpback whale; but one little boy found his wonder in a tiny creature that most of us would have overlooked.

As you look around you today, never lose a sense of wonder at the beautiful, amazing world God has made.

David put it this way in Psalm 8:3-4,

“When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?”

David expressed a sense of wonder at the majesty of the heavens.

I wonder what he would have thought about doodle bugs?

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