My kids have said for years I’m terrible with puns and that I tell the worst Dad jokes. I can’t help but blame them when I come up with a title like this for a blog post. Eliza will just roll her eyes. The purpose of our mission is to serve. To serve the Lord, serve the church, serve others. We’ve always known that that wouldn’t take every minute of the day, and so, we also compiled a bucket list of things we’d like to do while in Hawaii. It’s not a formal list, and it isn’t written down. Just a few things we’ve talked about. Photography has been a hobby I’ve nurtured since I was a teenager, so, many of the things I want to do in life involve a camera. That includes a few things I’d like to shoot while in Hawaii. We live on the North Shore of Oahu. We’re getting into winter, and that is when the big waves come in, when the “surf’s up”, when the swell rises. A low-pressure system moved across the islands during the night and in the morning, it coincided with an exceptionally high tide. I knew before going to bed that I would be out early Thanksgiving morning, likely in stormy weather to see what the ocean was doing. Ultimately, I would like to spend an afternoon watching a big surfing competition on 40-foot waves at Sunset Beach. It wasn’t that kind of day sadly. A fierce wind was blowing when I went out. I had plans later in the day for a potluck lunch with the other missionaries, so my shooting time was likely to be before the surfers would be hitting the beach. Instead, I chose to watch the waves breaking on the rocky shore of Laie Point, about a mile from our home.

The swell was indeed up, and the waves were fierce and powerful. They were not 40’ giants that I still hope to see. But when they hit the rocks, they pounded with an explosive force. It felt a bit like watching fireworks bursting on a summer night. It’s fun to watch a wave develop hundreds of yards out on the ocean and then track its progress towards the shore. They rise up until they reach a crest, and then gravity takes over and they begin to curl. If the receding wave in front is timed just right, the next wave coming in picks up that energy and smashes with great fury onto the rocks. It’s almost an orchestral moment when the kettle drums rattle and roll until the final crash of the cymbals and that musical phrase hits it’s crescendo. Crash after crash, the waves pound against the hardened lava rock on Laie Point.

The swell lasted for several days, and by Saturday we once again had a weather alert urging caution because of the rough surf all along the North Shore. I often walk on the beach early in the morning. Over the three months we’ve been here, I’ve noticed that the beach is constantly changing. Some weeks the level of the sand drops by almost 2 feet, stripped from the shore by the action of the waves, only to return the following week. I don’t know where the sand goes. I’m pretty sure the waves never stop. That energy is constantly at work pounding away at the edges of the island.

There are likewise similar forces all around me; life forces that mount up to crest and then tumble over as they hit. Sometimes the waves are calm and peaceful, gentle, and soft. At other times it’s as if a storm is raging and waves are fiercer. They never cease either way. That’s what life is all about, facing the ever-rhythmic power of change that comes wave after wave. As much as I enjoy watching the beauty of the big swell on Laie Point, I should also appreciate the swells of life, big or small that affect me. I’ve written countless times in my journal about life storms, that though I would never choose to go that path again, I wouldn’t change a thing about the experience for anything in the world. I’ve always come through a better person, a better man. We are molded by adversity and shaped by trials and oppositions. It would be a shame to leave this life no different than the day we entered it. Joseph Smith received comfort while a prisoner in Liberty Jail in Missouri under false charges. He was told:

…If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

…know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

And so it is with all of us. Those forces that pound on us wave upon wave, are the forces that shape and mold us. We must learn to enjoy those days when the swell is high as much as the days when the ocean is calm. There is always a storm brewing somewhere, and it’s likely you will be in the path of the next wave.