A couple of weeks ago I was finishing a two-week work trip in Hawaii. My last day there I was on the Big Island. I had the afternoon off after a morning college fair and needed to decide how I wanted to spend my last hours in Hawaii.

After a long two weeks of working hard, I wanted to do something that would be both relaxing and restorative.

I have to be honest here. I can get caught up trying to make an experience as epic as possible or get stuck wondering if there is something better I could be doing at any given moment. That seems to be magnified when I’m in my last moments in a beautiful place like Hawaii. My mind goes to “what can I do to do make this as amazing as possible.” That can lead to not being able to actually enjoy the moments I’m in.

That was the state of my mind as I planned my last day. It sounds crazy but I was honestly a little stressed about it.

There were a couple of options that sounded good.

I had heard the very south point of the island was a cool place to check out. It is the most southern point in the US and there are cliffs there that, given the right ocean conditions, you can jump approximately 30 feet off into the water. Going there would also give me a chance to explore a part of the island I hadn’t before.

That option sounded intriguing but it was also a long drive, almost two-hours out of the way. There was definitely a risk that I would travel all the way down there and the ocean conditions would make it too rough to swim.

My other option was to head back to my hotel and relax by the water while trying to rest up before heading home. That was probably the wiser option because it would help me be less tired when I got back to my family.

In the end, I decided to take a risk and head south. The lure of adventure won out and I mapped out a plan to drive down to South Point, jump in the water, hang out for an hour or so, and then make it back to my hotel before dusk so I could enjoy my last sunset in Hawaii from there.

It was the perfect plan for my last afternoon.

After the college fair, I drove the two hours to the point. When I arrived, I lucked out and the water was calm enough to jump. The jump was amazing and from the water level, you could actually see into a cave that can’t be seen from above.

It had totally been worth going out of the way and it turns out that was also the farthest south I’d been in my life!

After an hour or so at the cliffs, I began the race back north to get to my hotel by dusk. I really wanted to get back there because the hotel is an ideal place to enjoy the sunset. It is on a nice sandy beach that faces directly west with cozy beach chairs to lounge on while watching the sun slip into the horizon. That would be the perfect way to cap off my perfect afternoon!

As I drove up the coast I realized I was really going to have to push it to make it back in time. My hotel was about two-hours away. I started to feel a little disappointed that my plan might not completely work out.

As I continued to drive I felt like I heard a voice – not audibly, but very quietly almost in my sub-conscious, say something like, “Just stop and rest. Enjoy this setting and let the sunset come to you.”

At that point, it was about an hour and a half before sundown and I probably could have made it back for the end of the sunset but it would have been a rush.

It was a deviation from my plan but I decided to listen to the voice and stop. I ended up at Kealakekua Bay in the area of Captain Cook. It didn’t have a sandy beach or comfy chairs to lounge it but it would work.

I found a flat rock to sit on and a log to lean up against and tried to soak in the surroundings and be present. The setting was pretty and the sounds of the water lapping up on the rocks soothing.

I sat there for 30 minutes or so and then that restless dissatisfaction started creeping in. It was overcast and didn’t look like the sunset was going to be very impressive. I thought about leaving. I could head up the coast while it was still fairly light, enjoy the rest scenery while driving and get back to relax at my hotel sooner.

Then I heard that voice again and it seemed to be saying, “wait just a few more minutes.” I decided to listen again and stayed.

What happened next absolutely blew my mind.

The sky quickly began to transform from a grayish yellowish hue into bright shades of pink and finally into the most intense fiery, red-orange I’d ever seen. It started very subtly at the north corner of the horizon, almost imperceptibly, and continued to spread toward me and eventually over my head until it consumed the entire sky.

The clouds overhead had created a movie screen-like affect that enabled the color to carry and project much farther and more intensely than with a cloudless sunset. Additionally, there were ripples in the clouds that looked like ocean swells, creating a mirror-like scene where the sea and the sky appeared to be reflecting each other.

I’ve seen a lot of great sunsets, but I’d never seen anything like this! I sat there in utter awe of its beauty and felt transformed into another world. I don’t know that I’ve ever been surrounded by such splendor. Rather than just looking at it, I was enveloped in it. Instead of just seeing it, I could feel it down to my core!

Had I gotten up to leave minutes earlier, I probably still would have seen it, but I certainly would not have experienced it to those depths. It was a rich reward for listening and slowing down to be present instead of pushing to try to make everything work according to my “perfect plan.”

A few days after returning to home, I was sharing this story with some friends and commented on how spoiled I must sound.

Start with the very fact that I travel to Hawaii for work. How amazing is that? Then there is the point that I even have the opportunity to be concerned with how to spend a few free hours in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I’m honestly embarrassed to admit that my mind can get consumed with things like that at times. Those are truly first world problems.

But as I was sharing my friend Brent said, “you don’t sound spoiled, you sound loved!” I took a moment to soak that in and I realized how right he was. God has used my times in Hawaii to speak to me and draw me closer to him in some incredible ways and this was one more of those instances.

But as I’ve reflected on this experience I’ve realized there is another lesson God is trying to teach me through it. I think he is trying to remind me how much better his plans are than mine. I feel like he is saying,

“Wait and see what I can do! You’re trying to make things happen with your own strength. If I care about giving you a great sunset, how much more do I care about the big things in your life?”

It is true, I spend way too much time striving, trying to make things happen, worrying about the future and lamenting the past. However transformative and rich that sunset was, what if it was just a taste of God’s power and goodness?

I want to hang on to the beautiful reminder of that sunset and how it represents a deeper reality and a glimpse into the glory that exists that we are invited into each day. It is available to us all if we’ll stop and listen.

Zechariah 4:6 – Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Matthew 6:25-27 – That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

Here is the full sequence of the sunset