As a member of your local church, understand the importance of listening and engaging in the sermon each week. Don’t be left behind as your pastor passionately seeks to take you to the throne of God to see him and be amazed by him each week through the pages of Scripture.

At the end of my first full year of seminary, after having moved away from our family and church family in Georgia, while sitting in our small apartment in Louisville, Kentucky on the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I received an e-mail from my grandmother asking if we would like to go to Maui for a family vacation with our entire family—all expenses paid. It did not take me long to reply to that e-mail.

We arrived to an unbelievable family reunion in paradise. During that week, my dad and I would often go on morning runs together and talk. One such morning we went down this trail and took a route that was a fairly good climb up this hill. When we reached the top it was a stunning view of the ocean and shoreline of Maui. Off in the distance you could see the crater island Molokini and hundreds of feet below you could seek the jagged rock ledges that led into the pristine waters. As we stood there amazed at the beauty, we looked into the crystal clear water to see sea turtles swimming and humpback whales jumping.

As we looked below us, there was a lone man snorkeling on the remote section, and along the side of the cliff came a whale. They got really close and you could tell the diver was completely surprised by the encounter. He came up to the surface and screamed with joy and excitement. He had no idea we were anywhere around as we looked down from way above.

When it came time for us to return, we ran back down the trail and made our way back to our hotel. As we got together with our family, I continued to tell the story of what we encountered on the hill. It was a fairly difficult climb, but it was worth it. With all of the beauty and splendor, I had a hard time convincing everyone of how beautiful it was—so I finally said, “You just have to come with me and see for yourself.” The next day, we made our way to the trail and up the climb. To this very day my mother-in-law has not allowed me to forget how I convinced her to make that climb to the top.

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