Easter Sunday

So I didn't participate in Lent.  In fact, I skipped several services throughout this season all due to laziness or the schedule I had that I preferred over making time to get to church.  Jeff asked me recently if I was religious.  I honestly didn't know how to answer that because a big part of my upbringing was and I grew to resent that.  But was I associating being "religious" with something negative wrongly?  Because when I was explaining to him that I felt more inclined to say I was "spiritual" vs "religious" - he challenged me in what the difference was.

In my mind, being spiritual meant having a deeper relationship with God and being the most intentional in my beliefs than I have been before when I was going through the motions of attending church every Sunday and reciting prayers.  Being religious meant that I associated with a particular denomination (which I don't think I do, really) and lived the most correct path of a Christian (which unfortunately, I struggle with weekly).  However, as I was describing what I do believe and what I do uphold as a believer of Christ, he just stared at me and said... "so you're religious" Lol.  

Well, whatever it is that I am, I got up this morning and looked up services for Easter (perhaps 10% driven by guilt at my lackluster efforts this season).  However, that 90% of truly wanting to celebrate Jesus' rise today instilled in me excitement for trying out a church in Honolulu.  I originally wanted to make the 6AM Sunrise Service at Magic Island, but my inability to wake up early in the mornings + a night out definitely crossed that off my list quickly.  As such, I selected to go to InspireChurch - held at Kaimuki High School - for the 9AM service.  

Throughout it, I felt true comfort in celebrating just life in general.  The blessings that I've been reaping day after day here is all because of this season... because we get to live through His death.  And when I traced it all back to this beautiful celebration of His life, I celebrated my own a bit more fervently.  I'll keep it here, but the gratitude I felt to God for my safety, my health, my free will, everything I've encountered here and throughout my life's journey... woweeeee wow.  Praise Jesus.

After service, I was in a delightful mood (as I actually always feel after church; I really need to remind myself to go more often) and Jeff picked me up to get Poke and a Lei for Aaron's Ho'ike (hula performance).  What was really awesome was listening to Jeff reminiscing about his High School life as we walked through the halls of Mid-Pacific Institute where he and Aaron grew up.  It reminded me of how exactly I feel when I walk through my own halls of West Covina High School.  Growing up is such a bittersweet thing and I feel it all too deeply and hear it in the stories we tell each other when describing those days. 

Aaron's Kumu Hula instructed us that no video taping was allowed (we were essentially getting a sneak peak at their performances before their competition next week - which as Jeff describes it - is the Super Bowl of Hula competitions).  It was also to encourage us to truly be PRESENT and FEEL the emotions that a Hula performance really should exude vs being so caught up in our technologies of trying to capture it  (#HelloSocialMediaGeneration #DamnUsMillenials).  Watching Aaron and his Halau was such a nice local treat; especially because it wasn't for a luau, but a showcase for their competition, their precision and movements were nearly immaculate which was really impressive.  

After it was over, I got to give Aaron a lei and recite the "traditional saying" that goes along with gifting a lei.  I clearly read it terribly (see video above) but Jeff made me do it... mostly because he tricked me into thinking it was the "traditional saying" but really, he just put a bunch of words together to make up a dumb phrase (he told me this much later... Asshole...)  Hahaha.  In return, Aaron gave me his Haku Lei which he handmade himself; all the performers make their own headpieces and outfits - so cool!

Also, here's a selfie I took of my Haku Lei as Jeff made a pit stop to the restroom as we were leaving the High School.   No really, he legit said "I'm going to the restroom" and I said "OK, I'll take a selfie in the meantime."  So here we are:

For dinner, I stopped by Gilbert and Jimmy's place as it's likely the last time I see them before I fly out as well.  They made Easter dinner and we watched Trevor Noah's standup bit on Netflix.  It was really sweet of them to have been such great friends during my stay here.

UGH - I can't believe these last three days are going to just be all filled with saying goodbye.  SO. NOT. READY.