If you have been following this series, you probably have the idea that our winter trip to Hawaii didn’t … quite … go as planned, and it wasn’t filled with the same … excitement! … of previous trips. Of course, this is because we have been focussing on the negative things, and, well, there were also plenty of positive things! Things like – Beautiful beaches, pristine shoreline, wonderful snorkeling with beautiful tropical fish, and … shaved ice!

Perhaps you are not like me. Perhaps you have already heard about shaved ice. But for me, it was brand new. We would learn that shaved ice is just what the name implies: very thin layers of ice are shaved off an ice block, and the thin ice shavings allow the flavored syrups to be absorbed completely instead of sinking to the bottom. In addition, if you ask the vender to do so, they will “hide” a scoop of ice cream in the middle of your shaved ice, and the entire creation is often served with condensed milk or azuke beans.

It took us a few days to be adventurous enough to try this new-to-us dessert, but once we did, I was hooked. By the end of our stay, I was having shaved ice almost every day, and I never got tired of it. You could have up to three flavours on each order of shaved ice, and although I tried many different flavours, by the end, I had narrowed my usual choices down to just a few: coconut, mango and pineapple or banana! And I ALWAYS got a scoop of ice cream with mine!

It was common for a place to offer up to 20 different flavours. The “queen” of all shaved ice stores, however, the one we discovered only during the last week of our stay, offered up to 50 different flavours. There were your normal fruit flavours, tropical, berries, etc., and chocolate and vanilla, birthday cake, a whole slew of soda pop flavours such as root beer, cream soda, etc.

As I stared at the variety of flavours, I realized that there were as many flavours as there were personal choices.  There are billions of people on this planet and each one is unique. It stands to reason that each would have their own favorites when it comes to flavours for shaved ice!

God understands as well how unique we all are. He created us, after all! And when it comes to communicating with us, He has to have as many different ways as there are different individuals on Earth! And I thought there were a LOT of shaved ice flavours! The list is nothing compared to how many different ways God needs in order to ensure that we hear His voice!

I remember a time when we as a family were praying about where our homeschooled son should attend high school. There were a couple of Christian high schools in the area and my wife was pushing for one of them. There was also our district public high school, Eastdale, and there was the public high school that offered the French Immersion program, Centennial. As a family we decided to all pray about it.

The night before we would compare messages, I had a dream about one of the French Immersion teachers standing up in front of a classroom, and my son was in the class.

My wife got a direct message from the Bible. I don’t remember the exact reference, but God spoke to her, helping her to understand that Christian students were needed in public schools.

​​​​​​​I honestly don’t remember how God spoke to my younger son, but it was something very different than the messages my wife and I received.

Then it was time for our older son to report: “God gave me Psalms 100.”

We all waited expectantly, but our son offered nothing more. Finally my wife asked him, “So, what does it say?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t read it.”

“But … If you didn’t read it, then how do you know what God was speaking to you through it?”

He grinned even broader. “Don’t you get it? What is 100 in French? Cent, right?”

Well we couldn’t argue with that fact, but we were still in the dark.

“Cent!” he repeated. “Cent – ennial! It means 100 years! Psalm 100! 100 years! You get it?”

If you’re not sure if God will speak to you in a way that you will understand, your fear is ungrounded! God takes us where we are at and speaks to us in a way that we, and sometimes only we, will understand! Our only job is to pray for God to make us open to His voice and to spend time seeking Him!

So how is God able to do this?

We have something people of the past didn’t have. They had prophets who acted as God’s mouthpiece, but we have Jesus: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV). Thank You, Jesus, that by your gift of Salvation, You have opened the door for us to be able to communicate directly with God! And thank You that You have far more ways to get our attention than there are flavours of shaved ice in Hawaii!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
This is the last part of this 9 part series inspired by our visit to Hawaii. If you’ve missed any of the previous parts, you can access them by clicking here! (https://sermonillustrator.org/devotional-series/hawaii-here-we-come/)