Shipwreck Cove - The End of Filming Is in Sight

Waimea Canyon

Not Just a Coincidence

Last Tuesday morning, when we were making a fuel/bathroom stop on the way to filming, I got to talking with a women in line at the cashier. She had noticed my 14 female passengers who were making a beeline for the bathroom. As I briefly told her what we were doing here on Kuau'i, she became very interested. As the girls strode past, she noticed that one was recovering from a harsh sunburn. She explained that she was a doctor and that she'd be willing to help our group with any medical needs for free. When she found she didn't have any business cards, I took down her phone number and thanked her for her kindly interest in our well-being.

While we waited for the last bathroom-goers to return, I told the others in my van about the nice doctor I had met, and of her offer to help us. One of the girls, Anna Fink, then told me of how she had sprained her thumb a few days earlier, and how it seemed to be getting worse, instead of better. She said her dean had told her that someone in our group would try to get her to a doctor later that day. I thought I would call this lady, whose name is Dr. Coleman, after we met up with everyone on the mountain.

But then, to our surprise, while we were still waiting for the last girls, up drove Dr. Coleman herself! She explained that she felt impressed to bring us her business cards from her nearby office. I told Anna to hop out and to have her look at her sprained thumb. After examining it, she suggested we follow her to her office so she could call a local orthopedic surgeon to see if he could check it out. At her office, as we got aquainted with her daughter who is her office nuse/secretary, Dr. Coleman called and found out that the soonest the orthopedist could see Anna would be the next day. She suggested that her daughter could take Anna over to the nearby hospital to get her thumb x-rayed.  

So, after giving Anna our medical insurance info. I gave Dr. Coleman a set of Steps to Christ in Song as a little "thank you" for all the help she was to us already. Her last words to us were: "I know that it was not a coincidence that we met at the gas station today." Now I'll let Anna continue the story.

 -Peter Luchak

Her daughter took me to the hospital and arranged for an x-ray right away. After, she took me back to Dr. Coleman's office to await the results. When I walked into her clinic waiting room, I noticed Steps to Christ was already playing on the TV. While we watched for a bit, they would say, "There you are!" whenever I appeared playing or singing. The x-rays showed that no bones were broken, but that my hand still needed a splint. So the doctor fixed me up with a cool camouflage one. On top of that, she asked her daughter to drive me 20 miles up to the mountain ridge where we were filming. Just before I left, she told me that her, her daughter, and her other office staff plan to attend our concert. This all really showed me that, even through injuries, God can work in amazing ways.

 -Anna Fink

Ocean Side Filming

One of my favorite places that we’ve filmed so far is the Lumahi’i Beach. Huge boulders of lava rock laid on the water’s edge and the bright blue waves swelled around them. It was also the location that I could really see God’s hand working in our behalf. We began our day with filming “In the Heart of Jesus/Be Still My Soul” on a lava rock ledge that extended out into the ocean. The tide was coming in, making waves crash against the rock behind us. The orchestra was seated on a rock area that would sometimes get flooded with the waves and wash across our feet. God answered our prayers by sending extra large waves for the perfect shots. Although we had beautiful, sunny weather all day long, dark cloud began to roll in towards the end of the afternoon as we filmed on the sand next to the water. The rain started to pour on us and we ran for shelter under the trees. Several of us broke into small groups and prayed that God would hold back the rain long enough for us to finish for the day. Just before we said “amen”, the clouds broke and the sun shone again on our beach. God held it back until we were almost done loading our equipment into the van. God is so good and cares for the little and the big things. Each answered prayer is a reminder that He is leading and guiding as we complete this filming project.

~Megan~

The Beach

Holding back the rain

On Monday, we filmed at a beautiful garden. There were all sorts of exotic trees and flowers, and a little brook happily wove itself through the greenery. The abundant rain fall on this island is what keeps the garden so lush, but we can't film in the rain, so, like we do every day that we film, we had been praying that the Lord would send good weather. However, the devil doesn't like it when we work for the Lord, so he always throws us things that we don't expect.

First of all, after we filmed the first song, I found out that I had to film the intro to Keep on the Sunny Side that afternoon, and I wasn't ready. However, the Lord worked things out, and gave me just the right amount of time and resources I needed to write my speech, even though I ended up losing it and rewriting it three times. Then, when we finally started filming my intro, I couldn't concentrate because I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. After we prayed, the mosquitoes went away, but the neighbors started mowing their lawn, so we couldn't get clear audio. Finally, after we had filmed the very last song of the day, we came back to the same spot and tried again. Again we started with prayer, and this time everything went smoothly. We had just gotten the final take, when all of a sudden the clouds, which just minutes before had been providing us with the perfect lighting, let loose a torrent of fat rain drops. 

I know that the work we are doing here in Hawaii is for the Lord, and when He shows His hand in such constant, obvious ways, it just makes me want to serve Him more. I'm so glad that we serve a God that holds and directs all the world in the palm of His hand.   

-Katie A.

The Canyon