Perspective is everything.
Most of us live in a very small world full of experiences, customs, ideas
and actions that we assume most everyone else shares as well.
Of course all you have to do is to travel a bit and you’ll find out quickly that
there are lots of differences in how people act and think. And a good swath of
those people assume that most of the others in the world think and act as they
do.
This is because being earth bound creatures we all have limitations and
boundaries that tend to inhibit us from seeing things from other people’s
experiences let alone God’s perspective.

The apostle Paul noted that even for Christians we “see things imperfectly,
like puzzling reflections in a mirror” and it is only in our eventual exit from this ball
of dirt that we will be able to have God’s angle on all things.
But that doesn’t mean we are stuck in small thinking.
The Anchor House experience is one of a journey to a place where a
student can better see things as God does, a place where vistas are unhindered
by the tangles and weeds of our small thinking world. A place where the hard
questions suddenly become less difficult due to the introduction of a
timeless and undiscovered perspective.
This does not mean trying to fit Kingdom concepts into the small cheap
container of modern culture but rather helping young men and women scale the
big ideas of historic Christianity in order to see more clearly both the chaos of the
world’s form of wisdom and the magnificent wonders of God.
The view is truly better up here, the intellectual air cleaner and the
expanse of God’s power and thoughts greater. Perhaps you or someone you
know would like to take the climb with us.
The journey starts September of this year.

Thirty paces from the back porch of the Anchor House is a whole different
world; acres and acres of untouched land now strewn with cactus and mesquite
trees and inhabited by a small herd of cattle and goats as well as lots of chickens.
(This land is government owned but leased to a local cowboy)
Looking out at this scenery one might think they landed in Texas rather than
Hawaii.

With the arrival of explores and traders the island population were soon
adding steaks and drumsticks to their menu of boar meat and fish and licking their
lips for other exotic goodies their world had never known.
Hearing the mooing and bleating from the other side of the fence with the
ocean in the distance, will remind students that in spite of what they see and
hear…they are not in Kansas anymore, especially if they spin around to see the
banana patch and coconut trees sprouting around the Anchor House property.
Diversity abounds both in the natural surroundings as well as the student
body who come from different places and backgrounds and bring their accents,
experiences and culture into a place where the culture of the Kingdom of God is the
thing that unites us all.

We put a time-lapse camera on a pole near the Anchor House construction site. 

             The idea was to give people an inkling of our progress as well as having a documented record of the whole project that we can watch in awe when there are students pouring out of the spaces where only sticks of lumber now appear.

We think it is interesting to watch the stages of development of any project and for that matter, even a person. 

All of us are works in progress…and as continuing works in progress there may come a day when our personal construction comes to an end that God gives us a time-lapse glimpse of how we grew and flourished…or for some, sadly, how they sprouted and then deteriorated. 

But for right now, the view from here is, as C.S. Lewis once said about the progress of faith; “Further up and further in”.

So please keep checking back to see what is happening with construction of the Anchor House. We hope it might someday be you pouring out of what is currently sticks of lumber.

Christianity is ultimately a team endeavor.

Our faith starts individually as a full surrender of ourselves to the will and desires of God, but very soon we find that we are commissioned to live out our faith with others who have likewise put their trust in Christ.

And this is where it gets interesting in both a challenging way and in an enriching way.

God does amazing things with individuals but He does even more amazing things with a group of people.

A soloist can make wonderful music by they can never achieve the stunning complexity of an orchestra. 

In the same way many hands can make not only quick or “light work” but magnificent work as well. Witness the fact from the video above where dozens of people showed up to plant the panax hedges that line the road of the Anchor house. (A job that took only a few hours rather than a few days by a solo worker)

As we travel shoulder to shoulder with other believers we find that some of our unrealized, but annoying “rough edges” get rubbed off. This is often how God uses other believers to do His transforming purposes.

At the Anchor House there is no escaping being part of God’s big team, a team that will sometimes unwittingly scrape against your rough spots but also a team that will help mold you into His image.

When a structure is finished it is the final product that most people judge the craftsmanship by. It is the sturdy exterior, the stylish interior and the various colors and accruements by which most determine the value of the house.

But it is what one can’t see; the plumbing weaving under the concrete slab, the electrical wiring snaking through the walls, the metal rods and mesh imbedded underfoot, the hurricane clips invisibly giving security that make the beautiful exterior a thing of true worth…and will give it the endurance to survive the test of time and use.

As it is with buildings, so it is with people.

What lies underneath the polished surface of a person is what makes all the difference. As Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

The primary interest of the Anchor House team is helping to ensure that what is unseen and hidden in the hearts of our students is secure and placed properly so that in the long run, their lives will flourish.

The soil has lain fallow for years.

            At one time its rocky ground was plowed and sown with seeds that would produce sugar cane for the sweet tooth of America and beyond. But when those crops became unviable to produce and government subsidies vanished so did the harvests that they once offered.

            Now the land is being broken again, the weeds scrubbed away and in the place of things to sweeten tea a building is being erected whose purpose is to offer the sweetness of a deep and satisfactory connection with God.

            The land that once grew stiff cane will now sow the seeds that lead to the fruit of the Spirit in every heart where they are allowed to grow.

            Check back and watch as the transformation takes place month by month.