Bonaire Scenery

Here are a few photos I took on my two visits to Bonaire in the Southern Caribbean. The underwater photos were taken by Lynne Bentsen. Click here to view the whole album.

 

On the Fifth Day…

Two guesses where this picture was taken…

“Near Tucson” would be a pretty good guess, but this photo was taken on a tiny tropical island in the southern Caribbean, an island called Bonaire. For me, it gives new meaning to the phrase desert island.

I’m here in Bonaire to fill the pulpit at International Bible Church, where Totoram Baran is the pastor, while he takes a well-deserved holiday in the USA. Community Bible Church supports Pastor Baran as one of our missionaries, and for two years in a row, we’ve sent a short term team to serve here during the summer. I get to preach twice. I’ve divided my Romans 12:1-2 sermon (which I’ve been posting here in short segments) into two parts, one of which I gave last Sunday, and the second this coming Sunday.

Pray for International Bible Church. It’s a very small congregation, but they are developing a heart for spreading the gospel in this end of the earth.

Bonaire’s economy is entirely supported by the fact that it is one of the best places in the world for scuba diving. So this year, while I’m here, I decided to take the three-day course and get my open water certification. The underwater wildlife is AMAZING! That’s the reason for the title of this post, because it was on the fifth day that God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures.” Man do the waters teem! The other day, while snorkeling no more than 100 yards from the beach, I got to see a baracuda about half my size swimming slowly alongside a giant school of little silvery fish (like the school of fish in Finding Nemo that makes all the interesting shapes). All of a sudden, the baracuda turned and zipped through the crowd, grabbing one of the little fish for supper. WOW! I swam along next to this giant fish for about twenty minutes.

 

Seattle Scenery

Here are a few of my favorite photos from my Seattle Vacation. You can look at a bunch of them at http://picasaweb.google.com/dhs316/SeattleTrip2008#.

Sandy & Bob's Backyard

Hydroplane Racing on Lake Washington

Blue Angels over Lake Washington

Pike Place Market

Safeco Field