flying

Story: The Soaring Hero

/ Rev. Eric Anderson / 1 Comment

July 6, 2025

Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

If you go up to the summit of Kilauea, look around for some white birds with long white tails flying about. I mean, they might be there when you’re there, and they might not, but take a look. If they seem to be gliding about on the warm air that rises above the volcano, you’ve seen a koa’e kea, the white-tailed tropicbird.

Koa’e kea fish far out to sea, so they’re not flying about the volcano summit looking for food. They do like to nest on the pali, the cliffsides, around Kaluapele. And, unusually for this bird that’s found all around the world, they like to soar.

It’s not just at the Kilauea summit. I’ve seen koa’e kea soaring above the water pool below Wailua Falls on Kauai. Those birds certainly looked like they were having fun.

Something Kilauea has that Kauai doesn’t is hot lava. For these last few months, Kilauea has sent these amazing plumes of lava high into the air, and it’s been flowing out on the crater floor and raising it higher. It’s been impressive. So what have the koa’e kea been doing when there’s been hot rock of about 2,000 degrees flying in the air?

Well, they’ve been flying right next to it, riding the hot air rising over the pooling lava, and getting far closer to the lava fountains than I would ever go.

One young koa’e kea was particularly fond of soaring over the lava, and every time the jets spouted into the air, there he’d be. He liked to toy with getting closer and closer to the plumes. He was sensible enough to keep from getting burned, and he stayed away from the rain of hot rock and ash, but he got close enough to make all the other birds of his generation go, “Wow!”

A photo of a lava fountain with a white bird flying between it and the viewer.

“Wow! You got so close!”

“Wow! You must be brave!”

“Wow! You must be a hero!”

I’m afraid it went to his head. He started to strut when walking, which is a difficult thing for a koa’e kea to do. It’s built for flying, not walking. More than that, though, he started to look down his beak at his friends who wouldn’t fly as close to the lava as he would. “You’re not so brave, are you?” he’d ask. “When are you going to be a hero?” he taunted. He left a lot of bad feeling behind.

Even his flying showed how arrogant he was, and it wasn’t pretty. It just said, “I’m better than you.”

His father joined him as he soared one day. “You’re flying well, son,” he said, “but maybe you could turn down the attitude. It doesn’t suit you.”

“It certainly does,” said the son. “I’m the brave one. I’m the best. The rest can just deal with it.”

“You’re certainly brave,” said his father, “but do you know what ‘koa’ in our name means?”

“No,” said the younger koa’e kea, who spoke bird, but not Hawaiian.

“It means ‘hero,’” said his father. “We’re all heroes. And if you’re a little braver than most, realize that someone else is certainly as brave as you. Be glad that you can fly in the rising air, and take joy in all the wonder of it all. Others of our kind don’t get that chance, and plenty of other birds can’t do what we do at all.

“Be glad, son, but leave the pride behind. It doesn’t add to your happiness. It just hurts the ones who love you.”

by Eric Anderson

Watch the Recorded Story

I write these stories in advance, but I tell them from memory and interaction, so the way I told it is different from the way I wrote it.

Photos of koa’e kea and lava fountains by Eric Anderson.

Story: Flying Time

/ Rev. Eric Anderson / 3 Comments
'Apapane in flight

February 11, 2024

2 Kings 2:1-12
Mark 9:2-9

One of the themes that tends to pop up in my stories is something like, “When is it a good time to fly?” Sometimes the birds asking that question are chicks wondering whether they’re ready for their first flight. Sometimes it’s older but still young birds trying to figure out how far they can go. Sometimes it’s older birds trying to balance the needs of nest-building and chick-feeding. Sometimes it’s just a bird thinking, “What does the world look like over there?”

A little group of ‘apapane decided to discuss the question in some detail. They thought that they’d like to become wise birds, wise ‘apapane, wise creatures that would have some good reasons to choose to fly at some times, and not to fly at other times.

“When is a good time not to fly?” asked one of the little flock.

“When there’s an ‘io overhead,” said one.

“Or a pueo,” added another.

“Or the shadow of something big and you’re not sure what it is,” said a third.

“It’s not a good time to fly in a big wind,” put in one.

“I’m not crazy about flying when there’s lightning,” said another.

“What about if you’re lost?” asked one of the ‘apapane. “Is that a good time to fly?”

They thought about it. “If you just stay in place when you’re lost,” said one slowly, “you don’t see anything different than what you’re seeing. I think you have to fly at least a little bit so that you can see new things, which might be the old things you’re trying to find.”

“If it’s a high wind and the tree is breaking, that’s a good time to fly,” added an ‘apapane who had been thinking about this for a while.

“What is a good time to fly?” asked the first bird.

“When the tree is breaking,” said the bird who didn’t want anyone to forget that.

“When the tree you’re in is out of bugs and nectar,” said another.

“When your wings and feathers are ready, and not before,” said one of the younger ones whose first attempts at flapping his wings hadn’t gone well.

“When you want to sing with the birds in another tree,” said a particularly musical ‘apapane.

“When it’s naptime and everybody is singing in your tree,” said an ‘apapane who liked to rest after a meal.

They fell silent for a bit at this point. Suddenly the first bird, the one who’d been asking the questions, the one who really wanted to be a wise ‘apapane, laughed out loud.

“When you feel like it!” she sang, and soared up into the sky.

Flying is all about the practical things, and there are plenty of times when flying is a bad idea, when it’s dangerous. Human beings don’t fly, at least not without an airplane, but we have our own times to stretch our wings, as it were. Be careful and don’t take off when it’s dangerous, friends, but make sure to appreciate the joy when you do.

by Eric Anderson

Watch the Recorded Story

I write these stories ahead of time, but during worship I tell them from memory plus improvisation. So what you hear in the recording does not and will not match what you’ve just read.

Photo by Eric Anderson.