Be flexible. (especially with weather, cheetahs, & gas station attendants)

Empty your mind: be formless, shapeless - like water.

Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle,

it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. ~ Bruce Lee

This trip had a lot of elements so I had to work to be flexible. One area of flexibility was with the weather. I had tons of 'Weather Worries.' The weather man predicted bad storms during my encounters. He said it would begin raining about the time I started out on my drive and by the time I arrived at the Wildlife Safari two hours later it was to turn to snow. I sent out an urgent text requesting prayers because it's not like cheetah encounters are cheap or that I could just simply reschedule if the weather was too bad since I lived half way across the country. I received back some encouraging responses and the Spirit in my heart kept saying, "God knows what he's doing." Ah, the lesson of being flexible hit me. So I needed to be okay with the fact that it might get cancelled or that I'd have a dangerous drive through mountains alone to get there, or even that I might be out in the driving rain or snow during the encounters which I can't imagine would make for anything but a grumpy cheetah...and do you really want to be close to a grumpy cheetah? aah, no. But, after much prayer, I slept peacefully. And God's reply at 7am the next morning?

Sun.

The sun came up that morning and my drive was completely dry. In fact, the sun was warm on my face during the cheetah encounters and those clouds didn't even think about sprinkling until I was ready to drive back to the cottage. About 15 minutes from the cottage the sky opened and flooded. The snow didn't even arrive until the next morning! Someone said never rely on a weather man...and true, they can be wrong...but I know that it was my God who organized the weather. He heard prayers and answered favorably or he simply had great weather planned the whole time. Man! We need to remind ourselves so often...God knows what he is doing! :) 

There were other areas that I had to be flexible on the trip. For example, I didn't know you can't pump your own gas in Oregon because it's a right to work state. That's a random fact for if you ever travel there. It's kinda nice to know beforehand so that when all of a sudden some random guy runs up behind you at the pump you don't clock him like I almost did. *giggle* But instead my flexibility came into play and there were no injuries. ha. I guess that's why I like the quote above by Bruce Lee. It reminds me to be flexible and trusting...fluid like water as I go through life instead of like a wall. Below are some further pictures :)

Taini

Saigon

Leah

Sanurra