May 21 – “The Attack”

Now this was an interesting day.  Our trip to the zoo.  I gotta say up front, the Waco zoo is one of the best I have ever visited.  Lots of shade for the humans as well as the animals.  Most are in natural habitats rather than just cages.  We even got to “swim” with the otters.  They had a clear plastic slide that went right through the water.  You could join right in with them in their aquatic antics without getting wet yourself.  And yes, by “we” I mean Zak and Caleb … and me. 

When Caleb and I were watching the tigers, Caleb was slowly moving up and down from a crouch to a standing position so he could get a better look at the beast.  At one point he moved a bit more quickly into his standing position and the tiger, who had been mesmerized by his motion, leapt up onto the screen right in front of us.  Now that was unexpected.  Believe me, we both jumped.  Zak came over to see what was happening, so the three of us started the same very slow, up and down rocking motion.  Then I said “Up” and the four of us jumped up.  That’s right … the four of us.  The tiger leapt again, and this time even climbed a few feet up a pole.  And once again, the three of us humans jumped backwards as well.  Can’t be too careful, you know.  That was enough for us and the tiger.  A large group of school children arrived about that time, and the tiger slowly walked away to find a quieter spot. 

 

Just around the corner, we were standing with Zak.  We noticed a vulture perched on the little hill nearby, not enclosed be netting or anything.  We tried to be very still to see how long he would stick around.  Finally, though, Zak moved a bit too quickly and apparently startled the creature.  It spread its wings wide and took off like a shot … right at Zak.  Then it zoomed over his head and briefly touched against the netting behind us.  Not satisfied there, it quickly soared back to its original spot.  Meanwhile, it took Zak a second or two to register that this bird, almost as tall as he is, was streaking right at him.  He ducked to avoid the attack, and then in one smooth motion screamed and streaked himself over to where his Mom was standing.  We all had quite a good laugh over that one.

After a hearty lunch with Josh at Rudy’s Barbecue, we sat around outside in the back yard and watched the boys play in the water.  Little did we know that all this activity was leading up to an event that proved to be the highlight of the day … The hockey game.

Genesis 1:25 says, “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

Father, thank you for the opportunity to see more of those amazing creatures you invented.  Amen.