Wisdom from a Bunny

Randomly, on my drive down to San Diego, I got a call from Peter-- an acquaintance from Seattle who I don't actually know that well. "Greta! I saw your facebook status that you're coming to San Diego! Do you want to come sailing?"

Peter and his Dad own a tall-boat-- i.e., a sailboat that looks like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. God has demonstrated a knack for bringing me into ridiculously awesome circumstances on this roadtrip, and Peter's invitation was just further confirmation of the fact. Peter-- one who WAS an acquaintance, now a friend-- graciously said I could bring darling Natalie along. Natalie is someone I used to mentor when I was doing college ministry with Pepperdine students, and has remained a favorite. We giddily boarded Peter's pirate ship, and good times were had by all.







Afterwards, Peter's Dad-- Captain Denton-- invited Natalie and I down to view the cabin. There was a Navy Seal onboard who took full advantage of this moment to make colorful comments. "Rooms for the mermaids, eh Captain?!" Natalie nervously told Peter's dad that she tended to get claustrophobic in ship cabins.

"You won't in this one," he said. "I promise." Natalie skeptically descended the ladder and then acknowledged, "No-- it's that smell. I can't do it." However-- she quickly changed her mind when Steve brought out HEIDI:


Natalie didn't mind the cabin smell after that.

Heidi-- not my sister Heidi, but the bunny Heidi-- lives on board the "Amazing Grace" and is the Denton's ship mascot. Steve adores her.


He laid her out on the table, on her back, and kept a firm grip on her belly as he petted her. In that repose, she began to fall asleep. "When we first got her," Steve said, "We could only hold her for five seconds before she started to freak out. Then we put her down. We didn't force her-- as soon as she started to freak out, we just put her down," he said. Then he looked at us and said proudly, "She's up to ten seconds now. Little by little-- she's started to trust us more."

I looked at him and said, "That's POWERFUL."

And-- silly as it may sound-- the account of such a simple beast learning trust over time and incrementally building faith in her care-takers was such a sweet inspiration to me. It gave me faith in all the good, truthful things.

I've spent the last three days getting from San Diego to Denver... it was quite a trek. However, I've seen some incredible things and have been totally astounded by the beauty of the country I live in.

Too tired to post all those pictures now though... If you're my facebook friend, check them out. If you're not-- stay tuned. I'll get them up sooner or later.