A SKATING ELEPHANT

Not long ago, my husband and I were reminiscing about funny things that occurred when we were younger.  So, sit back and relax as I invite you into my parents’ kitchen in Columbus, Ohio.

My husband and I lived in Canada at the time, but several times a year I would fly back to visit my folks in Ohio.  On one of these trips, we were sitting together in the morning at their kitchen table enjoying each other’s company.

My dad went outside, probably to take out some trash or have a tour of his tomato garden.  Whatever, the reason, he was gone longer than expected.

My mom and I just continued chatting when, all of a sudden my dad burst through the front door with an incredible announcement.

“Come out and look!  You won’t believe what I just saw.”  My dad was quite a jokester, and I agreed to join his invitational adventure.

Proceeding from the kitchen, through the living room, and heading towards the front door, I asked, “What did you see that was so incredible?”

He kept repeating, “It’s amazing.  There’s a skating elephant in that big semi-truck parked across the street!”  By now, I thought my dad was losing it.  Sure, he was creative, but I thought this was surely stretching the facts.

Yes, I saw the huge semi-truck, but couldn’t see how an elephant could be connected to this huge carrier parked just across the street.  Their home was very close to the interstate entrance, so access to a service station was a fairly easy maneuver for trucks wishing to refuel.

I had stepped off the front porch and glanced to the right to get a more detailed look at the printing on the side of the large semi-trailer.  Yes, I saw the truck, but still couldn’t make a connection.

By now, my dad was acting like a six-year-old little boy.  He crossed the street to get a closer look on the sign.   Ordinarily a person wouldn’t even need a pair of glasses to see the huge words colorfully displayed on the truck:

TARRA – THE SKATING ELEPHANT

We both just stood there star-crazed and in total unbelief.  A few minutes later the driver appeared with an enormous bucket of water.  Perhaps he had been very thirsty, but this bucket was beyond large … it was HUGE.

My dad couldn’t get the words out of his mouth fast enough, “Is there really an elephant in your semi?”  “Yep, that’s right sir.”

We both looked at each other in disbelief and immediately surveyed the “sign” which indicated her talent and skill.   My dad asked, “Can the elephant really skate?”  The driver’s reply was again in the affirmative.

My dad and I must have looked like six-year-olds that just got free cones from the ice cream guy on a bicycle with a freezer in the front.  Do you remember that from your childhood?  If not, it was before your time. 

In the summer, a guy would ride throughout the neighborhood with a small portable freezer at the front of this bicycle, selling various forms of popsicles and ice cream bars.  Often The Entertainer – a Scott Joplin tune – would play loudly and repeatedly as he pedaled his bicycle, attracting every child in their neighborhood.

Back to the elephant story.  The driver told us a little about this huge elephant, and how she was trained to skate.  She had been known known around the world, and this semi-truck was delivering her to her next theatrical event.

This occurred many years ago, and I think we only saw part of this priceless princess elephant’s legs while she stood in her BIG air-conditioned limousine (semi-truck).

By now, my mother had come to the porch and was absorbing all this from a distance.  My dad and I walked away from the truck, shaking our heads in disbelief.

We shared our eye witness account with my mom; and she could tell by our expressive animated description as borne out by the sign on the semi-truck that it was all for real.

Here’s a clip from the internet about this famous elephant:

Tarra, the world’s only roller-skating elephant.  Soon after moving to Ojai, California, Tarra became the world’s only roller-skating elephant.  Her celebrity took her around the world, always with her owner Carol, and her family in tow. 

Tarra is a wild-caught Burmese elephant.  She was three months old when an exotic animal broker sold her to an animal collector in California, who put her on public display at his tire store.

Carol and Tarra met in 1974 when Tarra was not even a year old and Carol was a 20-year-old college student studying exotic animal training and management at Moorpark College in southern California.

Carol immediately became Tarra’s volunteer caregiver and, eventually, her legal guardian.”

Coming back to reality, as I thought about this true-life event, I got to thinking about the “impossibility” of my dad’s proclamation.

It became clear as I pondered this scenario, how many times have I read in the Bible about how God is a God of the impossible?  How many times have I doubted his character of goodness, holiness, love, mercy, forgiveness, power and majesty?

Let me bring you to the incredible verses in Luke 1:37 and Matthew 19:26:

Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This event brought me back to the Scriptural truth about the God I serve.  At first, I doubted my dad’s announcement regarding this impossibility in front of their home.  However, it was possible and it was true. 

In that same way, I need to transfer this trust to my heavenly Father – that He has plans for my life and yours that would dwarf ours, if we would just believe Him.

There is no task, situation, problem or challenge that is impossible for our God to address.  He is the God of what might seem humanly impossible, but … not for Him.

I love how Dr. Tony Evans often shared a phrase in his sermons – it’s this:

Faith Is Acting as if God is Telling the Truth!