It’s better to eat piranhas than have them eat us.

In our Vancouver, Washington elementary school, we studied a raft of world locations, climate zones, and animal species I hoped to see in person. Through the years, I’ve been blessed to actually see and experience many and even written about some. (Check my book titles under my Books Tab at delorestopliff.com)

While studying the tropics, we learned that piranhas with triangular teeth could strip the meat from a cow crossing a stream in one minute flat. In 1980, in my 180 day mission trip to the Colombian Amazonian jungle, I taught students in many locations and helped teachers in developing schools. When I needed to cross a log above one piranha-filled stream to reach a distant site, my hosts expected me to be terrified, but I’d had practice crossing logs over Canadian wilderness streams. I’d learned that the secret is to look straight ahead or up–never down at the swirling flood underneath, lest looking into that morass make me fall in. (That’s a true spiritual principle, too.)  I crossed that log fine, and dinner that night was delicious piranhas served with their heads on, with triangular teeth and all. It’s better to eat piranhas than have them eat us. One chewed a chunk from 12-year-old Manuel’s hand as he removed it from a net. When he couldn’t grasp a pencil to do his schoolwork, several eager girls helped the smiling hero.

So whatever frightening piranhas you see or meet, remember–they can be stopped and are good food. Instead of terrifying us, they can feed us and fuel our steps forward to fulfill our destinies. May we learn to view all challenges bravely and positively.

My current challenge is to draw together five novellas that four other author friends and I are writing into one compelling collection we’re calling Stars and Stripes for Freedom. I’ll tell you more about that in coming months, but we believe you’ll love these fun, inspiring stories as much as we do.

I’m also beginning to write the sequel to Wilderness Wife. I’m considering titles like Wilderness Won or Wilderness Gained–retelling the journey of Dr. John and Marguerite McLoughlin across Canada to establish Fort Vancouver (my hometown) which led to  the Pacific Northwest becoming American instead of Canadian soil. Pray for me to capture the compelling scenes and amazing story that these two legacy builders deserve. I’m open to your title suggestions, and will gladly give you credit.

Wherever you are, have beautifully satisfying spring days filled with inspiring beauty.