Ghia – Turns out the word August means venerable, majestic, or greatly honored. Do you know anyone worthy of this title? During my seasonal journey through Life, I have opted to make the month of August a time to remember these people, to honor them, and most importantly, to apply the lessons of their lives to my own.

The Elephant Whisperer http://amazon.com/dp/1509838538/

Hooray, GIA here.

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I'm this week's host of the Creative

Spiritual Journey podcast where Judy and I

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talk about those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living, and all the bits of magic

and wonder I come across while navigating

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this remarkable journey we call life.

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Wow.

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We have made it to the end of August.

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It's only a week until September.

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As I was contemplating where

August has gone, I found myself

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wondering about the name August.

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Beyond liking or disliking

the sound of a name.

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I have never given names much attention

in the past, but through my study

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of the gospel, I have started to

recognize the importance of names.

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Have you noticed, it seems to me that

God pays a lot of attention to names.

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Michael's name was changed to Adam

when he was placed in the Garden of

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Eden, and then the first thing Adam

did when he got there was name all

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the animals names aren't just random.

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Eve was given her name because

she is the mother of all living.

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Her name has a specific meaning.

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Jacob's name was changed to Israel.

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Joseph Smith's name was prophesied

thousands of years before he was born.

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Babies are given a name and a

blessing with a special ceremony,

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we use certain names in the temple.

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I have come to believe that

names are very important.

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So August, do you have any

idea where the name comes from?

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Turns out the month was named

after the first Roman Emperor

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Caesar Augustus, August Augustus.

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You can hear the similarity, but this

wasn't the Emperor's original name.

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His birth name was Gaas.

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Octavius, But it was changed to

Caesar when he took the throne after

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Julius Caesar and Augustus was added

as a title after he became emperor.

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The title Augustus means venerable,

majestic, or greatly honored.

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Now, personally, I don't really care

much about the man, Caesar Augustus.

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He doesn't have any significance to me.

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But Augustus as a title, as the

name of a month I Encounter every

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year, that captivates me, venerable,

majestic, greatly honored August

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in my attempt to live closer to

the earth to live seasonally.

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I thought it might be worthwhile

to dive deeper into this word,

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August and see what it means to me.

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Okay.

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As I pondered, a thought kept coming

to my mind, but I constantly pushed it

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away as not being rooted in my current

life, my life here in the desert,

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southwest of North America, but the

thought persisted, so I gave in, Which

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means that today I want to tell you about

my encounter with a venerable, majestic,

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and highly honored elephant named Nana.

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Yep.

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This encounter happened while I was

in South Africa visiting Judy this

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last May, but the story began sometime

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before Judy left on her mission.

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Judy had been studying up on South

Africa when she came across a book

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called The Elephant Whisperer.

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One thing about Judy is she loves to give

gifts, so before I knew it, I had a copy

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of the Elephant Whisperer, and once I

started reading, I couldn't put it down.

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The story gripped me.

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Let me give you a brief summary.

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In 1999, Nana was part of a herd

that was known as problem elephants.

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The herd was notorious for breaking

through the electric fence of

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their preserve and wreaking

havoc on the local villagers.

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Without many options, the

Preserve authorities slated

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the whole herd for execution.

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This sounds horrible.

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I know, but there is no

shortage of elephants in Africa.

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In fact, they are overrunning the few

places where they are still able to live.

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with the price of transporting an animal

the size of an elephant, the authorities

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didn't feel they had any choice.

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Fortunately, the owner of a new

preserve called Tula Tula herd of

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the elephant's plight and managed to

secure the funding to have the whole

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herd transported to his preserve.

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Unfortunately, due to the unruly conduct

of our problem, elephants and the

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impatience of the authorities, the herd's,

matriarch, and several of her sisters

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were shot before relocation could happen.

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This meant that Nana, as the oldest

living daughter, was thrust into her

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new role as leader without any warning,

and after witnessing the violent death

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of her mother and family members.

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Add to that being forced into the

bed of a semi-truck being drugged

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and then driven across the country

only to arrive in a completely

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new habitat and locked in a Bomba.

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A Bomba is the holding area meant

to help the elephants adapt to

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their new environment, but was

most likely seen as a prison.

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Any idea what Nana decided to

do her first night in the Bomba?

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she got one of her sister elephants

to help her knock over a giant

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tree that she could tell would

hit the wires of the Bomba.

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When the wires broke, allowing her to

escape the confines of this inner prison,

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she charged the preserves outer fence,

withstanding the fierce electrical jolts.

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This required and proceeded to

lead the whole herd on a jail break.

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Yep.

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Within a day, Nana escaped.

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in case you are wondering how

Nana orchestrated this escape.

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Let me explain.

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When the herd is together, all of the

elephants will be doing their own things,

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eating where and whatever they want.

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Some of the elephants may wander off and

the kids may get impatient and begin

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roughhousing, but the herd doesn't go

anywhere until the matriarch says so.

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And when she does, everyone, will start

heading in the direction she goes.

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to humans.

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There is no sound.

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We hear nothing.

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So how do the elephants,

without seeing the matriarch

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know what she wants them to do?

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Any ideas?

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It's through deep low

rumblings from the stomach.

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Have you ever heard that?

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Crazy, huh?

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it's kind of a new discovery, but

scientists have learned that elephants

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communicate through stomach rumbles.

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And here is something else that's crazy.

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Elephants, despite their size, have

an uncanny ability to disappear.

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I've seen it one minute an elephant is

right in front of you, and the next,

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they have pushed their way into an

impenetrable, thorny bush and disappeared.

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So can you imagine the panic the preserve

owner was experiencing when Nana escaped?

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First of all, if he doesn't get

the elephants back, they will be

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shot or possibly kill a person.

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And second of all, if he doesn't get

them back, no one will ever trust

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his ability to care for wild animals

again, and his preserve will fail.

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This was a desperate situation after

several unsuccessful attempts to round

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up the elephants, the only choice was

to resort to a helicopter and gunshots.

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Faced with this trauma, Nana reluctantly

allowed her herd to be returned to the

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confines of the newly fortified Bomba.

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But Nana was not happy for weeks.

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She was seen in the middle of the night

threatening to charge the electric fence

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Each time the preserve owner who in his

desperation opted to sleep outside the

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Bomba, would talk to her in a calming

voice saying anything he could think of.

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You don't want to break out.

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Stay where it's safe.

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I know you're scared.

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I know you don't have any reason to trust

humans, but please stay in the Bomba.

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Whatever he said worked because

Nana never broke out again.

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Instead, she changed tactics.

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Maybe it was the preserve owner's

calming voice or some kind of animal

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intuition, but Nana seems to have to

decided to get her heard out of the

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Bomba by placating the preserve owner.

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she did this by snaking her trunk through

the wires of the electric fence and

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caressing the chest of the preserve owner

leaving behind a trail of elephant snot.

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Her tactics worked.

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The owner decided Nana could

be trusted and that it was time

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to let her out of the Bomba.

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The book goes on to relate story.

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After story of the amazing nana

and her herd of elephants, Nana

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found safety for the elephants.

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During a fire, she stood for hours

in the blazing African sun with no

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water to shade a newborn elephant.

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And during this whole time, Nana,

this wild animal kept up a friendly

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relationship with the preserve owner.

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In fact, upon his unexpected passing

from a heart attack, Nana brought

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the whole herd to his funeral.

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Isn't that amazing?

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To us, it seems she would've had no way

of knowing he had died, but obviously

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she knew and she came and it gets better.

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Exactly.

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One year later, she returned.

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It appears she came back to

honor her long lost friend.

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uh, tell me that doesn't melt your heart.

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Sadly, Nana is no longer the matriarch.

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When she began going blind, her

daughter Frankie, took over.

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When Frankie died of a liver

disease, Frankie's oldest

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daughter became matriarch.

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But as you can imagine, as the

oldest member of the herd, Nana

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is treated with great respect.

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Now before I got to South Africa,

Judy got to visit Tula Tula for her

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birthday, and while she was out

on a game drive, Nana appeared and

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walked right up to the Safari vehicle.

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Judy was so excited, and while Nana

was walking past the driver happened to

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mention that Nana had just turned 60.

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Guess what?

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Judy and Nana are the same age.

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How fun is that?

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Now you can imagine that when I

got to spend a few days at Tula

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Tula, I had the secret hope of also

getting to see this majestic animal.

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But day after day, we didn't see her

on the very last drive, our guide

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pointed out an elephant named Nady.

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Nady is one of Nana's daughters.

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She is a huge elephant, and at the

time she was nursing a young bull and

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I decided I would have to be happy with

just seeing one of Nana's daughters.

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Now it's interesting to note that Nady was

wearing a tracking device around her neck.

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Tula Tula has several species.

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They monitor with tracking devices,

including the highly poached rhinoceros,

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the elephants, and the cheetahs.

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But only the Preserve Manager is ever

allowed to access this information.

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None of the Safari drivers can

track the animals, and not even

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the preserve Rangers who patrol the

park are privy to this information.

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That is because the preserve doesn't

want any of its employees faced

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with threats or bribes from poachers.

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So when I saw Nady with a tracker

around her neck, I had to wonder

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why she isn't the matriarch.

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Knowing where she is wouldn't necessarily

tell anyone where the herd is.

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I had also learned that putting a

tracking device on an elephant is

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dangerous because there is no way of

knowing which way an animal will fall.

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given the size of an elephant, falling

the wrong way can be quite dangerous.

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So why track Nady?

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When I asked our guide, I learned

that Nady keeps watch over her mother.

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Nady is always close to Nana.

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Isn't that amazing?

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I mean, I have heard that elephants

have strong family bonds, but

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I had no idea they would watch

over each other so closely.

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this means that in order to save Nana

the hassle and danger of being drugged

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for a tracker, the preserve had tagged

Nandy a much younger, healthier elephant.

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Instead.

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Now, why is the preserve so

concerned about Nana's whereabouts?

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Is it simply her venerable status?

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I can't say for sure, but

there is one thing I do know

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over an elephant's lifetime,

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They get three sets of giant molars

that they use to masticate their food.

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Once the last set of teeth has been

worn out, an elephant can no longer

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eat and dies based on her age.

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Nana is perilously close to having her

last set of teeth wear out As I sat

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in the Safari vehicle pondering this

and watching Nady nurse her baby, lo

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and behold, Nana appeared out of the

bush and walked straight towards us.

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I was so excited I didn't

even pull out my camera.

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All I wanted to do was absorb the moment.

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Can I just say that South

African elephants are huge.

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Even the pores of their skin are huge.

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And yes, I was close enough to see

them and being in the presence of

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this animal and knowing some of

her story, oh, it was powerful.

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So powerful that if I had my way Nana's

name would be changed to Nana Augustus.

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To Nana the majestic,

venerable, and greatly honored.

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Which leads us back to where

we find ourselves today.

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At the end of August, we

are in this spiral of life.

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It's going around and around

from month to month in a

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constant, predictable repetition,

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And we know that as we get

older, we spiral through the

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months faster and faster.

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Why did God design our seasons this way?

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Do you think it has a purpose?

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Is there something we are to

learn as we repeat this pattern?

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I think there is, and if that's the case,

what shall we do with this month of August

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when we come across it year after year?

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I don't know about you, but I am going

to erase Caesar Augustus from my calendar

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and replace him with Nana Augustus.

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the month of August, at least

in my mind, will now be named in

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honor of Nana Is there anyone in

your life worthy of this title?

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Have you taken the time

to ponder their story?

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As part of my ongoing spiral through

the seasons of life, I have decided I

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will make the month of August a time to

contemplate the lives of such Augustus

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beings, whether human or animal.

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And do my best to remember them,

honor them, and most importantly,

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apply the lessons of their lives

to my own in an effort to walk even

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timidly in their giant footprints.

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will you take

the time right now to share it with a

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friend, share it somewhere on social

media, or leave us a five star rating.

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And if you listen to Apple Podcast,

will you leave us a five star review?

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Your efforts will help this podcast make

a bigger impact in the world, and it will

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let us know that you like our show and it

will give us the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for your help.

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I love this quote from CS Lewis.

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The more we let God take us over,

the more truly ourselves we become.

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I don't know about you, but

I want to let God help me

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become a little more like Nana.

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Namaste.