Sharks, Squids, and Faith

I have a secret passion for crypto-zoology, more like a minor obsession actually. Ever since I was an elementary school tyke there was this insurmountable curiosity embedded deep within that drove me to check out every book available about Sasquatch and UFOs, the Chubakabra and Nessie, giant squids and other demons of the dark and deep corners of the ocean. Even today, I can't help but turn on Monster Quest on History Channel during my lunch on my off days, crossing my fingers that somewhere, just maybe, some hidden species might reappear out of nowhere, baffling scientist and average joe alike, a creature taken straight out of the prehistoric.

For example, in Japan a new species of shark has been discovered, monikered the 'frill shark'. This is what scientists consider one of the most ancient of all shark species, existing as far back as 100 million years ago. Her back was huntched, her gills were frilly and bright red, her eyes glazed over with narrow fins and rows of teeth which had multiple sharp points diverging from each tooth. She was amazing. Scientsits figure such creatures live 3000+ feet below the surface of the ocean in places where man has never stepped. This is no surprise considering that mankind has explored more of the surface of the moon than the surface of the ocean floor.

Or take my favorite, the giant squid, a creature whose only contact with humanity has been washed up carcasses along the beach of the occational sucker indentation on an unlucky sperm whale. For years, scientists have tried numerous techniques to capture on camera these beautiful monsters. Finally, one group had the idea to attatch a camera to a 5 foot humboldt squid, sending it deep into the ocean. Imagine their surprise when a large, dinner plate sized eye and a devious tentacle skimmed across the view of the lens, a massive squid estimated to be at least 40-50 feet long.

Wow.

How awesome is our earth, a massive sphere where each and every day new species suddenly pop out of nowhere, some of them straight out of Jurassic Park by the looks of them! With out internet and cable TV, our cell phones and airplanes, our rockets and ipods, we have forgotten how vast this world is. Thousands of miles of jungles lay uncharted and unexplored, acres of ocean floor are untouched by man, and on the highest of mountain peaks live animals we have never even heard of. From the island of Tazmania to the jungles of Paupa New Guinia, to the Marianja Trench, to the Canadian Wilderness, all of this full of mystery and awe. And we have not scratched the surface even with out numerous gadgets and trinkets and our supposed 'infinite knowledge'.

We don't know it all. Einstein said the greatest treasure in life is an enigma, for it is for the undiscovered, the unknown, the seemingly impossible, that man strives, dreams, and lives for. To get one glance of a Tazmanina Tiger, a picture of Megamouth shark, to touch a creature so little known to man, what a dream!

We don't know it all. It's easy to say we do, that we have our ducks in a row, our eggs have been counted and our numbers are checked and double-checked. How horrible to realize that this is not the case. Socrates acknowledged himself in the fact that what he knew best was how little he actually knew. Are we able in this day and age to humble ourselves so greatly as to admit that there are many mysteries that we may never solve, answers we may never get, and chances that we will never have again? Scary, isn't it. No one likes not to know, no one wants a less then 100% chance if we can get it. We want proof, we want pictures, we want odds and statistics and charts and graphs and video footage with a CNBC report.

Crypto-zoology is one thing, I don't mind that mystery in my life. When it comes to other things, that is a much different story. Faith is a funny thing, because it isn't something we want necessarily. So often we want faith to be knowledge or understanding. But it can't be, and it kills us. No matter what one may say or do, two things are unprovable. That God does not exist and that God does exist. We can present stats and creation and all that good stuff found in apologetics, and in the end, we come to the problem we started with; faith. Faith; you can't live with it and you can't live without it. Sometimes it's easy. Nate Door i trust, he has proven that to me many times, and I have faith that Nate Door, in a clutch situation, will be there for me. Other people, not so much.

How about God? Yeah. Doesn't it seem hard, no, near impossible at times? Kierkegaard made it clear that even if something is impossible for man to know, it does not logically entail that such thing is impossible in and of itself, but that sucks. That really sucks. We want to know, we want to think we can know it, we want to build a wall of confidence and say that we have facts and no one can take that away, but to contain God to facts is like trying to keep a puppy from jumping into a pit of balls; it can't be done. How can we place our infinite, omnipotent, omniscient God and place him into nice, neat rows in order to fit into our agenda, our formulas, our treasties. There is a point where logic and reason break down, where our epistomelogical confidence breaks down, where even the most brilliant and well-spoken must say they do not understand how so many innocent people can die, how such a darling daughter is now paralyzed from the waist down, how cancer can ravage a gentleman's body.

Faith goes hand-in-hand with humility. If you think you can walk on up, pulling your pants up high, throwing facts and intelligent terms around and can prove your faith through numbers and stats, you're dead wrong. What is faith?

Faith is a doctor. A good doctor who practiced out of his house for nearly 30 years. For almost as long he had a large, friendly German Shepherd named Rex. Now Rex was a big dog, a nice dog, but a big dog, and everyday he would follow the doctor down the stairs and up to the mat of the door that led into the large room where the doctor would practice his medicine and take in patients. And every day the doctor would pat Rex on the head, tell him to stay put, and would walk into the room, leaving Rex laying by the door, piering patiently into the office. One day, the doctor took in a pateint who had cancer, a bad cancer that was ravinging hate upon his body. The man was troubled, he was grief-stricken, and as the doctor checked his blood pressure the man voiced his doubts. After all, what kind of God would ever allow someone to get cancer, how could you have faith in a God like that? The doctor paused, setting his stethiscope aside before looking the man in his eyes, turning his head towards Rex across the room before turning back. "You see Rex there. He's going on 17 years right now. And never once has he stepped foot in this room. Not once, ever. But watch this." The doctor slowly paced towards the door, standing a couple meters away from the frame and whistled, waving his hand toward the now attentive mutt. Rex paused, his ears flitched, his tongue licked his wet nose as he whimpered, shuffling his feet for a few moments. The doctor finally got down on his knees and called out his name "Rex." At that instant Rex bounced from the frame of the door in a giant leap, landing in the doctor's arms as he showered his bearded face with kisses.

"See that" the doctor said "all he needed was to hear his master's voice"

Our master's voice. Can we measure faith objectively? No. But to hear our master's voice...maybe we needed to listen more intently, maybe we need to turn down our ipods and background noise, maybe we need to rid ourselves of the things polluiting our lives. But to hear our master's voice, to hear him calling to us, telling us it's ok to jump for he will catch us.

That is faith.

Will we ever know God? Not perfectly, not exhaustively, not completely. But how little we know, we surely can know this;

Jesus loves me
this I know
for the Bible tells me so
little ones
to Him belong
they are weak, but He is strong

And you don't have to be a crypto-zoologist to know that!

Pray often
Love more often

Thanks for reading. Love you all

Blake