Finding Bigfoot
Last weekend, I attended the Great Florida BigFoot Conference in Ocala with my wife and our 14-year-old son, Cooper, whose interest in all things Sasquatch was pique after a trip with us to Washington state last year. His favorite t-shirt features BigFoot with this line: “Believe in yourself, even when nobody else does.”
The conference featured a line-up of speakers from the TV series Finding Bigfoot and Expedition: BigFoot, including the skeptical scientist, Ranae Holland. But my favorite part was listening to local folks share about their personal encounters with Sasquatch.
Encounters
It seemed that there were plenty of people at the conference with a story to share. (As the host reminded us on more than one occasion: we were in a “safe space.”) And while there were definitely a lot of Florida Man in attendance, most of the guests seemed like ordinary folk. Among the stories we heard of people's encounter with Big Foot (or Skunk Ape as he's known in Florida):
a woman who saw him in her rearview mirror crossing the road.
a father & son who talked back & forth to him through Sasquatch calls.
a man who took a photograph of something watching him from the woods (what the image shows is up to interpretation).
Squatchers who found and cast his 18" footprints.
a 14-year-old who discovered eDNA linked to old world monkey in a part of the world where there are no known primates.
What was so compelling about each story was not the details or the bits of evidence, but the conviction with which they spoke. They truly believe that they had an encounter with BigFoot. As one woman expressed, “I was a skeptic until I saw him for myself. My life hasn't been the same since.”
I think apologetics has its place and that offering evidence and “proof” of God and the Bible can have value. But what's most compelling for a world of skeptics is to hear the testimony of those who have encountered Him and live in such a way that it's impossible to deny that we believe it to be true.
And in our faith journey, we can sing the songs and listen to the sermons, but what's most transformative is when we encounter the Living God for ourselves.
Because of those moments of encounter in my own life, I know that He is real and present to me and to all humanity. Even in my darkest moments of disappointment and despair, I've never doubted that God is real.
Every weekend, Squatchers all across the US will go out into remote forests in search of BigFoot. They are so convinced that he is real, they will spend all of their free time trying to find him. Unfortunately, to the frustration of all those searching, BigFoot remains the undefeated champion of Hide & Seek.
But as Christians, we serve a God who reveals Himself to us.
"When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord…" (Jeremiah 29:13-14)
Unlike BigFoot, God isn't shyly hiding Himself from us. He wants to be found.
So as we enter our weekend, let's seek the Lord, that we may encounter Him…
in our rest…
in our worship…
in the gathering of His Church…
in the sacrament of communion at the Lord's Table.
The Lord said, “When you search for me, you will find me…"
Now, if only BigFoot were so accommodating.