BEAR FACTS ABOUT THE TRUTH

Following the tracks laid out in last week’s entry, I have another intriguing fact to share with you. As our guide was sharing several bear-related stories with us, he endeavoured to answer a question no one had even asked, but was quite possibly on somebody’s mind. What was the question? I thought you’d never ask!

The guide had already mentioned that an adult black bear will consume up to 30,000 berries in one day. Now he went on to explain how exactly that can be tallied. It appears the government will hire students in the springtime to do some research projects, one of these tasks being to calculate the number of berries eaten. They will be assigned to follow one particular bear for an entire day. The animal is tagged to make this possible. Since the digestive tract of a bear is extremely short, waste is expelled frequently. Now you get the picture! Yes, their job is to collect all the scat ( poop ) which consists mainly of berry seeds, and sift through it, counting the seeds. Since they know approximately how many seeds one berry holds the rest is just a bit of adding and multiplying. Isn’t that just everyone’s dream job?

The moral of that lesson is, sometimes you gotta sift through a lot of crap to find a few seeds of truth!

What is truth? One definition puts it this way, ‘that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality’.

Then there is this, ‘a fact or belief that is accepted as true’. It seems to me that the latter may or may not actually be true but if someone says it is and enough people accept it as such it becomes true. Somehow that doesn’t give me a whole lot of security or stability. In this time of political upheaval as well as the constantly shifting sands of health and wellness, trying to grasp at truth is like a one-armed man trying to catch a bar of slippery soap in the bath!

There is only one phrase that comes to my mind that brings me any hope and assurance. Jesus, Himself said to his disciples (and that includes me) ‘ you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.’ Just before He spoke this line He made it clear that the way to know the truth was to abide in His word. He is in the midst of teaching His listeners that whoever is living outside of Christ is a slave to sin and needs to be made free. 

I have found that I can apply this principle in any situation I find myself in. Where wisdom is needed it can be found while looking into the word of God. Where loneliness exists and companionship is longed for it can be found while dwelling in His word. Where answers are lacking they can be found as the light of His Spirit shines to illuminate His truths. Needing comfort? God’s Word is found to be the answer to that too.

Some facts are nice to know and others are helpful to know but the one and only TRUTH that brings life is  Jesus Christ himself. He describes Himself as being the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE in John 14:6.

As we walk through life let's make sure our feet stay on the path of truth. If they stray, there’s no telling what we may be stepping into on the way to the party!