“First you try to tell me that field of grass is a vernal pool. I don’t see any water. Then you tell me it has Fairy Shrimp in it! You are telling me a fairy tale!”

It’s dry right now, after the fire season, I tried to explain to my skeptic friend. Then the fall and winter rains come, and the field begins to fill with water, going from a few puddles to a pond, and eventually a small lake.
That was last September. Just three months later, in December, my skeptic friend was amazed at the small lake where the field of grass had been.
But could I convince him of Fairy Shrimp? I’d never seen them myself, though I had searched the internet for pictures and articles. That was good enough for my faith, but how could I convince him?

Believing in something you cannot see takes faith. But faith is not just a blind leap in the dark. While I don’t  believe in fairies, I can say I believe in Fairy Shrimp.

Why?

There is the testimony of those who have see Fairy Shrimp themselves. And I’ve read articles and seen pictures of those who’ve documented what they’ve seen. Then I have the first hand account of a person I know who has studied them and measured the Fairy Shrimp levels in “my” vernal pool (as well as other places): a biologist with the Wildlife Heritage Foundation.

There’s the evidence of what the vernal pool is like when there are high levels of Fairy Shrimp. I’ve got lists in my own notebooks of over twenty species I see every day when the pool is a carnival of active waterfowl.

What a contrast to this year, when the flocks just stop and rest at our “resort” then go their way, for the popular “shrimp salad” is not on the menu at the restaurant.

Just as it takes faith to believe in these Fairy Shrimp when you cannot see them, so it takes faith to believe in Jesus you cannot see or the Bible that tells of Him. The Bible says “Through faith we understand the the worlds were framed by the Word of God…” (Hebrews 3:11) Creation scientists have been amassing mountains of evidence for proving creation, the global flood of Noah, etc. But the Bible itself says it requires faith.

Lest the evolutionist should gloat, it certainly takes faith to believe that this mathematically precise universe and the complex ecology of earth are just the result of an accident. That certainly requires faith.

Each has to respect the other’s faith, and I’ll say no more on that.

If I find a way to see Fairy Shrimp for myself, I’ll let you know.