Intertribal Life Newspaper -

Legends about Big Foot or Sasquatch have been around for hundreds of years. If you mention Big Foot, everyone immediately knows who or what you are talking about.

Most people don't believe in leprechauns or fairies, but if you mention Big Foot, they don't seem as sure. If you ask people if they believe in mermaids they'll say no, if you ask them if they believe in Big Foot they'll say "Well, not exactly but if we had more proof, I suppose it is possible."

I think we like the idea of something unknown living in the forest, something mysterious, something ancient.

Newspapers have reported on sightings of Big Foot since the early 1800s, but none of these have reported people being attacked or killed by Big Foot, and no reports of any remains of Big Foot have ever been found.

In spite of the fact there is no tangible proof of the existence of Big Foot, millions of people believe there is a possibility that he (usually we think of Big Foot as a he) exists in the forests of Northwestern America and Canada. They say he is eight- to ten-feet tall, looks like an ape, is covered with long brown hair and walks like a man.

No one can prove he does or doesn't exist.

When we are children we believe in fairy tales and magic and giants and all sorts of wonderful things. We have no limits in what we believe is possible. As we "grow up" we become sensible and we want proof before we believe in something and we lose the "magic."

Do I believe in Big Foot? I'm one of those people who will say anything is possible.

A hundred years ago no one could have imagined TV or computers or cell phones but we use all those things daily and can't imagine life without them.

My family calls me the Conspiracy Queen. I like conspiracies. I like questioning the news, the government and history.

When my children were small, I told them a bedtime story every night. Some were fairy tales, some were legends and some were true. I don't know if my children believed any of my stories.

When I was young and my pastor preached a sermon about Jonah and the Whale I asked him if he really believed that a whale swallowed Jonah. My pastor said, "I believe the Bible. I believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but if it said that Jonah had swallowed a whale, I'd believe it."

How do we decide what we should believe? What's true and what's a lie?

I bought a horse named Thunder from a man who told me she was a good horse but not to ride her through water. I thought Thunder was afraid of water, so for months I didn't ride the mare anywhere close to water.

Then one day when I was riding with a friend, we came to a creek that was about three feet deep. I decided I would ride my horse through the water and teach her there was nothing to fear.

When I reached the middle of the creek, Thunder went down to her knees and began to roll over on her back. I jumped off my horse and waded to the creek bank. My horse wasn't afraid of water; she loved water! She was rolling in the creek and then stood up and shook herself.

I thought I knew the truth about my horse. I thought Thunder was afraid of water, but I was wrong. The opposite was true; she loved water. The next time I saw the man who sold me the horse I told him about what had happened.

"Oh, yeah, Thunder loves the water. I can't tell you how many times she dumped me in the middle of a creek so she could take a roll in the water." he said.

"But why didn't you tell me that?" I asked.

"I told you not to ride her in water," he said.

He was right; he had told me not to ride her in water, but he didn't tell me the reason.

Who do you trust? What do you believe? When Jesus' disciples had a hard time believing He had risen from the dead, He told them, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). Ultimately our source for truth is Jesus Christ and the Bible God has given us. We may not understand everything God tells us through His Word, but that's where faith and belief comes in. Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) tells us that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith doesn't mean we have to see something to believe it. Faith also means we don't have to understand something to believe it.

Talking about Big Foot and other legends is fun. But they don't change our lives much. On the other hand, when we believe God and His Word, that changes our lives! (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Crying Wind is the author of Crying Wind and My Searching Heart, When the Stars Danced and Thunder in Our Hearts, Lightning in

Our Veins.