DAY 17

MEGALODON

JOHN MACDONALD, LEAD PASTOR, THE WOODS CHURCH

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. —Proverbs 2:1-6

If you have ever heard me preach over a period of time you have probably heard me say that if I wasn’t a pastor in ministry, I would be a treasure hunter. I know you might be laughing at me right now, but it’s true. I would get a boat, travel the Caribbean looking for old Spanish and pirate shipwrecks and dive them all looking for treasure. No, seriously I could spend all day, every day doing that. It sounds like a total adventure.

I have tried to raise my kids to love adventure. My family and I have long enjoyed getting away to some tropical paradise for vacation each year. I usually find some new experience or adventure to take us on. One of the places we have frequented, because it is easier and cheaper than heading to the Caribbean, is southwest Florida. What you might not know is that three times in Florida’s history it has been fully covered with sea water. This is why people can find prehistoric shark teeth in many of the rivers in Southwest Florida. From Venice to Englewood along the western coast and from there inland to the middle of the state, you can find prehistoric shark teeth. And not just the normal sharks but the biggest of them all, the Megalodon. People spend hours on excursions digging in the rivers, combing the beaches, diving the ancient riverbed about 200 yards off the coast looking for these treasured teeth. My family has done all of these.

For those of you not aware, Megalodons are an extinct species of shark that once grew up to 60 feet long, almost three times longer than the largest recorded Great White Shark. Meg teeth actually
have some monetary value but are not that easy to find. You have to know where to look and have a little luck, even then they are elusive. My boys and I could go to Manasota beach any day of the week and have close to a hundred shark’s teeth of different varieties in just an hour or two of sifting sand. We have also dug in the rivers and found fragments of large megs but never a whole tooth. Then one day I saw an ad posted to a bulletin board in a store. The ad was for Bone Valley Fossil Farm. A few years back a farmer dug down to the fossil layer of earth on his farm and discovered all kinds of prehistoric fossils and teeth. For a fee you can visit Bone Valley fossil farm and wash dirt. When I was reading about this I was thinking to myself, this sounds amazing, who wouldn’t want to wash dirt!

I called, booked it, then told the family we were going after Meg teeth. Adventure hunting here we come. Basically, the farmer takes his end loader and scoops a load of dirt out of the fossil layer and brings it to you and dumps it at one of the hose sites where you then slowly and carefully begin to wash through the dirt, layer by layer. Whatever you find, you can keep. We had gone through about 4 loads of dirt by 1:00pm and found some beautiful prehistoric shark’s teeth and some small fragments of Megs but no whole tooth yet. By this time, I think the adventure had worn out its welcome for Holly and Maddox who were sitting in camping chairs under a sun umbrella by the car, drinking Cokes and snacking. Hudson and I were still in it, dirty, muddy, washing carefully, looking, searching, seeking, anticipating.

Hudson had been working through his end of the pile for quite some time when Maddox, who I’m sure was bored out of his mind, made his way over. Within seconds, Maddox, seeing the tip of something sticking up out of the dirt, reaches down into Hudson’s pile and says “what’s this” and pulls out a three and a half inch complete pristine Meg tooth. We did it! We sought out the treasure and we found
it! We were all excited except for Hudson, who couldn’t believe Maddox found the treasure he was just centimeters away from finding.

Proverbs 2 tells us that if we diligently seek the wisdom, understanding, and insight of the Lord, we will discover the profound knowledge of God. This pursuit leads us to a deep and intimate relationship with the Father, allowing us to grasp the richness of His wisdom and draw closer to Him. The real treasure is God Himself. The real adventure comes when we choose to lay aside our human wisdom and understanding and begin to search and seek out His. Oh, the revelations one will gain, when we cry out to our Omniscient God for insight and understanding.

In what areas of your life do you urgently need God's insight, wisdom, and understanding? Have you tried asking for His guidance and revelation? Scripture is clear in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

PRAYER

Spend several minutes praying Proverbs 2:1-6 back to the Lord asking Him for His wisdom, insight, understanding, and knowledge for every challenging situation you are facing. Listen carefully, He wants to speak and bring you revelation!