When Old Sailors Die do They Just Fade Away

            There are some things in life that will always be a mystery. A family in Norway had just sat down to a nice quiet dinner of sardines and reindeer when the doorbell rang. The father looked through the peephole but could not tell who it was, although he could hear heavy breathing. They looked out the window and discovered a moose at the front door. I have two questions. Why can you never see anything through a peephole? How did the moose know to use the doorbell?

            Another family in Norway had just sat down for a quiet diner of sardines and sheep’s head when a military tank came crashing through the front door. An eyewitness reported that just before the tank smashed through the front door she head the tank sergeant yell out, “Avon Calling!” again, I have two questions. Why do people in Norway eat so many sardines? When did Avon start using tanks to improve sales?

            Germany also has a few mysteries. Toads, for no apparent reason, are swelling up and blowing up. Experts are trying to unravel the mystery of the exploding toads. They can’t figure out why a perfectly good toad can be sitting there minding its own business doing toad things one minute, and the next minute he’s airborne in 5000 different directions. One expert said it could be a defense mechanism because of aggressive crows. Let me get this straight. A toad will choose to blow himself up rather than face a crow? That is definitely a mystery.

            Another scientist was quoted as saying, “This is such a mess we are going to have to call a toad truck.” I have two more questions. How many exploding toads do you have to see to become an expert? Why do Germans make such good chocolate but such horrible puns? As if the toad incident wasn’t strange enough a cow walked into a German bank, made a few turns and walked out. Most employees agreed on one thing. The cow could make all the withdrawals she wanted. They just didn’t want her making any deposits.

            I love mysteries and mystery books. I used to love the television series, “Murder, She Wrote,” and back in the 70’s, “Ellery Queen.” I have to make an admission.  I even watch the Hallmark mysteries, particularly Aurora Teagarden. Don’t hate me. One of my favorite board games is “Clue.” A murder is committed and the object of the game is figure out the guilty suspect, the weapon, and the room in which the murder took place. It is a mystery until the end of the game.

            There is  a bigger mystery in the game of life. Paul says in Romans 5:8, “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (NLT). Two things stand out. It says “us.” There are no qualifiers. He sent Christ to die for all of us. And he did it while “we were still sinners.”  I can’t understand that kind of love.

            As in the game of “Clue” there is also a killing in the game of life. Christ killed sin. He did it on a hill . . . with a cross . . . and that is no mystery. As to why God could love me so much as to send His only Son to die for me, I don’t have a clue. I guess I will have to wait until the end of the Game.