Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, October 24, 2025
Not long ago I visited a Barnes and Noble bookstore. They must have been reorganizing some of the volumes, because I came upon this entire set of shelves, which were empty!
“Mysteries and Thrillers!” I thought, reading the signs above. “All solved!”
When I was younger and had more time to read, I devoured my share of mystery stories. Right along with the detectives, I tried to puzzle out who did the crimes. Most of the time, my own solutions were pretty lame, but I always enjoyed the remorseless logic used by the hero.
Once we turn our attention to real life, we remember that mystery is all around us – dreadful conundrums that seem inexplicable. Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God when it hurts? Why does God allow evil to continue, and spread? What is my purpose in life?
Making sense of these bafflements is often a process of praying, reading the Bible, and being patient. But as a couple of verses toward the end of the Bible’s “love chapter” remind us, the time will come when we will see clearly.
1 Corinthians 12:11 – 12: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!