Purple Sailor Jellyfish (Velella velalla) ~ Death, where is your Sting?

i recently went to Oregon where i spoke at Portland State University on the topic of God and Science.  one morning i woke up early and decided to check out the ocean.  i left the beach-house and followed my nose towards the brine.  When i arrived at the beach, i couldn’t help but gasp.  The entire shore was covered in indigo.  i crept closer and closer, wondering at the strange phenomenon.  After stooping down to inspect the blue colours i came to realize the sand was painted in billions of tiny jellyfish.  i’d never seen anything like it in my life.  It was beautiful, but the weight of death saddened me.

Further down the beach i found a twisted piece of driftwood, covered in mussels.  The mussels reached out their feathery hands to taste the morning breeze.  But each time they did, seagulls swooped down and ripped them from their shells.  i wished i could save them, but the thought seemed childish as soon as it passed through my mind.

i kept walking and found a great fin protruding through the sand.  With great exertion i dug out the creature and beheld its immense beauty.  The Sturgeon must have been about 6 feet long.  This creature may have been as old as 150 years.  A beautiful swirling pattern speckled his back.  He had been there awhile and was partially mummified.

i paused and watched the waves.  My heart was heavy.  i began praying to the Lord.

“It’s such a lovely morning, and everything you’ve created is extravagant in beauty.  But everything is based on death.  Why does all of creation hinge upon death?  And so much of it a cruel, predative death?”

The answer came to me, soft and slow as the salty breeze on my cheeks: “What you see is not just death.  It is death being turned to life.”

As the wind picked up, i saw that the jellyfish were drying and scattering into the grass which was just greening and hungry for nutrient.  The seagulls floated from the mussel-covered driftwood to feed their chicks on the rocky shoals nearby.  Bugs and crabs gathered around the sturgeon i’d dug up, anxious to get to work.

Oftentimes in life, we only see the sting of death.  There are so many places in my heart that seem dead.  i have lost beloved relationships, i have lost the ability to do things that i loved.  So many hopes and dreams for my future have passed away like a mist.  i  have had to bury them in the ground, and i have mourned their loss.  But Christ said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10v10)  This makes me wonder how often i stop at the bad circumstances in life, at the degraded parts, at the death.  What would change if i pushed through to see the outcome?  Would the outcome be further brokenness, or abundant life?

In the hymn “He’s always been faithful”, a statement sticks out to me:

“i can’t remember a trial or a pain

He did not recycle to bring me gain.”

Again, the apostle Paul writes, "Death, where is your sting?  Grave, where is your victory?"

Brothers and sisters, let us press on through the dead places in our lives and take hold of the abundant life promised us!