"X" Marks The Spot!

I would like to run a few more test, but I have long since retired from throwing boomerangs. I'm guessing it was a 100 foot "egg shaped" pattern that was interrupted before the shape was completed. Consider the odds. One boomerang, one thrower (me), and one observer (Cathy) who was playing on a sand pile out of my sight. I set the boomerang in motion. "What I throw!", I thought to myself. I watched as it left the sight of my left eye and waited for it to come back into view on my right side. It never made it around. The solid wood boomerang found it's way to Cathy's forehead. She had climbed on top of the sand pile some twenty feet behind me. I heard her scream and immediately turned to see blood dripping from her head. I knew what this meant and had no time to see if she was OK. I ran to our house and grabbed mom. "I killed Cathy!", I yelled as tears streamed down my face. Six butterfly stitches and Cathy was going to survive. If you run into her today, just glance between her two eyes in the middle of her forehead. The mark is still there. Scarred by a ten year old Ausie from Oklahoma.

I have my own scars that act as reminders. Scars from riding a bicycle at age ten. Scars from an air compressor a few months ago. They serve as reminders, mostly of pain and suffering or decisions that weren't thought through properly. It makes me think of Cain. He kills his brother Abel and God curses him, saying he is a wanderer no longer in the presence of God. In Genesis 4:14 Cain says, "...and whoever finds me will kill me." I guess we could debate who was "out there" that Cain was so worried about, but not today. I want to talk about the mark that God placed on Cain to keep him safe. I've heard many different theories, but I want to mention one that you probably haven't thought of. Cain kills his brother and deserves death. God see's one of his children as a murderer. Cain deserved nothing, but that is not what God gave him. God gave him a gift he didn't deserve. He gave Cain a mark that he gives to us today. When someone came across Cain, they didn't see the mark of the beast that scared them away. They didn't see a symbol that spoke to them to keep their distance. The mark on Cain was grace. God's grace, grace that is greater than all of our sins. Grace, that is deeper than the ocean and wider than the seas. So, we too are marked just like Cain. Kept alive despite those that are out to harm us...although I would suggest staying away from Okie's carrying boomerangs. Until next time.