The other day, we visited this children’s museum. As we made our way inside, I watched my kids run enthusiastically down that carpeted ramp, pointing excitedly at this and that, and I cried.

I cried because I got to be witness to this–my boy beside himself with glee over the Transformers exhibit and the dinosaur sculptures and I got to see the world again through my little girl’s eyes, all full or curiosity and wonder.

I cried because so many of the world’s children have never been to a dinosaur museum just for the fun of it. Some of them are scraping the parched earth, looking for food and they can’t find any. And some of the children in the world don’t have a momma or a daddy to take care of them and here we were, all together enjoying life and we’d go out to eat at restaurants at least three times before our trip was over and we were home again.

And I cried because sometimes my  heart can’t even contain all the love I feel inside for these babes and so it spills out and runs down my cheeks in the form of happy tears.

My utmost favorite part of the museum was the dinosaur exhibit. I’m still absolutely in awe of these creatures. And you know what’s funny? I went through this phase not so long ago, where a part of me had trouble believing that they truly, really did exist. So, I kept looking up pictures of bona fide fossils on the internet and when we got to the museum, I had to go see again for myself–their real fossilized bones. I had to touch them, just to confirm my ludicrous doubts.

When I saw the nearly whole remains of a Brachylophosaurus, (yeah, I have no idea how to pronounce that) and could peer intently at the little patches of soft tissue and skin that had been preserved, I stood there in utter awe. But, I marveled even more at the God who made that beast. Because it astonishes me, that after all the advancements we’ve made in science and all that the human mind is capable of, we still have yet to figure out exactly how the dinosaurs became extinct.

Sure, we’ve got lots of theories, but mostly, it’s just a mystery. God alone knows what happened to them. As I examined the different skeletons and small fragmented remains, I imagined God smiling quietly, with a knowing sort of grin. And I could envision that twinkle in His eye, like Him saying, “I know you don’t know yet, but someday, I’ll tell ya.”

I think about this–how there are lots of things in life that only God knows and we can question and search it out and theorize and explore, but in the end, we have to learn how to be content with a fair amount of mystery.

It’s this not knowing everything and not being able to figure it all out that conjures up a deep sense of  humility on the part of humanity. And I don’t think we’re supposed to stop asking and searching and exploring, because God made us with a child-like curiosity and He blessed us with an incredible ability to examine and learn and figure a lot of things out.

But, I do think we’re supposed to search with God and not apart from Him. He is Wisdom and ours falls short.

So, it’s good for us to cultivate contentment with a certain amount of mystery. This keeps us humble–the reminder that God is God and we are just not.

But someday all God’s Kingdom children with see His face and we can ask Him our countless curious questions. And perhaps, just perhaps instead of spouting off all the answers, He might actually take us to those places, since after all, He’s a God not bound by time and space. And isn’t He the sort of Father that would cry glad tears just to see His children running around all enthusiastically, pointing this way and that?

I’m not sure of it, but I’ve got this inkling that heaven isn’t all harps and clouds and loud singing with the angels. But it’s more like lots of adventures with the One who made us.

Maybe even dinosaur adventures.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25)