I made a scavenger hunt for my “grandchildren” tonight. One is 5 and the other is 3. The challenge included something blue, something furry, something that swims, something you can see through, something dead….

“Besta”, they called my name, “How do you know if something is dead?”

We will know, I said, because when we find it we will see that there isn’t any life in it.

We couldn’t find anything in the house so we went outside. I quickly found a flowerpot with dry brown stalks. I explained to the girls that these flowers were dead because there was nothing green. I could have explained that there was no potential to grow but they were determined to find a dead animal.

After a futile effort to find a dead bird or even road kill they decided they would settle for a dead bug or a fly. Finally we found a scrap of flypaper in a basement windowsill with a few victims stuck to the square. We agreed not to touch it but to check off the list that we had found something dead.

We then decided to find something living. That was easier as the five year old quickly said, “We are living.” I asked her how long we would live. She said, “Well, I’m a Christian so I am going to heaven.”

I said, “Then you will never die.”

Her response, “Are you a Christian?”