Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, February 24, 2025

I heard a memorable sermon once by Thelma Wells about being anxious about NO THING! It was based on these verses in Philippians. We especially need to keep this in mind in this day and age but, realistically, people have had things to worry about throughout history – at least since the fall.

Sometimes I like to read Bible verses in more than one version (including The Message paraphrase). I’m sure most of us learned these verses from the King James version, which is fine and probably the way we remember them best, but it’s interesting to also see more modern translations.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:6-9 (New King James Version)

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Philippians 4:6-9 (The Message)

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, February 23, 2025

This truck is stuck. It hasn’t moved in years, how many we do not know. It has green streaks (moss?) adorning its doors. It has grass growing behind and before it. All four tires are flat. It’s not going anywhere.

We pass this truck a couple times a day on our walks, so I’ve had lots of opportunities to observe it and wonder over it. How did it become this unused, unmoving big rig? What will become of it? Will it ever move?

As I mulled this over, I found myself back in my high school physics class where I learned Newton’s First Law of Motion, which states that:

“A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.”

I haven’t thought about that physics class for decades, and, after some effort, this is the only memory I can dredge up from that class. I’m not sure why it made such an impression on me. It could be that, unlike so much of what I heard in that class, it seemed to be stating such obvious truth. In other words, I could relate!

Taking the first scenario literally, I knew that on cold, wintry Alaskan mornings my teenage body would remain at rest until an outside force – my mother, or father, or an older sister – would act on it. Only then would I sleepily get up and remain in motion until I arrived at school, dressed and breakfasted and ready to learn from more outside forces, my teachers.

Have you ever felt like a stuck truck? I have. Whether the inertia is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual — or, often, a combination thereof — it can be a discouraging state to find yourself in. At first you might resist or even resent any outside force that attempts to help you get unstuck – a doctor, a therapist, a pastor, a family member, a friend.

Or God, who might be reaching out to help you through one or more of those helpers.

This week we were startled to discover a new development in our stuck truck’s story. It now has a long yellow cord plugged into its innards, reaching out from the house nearby. It’s been several days now, and that’s all we’ve seen thus far, but it seems promising.

I’m now thinking of those outside forces who help us overcome inertia as bright yellow cords, plugging us into help.

The biggest and best cord of all is Jesus:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

As a new week begins to unfold before us, we may need to pray for air in our tires, gas in our tanks, and the willingness to put the pedal to the metal as God guides and provides for us.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, February 22, 2025

Towering above the parking lot of a 7-Eleven gas station I patronize is this huge power pole. Its base is almost three feet in diameter, and is circled by eight metal pipes of the type which protects the station’s gas pumps from being struck by erratically-driven cars. I imagine that it would take nothing short of a military tank to ram through those pipes and damage that base.

Earlier this month I snapped these photos, and as I did so I decided that those protective pipes are something like the Ten Commandments. Any one of those commandments, if broken, causes damage to the spiritual life. Worshiping and carving other gods, defaming God’s name, and ignoring the Sabbath He gave us can’t be good. Dishonoring our parents, harboring murder or adultery or thievery or lying in our hearts, plus coveting, deadens our consciences so that the Holy Spirit can’t communicate as powerfully.

This might be a time to take a Bible refresher course on how the Ten can transmit God’s power to us. Check it out at the link just below:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/law-god

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, February 21, 2025

One of my favorite places to visit is a huge multiple-vendor antique pavilion in a city just north of Seattle. I’m not an antique shopper, but I am an antique enjoyer. I love to pause before the display cases, notice a metal toy car, and wonder who played with it back in the 1930s. And if an elderly manual typewriter is on display, I’ll give it a few exploratory whacks, and remember how really challenging it was to use. (Remember White-Out?)

I got a chuckle, the last time I visited, when I noticed this corded phone anchored to a post. Evidently the managers of this shop decided that either (1) a sufficient number of their customers might be a bit young to recognize this as something you could talk on, or (2) they might not realize that it’s a working device. So someone slapped on a pink post-it note and labeled it.

Looking at this elegant throwback, I know that if I lifted the handset and held it to my ear, I would hear another throwback: a dial tone. And if I punched in the right numbers, I would eventually be able to carry on a conversation, probably with excellent-quality audio.

It’s tempting, the more technology that surrounds us, to remember that prayer (which some might think is also a hopeless throwback) still works, and does so with breathtaking speed. We do get through. God does listen.

For a refresher-course on what the Bible says about prayer, click the link just below:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/prayer

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, February 20, 2025

Some questions I sometimes ask myself about a photo is “Where are the people?” and “Where is God?” I wondered about this picture of Snoqualmie Falls. There seem to be people who visit the lodge and who might be looking out the windows. There are probably people who work in the electric power generation buildings.

The next question is “Where is God?” There could be several answers to this one and you could probably point to something related to God. The one I’ll choose is the power line that crosses over the falls. More specifically, let’s consider the electrons flowing through the line.

I find it fascinating that electrons carry energy that can be used to power so many things in our households. The electrons don’t just work by themselves. They need an energy source at one end of the line and a consumer at the other end. As soon as the connection at the source is broken, the electron loses its ability to do more work.

What if people are a bit like electrons? People rely on the goodness of God to go about their daily lives of helping their families, employers, and friends. That energy passes along from one person to the next. If they don’t pass that energy to others, their lives become meaningless, and they might pursue activities that only help themselves.

I get the impression that each individual electron is not working too hard, and it does not fizzle out. So maybe people can do lots of little things that are not a burden, and it will keep the energy flowing.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Most of our snow has melted and has washed away, so these images may be the last of the “snowy shots” for a while. Before we say goodbye to the fluffy white stuff for a bit, look at my view out my office window, to the roof of the garage. As you can see, we received several inches that covered the roof for several days. The second image is a closeup shot of the snow, but I wanted to give context of where these tiny crystals were from.

To be clear, no filter was used for either image. The tiny sparkle is from the reflection of the sun rising above the rooftop, hitting the ice crystal like a prism – refracting the light, resulting in a star-like glimmer. When I saw this, it made me think of the stars in the sky and the millions spread across our galaxy. We know our galaxy is just the starting point of what God has created. He has created so much more. It’s mind boggling to say the least.

Genesis 1:14-19 (NKJV)

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

We know the account of God’s creation, but we have yet to hear all about the previous creations that took place. We will have the opportunity, in Heaven, to sit and listen to all the details. That opportunity is the very gift God has presented to us. A chance at eternal life. What a powerful and detail-oriented God we serve.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, February 1, 2025

The temptation when coming across a sandpiper is to dismiss it as being anything out of the ordinary and simply mentally dump it into a generic barrel of sandpipers and let it go at that. But there are differences that set each species apart. Take this Baird’s Sandpiper, for example. It was one of the last species of sandpipers to be described in North America. While it looks rather similar to other “peeps”, it is slightly larger than most and has long wings which extend beyond the tail. These it holds in such a way as to give the body on overall horizontal appearance.

It nests in drier habitat in the high Arctic where vegetation is sparse and stunted. They may spend their winters in shortgrass environments up to 15,000 feet in elevation. Their journey to and from these extremes generally takes them through the prairies of North America, but a few may wander to either coast. Females generally begin their southward journey before the males, followed by the young of that year. This round trip may cover 9,300 miles and be accomplished in as little as five weeks. Here in Washington the fall is when they are generally seen, and those individuals are usually immature birds.

Unlike many other shorebirds, they seldom probe into sand or mud, but pick off their prey from the ground surface or low vegetation. During migration they regularly stop at high mountain lakes where they may feed on invertebrates found on snowbanks. The female is able to lay a clutch of up to five eggs equaling 120% of her body mass in four days. And this she does having just completed her lengthy trip northward and without stored fat reserves!

Just another sandpiper? Hardly! It is unique, distinctive from all others. Not surprisingly, God spoke of the nation of Israel in this same way: “And who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation in the earth? Their God went to claim a nation for himself! You made a name for yourself by doing great and awesome deeds when you drove out nations before your people whom you had delivered from the Egyptian empire and its gods.” (1 Chronicles 17:21 NET) And just like the sandpipers and Israel, we too are special, each with our unique successes and failures. May we avoid the temptation to look through eyes that see just another sandpiper.