Daily Photo Parable

Recently we had an opportunity to visit Double Bluff Beach, on Whidbey Island. Part of this beach is an off leash dog park. Our favorite furry friend is in his senior years but we gave him the opportunity to run around and attempt to chase some of the coastal sea fowl – he didn’t catch any, but he had fun trying.

When we arrived, the sun was out, and the wind was brisk. The temperature (including windchill) was most likely in the high 30’s – not the warmest day, but still amazingly beautiful.

Acts 17:24 & 25

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

Whether you are at the beach, driving down the road or plugging away at work – God is there. What an amazing reassurance, to know our Creator chooses to be with us. In this moment at Double Bluff Beach, His presence was felt in the sunshine, the wind and the beauty of the vista. Thank you, God!

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, March 18, 2025

“The Lord helps those who help themselves.” That aphorism seems so right that many people page through their Bible looking for scriptural backing for this, or for something else they already subscribe to. But it’s not there.

What we could find support for is the idea that God has a role to play in our lives, and we have a part to play too.  That’s about as close as we can get.  The challenge often comes when we have difficulty differentiating between God’s part and ours.

A simple example of this cooperative effort might be drawn from conservation measures put forth to save the near-threatened Bachman’s Sparrow from further decline.  This uncommon and elusive resident of the pine forests of the Southeast can be difficult to find except when one can find it singing from an exposed perch.  It is a mid-sized sparrow with a flat head and disproportionally large bill. Formerly known as the Pinewoods Sparrow, this name gives a good indication where it might be found, among longleaf, shortleaf, and loblolly pine as well as oak woods and palmetto scrub. But each of these areas must be free from heavy undergrowth along with ample grass cover.

Its numbers continue to decline due in part to another specific requirement, it does best when the trees are young saplings rather than mature forests.  This means that it is one of the most fire-dependent species in North America.  Accordingly, prescribed forest burns are used to create this ideal habitat.  The sparrow does its part by raising two broods per year, and should one fail, it has been known to try renesting five times.

Is it worth saving?  It’s not particularly attractive, not exactly star-quality.  Fortunately for us, that’s not the basis upon which God determined whether or not we were worth saving.  His very nature answered that question even before it was asked.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, March 17, 2025

I came across this discarded tire as I was negotiating a road that left a lot to be desired – at least in a passenger car!  I had taken it once before and it was not great but doable without needing high clearance.  There are great views from the top of the road and lots of wildflowers in the spring.

The second time I took this road was to look for some late blooming lilies and it was much later in the year and multiple vehicles had traveled the road to get to the hiking trails up at the top.  It was dirt and there were potholes and it was quite steep with no guard rails.  There were hairpin turns and no shoulders with very few pull outs and I didn’t see any flowers up at the top.  I was glad to get back to the bottom where I finally found the flowers I had been looking for!

Anyway, I have no idea how the people in this vehicle lost their tire!  It did raise a lot of questions, though.  Someone told me that you could get good views of the stars from the top of the road.  Did this happen at night?  Although two cars can pass each other on this road, there are not that many places where you can turn around. Did they have a spare?  Was the spare in good condition?   Did they have to change the tire right there?  Did they have AAA?  Why didn’t they take their tire with them?

In this life, we can experience many trials and sorrows. The Bible tells us how we can find peace.

At the end of John 16, Jesus is having a discussion with His disciples and preparing them for His return to His Father. They said to Him,

Now we understand that you know everything, and there’s no need to question you. From this we believe that you came from God.”

Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe? But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

John 16:30-33

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, March 16, 2025

I found this note in a Bible I haven’t opened for a long time. It’s a Bible that is dear to me, though, because I bought it with money my father gave me for my birthday the year I turned thirty-five. I didn’t know then that he would die a few weeks later.

I don’t think my father ever owned a Bible himself, although he heard and remembered quite a bit of Scripture from his schooling in rural Nevada. My mother grew up in Chelan, Washington, and both she and my father attended one-room schoolhouses as children, and absorbed what they heard older children reciting. They could quote Shakespeare and many classic poems, fifty years after learning them.

Back to the Bible, to what I call my father’s Bible. He never saw it, but he funded it, and it gives me pleasure to call it his. I think of it as my Father’s Word in my father’s Bible.

Leafing through its pages I found several notes. The one you see in the photo above brought instant, but partial, recognition. I remember that a child sitting beside me in church wrote it and gave it to me, as a compliment. I’ve had the great pleasure of being companioned in my pew by several children through the years, both in our current congregation and the one prior to this, and I’m not exactly sure which one wrote this. I think I’ve narrowed it down to two possibilities, though, both dear to my heart.

Since I found the word tucked in my Bible, it made me think of who and what were called beautiful in Scripture. Some people were, including but not limited to Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Joseph, Tamar, Esther, Job’s daughters, and baby Moses.

And gospel-bringing feet are described as beautiful:

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7 NIV)

But the verse I thought of first is from Ecclesiastes 3. The chapter begins by declaring that:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

And then fourteen pairs of activities are listed, beginning with “a time to be born and a time to die.”

It is in this context of seasons (some of them decidedly not beautiful) that my verse rings in:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (verse 11)

This verse humbles me to my core. I see in it a Creator God who has designed our hearts to long to live forever, a God who is utterly beyond my easy understanding and glib explanations, a God who loves beauty – who is the definition of Beauty – and who is waiting to bring us Home where we will experience true beauty for the first time.

And time shall be no more! I like how my young friend put a period after printing the word “Beautiful.” It reminds me that God has the last word, and the last punctuation mark. He will put a period, a firm and final end, to the destruction and ugliness of sin.

Amen and amen. Each day, one day closer to seeing His face and hearing His voice, welcoming us Home.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, March 15, 2025

As you know, companies who are able to track your browsing information online are always ready to leap into your inbox, or wherever they can get at you, with product suggestions.

The message above popped onto my phone in late February. I can see our church’s website link in the background, so it may have come up as I was trying to get to our website. With breathtaking audacity, this message claims to be from God Himself!

My usual response to such audacity is to give it a dismissive chuckle and go on to something else. But actually this suggestion – probably meant in a jocular way – is really pretty deadly.

Why do I say deadly? Because at least a couple of times in Scripture, God includes warnings not to add to or delete from what is written in the Bible.

In Deuteronomy 4:2, Moses tells the people, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” In other words, don’t make up – or ignore – what I’ve told you about God’s will.

And Revelation 22:18 and 19, written in the last chapter of the Bible’s last book, the solemn command is repeated, with some “teeth” in it. This is a direct quote from a heavenly angel: “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

In other words, the Lord is NOT reminding you to update your Bible. Obviously, the writer of the cute reminder would like you to purchase a newer version of the Bible, or an upgraded version of what you have. But that’s different.

On a practical note, I always advise people to read a passage from three or four different literal-leaning translations in order to get as close as possible to what God means us to hear. For me, these versions are the New King James Version, the New International Version, the English Standard Version, and the New Revised Standard Version. Why not make this a habit – set your phone to bring up these versions, or other literal versions, to make sure you are not unknowingly “updating” what God really means.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, March 14, 2025

Let me hastily assure you of three things. First, my initial career was as a teacher of English, and even in my youthful ignorance I still realized how incredibly crazy my native language is.

Second, I have never dared to try to translate anything from English to any other language. That’s because I cannot speak any language besides English.

Third, I’ve always made it a practice not to defame the brand name of anything I portray in these photo parables.

That’s why I’m glad I don’t know the brand name, nor the sponsoring company, of the device which was attached to the opposite side of the instruction card you see in the photo above. Shelley had given me these children’s chopsticks as a “just kidding” gift – she knows very well how klutzily I handle the real variety, and how I make sure that a fork is provided me at all Asian restaurants. I’d already removed the plastic chopstick set from the other side, but hadn’t focused on the instructions. Earlier this week, she suddenly appeared beside me with this card. “Read this,” she said.

Do me a favor. Take a couple of minutes to read those instructions, aloud if possible. Scroll back down here when you’re done.

Okay, what did you think?

Want to know what I thought? I thought, Who on earth was the person who translated this? I mean, it’s like someone hastily gave that person a paperback English-Chinese (or whatever the original language was) dictionary, and said, “Translate this. I need it in ten minutes.” Either the translator believed you could do this by simple word-to-word matching, or there wasn’t time to track down an English-speaking person to let them edit it.

I think my favorite part is the alarming item in #1, under “Use”: “which one chopstick in the jaws of death.” My second favorite part is the two-word boxed instruction, “Decomposition method.”

Okay. How does this become a Daily Photo Parable?

Back in Genesis 9:1 – 11, the human race was heading in a bad direction, and God deliberately confused their languages, so that a worker on Babel Tower Level Three couldn’t understand the materials supplier on Tower Level One, and vice versa. Everybody gave up the project in disgust, and scattered, which was God’s desired outcome.

But in Acts chapter 2, the exact opposite happened. A month and a half after Jesus’ death on the cross, Jerusalem was filled with Feast of Pentecost pilgrims from many language groups, and through the Holy Spirit’s miracle, everyone heard the gospel in his or her mother tongue — which was also God’s desired outcome!

Maybe you’re not faced with a Mandarin-to-English translation task at the moment, but God has a surprising supply of power that can help you if what you’re doing accords with His will. Check out some of what the Bible says about this, at the link just below:

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/power

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, March 13, 2025

This troll near the Issaquah Community Center seems to have a peaceful aura about it. Normally when we think of trolls they are fictional characters that wreak havoc wherever they go. Then there are actual online people trolls who enjoy posting disruptive content to upset regular users. It takes some effort to avoid engaging with someone who only wants to cause trouble.

A few things make this particular troll seem less threatening than I would expect. The birdhouse necklace seems to indicate it is peaceful enough that birds would want to make a home there. Expressive eyes and a gentle smile seem to offer encouragement that people can hang out there without fear.

How can we, as normal people, provide an aura of peace? Here are some Bible verses I like.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Romans 12:6-8

We all have different talents which is fortunate, so we don’t have to wear birdhouses around our necks. Let’s use our positive skills cheerfully.