Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, January 3, 2025

This past Monday I went to our library to do some work on my sermon. Nowadays many libraries have vending machines – which they didn’t when I was a kid – and they’re very popular.

However, someone in authority has posted this aggressively eye-catching sign letting people know that this machine is inoperable.

“Out of Order,” of course, could have several meanings, depending on what’s happening. In a courtroom, or in a meeting run by Robert’s Rules of Order, it means that something unacceptable has just been suggested, and should be disregarded. To a child lining up alphabet blocks, “out of order” urges the liner-upper to compare his or her effort to the way the alphabet traditionally goes.

I don’t know whether a dentist or dental hygienist will be glancing at this sign before the machine’s repairs happen, but I could imagine them seeing “Out of Order” and murmuring “Good!” The fewer processed sugars inserted between young teeth, the fewer the resultant cavities.

Do you see the word “Learn” at the bottom of the sign? That’s part of the library system’s general mantra or slogan, but it fits perfectly with the larger lettering. As we move through life and see things that are out of order, we need to learn why, and then take corrective action.

In fact, this might be a good time for a tutorial on life’s major “out of order” problem: sin. Check out the verses at the link below:

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

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, January 2, 2025

This treehouse at Treehouse Point near Fall City is nestled along the Raging River that flows into the Snoqualmie River. I admired the ingenuity and creativity it took to build a small house on a tree. When walking inside the treehouses at this location there is no creaking, and it just feels solid.

It makes me think about the opportunities for creativity that God provides for us. It seems like a few things are necessary for creativity to flourish. Freedom is important because without it, there is little choice in what activities may be done. Support is needed by those around who provide an environment that allows ideas to thrive. Safety and resources also come to mind. It also takes love to provide an impetus for doing something that benefits other people.

Let’s take advantage of opportunities for creativity as we channel God’s love in our everyday lives.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, December 31, 2024

If you should happen to be among the growing number of people who communicate with others by texting, then you recognize the helpfulness of the jargon used by that fraternity. Among those abbreviations are ASAP, FYI, ILY, and HBD. Texters are not the only ones who employ such a practice. Within the community of birders, FOY (first of year) is used to designate the first time a bird has been seen that year, so beginning early January 1 many report FOY which, of course, would include the first bird seen that year. For many in my neighborhood it would be the American Crow for there is a large rookery on the UW Bothell campus and many of those leaving in the morning fly right over our place.

Crows in general are smart birds. Henry Ward Beecher, the 19th century American preacher, once remarked that if people wore feathers and wings, very few of them would be clever enough to be crows. For example, they hunt mollusks at low tide and smash them by carrying them aloft and dropping them on rocks below. They fly high enough to break the shell, but not so high as to waste energy. Experiments have shown the most economical height to accomplish this is around 16 feet, which just happens to be the same height the crows employ.

As we begin a new year, we, once again, have the FOY opportunity to make wise decisions. May our choices, both the first and those that follow, give evidence that we are among the few that are astute enough to be wiser than crows.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, December 30, 2024

I took this photo of this pair of California quails several years ago. She’s kind of hidden in the background but he’s in the front on the lookout for unexpected danger.

The Bible talks about God sending His angels to guard us and keep us out of danger:

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Psalm 91:9-16 (NIV)

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath and Sunday, December 28 and 29, 2024

This past Wednesday, Christmas Day, I was taking my usual morning walk when I noticed a piece paper lying flat in the middle of the street. As I came closer, I saw that it was a family photograph, probably one which had been included in a Christmas newsletter.

It made me feel a bit queasy to see that smiling family lying on the street like that, at the mercy of every car tire which rolled over it. I knew that up and down the street on either side were real families, living real lives, never knowing what might try to crush them in the days and months ahead.

This coming Sunday Shelley and I will be helping with a memorial service for a dear friend whose family we pastored many years ago. Though my friend was stricken with disease over the past few months, he lived a life of quiet but rock-solid faith in his Savior, a faith that he shared with his family, and which gave him utmost confidence for what lies beyond the grave.

Families, after all, were created in Eden, and any family who turns their hearts over to the Lord will sense His sustaining power no matter what happens. God loves families, and His Word says a lot about them. Here are some verses:

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/marriage-and-family

Photo and Commentary (c)2024 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, December 27, 2024

This past Thursday, while I was driving east along 192nd Street in south Renton, I passed Meeker Middle School, which you see in the photo above. It is Christmas vacation, so the usually teeming parking lot was absolutely empty — except for a squarish vehicle which had been carefully positioned in a parking space.

It’s what is called a scissor lift. You use it when you want to get access to somewhere you can’t safely or conveniently use a ladder. Once you’ve stepped into the little cage at the top, you can operate the controls to hoist you — and whatever tools or other items you’ll need, such as light bulbs for replacement in a high ceiling — right up to where you need to be. And if you’re not acrophobic — or if you resolutely refuse to look down from the heights — you can complete your task and lower yourself back down to terra firma.

As soon as I spotted the lift, I did a cautious U-turn and snapped this photo. I was originally trained as a teacher, and during the years I spent in the classroom, I knew that my instructor’s role was that of a “lift” — to patiently and resolutely raise my students’ skills (in my case, English literature and writing) to higher levels than when they first arrived at class. That’s what a school and its staff are supposed to do.

And as a pastor, I have a similar responsibility. Right now I’m deciding on what sermon themes I’ll be preaching in the new year. And I know that the power which will lift souls (including my own) to a higher knowledge of, and greater love for, the Savior will not be my own, but will happen through the Holy Spirit, when people read and understand their Bibles.

Have you decided on a Bible reading plan for 2025? I’m working on a revision of the plan at the link below. But it won’t be that different, so if you’d like to get started on it, just click this link and read all about it. When you click it, you’ll see that I begin the section with several suggestions I think are helpful. Check it out!

https://bellevueadventist.org/read-your-bible-through-in-a-year/

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, December 26, 2024

During this Christmas season we pondered the meaning of Jesus’ birth and life and how it affects our lives today. There seem to be many lessons of Christmas. Among them are generosity, goodness, and knowledge of God.

I like these verses.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Luke 2:9,10

I like how the angel focuses on the word joy. Somehow the arrival of Jesus will cause great joy for all the people.

When thinking about what Jesus did that would cause joy, a few things that come to mind are forgiveness and salvation. Jesus also revealed knowledge or light about his father and our father, God, and how much God loves us.

So, in this dark month of December, let’s focus on God’s light shown through Jesus and his teaching.