Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Chuck Davis
Monday, October 13, 2025

Last week, I introduced an American Pika amongst the rocks on the shore of Lake Ilswoot. Today, we witness the beautiful turquoise waters of that lake. The waters found in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness are known for their crystal-like clarity. Occasionally we find a mountain lake that also displays stunning colors. The deep turquoise color of Lake Ilswoot is caused by glacier flour. Tiny particles of rock and minerals (clay/silt) remain suspended in the water. Sunlight, striking these particles, reflects the shorter blue and green wavelengths and this combination produces stunning colors.

God is the Master of color, and He gave us eyes capable of seeing various hues. After the flood, He gave us the rainbow. In the opening chapter of Isaiah He wants to discuss two specific color choices with us:  “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18 KJV).

God offers a color choice, red or white. Which color will you choose?

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath and Sunday, October 11 and 12, 2025

As October crawls along, Halloween decorations are beginning to sprout on our neighborhood properties. This giant half-buried skeleton is making its second-year-in-a-row appearance on this lawn, along with a number of face-carved pumpkins and a few scattered small fence segments containing skull carvings.

I couldn’t help grinning at the vertical “Welcome” banner beside the door. Its message has been truncated to “Welc–,” and what with all the preliminary intimidation, once wonders how welcome a guest might feel.

Halloween décor is all in good fun, of course, but it got me to remembering – as someone who’s been a church pastor for 43 years – how important it is to make people feel welcome. In a church, it starts with a friendly team of greeters in the foyer. It continues in the Bible class discussion, and into the sermon, and back out into the foyer again, and on potluck Sabbaths it continues there as well.

That means that anyone – not just leaders or teachers or greeters – needs to be ready to say “welcome” in as many ways as possible. The Bible tells us how, in the verses at each of the links below:

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

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

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

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, October 9, 2025

Down at the end of one of the cul de sacs in our neighborhood is this house. On our walks, Shelley and I have noticed that its right-hand garage door is always open (at least at the times we walk). There are always two chairs there, and the garage is very full – an orange Home Depot work bucket, and a green trash bin, crowd right up against those chairs. Once in a while we see a man sitting in one of the chairs, smiling thoughtfully out into his driveway.

But this week, for the first time, I spotted the guitar. Suddenly, my heart warmed even more to whomever owns this house. Though their garage is cluttered and in need of cleaning out, this couple turns their chair-backs to the debris and face outward. And one of them – maybe the man – might park the guitar on his knee and strum a few chords.

Maybe that could be a parable of how Christians should live on this earth until Jesus comes. There’s a lot of clutter on this old planet – stuff that needs cleaning up. We should do what we can to help with this, but every once in awhile we must turn our backs, sit down and rest, and do a bit of rejoicing.

That’s the Sabbath in a nutshell, isn’t it – making weekly room for (as the hymn calls it) “A day of sweet reflection”? If you’d like to learn – or review – more about this Divinely-created day, click the link just below:

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

Photo ©2025 by Amber Jurgensen
Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, October 9, 2025

Sometimes things look big and impossible like this climbing wall. With a little encouragement our granddaughter decided to give it a try. At first she didn’t know how those little climbing rocks could even help. But as she tested them and learned how to transfer her weight from one to another, she started getting the hang of it. Some seemed out of reach, but by relinquishing a foothold on one rock, she was able to grab the next rock and trust that she was still ok.

It seems like it takes practice to trust in the words of Jesus. But if we read them and think about them and try to use them in our actions, we can learn to climb on their principles.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, October 8, 2025

I know we can’t deny how marvelous our God is. In fact, it’s far too difficult to number all the things He has made and what He continues to provide. Take this image for example. Here we have a variety of beautiful colored gourds (a.k.a pumpkins). We see orange, white, yellow, striped, red – multiple varieties of colors, shapes and sizes. Not only do we see the differences that have been created, but we also know what time of the year these show up (at least for the Pacific Northwest). They show up in fall.

In Psalms 104, King David is describing all the many creations, (v. 24) “How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all…”. A few verses prior, David calls out how the seasons are part of those creations.

Verse 19, “He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.”

Depending on your geographical location, you may or may not see four defined seasons throughout the year. For those in the PNW, we see all four. We know what to expect when it’s winter, spring, summer or when we get to the fall season. This time of year brings those amazing fall colors – both in the pumpkins, as well as in the trees with their fall leaves.

Not only does God give us the necessities of life, but He provides those things that bring us joy as well. Thank you, God, for all your incredible gifts, including all the colors you provide throughout the entire year.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, October 7, 2025

One of the blessings that comes from being in the eastern part of our state this time of year is the wealth of color displayed. Not only do the Black Cottonwood found along lowland streams and rivers display a brilliant yellow, but higher in the mountains the Western Larch extends this color to higher elevations along with a similar species, the Subalpine Larch. Larch belong to the pine family with the Douglas Fir probably being their closest relative.

What is unusual about the larches is that they are coniferous trees, but they are deciduous and not evergreens. This can be confusing since most conifers keep their needles or leaves year around, but the larch is an exception. In the fall, when temperatures grow colder and daylight gets shorter, the chlorophyll, which masks the other colors in the leaves, is drawn into the trees which results in the yellow being displayed. The term conifer and evergreen refer to different aspects of a plant. The term conifer relates to how the plant reproduces by way of cones, while evergreen refers to whether the plant loses or retains its leaves. We also have evergreens that aren’t conifers like the azaleas and boxwoods. Still, because of what we see most frequently, we tend to equate conifers with evergreens which is a mistake.

Unfortunately, we also run the danger of extending this same kind of thinking to other areas as well. This type of stereotyping may promote the thinking that all true believers will come to understand the Bible as we do before the Lord comes. All they have to do is “see the light.” While it’s good to have confidence in the Word, maybe we run into danger in having too much confidence in ourselves.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Chuck Davis
Monday, October 6, 2025

This week’s photo parable introduces us to the American Pika. The Pika is often mistaken to be a rodent, but although similar in size and shape to other rodents, the Pika is most closely related to rabbits and hares. The Pika makes its home among the scree and talus slopes of the Cascades and other western mountain ranges. You may hear its high-pitched alarm calls as you hike across a rocky mountain slope.

The Pika in today’s photo joined our group in the Necklace Valley, along the shores of Lake Ilswoot as we enjoyed the cool of evening. Generally shy, this Pika emerged from the rocks posing nearly motionless for several minutes.

The chosen habitat of the Pika reminds me of the protective nature of rocks that we find throughout the Bible. Moses describes one such scene: “And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by (Exodus 33:22 KJV). King David shares: “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress” (Psalm 71:3 KJV).

The Pika trusted us that evening, but only because of the cleft in the rock. Today, place your trust in God because He is our Rock and our Fortress.