Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, August 26, 2024

This photo was taken in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, on a family trip ten years ago. This is an iconic scene on Maligne (last part pronounced as lean) Lake. I used to think the view was of an island before I saw it for myself but it’s actually a little peninsula. You can take a boat to reach a landing where you have very little time to stand at the view point before you have to get back on the boat to go back.

We had a nice time in Jasper National Park and had lunch in the town of Jasper. Unfortunately, about 1/3 of the town was razed in a wildfire this year. Tourists and residents were evacuated with limited escape routes prior to the fire. As far as I know, there was no loss of life, thankfully.

It’s really strange to think that a place that you visited and enjoyed and have fond memories of is no longer the same and may never be the same as it was again. I’m sure homes and businesses will be rebuilt but it will be different.

Change is inevitable in this life. We need to remember that we can’t necessarily adjust to some of the changes that come up by ourselves but we need to remember that God is always faithful.

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
letting them drink from your river of delights.
For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
Psalm 36:5-9 (NLT)

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, August 25, 2024

Here, for your viewing and linguistic pleasure, is a pair of pears that don’t need to be pared before eating. (My husband, a former college English teacher, always comforts adults learning English as a second or third language with his belief that “English is a crazy language.”)

So, of this trio of words, which shows up most often in our Bibles? I’m thinking it has to be pair. Maybe not the word itself, but what it represents – two of something.

When you think of Biblical pairs, what comes to mind? (I’ll tell you last what I thought of first, and it was because of a song).

My second thought was all those animals lining up two by two to enter Noah’s ark. (Perhaps it should more accurately be called God’s ark, since He designed and gave the blueprints and all the instructions to Noah. But the latter was the general contractor and day laborer, so I’m OK with calling it his ark, too.)

I remember my surprise when I read that not all of the animals entered the ark as pairs; some went in by sevens, as God directed:

You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. (Genesis 7:2, 3 NKJV)

The next pairs I thought of were all the people that come to mind because they are linked together in Bible stories: David and Goliath, Mary and Joseph, Peter and John, Ruth and Naomi, Cain and Abel, Aquila and Priscilla, Jacob and Esau, Mary and Martha . . .

And the pair I thought of first, Adam and Eve. They are, of course, the first human pair mentioned in the Bible, created by the hand of God, but I wasn’t thinking chronologically when I thought of them. It was a snippet of song that started playing in my head:

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win,
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.

You may recognize these words and be singing along with them. They’re from the first verse of “The Love of God,” music and lyrics by Frederick Martin Lehman. I remember sitting in church as a child, my imagination always stirred up by the last verse:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

That sounded like a lot of love to me! I still had (and have) a lot to learn (and unlearn) about God’s character, but what a wonderful song for a child to hear early on.

And that brings me to the most amazing, most tender, most tremendous pair of all – God and me! God and you! Just us two!

We read about Jesus and Nicodemus, in deep conversation late at night; of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, who is entrusted with the revelation that He is the Messiah; Jesus and Zacchaeus, who is told to climb down from his tree perch because Jesus is inviting Himself to his house for dinner; and Jesus and the thief crucified next to Him, who pleads for and receives instant, complete forgiveness.

I read about Jesus dealing with all these people, and more, as individuals. Just the two of them. He didn’t insist on a crowd gathering before He’d share precious truth, and offer salvation. Jesus and __________. Enter any name there, but be sure to enter yours first of all, so you can remember with assurance that Jesus died so that you and He could be a pair, forever.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, August 24, 2024

Thursday in a Federal Way parking lot I noticed this imposing white pickup (whose license plate I have blotted out for privacy’s sake). At first glance its size impressed and even intimidated me a bit. After all, huge vehicles like this are sometimes adorned with bumper stickers which are vulgar and even profane, or in-your-face taunts of alternative truck brands.

I didn’t stroll around to see if this beast’s rear bumper sported such stickers, mainly because of the benign and emphatically unmistakable message lettered on the front: “Stay Humble and Kind.” These words themselves were even chosen with kindness. Notice that it doesn’t say Become Humble and Kind, but Stay that way. It gave the viewer (me) the benefit of the doubt, and generously assumed that I was already good-hearted.

Nowadays it seems that people are too scared to be kind, too fearful to let their front “grills” portray humility and graciousness up front, first thing. But the Bible insists that we need to partake of this truck-owner’s spirit. You’ll find three Bible texts that remind you of this, if you click this link:

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

Photo ©2024 by Chelsea Jurgensen
Commentary ©2024 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday and Friday, August 22 and 23, 2024

When I first saw this dragonfly it looked like the wings were made of little flags. But on closer inspection the flags are just the brown markings, and the rest of the wing is nearly translucent.

Dragonflies are helpful in reducing the fly and mosquito populations, so they are welcome around horses. One time when Chelsea was working in the horse field, a horse walked over to her without being called. Chelsea thought it wanted a treat, but instead the horse turned its side to her revealing a horse fly. It was just out of reach of the horse’s tail. When Chelsea saw the large fly, she gave it a good swat. The fly got away, but the horse seemed to be grateful for the support.

Here is a verse about being helpful.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29

It is interesting how thoughtful speech can be helpful, and it would make sense that unthoughtful words can have the opposite effect. Just like a dragonfly is helpful around horses, let’s put thought into our words to be helpful.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Just this last weekend, at least in our local area, we had some strange weather for this time of year. The temperature outside was in the mid 70’s, but on Saturday night and then again on Sunday afternoon, there were wind, rain, power outages, and even bouts of hail. When I was outside on Sunday morning, I witnessed two different branches breaking off two separate trees in our yard, so there was a bit of damage. Again, during this time of year, we don’t normally see this type of storm, even small ones. One of the concerns I had was our garden. As the tomatoes and flowers are still growing, the last thing I wanted was bad weather taking out these flowers and vegetables.

Life is full of sunny days that are interrupted with some sort of storm. How do we manage through these changes? How do we stay focused on the ‘right’ things? The short answer is, WE don’t. WE need to look to Jesus and how He will bring us through these storms. I’m not saying it’s always easy or the first thing we think of. Just think of the disciples, when they were physically with Jesus, out on a boat and a storm catches them off guard.

Matthew 8:23-27

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

As you can see, even the disciples were concerned. Maybe, like us at times, they were first attempting to figure out how to manage through the storm on their own. Eventually, they did go to Jesus, just like we should anytime we are facing a difficult situation. We should also have faith that the outcome will be the correct outcome. Notice I didn’t say, the outcome will always be what we want or think is correct? It’s not our way, it’s God’s way. Of course, God’s way may be our ‘our’ way as well, but the critical part is having faith God’s way is the correct way. He will get us through the storms we face, as He’s with us during the sunny days as well as the stormy days.

These are the images: one of the branches that crashed down, the tomato plants that were flattened, and then once the storm had moved away. As the wind continued, the streaking clouds were a welcome sight as the storm moved out of our immediate area. Luckily, I was able to prop the plants back up with a little help with twine and readjusting the tomato cages. The branch didn’t fall on anything except the ground. All was safe, as God provided.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Your face turned red and you were certain that everyone else in the room noticed the change in your appearance. And you had every right to blush – you were embarrassed. Then again, maybe you weren’t embarrassed at all, just very self-conscious. The really cute girl in the row next to you said she really liked your third grade picture when they came out, but you were just so shy. There are a number of reasons for blushing; even the fear of blushing can cause you to blush. It’s called erythrophobia. Whatever the reason, the capillaries widen, more blood flows through, and your cheeks turn red. And to top it off, your hands start sweating.

The Bible speaks of the lack of this reaction in negative terms in reference to the Children of Israel: “Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 6:15 NIV) And to emphasize the point, these same words are repeated in 8:12 of the same book. The Lord wanted them to be conscious of their guilt, but they were too hardened to respond.

The male Western Tanager’s face is red too, but for a different reason. Unlike the red in others of the same family, his face is red due to rhodoxanthin, a pigment which is seldom found in birds. Instead, he gets it from insects in his diet which produces yellow pigments.

But we have no excuse. Most of us don’t eat too many insects, yet we have every reason to be ashamed of our failure to live the life we should. In the context of Jeremiah, we should be blushing. But there is good news. God covers us, not with a cheap cover-up, but with His own blood. That’s something we’ll never completely understand, how the redness of His blood makes us perfectly clean. But thank God for it.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, August 19, 2024

This photo was taken from Fields Point Landing on Lake Chelan. This is normally where you would park to take a ferry to Stehekin, a tiny village which is located at the north end of the lake. People go to Stehekin for a day trip or to stay over at the Lodge. There are trails to hike and you can take a shuttle, walk or bike to Rainbow Falls or to check out the bakery. Pacific Crest Trail hikers stop in at the little post office to get their last resupply before the Canadian border. The day I was at Fields Point Landing, Stehekin was evacuated because of a wildfire. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot but nobody else was around. I assume the cars belonged to firefighters. There is even a sign stuck into the ground that you pass on the way out that is a thank you sign for the firefighters.

Sometimes life takes us in a different direction from what we had planned. People get sick and disasters happen. We could be living in an evacuation zone for some type of calamity that we have no control over. At times like these, it is good to remember these words:

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Psalm 91:1-4 (NLT)