Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, April 15, 2025

It’s just a guess, but my hunch is that few of us have ever gotten a black eye from fisticuffs with another individual. Of course that doesn’t mean we haven’t received a figurative one. In fact, it’s quite likely that we’ve all been punched in such a way that our self-esteem has taken a beating. Those verbal jabs, those put-downs that hit their mark all leave a mark whether they are visible or not. Even instances that could hardly qualify as a punch, such as simply being overlooked, can do damage to one’s ego.

I know it’s not the same, but the Golden-cheeked Woodpecker appears to be perpetually cursed, or blessed, with a black eye. In fact, it’s a field mark that sets it apart from other woodpeckers in Mexico where it is endemic.

I suspect this is what Christ was talking about in His Sermon on the Mount when addressing those seated around Him. “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” (Matthew 5:39 NIV) Some have taken this to condone being a victim of abuse, but I think Christ’s words had a different intent.

Notice the word the NIV uses to describe the engagement, “slap”. This type of action is not intended so much to inflict damage as to convey insult. So Christ may have been saying, “As an identifying mark of one of My followers, don’t let insults so damage your self-image that you lose your true identity.”

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, Sunday, Monday, April 12 – 14, 2025

A little over a year ago, an 18-year-old driver going 112 miles per hour smashed into a mini-van at an intersection in our area, killing a mother and three children. The teen has now pled guilty to four counts of vehicular homicide as well as two counts of vehicular assault.

Immediately after the accident, family and friends created a memorial display a few feet away from the intersection. It has changed themes over the past year, and what you see above is a photo I snapped a little over a week ago.

Notice the yellow ribbons tied to the tree branches? They’re a symbol of a beloved one’s absence and the wish that he or she could return. At the sidewalk’s edge are two or three dozen plastic pinwheels, and beyond these are what look like real daffodils.

Every time I drive by this memorial, my heart goes out to the bereaved families. And since Easter is just a week away, my thoughts turn to another death-memorial, the cross of Jesus, where another innocent Victim was sacrificed.

The display in the photo was created so that people won’t forget. It’s the same way with the cross of Jesus. Let’s take some time to remember the Savior and why He came to live among us and die for us. Go to the link directly below:

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

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, April 11, 2025

A bit over a week ago on a morning walk, I glanced up and spotted this truly impressive jet contrail. I’d never seen anything exactly like it. I’ve often noticed contrails spread and scattered by the upper air, but never in such an artistic pattern – almost like calligraphy.

This whole photo speaks of creativity. The airliner which caused the contrail came together through the creative efforts of aircraft designers and other technicians. The house whose roof we can see was carefully planned and constructed.

But the trees, and the tint of the sky, not to mention the ice crystals which make up the brush-swirl, are all God’s artistry. And all we can do is stare in awe, and study the scene for all the evidences God does truly care.

As Ida L. Reed’s children’s song puts it:

O the lark sings in the meadow,
In the pleasant, flow-ry meadow,
And a happy song sings he!
Perched upon a bough so slender,
Hear him sing in accents tender,
“Oh He cares, God cares for me.”

God cares for me,
Bright is the day before me,
And ev’rywhere I go
Right well I know
His loving care is o’er me.
— Ida L. Reed

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, April 10, 2025

I’m drawn to mountain scenes, so when Mount Rainier appeared in this view of Seattle from the Space Needle, I had to snap a picture.

Even when presented with modern achievements, God’s nature draws us just like Mount Rainier draws our attention.

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
Psalm 65:8

Let’s think about God’s wonders and goodness as we move forward in our modern environment.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, April 9, 2025

We all know the way God promised the galaxy that He would never cover the planet with water, after the flood. It was a beautiful rainbow. Ever wonder why He chose that symbol? Why did He choose all the colors to show His promise? I won’t pretend to know the reason, but I am certainly thankful for the creative approach and all the incredible colors.

Genesis 9:13 -15

I have sent my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

Not in the form of a rainbow, but instead God has created these jaw-dropping colors in flowers and foliage. These English Daisies show off the red, yellow, and various shades of pink, surrounded by the lush green leaves. The image doesn’t capture the full spectrum of the color palette, but it certainly has a few of the selections.

When we come across these colors in nature, we know that God created these colors, these are God’s colors. He specifically chose these hues for our enjoyment. What a wonderful way of thinking of yet another form of communication we can receive from our Father.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, April 8, 2025

One of the earliest flowers to bloom in the Pacific Northwest is also one that flaunts the most dramatic flash of contrasting colors, the Western Skunk Cabbage. Almost any walk in the wetlands will reveal clumps of vibrant green leaves among which a bright yellow spathe emerges. From this arises a pungent spadix which gives the plant its common name. The distinctive odor which many believe to be “skunky” apparently attracts flies and beetles which act as pollinators before other insects, which are still dormant, become active. Some suggest the leaves, when crushed, will emit the same characteristic odor.

Perhaps you’re familiar with anthurium, those waxy red flowers often used in tropical arrangements. Both it and the Western Skunk Cabbage belong to the arum family. Both have that long spadix which contains tiny male and female flowers, only the anthurium doesn’t carry with it the objectionable odor which many find so repulsive. Both are beautiful, one is valued and found in flower shops, while the other distained.

It would be foolish to suggest that we should all value the same things. But it’s also important to remember that in order to appreciate something’s worth we must be open to seeing its true value. Paul reminds us of this when he writes: “The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. (1 Corinthians 2:14 MSG) May we not turn up our noses at the gifts God has to give us.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday and Monday, April 6 and 7, 2025

Every spring I hang this big, beautiful, bright banner from a slim rod on our front porch. It’s our traditional good-bye to winter and hello to longer days, more sunshine, warmer weather, blossoming trees, and spring flowers.

Last Sunday we returned to our driveway after many hours out and about, and the first thing I noticed was the banner was gone, and the rod was hanging dejectedly down from one end. We thought the windy weather must have somehow whipped it around until it became untethered, so we looked for it on the porch, then in our small front yard, under bushes . . . but our big, beautiful, bright banner was gone.

We figured if the wind wasn’t the culprit, a human being must be. Someone with bad intent must have come up on our porch, yanked the rod out of one of its wire sockets, and swiped the banner.

Now I felt much worse about its absence. I love our neighborhood. How could someone, in broad daylight, invade our peaceful street and do something as ugly as steal our banner?

I texted our neighbors across the street – had they seen anyone visit our driveway or porch? Michelle replied that her daughter had noticed something in the street when they drove out on errands; she would check her surveillance camera and see. She sent us the results; a grainy video of folds of fabric lying in the street behind a car, mid-afternoon.

Hooray! We didn’t have our banner back yet, but my peace of mind returned. We had not been ripped off!

We widened our search, with flashlights. It had been a very windy day; no telling where the banner ended up. Maybe it was still traveling. I told the Lord He knew where it was, and it was a very small matter, but we would love to be reunited with it, if possible.

Three days later I walked across the street and down one house to deliver a birthday gift to one of our favorite five-year olds. She and her father greeted me at the door, and soon her mother joined the welcome, holding our neatly-folded banner in her arms. “We’ve been meaning to get this over to you,” she said. “We found it in our driveway a couple days ago.”

I’m not sure who was happier – the young birthday girl unwrapping her gift, or her beaming neighbor, holding her wayward banner. The lost and wind-tossed was found and restored.

And yes, this reminds me of Jesus. He’s definitely in the lost-finding and restoring business. And I remembered there were banners in the Bible. I started searching for them and discovered they were usually found in scenes of conflict, when victory was declared.

The first instance I found was in Exodus 17:

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”

Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. (Exodus 17:8-15 NIV)

The Lord was their Victory.

The first Biblical banner I thought of did not involve a battle, though; it takes us in an entirely different direction:

He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love. (Song of Solomon 2:4 NKJV)

Banners of victory and love. That sounds like Jesus to me, Jesus on the cross. It didn’t look like victory then, but it certainly looked like love.

As we step out into this brand-new week, may you live with His banner flowing over you: Jesus is your Way, your Truth, your Life, your Victory, and your Love.