Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, August 8, 2024

It seems like a lot of things are changing in the world this week. The Olympics are in progress with new medals being won. Various national and local election campaigns are in full swing with candidates spending money to get noticed. The Middle East is tense with expected attacks that are so costly to everyone.

If we step outside, away from our screens, there are things that don’t seem to care about all those activities. The flowers pictured above seem to be doing their normal thing. They almost seem to want to offer a soothing alternative.

Through history, God is unchanging in offering a better way with supporting power. Let’s ponder God’s care and strength as we go about our week.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Whether you have been following the Olympic games or not, most likely you’ve heard of the term “Olympic hopeful.” It’s used to describe an athlete training for and being considered for their respective team. The word “hope,” from the Oxford dictionary, is a feeling for expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. So, regardless of being an elite athlete or not, everyone can have hope.

In Romans 8:24 & 25, Paul writes to the Romans in Corinth. He knows they are facing adversity, and he’s encouraging them to look beyond the current moment and instead setting their focus on the end goal.

“For in this hope we were saved,” he says. “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Like the Olympic hopeful, training day after day, facing setbacks, major injuries, or the creep of complacency, it can be difficult to see what they don’t have but want. With hope, instead of concentrating on the now, they must put their blinders around their eyes so they can visualize what’s to come. Always focusing on the prize at the end of their journey.

The same can be true about Christians. We too, face adversity every day, but we certainly have the hope of eternal life. What greater prize is there? It’s certainly not a medal to wear around your neck. No, the greatest prize of all eternity is before us. It’s down the road a bit, but still worth every ounce of hope we can imagine.

For clarity, I did not visit the Olympics this year. I took this image of the Eiffel tower (in Paris) a few years back.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, August 6, 2024

If you’ve reached the age that I have you may find yourself going into a museum and remarking to yourself or anyone who might listen, “I remember when we had one of those” or something along that line of thinking. Time has changed the way we do things and as a result it’s easy to think that what was done in the past has little or no value. But think again. Did you by any chance happen to imagine yourself with your hands on this ancient keyboard and found the keys in a familiar position? The T was in the right place right between the R and Y. And while your keyboard may have added a number of convenient symbols, it probably doesn’t sport a bouquet of roses and other flowers on its face.

It’s tempting to think this modern age has traded beauty for convenience, but think again. When you attend a car show, why is more attention given to the new Lamborghini than the equally new Ford Fiesta? True, there may be other reasons for the attention, but the point is still valid. But back to that old keyboard. While your finger might feel strange striking the keys, your mind would confirm the placement of the letters in their familiar positions. That’s because we remember.

The Bible has a lot to say about remembering, or at least that we should remember. The book of Deuteronomy is full of such reminders. A good example of this is Deuteronomy 5:15 which says: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (NIV) Apparently Moses thought it wasn’t enough to just rotely go through the motions of keeping the Sabbath day holy, they needed to remember why they were doing so. They needed to remember what God had done for them and then celebrate His involvement in their lives. And when we remember this, our actions will be the same.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, August 5, 2024

Sometimes, it’s good to go and look for somewhere peaceful to remember what’s important in life. This is the Camas Meadow (Chelan County) in bloom. The turnoff is Camas Creek Road which is off of Blewett Pass (a few miles south on 97 from where it joins up with highway 2).

The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
Psalm 23:1-3 (NLT)

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, August 4, 2024

“What’s this?” I asked my husband, stopping to stare at the sidewalk before us. We were walking our usual morning route, and this had not been here the day before. I’m not even sure how to describe it, so I’m thankful for photos.

Should I call it a sidewalk quilt, or a plaid piece of sidewalk art? Neither description seems to quite capture it. Who created this, and why? Was someone cleaning their sidewalk with a pressure washer, and suddenly decided on a whim to create this patchwork?

I may never know. As much as I would like to know, I can live a full and happy life without knowing.

A small mystery I can live with. Add it to the others.

Do you, too, have a collection of small mysteries? Nice to know but not need to know?

I find it easy to collect small mysteries when I’m reading the Bible. Here are a few that maybe you have wondered about, along with me:

Peter had a mother-in-law. (Jesus healed her high fever; see Luke 4:38-39.) So Peter must have had a wife. I would like to know all about his wife! Had she died before Peter met Jesus? Or was she still alive when Peter became a literal follower of Jesus? We’ve heard so many stories about Peter that we feel we know this impulsive disciple, who was quick to speak and quick to act – but we know nothing about his wife.

A small mystery I can live with.

After Jesus had risen from the dead (such small words to type, describing such a huge miracle!), He appeared several times to the disciples. John describes the story of one of these encounters in the last chapter of his gospel. I like how in the New International Version John begins the story by saying, “It happened this way . . .” — a Biblical variation of “Once upon a time . . . ”

He tells of Peter saying, “I’m going out to fish,” and other disciples saying, “We’ll go with you.” They fish all night and catch nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus (although they do not yet realize it is Jesus), standing on the shore, asks if they’ve caught any fish. He then tells them they’ll find some if they throw their net out on the right side of the boat.

They follow His direction and so many fish fill their net that they can’t easily haul in their catch. Once they finally are able to drag the net ashore, we’re told that it is full of 153 large fish.

That seems such an unusually precise detail to add to the story – 153 fish. I’ve read some commentators who grapple with this detail and find a message in that number, but I’m not so sure that it has symbolic meaning. When it comes to Biblical numbers, it seems that 7 and 12 and 40 usually shine the brightest and most often.

I’m not sure why we’re told about the 153 fish – does that number actually have hidden depths, or was John so impressed with the experience that he simply has to share the amazing total with us? (Maybe he was the one who did the counting.)

A small mystery I can live with.

There are others. But, as I say, they are small. Nice to know but not need to know. I believe that God has given us weightier matters to ponder, and, most of all, that He has made wonderfully clear what we do need to know:

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 NKJV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16 NIV)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

There’s more, much more. God assures us over and over that He loves us, and that Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has opened the gates of heaven wide to all who accept His gift of salvation.

Small mysteries may be fun to think about, but as we step into this brand-new week, I’m thankful for the crystal-clear picture of our offered life with God, both now, and forever.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, August 3, 2024

A couple of weeks ago on my usual post-breakfast walk, I was striding past a house and happened to glance at an open upstairs window. There, stacked neatly on the edge of what might be an old-fashioned school desk, I saw a stack of books.

I didn’t linger long to gaze at them, but I took a surreptitious photo and went on my way. I decided that if I ever got a chance to meet the people who live there, I would probably instantly like them. At least we’d have a love of books in common. In late June Shelley and I paid a visit to Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon, which is probably the largest used-book store in the nation.

And when I zoomed in on the original of this photo to see if I could read titles (I couldn’t), I discovered that these volumes are old, and well-thumbed.

Books have often been called windows on the world. As they’re stacked there near a window, on view to passers-by like me, each of those tomes is a window on a topic. Maybe one is an algebra book, opening to view a subject I have always found dark and forbidding.

If you want an interesting experience, read through Psalm 119. That’s the longest psalm, and the longest chapter in the Bible, and it has just one subject—God’s word, God’s law.

Here’s just a sample . . .

How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.
I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word. (Psalm 119:9 – 16 NKJV)

There! Did that open a window a little wider into God’s laws? It has for me.

Why not make reading God’s Word a daily habit?

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, August 2, 2024

I’ve found our local library a delightful (and mercifully air-conditioned) refuge when I’m working on a sermon. Shelley and I are so grateful that it’s barely a mile from where we live, and we enter its doors often.

Thursday of this week, as I was about to leave through those doors, the above colorful bulletin board caught my attention. “Summer Readers” is printed at the top, and each of the post-its bears the name of a child. My original photo has better pixel resolution, which means I can read the first names of these kids, and it’s heartwarming to see that—if one can judge by these names—many ethnic groups are represented.

You might be able to see that each post-it bears a number. The yellows are #1, the salmon-colored are #2, and the greens are #3, and there are even a few pinks (#4).

Shelley and I puzzled over this photo for several minutes, trying to figure out what the different numbers stand for. She even looked on the library’s website to see if she could find the answer there. No luck. I thought they might be grade-levels, but to have an overwhelming number of first-graders, who are barely learning to read, doesn’t seem to make sense.

Bottom line: maybe 100, or close to it, kids were willing to print their names in labored letters on the slips, and declare before all the library patrons that they are indeed “Summer Readers.”

That’s good. My first career was as a college English instructor, and I would constantly tell the students, “Look. Grammar and spelling are important, but the more you can learn to love reading, and read a lot, the more you’ll learn these principles by osmosis rather than having to study lists of rules.”

Jesus was in favor of not only reading but of comprehension. Telling His disciples about end-time events, He recommended the book of Daniel. “Whoever reads, let him understand,” Jesus said, referring to an important prophetic detail in the prophet’s book (Matthew 24:15 NKJV).

And in the introduction to the Book of Revelation, Jesus’ close friend John writes, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)

Read . . . heed . . . keep.

If you’re planning to become a “summer reader” of the Bible, check out the following link in which Scripture describes itself:

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