Daily Photo Parable

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

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, August 1, 2024

This tree near my in-law’s house happened to be one of the larger trees on the trail and I snapped a picture. Maybe what made it stand out was how large it seemed relative to all the other trees in the picture. Sometimes we don’t notice how large a tree is because we just see the trunk. To take this shot I had to aim the camera way up.

There is a concept in the Bible that seems to stand out as especially significant. It seems so important that its meaning is something that people have been debating through the ages. That concept is love.

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31

Jesus didn’t break love down into categories with many different meanings. Although people seem to want a breakdown and that is probably why we have the ten commandments. Love is hard to figure out, especially when it contrasts with our own selfishness. We might even be afraid of love.

Love takes intelligent thought. Let’s face up to what is most important and really try to understand love.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Have you ever used this phrase? If you have, you know that it is meant to describe someone who is in a very favorable or advantageous position. It conveys the idea of being comfortable and/or worry-free. Sounds good, right? If that’s the position we would desire to be in, how do we get there when everywhere you look, there is turmoil, strife, and hatred? The short answer is Jesus. The long answer is Jesus. Basically, the answer will always be Jesus.

Isaiah 4:10 (NKJV)

Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you.
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Did you catch it? How do we find that peaceful, worry-free feeling? These 5 short lines give us all we need. He’s with us. He is our God. He gives strength. He helps. He upholds. If we have all that, what else do we need? We would very much be sitting pretty. I pray we all take these wonderful promises from our Creator, and we cling to them. When the day brings something other than peace, let’s remember how good we have it. We have a relationship with a loving Father that provides anything and everything we need.

This little song sparrow is sitting pretty on top of his “concrete cousin” as he contemplates another splash in the bath.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, July 30, 2024

It was a pleasant enough picture alright, but the file on it was lost. The qualities that made it a good picture were still intact: good light, agreeable background, sharp focus on the subject, but lost. I had written the blog entry some time before and had filed it, along with item number and source information, so felt confident it was ready to go. But things happened, blunders that erased what had been written along with backup information. The Gray Flycatcher was still perched on the top of the sage but the words had vanished.

This type of thing has happened before, but in the previous incidents I had been able to recall the gist of the blog and rewrite acceptable copy. But this time I drew a complete blank. I looked back at the picture a number of times, hoping this would jog the memory into action, but such efforts were futile. As a result, I am now writing an entry on memory and frustrations that accompany it. But it’s not all bad news, and that’s what I’d like to focus on.

The story is told of a parishioner who came to his priest and informed him he had had direct communication with God. The priest, not wanting to appear gullible or insensitive, responded that the church took such encounters very seriously and before accepting such as valid, required some sort of authentication. He informed the confidant that he personally had committed a sin and had confessed it only to God. Since he and God were the only ones in the know, he should ask God the next time he talked with Him what that particular sin was.

Upon their next meeting the priest asked the parishioner somewhat skeptically if God had revealed to him the information requested. There was a brief pause, after which the parishioner responded, “God said He forgot.” Isn’t that great news? (Hebrews 10:17)

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, July 29, 2024

I saw these arrowheads in the Cashmere Museum. The museum has a very interesting pioneer village that you can walk through and look into the various buildings which have the furniture and household goods that were in use when the building was built: school, barbershop, store, church, assay building, homes, medical and dental building and more.

Inside the museum are a lot of things relating to native people including arrowheads and spears and beaded clothing and bowls and baskets and all kinds of fishing gear as well.

Apparently the museum received a number of donations of this sort of material so I’m not sure if these arrowheads were found locally or where they came from exactly.

I don’t know that these arrowheads were made for war but suspect that they were made for hunting animals for food.

The Bible talks about putting on the armor of God. This is not about literal weapons but about spiritual armor. This is The Message version:

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (The Message)