Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, June 12, 2025

Have you wondered why whenever there is a seemingly easy job to do, the number of tools multiplies by the time the job is done? I often think a job will just take one or two tools, but I know deep down it is going to take a lot more.

Interestingly, God offers us one tool that itself can multiply into many tools all on its own. You probably guessed it. That tool is love.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:8-13

As with all tools we have to learn how to use them and apply them in different situations.

Now if I can find the right driver bit in this batch . . . .

Photo and Commentary (c)2025 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Back in late April, I was on a business trip to Costa Rica. During some downtime, I had the chance to visit a garden—and that’s where I came across this stunning Abutilon pictum. For those of us who don’t speak Latin, it’s more commonly known as a Flowering Maple or Chinese Lantern.

The color, the intricate pattern, and the way the bloom drapes downward like a delicate lantern really caught my eye.

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: the creativity of God, especially in the details of His floral designs, is absolutely incredible.

As I looked at this little “lantern,” I was reminded of the one we’re each called to carry. Jesus speaks to this in Matthew 5:14–16:

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Just as God shares His beauty with us through His creations, we’re invited to reflect that light—to share His love with others. May we carry our lanterns with grace, letting them shine brightly in a world that needs His light.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, June 10, 2025

The words are familiar to us, perhaps because they were spoken by Jesus Himself. Or perhaps because we find security in the comfort that image brings to mind. Either way, a picture is painted of a God who desperately cares for those He loves. Luke renders His words this way: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Luke 13:34 NIV)

Domestic fowl are not the only ones that brood their chicks. Both altricial and precocious chicks need to be kept warm after they emerge from the shell. An example of the second kind is shown by this Killdeer, offering warmth to its offspring which is less than an hour old. Soon it will be off and running, looking for its own food, but for the moment it is content to sleep, warmed by the body heat generated by its parent. Hinted at in this picture is the brood patch, an area of bare skin on the breast that allows closer contact with the parent’s skin without interfering buffer feathers. This is important during incubation but is also used to keep young warm after they hatch. In many species, feathers regrow after nesting is completed.

This area of skin serves its purpose well as it has a concentration of blood vessels near the surface which aid in the transfer of heat. These patches vary from species to species with some having a single patch, while others like the Killdeer, have two, one on each side. Since both male and female participate in incubation, both sexes have these patches. Gulls may have three while brood parasitic cuckoos have none.

The sad part of this story is that Jesus’ offer of love and security was rejected by Jerusalem and by many today. As the verse says, “You were not willing.”

Both the young and the old have their place. Both the liberal and conservative can contribute to the wellbeing of society. Should we be of the older mindset, it would be very easy to misuse the King James Version of Isaiah 32:5 which says: “The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.” Newer translations such as the NIV, RSV, and ESV all translate the word “liberal” as “fool.” Makes you wonder if those who wrote the 1611 translation might not have been conservatives.

Photo ©2020 and Commentary ©2025 by Chuck Davis
Monday, June 9, 2025

Snowflake Lake has a surface area less than two acres in size. Its nearest neighbor, Big Snow Lake, is more than fourteen acres. Snow Lake, one of the most popular hiking destinations near Seattle, is 153 acres. Snowflake Lake is so small that one might call it a pond. The beauty of its surroundings and the clarity of its water, however, rightly place it among the more than seven hundred lakes that make up the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

The remote location and lack of an established trail ensure the pristine beauty of this location. Large Snow Lake draws a thousand visitors on a nice Saturday or Sunday. Tiny Snowflake Lake entertains fewer than fifty in a summer. This contrast is the basis for today’s photo parable.

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:1-4 NIV).

I am drawn to Snowflake Lake not for its size but for its beauty. Likewise, we remember the widow for the beauty of her character and her devotion to God. She gave with purpose, intending to give all she had to God.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, June 8, 2025

I think 73° F. is just about right. That’s good summer weather, please and thank you. I’m allergic to phrases that begin with the word “heat” – such as “heat advisory” and “heat warning.”

I prefer words like “air conditioning,” “ice cubes,” and “shade.” So that’s where I was standing when I took the above photo, on June 23 of last year. Not in front of A/C, not holding a cup of ice water, but in the shade of a lovely tree that was always a welcome stop on our daily summer walks.

We would pause for a moment there, just to enjoy its cool, leafy refuge from the summer broil. I’m speaking in past tense, though, because the homeowners chopped down this tree a month or so ago. What were they thinking? We’ll have to seek shade elsewhere.

As I mused on the current heat advisory for our area, and my fondness for shade, I suddenly remembered that we can not only seek shade; we can also throw it. But I’d rather not.

Oxford Languages online dictionary defines “throw shade” as “to publicly criticize or express contempt for someone.” That sounds like the devil’s work. All through Jesus’ life on this planet – a life devoted to healing and helping, blessing and saving – the devil dogged His steps, criticizing and misrepresenting His words and actions.

I want to be a shade seeker, not a shade thrower. I’m so thankful God is a shade provider. Seek and we shall find! Over and over in the Bible He promises to shelter us and protect us. One of my favorite Bible passages of provision is Psalm 121, whose eight verses are given here in the New International Version:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains –
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip –
He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you –
The Lord is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm –
He will watch over your life;
The Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, June 7, 2025

A little over a week ago, from my perch at our local library, I observed through an opening in a wooden screen a young lady sitting at a nearby table. As you can see in the photo above, she was wearing a white hoodie bearing a brief message: Essentials: Fear God.

She’s most likely a Christian, and most likely a Christian who has been introduced to a deeper and more complex view of God than you might think a hoodie might advertise. But she seems to have understood not only how Biblical but how security-establishing that truth is.

In fact, she may have been exposed to thoughtful verses like the five you’ll find at the link just below. Check them out.

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/fear-lord

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, June 6, 2025

Thursday of this week as I was arriving at our local library I noticed, directly in my path, this magnificent old car. After I snapped this photo, I sidled reverently past it, and reached out to grab hold of the left front fender. I know that nowadays there are old-car kits made with modern materials, some of which are plastic. But no, this fender was solid metal.

Is this a genuine old Model A? I wondered. I got the answer by looking at the license plate on the front. Not only does it say “1931” (and a Google Images search reveals several examples of this exact car made that year), but the license plate frame says “Gallopin’ Gertie A’s,” which seems to be a vintage Model A auto club based in Tacoma, Washington, and whose name alludes to the famous collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940.

So this car is real, and is nearing 100 years old. And what’s so fascinating is to compare it to modern cars. Take the bumper: my Toyota Corolla’s is plastic. The older car’s is just as metal as the fenders, and if called upon, it would bump. And the horn – see the squawker below the headlight? My Corolla’s hides discreetly under the hood, and its feeble bleat probably sounds half as loud as this one.

The headlights themselves are perched accessibly out where the untutored layperson can get at them to change them. That’s not the case for my Corolla’s lights, which require a specialist, wearing blue rubber gloves, using the skills of both a surgeon and a contortionist.

I wish I’d taken a photo of the car’s interior, but I did glance inside. No fancy accessories, just a steering wheel and a tall stick shift arising straight out of the floor.

So, what’s my parable point? This car, nearly a century old, has the basics – the essentials – necessary to get the passengers where they need to go. Everything we’ve added since then has been convenience-frills.

What’s the essential equipment for a Christian as we face difficult times? The whole Bible gives a lot of courage, but here’s one list of verses which will help:

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