Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, July 28, 2024

This makes me smile – a snail resting on a mile marker, as if he or she is gathering strength to resume the journey and make it to Mile 9.

Ever since I saw this snail last week, I’ve been thinking about marking progress, not at a snail’s pace but at a human’s pace. I’ve been mulling over measurements.

Measuring can be motivating. In the morning, when I step on a scale, I’m happy when the resulting number shows a downward trend. In the evening, when my fitness tracker tallies up the steps I’ve taken during the day, I rejoice when the number shows an upward trend.

It seems I’ve been measuring and counting all my life. When I was young, I counted the days till my birthday, and felt a solemn joy when my age finally numbered in two digits. And how my friends and I, poring over the Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs, counted the days until Christmas!

Then I counted in years – the years until I could get my driver’s license, and the years until I could vote. I counted both achievements a great privilege, and still do.

The older I get, the more numbers I calculate. How many milligrams of sodium in this salsa? How many hours of sleep last night? How many glasses of water consumed today?

And yet, the older I get, the more I bristle if someone else is counting my years. I’ve thought about this reaction, and concluded that it’s not just that I’m more aware that I have more earthly years behind me than in front of me; it’s that I don’t want you to count my years and then discount my usefulness. Don’t tell me I don’t count anymore.

Turning to my Bible for counsel and consolation, I read in a psalm that is described as “A Prayer of Moses, a Man of God”:

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
(Psalm 90:12 NKJV)

Our days are numbered. We don’t know those numbers, but any fears that crop up as we mull over that calculation we can give to the One who numbers stars and hair:

He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
(Psalm 147:4 NKJV)

. . . the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
(Matthew 10:30 NKJV)

Some of my favorite Bible verses include language that lifts limits, that is beyond numbering and measuring, such as these passages:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20, 21 NKJV)

. . . not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
(Titus 3:55-7 NKJV)

When Jesus comes, and takes us home, it is all because of His abundant saving grace that we will join a multitude beyond measuring:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9, 10 NKJV)

Until that Day, we can count on Him to walk beside us, all the way Home.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, July 27, 2024

Here’s my final flower garden update. In case you haven’t been following these blogs closely, I hasten to assure you this is not Shelley’s and my garden. It belongs to a neighbor four or five blocks from where we live. These folks have devoted their entire front yard to flowers of various kinds, majoring in roses, and this spring I decided to document how this garden grows.

I snapped the top photo on April 7, and the one below on July 18 from the same position. Isn’t this a fascinating (though faint) reflection of the glories of Eden? And don’t you trust a gardening God who lavishes color upon us?

Here’s an old hymn whose lyrics are by Didrik Petri, translated by Percy Dearmer:

Spring has now unwrapped the flowers,
Day is fast reviving,
Life in all her growing powers
Towards the light is striving:
Gone the iron touch of cold,
Winter time and frost time,
Seedlings, working through the mould,
Now make up for lost time.

Herb and plant that, winter long,
Slumbered at their leisure,
Now bestirring, green and strong,
Find in growth their pleasure;
All the world with beauty fills,
Gold the green enhancing;
Flowers make merry on the hills,
Set the meadows dancing.

Through each wonder of fair days
God Himself expresses;
Beauty follows all His ways,
As the world He blesses:
So, as He renews the earth,
Artist without rival,
In His grace of glad new birth
We must seek revival.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, July 26, 2024

I always get a heart-lift when I see community bulletin boards. This one is on the wall of the commons dining area at Lake Forest Park Town Center. You can tell how popular this mall is by how many local creatives have gotten permission to post their announcements on this board.

Some examples of what’s here: business cards from all kinds of services, a British auto show at a nearby state park, a safety day and bike rodeo for kids, the Shoreline tool library (which lends out garden and construction tools), voice lessons from a local music teacher, adult care sponsored by a local hospital, a Bible seminar, an outdoor preschool, a dog-walking service, continuing education courses from a local community college, an informational brochure on strokes, a female yogi, instruction on how to make boba tea, a youth basketball camp, an arts and crafts fair–and I’ve only just scratched the surface.

Why this explosion of creativity? In some cases to make money, I’m sure. But there are lots of regular ways to generate an income—ways that are steadier, less flashy, and more dependable.

I think that these creatives prove, by the magnificent variety of their offerings, that there is a Master Creator who gave them not only life but the longing to bring happiness to others.

And if there is such a Creator, we need to learn or review something about His vision. Check out the eight Bible verses at the link below:

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/creation-and-evolution

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, July 25, 2024

This is Wahkeena Falls, which is about a three fourths mile walk from Multnomah Falls in Oregon. Wahkeena is harder to reach because of the walk, but it is more enjoyable because people can get up close.

On the day we went it was hot, and the spray from Wahkeena falls felt cooling and good. It is like that when reading the words of Jesus. Here is an example.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28

On a hot day, it sure feels good to set down heavy burdens and take a break. When we give up our burdens to Jesus, it is like a cooling power that gives us peace.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, July 24, 2024

This past week our Sabbath School class was studying in 1 Corinthians, specifically these verses:

12:12-14 “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”

What I love about these words is the reminder that our church is, and should be, very diverse. Diversity includes what our backgrounds are, where we are from, what we look like, how we share our cultures. However we are also the same. We are ONE, as we are all part of the body of Christ. We have one common goal – the reflection of God’s love to others.

If you know your flowers, you already know these images are of dahlias. Clearly you see the differences in individual blooms, but they are in the same family. When I see the differences in the color, the petal pattern, the details, it reminds me of the differences and diversity in each one of us, but just like our family of God – we are one and the same.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Members of the jay family, along with those of the parrot family, are considered among the smartest of their class. We admire their ability to solve problems but recognize in our own character some of the qualities they display which are less than noble. Included among this group is the California Scrub-Jay.

Take for example their penchant for stealing from their neighbors. Jays are known for storing up food for winter. They go to great lengths to cache food securely so that others will not be able to rob from their security blanket. When he goes to hide his treasure, he will be open about his actions if his mate is watching. But should a rival bird be present, he will seek to deceive his competitor by changing the location or even pretend he is changing the location and leave the cache in place. It’s a cat-and-mouse game. There are indications that he keeps track of who has been watching as well as when and where this takes place. He does so and yet may lose up to 30 percent of his stockpile per day. What is most interesting, though, is he will resort to these tactics only if he has robbed another’s stash himself.

It reminds us of the familiar passage in Luke 6:41 where Jesus hits the nail on the head: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (RSV) From this, and the jay’s example, we might conclude those who are most concerned about pilfering are those who have been known to engage in this themselves.

Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, July 22, 2024

Where would we be without water on this planet? We wouldn’t get very far, that’s for sure.

I drove down a road that followed the Chiwawa River a few years ago. The Chiwawa River, located in Chelan County in Washington, starts in the Glacier Peak Wilderness and flows through the Wenatchee National Forest and then flows into the Wenatchee River which then flows into the Columbia. It was a very pretty drive following the river and it was refreshing just to look at the water. (It helped that I had some actual water to drink in the car.)

When Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, He asked for water. He also talked to her about living water.

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:11-14 (NIV)