Daily Photo Parable

Photo ©2011 and Commentary ©2026 by Chuck Davis
Monday, May 18, 2026

In last week’s photo parable, entitled “Lord of the Sabbath,” I mentioned that when looking to the west, I could see the top of Mt. St. Helens. The colorful beauty of today’s photo reminds me that the terrible destruction that occurred on May 18, 1980, is not the end of God’s story. On that day, Mt. St. Helens lost more than 1,300 feet of its summit cone. Fifty-seven people lost their life in the event. Humanity’s sin has brought us face to face with its consequences. But, one day, God will bring renewal. Today’s photo cannot capture even a portion of what He holds in store for us.

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV).

 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5 NIV).

Over the past year, photography and my love of the wilderness have allowed me to share just a glimpse of what God wants us to experience. I pray that you and I will be ready for the rest of His story.

Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, May 17, 2026

Do you see him? Zoom in closer, to see how well this bunny blends in with his background.

As soon as he heard us coming down the path, he froze. He reminded me of long ago days when I would sit very still in the classroom, not moving a muscle and avoiding eye contact with my teacher, in hopes I would not be called upon to give an answer.

Likewise, this bunny did not want to engage with us. We waited and waited, not moving any of our muscles, and he blinked first. He started foraging around for greenery, and we resumed our trek home.

Ever since, I’ve been musing on blending in. Is it a good thing, or a bad thing? I think the answer is Yes and Yes. It depends.

And, as always, I thought of people I’ve met in the pages of my Bible. Who blended in, and who did not?

It was much easier to think of those that determined not to blend in. Remember Daniel’s three friends? Did you think of them first? Rather than join with everyone else in kneeling before a golden statue, they literally stood up and stood out as people who worshipped God alone.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 NIV)

As a child, I was mightily impressed with their courage. As an adult, I noticed their clear-eyed acknowledgement that their God was able to protect them, but “even if he does not,” they would not worship false gods. That “even if” faith challenges me!

As a child, I was amazed that the seven-times hotter fire did not harm them; it did not singe a hair on their head, nor did they even smell like fire. And, best of all, Someone joined them, walking with them in that fiery furnace. As an adult, I like to imagine their grandchildren urging them to “tell us about the time you were thrown in the fiery furnace”!

So many other stand-outs come to mind: Noah, Joseph, David, Joshua, Daniel, Esther, Deborah, Elijah, Moses, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, Stephen, all the prophets . . .

How about those that chose to blend in, and it was a good thing? I furrow my brow as I try to think of these people . . . Ruth! In devotion to her mother-in-law she left her home and all she knew, and pledged to fully identify with Naomi:

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16,17)

She turned her back on her country’s heathen gods, and became one of five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

Jesus. He came to be Emmanuel, God with us. He never blended in, but He “took on humanity,” became one of us. He so fully identified with us that He carried our sins when He carried His cross.

So we’ve moved from talking about blending in, to identifying with. Have I veered off-topic? Have I followed a rabbit trail?

All of this musing and meandering because I saw a bunny!

As we hit the trail in this brand-new week, here’s God’s call to us:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12: 2)

Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, May 16, 2026

What you’re looking at in the photo is a story. It’s not an accidental discard of an apple. The reason I know this is that this was the second time this week I saw a partly-eaten apple right at this spot. One day (Wednesday) there was an apple, the next day none, and  today (Friday) there’s another apple.

So what’s going on? First, take a look at the photo. The apple is at the bottom, and beyond it are a couple of construction warning signs. Over between those signs is where the schoolbus stops to pick up kids. So my analysis is that a youngster, leaving the house on the way to the bus stop, is admonished by a parent to eat the apple for lunch. Not wishing to delay the apple’s consumption, and perhaps not wishing to carry the apple around all day, the kid chomps a good portion of the apple and drops it.

Is that what happened? Who knows? Two apples, twice in the week, half-eaten and discarded.

As time goes on, of course, the apple-eater will come to realized how important nutrition is, and how much an apple costs, and will behave in a more stewardship-sensitive way.

Which of course is an excellent reminder to all of us, to do what’s healthy. If you keep up with social media feeds, you’re experiencing a relatively remorseless battery of advice about what’s healthy and what’s not. As someone who has learned this because of a well-informed wife, I can personally testify how important a good lifestyle is.

The Bible has a surprising amount to say about good health. Check out the link just below:

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

Photo ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Commentary ©2026 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, May 15, 2026

During my elementary school years I lived on a little farm which had two large cottonwood trees between our house and our barn. Every spring, those cottonwoods would sprout seed pods, which would then burst and send out thousands and thousands of these little puffballs like the one you see in this photo, which Shelley snapped of my hand this past Wednesday.

Actually, earlier that same day I had spotted the first cottonwood seed I’d seen this year. It was drifting past me, so I reached out and grabbed it. It was smaller than the one you see above, but its seed was surrounded by the same gauzy cotton-like substance. Once I had it in my fist, I glanced around me to see if I could spot a cottonwood tree, and there were none in sight.

This means that a cottonwood somewhere had ejected that little puffball, and the wind had carried it to where I was, in the hopes that a new tree would be created. That’s called influence. The original tree would never “meet” the new tree, but the powerful seed, if given the right care, would grow.

A few minutes ago I was on a phone call with a man who told me that a short while before her death, his wife had purchased a new Bible, and had gone through and underlined her favorite verses. When she died, the man eventually gave her Bible away, and he learned that someone is now reading those verses when times of depression come.

Influence. God created cottonwood trees to spread their influence, and has created you to share yours. For four Bible texts on how to do this, click the link just below:

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

Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Thursday, May 14, 2026

We don’t use this little timer anymore. Technology provides us with better and more audible options with which to time our three-minute Boggle game rounds.

It’s a good thing we don’t need to rely on this timer, because it’s stuck. The little white sands aren’t faithfully filtering down. If we give it a firm tap, a few sands trickle down, then stop.

A reluctant timer is not a reliable instrument for measuring time. And being “stuck” sounds like a negative experience to me. However, I’m thinking that even though flipping this timer upside down doesn’t change much, we can flip this scenario by simply changing our words.

What if we say that the timer is simply pausing, or is a symbol of “time standing still”? Can you think of a time when you were experiencing such joy that you wished time could stand still? I can. We often take photos of such times, trying to capture them, so we can re-live them at a glance.

There are times when time does seem to stand still, to not even exist. I know when I am having a very good time, because I am unaware of time.

It’s ironic that this little timer, whose sands are stuck, reminds me of the concept of “flow.”

A friend introduced me to this concept many years ago, with a book written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, sometimes referred to as “the father of flow.” This Hungarian-American psychologist is known for recognizing and naming the concept.

Of the many descriptions I’ve read of flow, I offer this one: “Flow is a state where you are so immersed in an activity that you lose track of time, self-consciousness fades, and you feel a deep sense of purpose and enjoyment. We often identify this as the “optimal experience.” (“What is Flow in Positive Psychology?” 9 Oct 2025 by Laura Copley, Ph.D., LPC)

All this flowing reminds me of a chorus that is usually sung with energetic gestures. The gist of it is: “I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? It sounds both inspirational and aspirational to me, because my days are not always flowing so freely with peace, love, and joy. But I know Who is the true “Father of flow,” and I know He is eager and willing to provide what I lack.

I think Eden was full of flow. I think that in heaven we will be overflowing with flow! We have joys ahead that we cannot begin to imagine now.

But for now, we have this prayer:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV)

Speaking of joy, today is our wedding anniversary. How did forty-eight years flow by so fast? To quote a greeting card I bought many years ago, which may be my all-time favorite greeting card, “I wonder where the years have gone, but never how else I could have spent them.”

Happy Anniversary, my love!

Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Can you see it? It’s small. Tiny, even. That’s how I know it’s my cross, not His.

I’ve thought a lot about His cross. I’ve heard about it, read about it, sung about it, and repeatedly thanked Him for enduring it.

I haven’t thought as much about my cross.

Asking myself why, I had a couple of quick answers: 1) I don’t fully understand what my cross is, and 2) I understand enough to not be completely comfortable with having one.

It’s so much easier to praise Jesus for carrying His cross, enduring its shame, all for the love of me. (Although it’s hard to comprehend how He could have counted the cost of His cross and decided I was worth it, that you and I were worth it.)

I needed to shake off my reluctance and understand more about my cross, so I searched the Bible to find all the verses that talk about my cross, not His. I was surprised that there are not that many mentions. I thought there would have been more. I read what Matthew, Mark, and Luke said, in context.

Reading the context was, as always, quite helpful. For instance, in Luke 14 Jesus is recorded as saying:

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (verse 27, NKJV)

Who’s He talking to? What prompted Jesus to make such a strong statement?

The passage begins a few verses earlier with these words:

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them . . . (verse 25)

I think that Jesus sensed the “need to weed.” If there were great multitudes, the chances are that many (most?) of them did not understand what it meant to fully follow Him. He needed to explain, and make it plain.

So he talks about a man intending to build a tower, but first sitting down and calculating its cost, and a king planning to wage war against another king, but first sitting down and considering how his warriors match up against his foe’s warriors.

Jesus then concludes:

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (verse 33)

He seems to urge those in the great multitudes who “went with Him,” and now us, to consider our lives, to calculate the cost of fully following Jesus – not as an observer, but as a disciple.

After studying this passage in Luke, and the handful of other verses that talk about carrying my cross, I hear Jesus saying that it means I have considered my life, and that I count my love for Him as deeper and more important than my love for anyone or anything else.

How could I decide He deserves second, third, or any other place in my personal world, when He risked death on His cross to open the door to eternal life for me?

The cross in my photo above is tiny, however it is no small thing to choose to fully follow Jesus. But any cross I bear is totally eclipsed by the shadow of His cross.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (Hebrews 12:1-3 NKJV)

So we take heart, take up our crosses, and follow the One who endured all, and invites us to:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, May 112, 2026

Making comparisons is often relegated to the realm of the unacceptable.  It’s probably placed there with good intent since comparison is often done to demean or belittle another for the purpose of advancing one’s own position.  That’s understandable.  But comparisons are helpful tools if used properly.  Consider the bird feeder with its willing partakers.  In both pictures a male House Finch is present.  That, along with the feeder itself, is the constant given us.  The variables in the two pictures are the two blue colored birds also enjoying the handout.  In real life, it’s safe to assume the House Finch is relatively the same size in both pictures even though the image size may seem to dictate otherwise.

Which brings us to the identification of those two similar looking blue birds.  A superficial look might lead us to assume they are the same, but look again.  One is considerably larger than the House Finch while the other is somewhat smaller.  Don’t let the size of the image confuse you.  Remember, the finch remains the same size.  It doesn’t fly away to some bush and put on another costume to fool the observer; it’s still the same bird.  Knowing this allows us to confirm the smaller blue bird is an Indigo Bunting while the larger one is a Blue Grosbeak.

In a world that is perpetually changing, we need a constant that we can look to for assistance in finding true worth, true value. God’s law, written long ago, provides us with a standard upon which we can depend.  “Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.” (Deuteronomy 4:4)  Notice, Moses places special emphasis upon the permanence of the law; He specifically states that it is “for all time”.  That’s pretty inclusive, inclusive enough to include today for you and me.