Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, February 28, 2025

On a walk through our neighborhood, halfway through January, I was surprised to notice what had happened to the white tree you see in the photo above. I’m no tree expert, so can’t tell you for sure its name, but I’m fascinated about that branch that had been jutting straight out to the left. Suddenly, it seems to have decided to stop growing that way and take nearly a 90-degree turn upward. (Maybe it saw the stop sign???)

What’s so spooky is that the upward-thrusting limb doesn’t seem to be merely an offshoot of the horizontal one. I’ve zoomed in on it with the original photo, and it’s like it just decided to change direction. The limb seems exactly as thick as the one it’s growing from.

Anyway, there’s probably an explanation for this, but I don’t know what it is.  I thought of grafting as a possibility, but can’t understand why someone would do this. Why not lop off the horizontal limb and save some trouble?

One of the most encouraging things about the Bible is that it, too, talks about miraculous spiritual direction-changes. For a non-nonsense, straight-from-the-shoulder Bible tutorial about this transformation, click the link just below.

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-must-i-do-be-saved

Photo ©2025 by Amber Jurgensen
Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, February 27, 2025

This winter scene from Snoqualmie Pass caught my attention because the snow is undisturbed almost like pillows. It seems rare to find something pure and natural.

Maybe that is why I like the following verse.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9

Scientists sometimes wonder what produces our reality and sometimes ponder if it is real at all. One of the ways I feel we know that the world is real is because of the verse above. God sent his Son to Earth to live in our reality.

It is something for people in power to consider. The people under their influence and control are also real. As we look on activity in the world, we can only hope that people remember God’s incredible love and treat each other as children of God.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Those who consider all small brown birds to be sparrows are likely cut from the same cloth as those who believe all small brown shorebirds are the same species. And in truth, it’s not an unreasonable assumption since many of those “peeps” do look an awful lot alike. But if you look closer, differences will become apparent. But then those differences become confusing since each species’ appearance can change dramatically depending upon the age, sex, time of year, and feather ware. It is tempting to go back to believing that since there are so many differences, they must all be the same. Such convoluted thinking is certainly irrational, but it can be attractive, nevertheless.

One of those look-alike subjects is the Semipalmated Sandpiper, a common species in the East, but seen much less frequently in the West. Many reports of it being seen along our West Coast shores are likely created by wishful thinking, but there are enough reliable reports so as to confirm its presence. This one was taken in Nome, Alaska where they breed, so confusion is kept to a minimum. The bird it would most likely be confused with is the Western Sandpiper, the only two small peeps in North America to have partial webbing between their toes, hence the name Semipalmated. However, the Western’s bill is longer and tends to droop at the end. The problem with that is there are differences in individual birds so one field mark isn’t adequate for clear identification.

During migration, flocks of 350,000 Semipalmated Sandpipers may congregate in a single area. Some believe it is the most abundant shorebird in North America. While they may be abundant farther east, those of us interested in finding one must sift carefully through many look-alikes to find one that is the genuine article. The Apostle Paul uses this same language to encourage us to use due diligence in how we conduct our lives. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise…” (Ephesians 5:15 NIV) Good advice for a walk on the beach, as well as our daily walk.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, February 24, 2025

I heard a memorable sermon once by Thelma Wells about being anxious about NO THING! It was based on these verses in Philippians. We especially need to keep this in mind in this day and age but, realistically, people have had things to worry about throughout history – at least since the fall.

Sometimes I like to read Bible verses in more than one version (including The Message paraphrase). I’m sure most of us learned these verses from the King James version, which is fine and probably the way we remember them best, but it’s interesting to also see more modern translations.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:6-9 (New King James Version)

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Philippians 4:6-9 (The Message)

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, February 23, 2025

This truck is stuck. It hasn’t moved in years, how many we do not know. It has green streaks (moss?) adorning its doors. It has grass growing behind and before it. All four tires are flat. It’s not going anywhere.

We pass this truck a couple times a day on our walks, so I’ve had lots of opportunities to observe it and wonder over it. How did it become this unused, unmoving big rig? What will become of it? Will it ever move?

As I mulled this over, I found myself back in my high school physics class where I learned Newton’s First Law of Motion, which states that:

“A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.”

I haven’t thought about that physics class for decades, and, after some effort, this is the only memory I can dredge up from that class. I’m not sure why it made such an impression on me. It could be that, unlike so much of what I heard in that class, it seemed to be stating such obvious truth. In other words, I could relate!

Taking the first scenario literally, I knew that on cold, wintry Alaskan mornings my teenage body would remain at rest until an outside force – my mother, or father, or an older sister – would act on it. Only then would I sleepily get up and remain in motion until I arrived at school, dressed and breakfasted and ready to learn from more outside forces, my teachers.

Have you ever felt like a stuck truck? I have. Whether the inertia is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual — or, often, a combination thereof — it can be a discouraging state to find yourself in. At first you might resist or even resent any outside force that attempts to help you get unstuck – a doctor, a therapist, a pastor, a family member, a friend.

Or God, who might be reaching out to help you through one or more of those helpers.

This week we were startled to discover a new development in our stuck truck’s story. It now has a long yellow cord plugged into its innards, reaching out from the house nearby. It’s been several days now, and that’s all we’ve seen thus far, but it seems promising.

I’m now thinking of those outside forces who help us overcome inertia as bright yellow cords, plugging us into help.

The biggest and best cord of all is Jesus:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

As a new week begins to unfold before us, we may need to pray for air in our tires, gas in our tanks, and the willingness to put the pedal to the metal as God guides and provides for us.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, February 22, 2025

Towering above the parking lot of a 7-Eleven gas station I patronize is this huge power pole. Its base is almost three feet in diameter, and is circled by eight metal pipes of the type which protects the station’s gas pumps from being struck by erratically-driven cars. I imagine that it would take nothing short of a military tank to ram through those pipes and damage that base.

Earlier this month I snapped these photos, and as I did so I decided that those protective pipes are something like the Ten Commandments. Any one of those commandments, if broken, causes damage to the spiritual life. Worshiping and carving other gods, defaming God’s name, and ignoring the Sabbath He gave us can’t be good. Dishonoring our parents, harboring murder or adultery or thievery or lying in our hearts, plus coveting, deadens our consciences so that the Holy Spirit can’t communicate as powerfully.

This might be a time to take a Bible refresher course on how the Ten can transmit God’s power to us. Check it out at the link just below:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/law-god

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, February 21, 2025

One of my favorite places to visit is a huge multiple-vendor antique pavilion in a city just north of Seattle. I’m not an antique shopper, but I am an antique enjoyer. I love to pause before the display cases, notice a metal toy car, and wonder who played with it back in the 1930s. And if an elderly manual typewriter is on display, I’ll give it a few exploratory whacks, and remember how really challenging it was to use. (Remember White-Out?)

I got a chuckle, the last time I visited, when I noticed this corded phone anchored to a post. Evidently the managers of this shop decided that either (1) a sufficient number of their customers might be a bit young to recognize this as something you could talk on, or (2) they might not realize that it’s a working device. So someone slapped on a pink post-it note and labeled it.

Looking at this elegant throwback, I know that if I lifted the handset and held it to my ear, I would hear another throwback: a dial tone. And if I punched in the right numbers, I would eventually be able to carry on a conversation, probably with excellent-quality audio.

It’s tempting, the more technology that surrounds us, to remember that prayer (which some might think is also a hopeless throwback) still works, and does so with breathtaking speed. We do get through. God does listen.

For a refresher-course on what the Bible says about prayer, click the link just below:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/prayer