Top 12+ 2025

Here is my year in review summed up in a few photos. The photos aren't necessarily chosen for their artistic quality, but for the memories they evoke. I also try to capture a broad range of subjects (as opposed to just wildflowers, or just garden plants). This year for my annual review, I have the usual Top 12, but I also added photos from different states, provinces, or countries we visited outside of California.

January - Tombstone Rocks

Tombstone Rocks in Tuolumne County

In January we traveled to Roseville for a belated Christmas celebration with my sister. Her daughter and family were visiting from Spokane, so they would be there in addition to her other daughter that lives in a nearby town.

As we often do, we find some different route to take so that we can see some new sights. This time around we stopped to see Basso Bridge in La Grange and after that we walked around the nearby Joe Domecq Wilderness Area. Next it was a visit to the Mark Twain Cabin near Tuttletown. But before we got there, we had to drive past the tombstone rocks on La Grange Road (Highway J59), between La Grange and Jamestown. These interesting rocks jut out of the landscape like tombstones. The rocks are metamorphosed volcanic rocks (metavolcanics) and are part of the Gopher Ridge Volcanics formation. These are metamorphic rocks dating from the Jurassic period. These rocks formed as island arcs (volcanic islands like Alaska's Aleutian Islands) on the oceanic crust of the Pacific Ocean, but were scraped off against the edge of the North American continent as the rocks were subducted. The rocks have been metamorphosed, and turned almost vertical by intense east-west pressure. They are more resistant than the surrounding slates, and so stand out as a prominent ridge. (https://geotripper.blogspot.com/2023/09/an-aerial-tour-of-stanislaus-table.html)

It was hard to get a good photo of the rocks, because the road is narrow and windy with no shoulder and therefore does not have many places to safely stop.

Basso Bridge (foot traffic only)

Mark Twain Cabin

January - Canada - Bountiful Farmers Market

Bountiful Farmers Market, Edmonton

At the end of January, Ingrid made a trip to Alberta by herself to visit family. One day she went out for lunch with a friend and she sent this picture. It almost looks like the woman is part of the display, but I don't think that taxidermists work on humans. Bountiful Farmers Market looks like a really fun place to visit. The pictures make me think of some of the shopping malls in Thailand.

February - Weeds and Pollinators

Bermuda Buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae) and Honeybee (Apis mellifera)

There is a noxious weed in our back yard that creeps under the fence from our neighbors yard. Bermuda buttercup can be quite nasty because it spreads from little bulbs. But it is pretty. Ingrid told me to hold off on weeding it so we could enjoy the blooms a little bit. Looks like the bees enjoy them, too. Unfortunately, it is also intermingled with another weed that has crept under the fence, purple nutsedge. That plant also spreads from root nodules, but it lacks pretty flowers. By letting the flowers grow, I also let the nutsedge grow. At least I try to keep them restricted to the vicinity of the fence.

February - Canada - Let it Snow

Dodge Van in the Snow

While Ingrid was in Canada, she borrowed her dad's minivan, which she had driven before on previous visits to Canada, but on those other visits she did not have to shovel a path through the now to get to it. And this was her first time getting to drive it in the snow. After this visit, she must be better snow driver than I am! While I'm sad that she had to deal with that weather, I was quite content that my biggest problem was refraining from yanking out all the Bermuda Buttercup.

March - Baby Blue Eyes

Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii)

When March comes, it's time to start checking out the wildflowers in the foothills. One day we headed out on Highway 168, deciding our route as we went while we scouted for places to view flowers. We eventually ended up at the San Joaquin River Gorge Recreation Area. Twenty years ago, we liked coming to this trail, because it was fairly quiet. But now it is very popular and used a lot by people on bikes, so it is not as nice an escape as it used to be. Indeed, the park was fairly crowded on the day we went. There were a few people who actually noticed that there were flowers blooming—one group was using some of the wildflowers as backdrop for a photo shoot. We walked the Ya-Gub-Weh-Tuh Trail down as far as the river. It seemed like maybe it was a bit too early for some of the flowers and too late for others, but there were lots of Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) blooming along the trail.

April - Stevenson Falls

Stevenson Falls

On a sunny April day, we decided to visit Stevenson Falls. The falls are located northeast of Auberry. The road is narrow and windy such that one wonders sometimes if the road actually goes anywhere. On the last part, you have to be especially careful as there is not enough room to pass oncoming traffic in some places and there are several blind curves.



There is a paved road to get all the way to the falls, but it is closed to traffic for the general public, so one has to walk the 3-1/2 miles each way. There were lots of wildflowers to distract us along our journey. Here is a list of the flowers I was able to identify that day:

Ball Gilia (Gilia capitata abrotanifolia)
Bicolor Babystars (Leptosiphon bicolor)
Bird's-eye Gilia (Gilia tricolor)
Blue Dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus)
Blue Elder (Sambucus cerulea)
Bolander's Woodland Star (Lithophragma bolanderi)
Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida)
California Chicory (Rafinesquia californica)
California Goldfields (Lasthenia california)
California Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum)
Caterpillar Scorpionweed (Phacelia cicutaria)
Chaparral Whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis)
Chia (Salvia columbariae)
Common Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Common Madia (Madia elegans vernalis)
Common Madia (Madia elegans wheeleri)
Common Sow-Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)
Coulter's Wild Cabbage (Caulanthus coulteri)
Deerweed (Acmispon glaber)
Deltoid Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea)
Early Saxifrages (Micranthes sp.)
Eastwood's Baby Blue-Eyes (Nemophila pulchella)
Fiesta Flower (Pholistoma auritum)
Foothill Desert-Parsley (Lomatium utriculatum)
Glassy Onion (Allium hyalinum)
Henderson's Shooting Star (Primula hendersonii)
Larkspurs (Delphinium sp.)
Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor)
Pacific Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
Pipestem Clematis (Clematis lasiantha)
Prettyface (Triteleia ixioides)
Purple Chinese Houses (Collinsia heterophylla)
Purple Fairy-Lantern (Calochortus amoenus)
Purple Owl's-Clover (Castilleja exserta)
Rancheria Clover (Trifolium albopurpureum)
Red-berried Elder (Sambucus racemosa)
Sacred Datura (Datura wrightii)
Sand Fringepod (Thysanocarpus curvipes)
Seep Monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata)
Shy Monkeyflower (Erythranthe nasuta)
Slender Phlox (Microsteris gracilis)
Spider Lupine (Lupinus benthamii)
Tomcat Clover (Trifolium willdenovii)
Virgate Scorpionweed (Phacelia heterophylla)
Wavyleaf Paintbrush (Castilleja applegatei)
Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum)

(Photos of all the flowers can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/eddingrid/albums/72177720325193859)
Even though it was mid-week, there were a lot of people making the walk. Some were swimming in the cool water below the falls.

May - Echinopsis

Echinopsis

Last year we missed it.

In the fall of 2023 we went to the plant sale held by the Fresno Cactus and Succulent Society. Among the plants we brought home were a couple of small cactus from the genus Echinopsis. In the spring they started to develop flower buds. But the thing is that they bloom at night—and the flower buds open fully only once. So the question was: would we get to see them bloom. Well, we got to enjoy the blooms for a few seconds, because one plant decided to bloom the day we were leaving early on a long road trip, but we were so busy with last minute stuff, we only had time to just take a glance at them before we headed out. And if the second cactus bloomed, we never knew.

This year was a bit better. We were leaving for Germany early in the month, but not before we got to see the flowers fully open on both cacti. And they had multiple buds se we got to see the flowers for several days, as they did not open all on the same day. One cactus had a white flower and the other a yellow flower. And what is amazing was the size of the flower. The cactus itself is only about 2 inches tall, yet the bloom is long trumpet, taller and wider than the cactus itself! What an amazing little plant.

May - Germany - Wittenburg Door

The Famous Door at All Saints' Church, Wittenberg

If we had to pick a time to travel to Germany, we probably would not have picked early May, but it was when some of Ingrid's family were having a reunion near Greifswald in the northeastern part of the country. Because we wanted to do some other sightseeing and visit some other relatives, we decided to fly to Frankfurt and rent a car. We had an overnight flight, and so we ended up picking up our car mid-morning. I knew I would be pretty tired from the flight, so I didn't want to have to drive too far. We ended up spending the first night in the town of Schkeuditz (no, I don't think that name is actually pronouncable), outside Leipzig.

We planned on doing some minor sightseeing on the way to Greifswald, but we hadn't decided exactly where until we got to Schkeuditz. In the end wew decided to go to see the famous door where Luther nailed his 95 Theses at All Saints' Church (Schlosskirche Lutherstadt) in Wittenberg. Google maps routed us onto Highway B107. Shortly after turning off, we saw a sign for Biosphärenreservat Mittelelbe (Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve), so we turned in. It was right off the road. We walked around there for a bit, checked out the displays and some of the flowers and then continued to Wittenburg.

The road was to Wittenberg was convoluted, and after arriving it was hard to find a place to park. We ended up in a parking garage; some lady coming in behind us helped us figure out the machine to get in. We got out of our car and found an exit door to discover we were in the upstairs of a shopping mall. So we had to walk downstairs and through the mall to get out. My phone dropped its digital signal (it ended up doing this a lot), so I had to reboot it. Meanwhile, we used Google maps on Ingrid’s phone to find out where we were so that we could find our way back again. Wittenburg is quite the tourist town, with lots of shops and restaurants spilling out onto the sidewalks of the cobblestone streets. We eventually made our way to All Saints Church. That wooden door where Luther nailed his 95 Theses burned in a fire long ago, but was replaced with a bronze door in the mid-1800’s with the Theses in bas-relief covering the doors. Good luck trying to drive a nail into those doors.

We tried to use the car’s built in Tom-Tom GPS to go on from there, but it wasn’t very good and it led us to a road closed for construction, so we ended up using Google Maps to go on. It was a long, convoluted way back to the A9 highway. Road construction and associated traffic jams had Google maps rerouting us a lot, so we ended up getting to our destination almost 2 hours later than planned.

Not only did we get to see a lot of family on the trip—including a lot of second cousins we had never met before—but we also got so see many places that were significant in the history of Ingrid's parents. This included the house where her parents lived when they first got married. This house was on the island of Rügen. We had been there on our first trip to Germany in 2003, when a couple had just moved in. Since then, they have done lot of work on the thatched roof house, using local materials as much as possible.

The house on Rügen, 2003, viewed from back

The house on Rügen, 2025, viewed from front
The porch has been added on.

Family Reunion Group Photo

May - British Columbia - Peace Park

Peace Arch State Park, WA and Provincial Park, BC

Later in May it was time for a road trip, this time to British Columbia. A nephew was getting married at the end of the month. Then, Ingrid's sister-in-law, also in BC, suddenly passed away. So it was a memorial service, burial and wedding all within a weeks time.

We weren't sure how the border crossing would go, because this was at the time that Trump was calling for Canada to become the 51st state. Things went smoothly enough going to Canada. Then we decided to visit a friend across the border in the US while we were there. We met them in Birch Bay, right on the border. In that town there is a monument called the Peace Arch located in Peace Arch State Park (Peace Arch Provincial Park on the other side of the border). We had never been there before, and we thought it might be fun to visit, but again, with all the tensions due to Trump's rhetoric, we weren't sure it would even be open, as the monument sits right on the border in a shared park. But it turns out, everything was fine, we could walk around the park on either side of the border without any problem.

The arch is set up like a gateway between the two countries. Inside the arch there is some gatelike ironwork attached to the walls with these words above them: "May these gates never be closed." Outside the arch there is a smaller monumnent with some bronze plaques. This is the text from those plaques:

THIS UNFORTIFIED BOUNDARY LINE

BETWEEN THE

DOMINION OF CANADA

AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SHOULD QUICKEN THE REMEMBRANCE

OF THE MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD

FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THESE COUNTRIES

A LESSON OF PEACE TO ALL NATIONS

ERECTED APRIL 25, 1936

KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL

IN COMMEMORATION OF

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF PEACE, 1814-1964 BETWEEN

CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THE SIGNING OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER TREATY ON SEPTEMBER 16TH 1964.

AT THIS INTERNATIONAL PEACE ARCH PARK BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, AND THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA

THE RIGHT HONORABLE LESTER B. PEARSON P.C.

ERECTED AND DEDICATED TO CONTINUED PEACE AND GOOD WILL OF THE PEOPLES OF

CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES BY KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL ON NOVEMBER 28, 1965.

Returning to the US went without a hitch. We had left fairly early so we could catch a ferry later in the day, and when we got to the border, there was no line at all—we drove right up to the border station. With all the uncertainty created by Trump's talk, border traffic was way down, and the border guards seemed happy to have someone to talk to.

June - Washington State - Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba)

On the way back from Canada, we were going to visit friends in Shelton, located at the base of the Olympic Peninsula. We normally would drive through Seattle and Tacoma and Olympia to get there, but our friends recommended taking the ferry across Puget Sound (which is the route they take as they don't like driving in city traffic), so we thought we would give that a try.

It took some research, but we finally figured out where to catch the ferry and let the GPS tell us how to get there. We didn't have time to waste to catch the ferry that would work for us. The ferry left out of out of the Coupeville Ferry Terminal, which isn't actually in Coupeville, which is why it was confusing trying to figure out where to go. There is a small park near the terminal called Fort Casey State Park. As we were wandering around while waiting for the ferry, we noticed lots of black birds with white spots and red feet hanging around the rocks. I identified them as Pigeon Guillemot. We met a birdwatcher who frequents the area who told us that these birds nest in those rocks, which is why we saw them doing their mating dances.

June - Morro Rock

Morro Rock, Sequoia National Park

We had seen it from above and below but we had never visited Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park. One of the reasons we had never been there is that the trail to get to it is very short, and if I'm going to drive 2-1/2 hours, I want to do a hike that is worth my while. The other reason that we have not been there is that it is easy to get to and is therefore often crowded. But, we decided that we would finally go to Morro Rock and combine it with another hike to make it worthwhile. We went before schools were out for the year so that crowds might not be too bad.

We got to the parking area by the rock just as someone was pulling out, freeing up a space. The climb to the top of Morro Rock is not for people with a severe fear of heights. There are plenty of guardrails, so there is no risk of falling unless, like some people, you think the rails are just for decoration. There are also a lot of steps to get to the top, so it may not be a good walk for someone with bad knees. But there were some nice views from the top as the air was not too hazy that day.

Morro Rock viewed from below

July - Montana de Oro State Park

Amazing Colors at Montana de Oro State Park

Hard to believe it had been almost a year since our last trip to the coast. As usual, we traveled to Morro Bay. We had thought of going elsewhere, but we did not want to spend a lot of time driving. We made a visit to Montana de Oro State Park, where we would normally climb Valencia Peak. This time, however, we decided to just walk the bluff trail, which we followed all the way to the end near the gate to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. While there had initially been some fog, the sun finally broke through and we were able to get some nice views from the bluffs. The colors were really amazing. Unfortunately, one of the few trails to one of the small beaches had washed out and so it was closed. We were able to get down to the water to do some tide-pooling at another spot.

In the afternoon we went to the San Luis Obispo Botanic Garden. It has expanded a lot since the last time we visited. The second day, walked the beach north of Morro Rock and then we drove out to Cambria to walk the beach and do some more tide-pooling.

August - Easter Island of California

God-made Sculpture on the way to Buena Vista Peak

We made several trips to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks over the summer to do some hiking. On one of these trips we climbed Buena Vista Peak in Kings Canyon National Park. This is a fairly easy hike with some nice views. One thing we noticed that had not caught our attention in the past was a rock formation which reminded us of pictures we had seen of the Moai statues on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Maybe the Rapa Nui visited here and got inspired for the design of their statues:

Moai on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

By Aurbina - Own work, Public Domain, Link

After our hike to Buena Vista Peak, we were thinking of walking near the General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park. But that place was really crowded, so after slowly snaking our way through the parking lot, we drove up the road to Wolverton and did a short walk along Long Meadow. The meadow flowers were already beginning to fade, but there were still a few things blooming. We need to plan on visiting there earlier next year (but need to remember to bring insect repellent if we do that.)

Long Meadow Trail near Wolverton

September - Chilnualna Falls

Small Cascade along Chilnualna Falls Trail

In September, we decided to brave the crowds and go to Yosemite. We started out at Chilnualna Falls. We had no intention of going all the way to the top, we just wanted to hang out near the cascades at the bottom. This is a very pretty area with stair steps made out of granite. I put my camera on a tripod and clung to some rocks to take this photo of a smaller cascade. The trailhead for Chilnualna Falls is on the back side of Wawona Village. The main waterfalls are another 4 miles up the trail.

Leaving the falls, we visited the historical park in Wawona and then drove into Yosemite Valley. We did not drive very far in, we just cut across by El Capitan and did some walking along the Merced River before heading west out of the park towards Mariposa. Along the way we stopped at the viewpoint for Bridal Veil Falls. There we met up with a French Couple. They were hiking through on the Pacific Crest Trail and detoured to visit the Valley. They wanted to get a photo at the El Capitan Viewpoint on the Merced River, where the woman's grandparents had visited and taken a photo back in the 1980's, so we gave them a ride to there. In Mariposa we stopped for a coffee break at The Coffee Shop (which Google Maps shows as now being permanently closed) before visiting the California Mining and Mineral Museum located at the fairgrounds. This museum has some very interesting displays.

October - Jack-O-Lantern

Jack-O-Lantern

In October, I did something I have not done since I was a child—I carved a jack-o-lantern. The occasion was our Meet and Treat event at Butler Church. So I got myself a budget pumpkin and did some carving. The jack-o-lantern has about as much hair and as many teeth as I have.

October - Alberta - Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area

Birch and Poplar in Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area

In October we made a trip to Alberta to visit family. We wanted to do this before the snow and cold moved in. We flew to Edmonton and spent a few days with Ingrid's sister in Spruce Grove before heading up to Barrhead. We had a couple of occasions to go for some short walks to enjoy some of the fall colors on the few remaining leaves. On one day we visited Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area for the first time. This is a very nice park with lots of trails. While some of the white birch trees had a few leaves left, most of the poplar and birch had lost all their leaves. But it made for some very pretty walks along the trails.

November - Merced Wildlife Refuge

White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) and Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)

We were wanting to get out of the house so, in our typical fashion, we checked the weather for various places and decided we would do an outing in the valley somewhere. We decided to make a drive to the Merced Wildlife Refuge to see the sandhill cranes and other wildlife. Getting there almost seems adventurous—we take Highway 99 north and exit at Sandy Mush Road. With a name like that, one is not sure it's a good idea to try to drive on it.

We did see Sandhill Cranes. And there were many white geese, probably Snow Geese, but perhaps Ross' Geeese (they were too far away for me to tell even with a spotting scope). Many species of ducks and coots were plying the waters. But what I thought was cute was this White-faced Ibis that appeared to be stalking the Black-necked Stilt (the ibis don't have white faces in the winter).

We took a scenic roundabout way home, stopping for lunch at Eddie's Cafe in Los Banos and then continuing on to Mendota where we had coffee at Di Amici Coffee. The coffee there was really good, too bad it is such a long drive from Fresno. I was surprised to find such a nice coffee shop in Mendota.

Sandwich and Sweet Potato Fries at Eddie's Cafe

Di Amici Coffee in Mendota

December - A Purple Surprise

Common Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)

Dreary and Damp. That's how December started. I think we set a record number of days in a row with the temperature not going above 50°F (10°C). The fog was not dense most days, but it did not want to go away. I said to Ingrid, "Let's go for a drive above the fog." I had an idea about where to go, but it depended on how high we had to go to get above the fog layer. As we were driving highway 168 towards Prather, I was almost thinking that we would have to go higher than I intially planned, but finally, just as we approached the traffic circle in Prather, we broke through the fog.

We continued driving through Auberry, down the mountain to where there is a bridge across the San Joaquin River on the back side of Kerckhoff Lake. Just beyond there, we pulled over where there was a parking space beside the lake. I had not planned on seeing any wildflowers, but we had already seen some Telegraphweed (Heterotheca grandiflora) beside the road just as we started down the mountain. And now I noticed two more plants with purple flowers growing side by side near the shore of the lake. One plant was Brazialian Vervain (Verbena brasiliensis, an exotic weed) and the other was Common Selfheal (Prunella Vulgaris), pictured above.

The Common Selfheal caught me by surprise. I have seen it blooming before, but always in summer. I have photos of it from Shelton, Washington in June and September; Kings Canyon National Park in July; Colebrook and Kent, Connecticut in August; and Wilderswil, Switzerland in September. But now I see it blooming in December, almost at the end of Autumn, which seemed a little strange. The graph below is from records in iNaturalist. The grayed part of the graph shows when people observed Common Selfheal, the red part is when people also noted "Flowers and Fruits," which can refer to flowers, flower buds or fruits. Since not every observer populates the "Flower and Fruits" data field, the actual number of blooming plants may more closely resemble the gray curve, since the plant is more easily noticed (and therefore have an observation recorded) when the plant is blooming. And later season observations may be of fruits rather than flowers. Either way, December through February is an unusual time frame for the plant to be blooming.

From Kerckhoff Lake, we went to North Fork where we got a really nice coffee at Rebelz Coffee. This drive-thru/walk-up establishment has been open since the spring of 2023. They have a limited selection of food items, and the blueberry-cream cheese danish was really good. I'm not sure where she gets them from.

After leaving North Fork, we went to Manzanita Lake to do some walking. The park at Manzanita Lake was busier than usual for midweek in wnter because there was a group of people there filming a documentary. From the lake we went to Oakhurst for lunch at Plazuelas Mexican Restaurant. The entrees were a bit pricey for Mexican food, but the shrimp tacos were only $6 a-la-carte, and two of those were plenty of food for my stomach that was still recovering from the Danish I split with Ingrid earlier. The tortillas were nice and fresh and they accomodated my "cilantro free" requests. After lunch, we did some more sightseeing, as we were not in a rush to get back to Fresno. About 2 pm we left Oakhurst, at that point the temperature was about 73°F (23°C). We stopped in Coarsegold for a cold coffee at Zanders Coffee. Then it was back to the Fog of Fresno.

Into the wall of fog.

Just like we don't always know what is lurking in the fog, we don't know what new adventures await us in the coming year.

Giving Thanks

It was a busy day yesterday with the preparations for the Thanksgiving meal. In the midst of all that, I was thinking about why we had invited some people over to celebrate, which was to give thanks to God. As I contemplated that, I looked out in the yard, and gave thanks for all the things that flower and fruit at this time of year. So I went out to capture in photos some the blooming and fruiting things in our yard. So as not to show any bias, I have them in order of species name.

I'm also grateful to live in a place where we can enjoy all these at this time of year.

Hollyhock 'Black Watchman' (Alcea rosea) 

Soap Aloe (Aloe maculata)

Peruvian Lily 'Indian Summer' (Alstromeria sp.)

Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.)

Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)

Bulbine 'F. Hallmark' (Bulbine frutescens)

Camellia 'Shishi Gashiri' (Camellia sasanqua)

Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Rock Purslane (Cistanthe grandiflora)

Clementine (Citrus × clementina)

Navel Orange (Citrus × sinensis)

Oroblanco (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus Paradisi)

Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum)

Fuyu persimmon (Diospyros kaki)

Stonecrop (Echeveria cv.)

California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum)
The hummingbirds like these

Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii)

Lantana 'Radiation' (Lantana camara)

Weeping Lantana (Lantana montevidensis)

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

Dwarf Bottlebrush (Melaleuca viminalis)

Paper Whites (Narcissus sp.)

Thai Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Geranium (Pelargonium elargonium × hortorum)

English Rose (Rosa cv.)

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
It's not making much fruit, but the flowers are pretty)

Sbird-of-Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)
The flowers suffered in the last rains

Empty Tomb

I find it interesting how we choose symbols to stand for things. At this time of year I am reminded of the symbol of the cross.

Many Christians use images of a cross as a symbol of their faith. A cross is frequently seen on buildings where churches meet. Catholics will typically use an image of a cross with Jesus hanging on it. Protestants usually opt for an empty cross.

But if Jesus is still hanging on the cross, He is not yet dead and our sins are still with us.

If the story ends with an empty cross, Jesus is still dead and we do not yet have hope.

Perhaps a better symbol is an empty tomb.

(Image: Gerd Altmann - Public Domain)

An empty tomb means Jesus is no longer dead! As the angel told the women at the tomb, "He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead." (Matthew 28:6-7a ESV) An empty tomb means resurrection is real!

There are two reasons why I believe that the resurrection is the most important event in history. First, a resurrection confirms who Jesus is. Second, resurrection means hope for those of us who believe.

Resurrection confirms who Jesus is.

Jesus predicted His own death and resurrection. If His predictions did not come true, He would be a false prophet. And if He got that wrong, How many other things did he get wrong? Some people do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but that He was only a good moral teacher. But if His prophetic words are untrue, is He even a good moral teacher? We read in Deuteronomy 18:22 (ESV): "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."

But the fact that Jesus got this part right confirms that what He says about Himself is true—and that the one who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9) and that He and the Father are one (John 10:30). Here are some of the predictions that Jesus made:

Matthew 12:38-40
³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 16:1-4 (ESV)
¹And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. ⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

Matthew 17:22-23 (ESV) (also Mark 9:30-31)
²²As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, ²³and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. 

Matthew 20:18-19 (ESV) (also Mark 8:31-32; Mark 10:33-34)
¹⁷And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ¹⁸“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death ¹⁹and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Luke 9:21-22 (ESV)
²¹And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, ²²saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

John 2:19-22 (ESV)
¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus' resurection confirms His words about Himself are true. Therefore we can rest assured in the other things He said, both about the past and the future.

Resurrection means hope for the believer.

The fact that Jesus rose from the dead gives hope that the promises from scripture that believers will rise from the dead will also come true. Instead of my words, read the words of Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:12–22 (ESV).

Now the story did not end with the empty tomb either. After the resurrection, Jesus met with the disciples and many others. And after spending forty days on earth post-resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven to be with the Father and from where He sent the Holy Spirit to be with all those who believe in Him.

So maybe instead of wearing a cross from our neck, it would be more appropriate to wear an image of an empty tomb.

Hallelujah! The tomb is Empty! Jesus is Alive!

Happy Easter!

What is Truth?

By Duccio di Buoninsegna - Web Gallery of Art:   Image  Info about artwork, Public Domain, Link

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:37–38b ESV.

For many years now, liberals in the colleges and universities have been teaching that there is no truth, though they would phrase it truth is relative. They may say things like, "you have your truth, I have mine." Looking at the words of Pilate above, this apparently is not a new concept.

By the time I went to university in the mid-70's, this concept of relative truth was already fully entrenched. To fulfill some liberal arts requirements for my degree, I took a couple of philosophy classes. The first one I took was entitled Society and Morals. In that class, the professor stated that for the sake of discussion, we would assume there are no moral absolutes.

Now, before I go further, I have to say that I am a slow learner. By that I mean that I have to process things before I really grasp them. I want to see the ideas in action. Weigh the pros and the cons. This usually took a couple of months, so that most of the time my brain was a semester behind. It would be in the following semester that what I was taught the previous semester would finally click. At that point I would know things, not because I memorized the answer, but because it was ingrained in me.

Back to the class. Our first topic of discussion was capital punishment. The professor began the class by saying, "most of you would agree that it is wrong to be killed unjustly." Now, if he asked this question two months down the road, I would have raised my hand in disagreement. But instead, I just agreed.

But, based on the premise of the class, I do disagree. If there are no moral absolutes, why is it wrong to kill someone, justly or unjustly? And another problem with the question was unjustly was not defined.

What the professor was doing here, though he might not have said this, was postulating that there are no moral absolutes, but  rather morals are a matter of popular opinion. And I say this, because he began his discussion with, "Most of you would agree that...". A few years later on I saw part of film series by Francis Schaeffer called, How Should We Then Live? One quote stood out to me that I have never forgotten: "If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” In Schaffer's book by the same name he writes, "If there is no absolute moral standard, then one cannot say in a final sense that anything is right or wrong." ¹

I think many of the people who believe that truth is relative do not really believe that. I think, for some, it is just a way of shutting down discussion—of not having to really think about what you believe.

At this point, this opinion-based morality is fully entrenched. Hence the ubiquitous opinion polls on newscasts and AITA posts on social media. We have no basis to judge right and wrong, so we just go for popular opinion.

Christianity is based on revelation. Christians believe that the God who created the universe revealed Himself to humankind. The writer of Hebrews sums it up this way:

¹ Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Hebrews 1:1–4, ESV. In other words, God has revealed Himself through scripture and through His Son, Jesus.

If there is revelation (and I believe there is), then we can know some truth. If there is no revelation, then Christianity is little more than a bad joke. Francis Schaeffer spoke of this revealed truth that is not relative and that we can know as true truth. He writes:

“It is an important principle to remember, in the contemporary interest in communication and in language study, that the biblical presentation is that, though we do not have exhaustive truth, we have from the Bible what I term “true truth.” In this way we know true truth about God, true truth about man and something truly about nature. Thus on the basis of the Scriptures, while we do not have exhaustive knowledge, we have true and unified knowledge.”²

Now, why am I thinking about these things these days? I suppose it has to do with American politics. Let me begin by stating that I identify as neither liberal nor conservative; neither Republican nor Democrat—but that would be another blog in itself.

Back when Trump first ran for election both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump the candidates accused each other of lying. At the time, I felt that Trump could not be accused of lying (even though I thought he did lie—he was a politician after all) because he had no concept of truth. In fact, I thought he was the ultimate liberal because he acted as if truth was something you made up on the spot. Truth is relative after all. And I felt it disingenuous that many liberal thinkers, who have been teaching that truth is relative for so long, could have the audacity to accuse someone of lying. As Pilate asked Jesus that day, "What it truth?"

Now I, like many people these days, am troubled by some of the things (though not all) that the current  administration is doing. The challenge is that many liberals (and others) who believe in moral relativism, have ceded the ground already. After all, if morals are determined by popular opinion (as my college professor once taught), and if the President won office by a decent majority (which it seems like he did), then are not his positions morally correct? shudder!

When I compare some of the actions the current administration is taking to the revealed word of God in the Bible—which the President himself says is a very good book—I find a bit of conflict. Jesus talks about loving our neighbors—and even enemies. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus teaches us to take care of the poor and disenfranchised. Over and over and over (and over and over...--see list at the bottom) again in the Old Testament, God tells us to take special care of widows and orphans and foreigners, without mentioning the need to check on their documentation first. Yet the President has let us know that he will go after those who had the audacity to call him on his behavior. He dismantles agencies designed to protect the poor from being taken advantage of by the rich. His policies seem designed to help the wealthy (who don't really need financial help) get wealthier to the detriment of the poor, who could benefit from a few "bread crumbs" that fall from the tables of the wealthy. I volunteer at our church's monthly food distribution. The past two months, the lines have been longer than usual.  (Update 4/4/2024: Today we again had over 150 people show up for food distribution. Though we had requested more food from the food bank, we received less than usual.) People are hurting, and it doesn't seem to be a good time to be cutting supplies to food banks in the name of efficiency. And while I support the administration's efforts to deport criminals, the broad sweeps that ICE makes ends up sending some people back to possible persecution, which is why they fled to the US to begin with (the hypocrisy of Marco Rubio wanting to sanction Thailand for sending the Uyghurs back to China). And in at least one case, a person was sent "back" to a place they had never lived (Yes, this person committed a crime, but she also did her time in prison. And it's not like the President is against violent crime. One of his first actions as President was pardoning and releasing convicted violent criminals who tried to overthrow the government. But I guess trying to overthrow the government is not as big a deal as drug offenses). And while the President uses claims of discrimination as a reason to eliminate DEI programs, some of which may be valid, there seems to be no problem with ICE using discrimination (racial profiling) as a reason to detain people. I guess discrimination is okay if you want to harm someone but not if you want to help them.

Jesus put forth as the second great commandment, "love your neighbor as yourself." In the account in Luke 10:25-37, one of the scribes seems to be trying to limit the number or kind of people we have to love by asking Jesus to define what is meant by the term neighbor. Jesus then goes on to tell the story we know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In this story, Jesus is saying that even your enemies (which is how the Jews of the day might have viewed the Samaritans) are to be considered neighbors. Of course, this story would not have occurred in our current administration's world, because the Samaritan man would have been deported due to the Alien Enemies Act.

Just to make sure we were not unclear about this concept of who we are to love, Jesus stated: ⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (Matthew 5:43–47 - ESV).

And for those who think somehow that the words of the Apostles carry more weight than the words of Jesus, Peter says much the same thing:

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; ¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:8-12 - ESV)

I don't see Jesus anywhere teaching us to silence those who have a different point of view than we do. I don't see him calling us to take up arms against our opponents. (Sometimes Christians will take the verse where Jesus suggests carrying swords (Luke 22:38) as a reason for Christians to take up arms against their enemies. But the same passage tells where Jesus was actually against the disciples using the sword and shows Jesus healing the one who was maimed. (Luke 22:49-53 - ESV))

Now if the government were purely secular, none of this would matter. But the President and many of his supporters are claiming that many of the changes they are making are due to the way things had been done in the past that were UN-Christian or against the teachings of the Bible. They are using the Bible to justify their moral positions. The President even created a task force against anti-Christian bias, and that is why the President has received a lot of support from Evangelicals. However, many seem to conflate the term "Christian" with "those who think like me" as opposed to those who believe it describes people who strive to live according to the teachings and example of Jesus. For example, those  Christians who believe we should love our enemies. Or those Christians who believe we should give immigrants a hearing. And what about pro-life Christians who speak out against genocide in Gaza? What about those who want to bring justice to the marginalized and oppressed, but choose to use the term DEI to describe this? What about those who seek environmental justice—ensuring that that health of the poor is not compromised by the activities of the priviledged? Individuals and organizations that do these things believing that it is in line with the Bible find themselves on the wrong side of this administration. Yes, Mr. President, I do believe the Bible teaches these things and that we should stop anti-Christian bias against those who want to practice what the Bible teaches regarding them.

I agree with many Republicans that there are probably a lot of things in Washington that could use fixing (though I might disagree on some of the details). But I think compassion is a better tool to use than a chainsaw, and I think the teachings of Jesus support this point of view. But another quote from Schaeffer seems to fit what is currently happening in America: "Hitler stated numerous times that Christianity and its notion of charity should be 'replaced by the ethic of strength over weakness'". ³ This seems to be the same line of thinking used by the current administration. This administration tries to coerce people into following its agenda using military or economic power as tools. For example, I agree that there was probably abuse in US-AID (we saw some when we lived in Haiti), but not all of its funds were being misused. And by canceling contracts, we have taught our partners in other countries that the US is not to be trusted. Is this a sign of American greatness? Is this what the government wants to teach us in America, that the government is not to be trusted? People voted for the President and the Republicans because they were told the new administration would make their lives better. But instead what they've taught us is that they are not to be trusted. They are a government that doesn't honor contracts—that doesn't honor their word.

Rather than try to use tools of compassion to win people over, this administration chooses to bully others, and in the process creates more enemies. Contrary to what many may think, the phrase "might makes right" is not from the Bible. Jesus used His power not to wipe out His enemies but rather to conquer death in order that all may have the opportunity to have eternal life. Jesus sacrificed Himself for the benefit of others, many in our government's administration want to force others to sacrifice for their own benefit.

Our current administration has made a big deal about making the government more efficient. There is a whole new department charged with doing this. I actually don't have a problem with this concept. However, the department itself is not very efficient because it doesn't really care about efficiency. If they did, they would analyze programs, find out where the inefficiencies are and find ways to correct them. Instead, they focus on eliminating agencies and programs that don't conform to the administration's ideologies, and close down departments and agencies which are there to help ensure there is no corruption that would create inefficiencies.

But ultimately, the job of the government is not to be efficient, but to ensure there is justice for all—not just a privileged few. This is actually a very Biblical principle. But that does not seem to be a concern with this administration (though they certainly aren't the first administration to be like this). Because one of the biggest inefficiencies is corruption. There are laws against many forms of corruption, but the agencies charged with policing them are being gutted and individuals whose job it is to do these kinds of things are let go. Wealthy donors give to candidates in order to get favorable tax breaks, contracts, or other benefits. From their perspective, it is very efficient. They get a good return on their investment. It is also efficient for the candidate, as it doesn't cost them anything. But it is both inefficient and unjust for the hard-working taxpayers—many of whom have to work two jobs just to put food on the table—in order that the wealthy donors can become even more wealthy. Again, there are laws against these kinds of things. I remember when I worked for the federal government, we weren't allowed to do things that even had the appearance of a conflict of interest. The current administration ignores these laws and even flaunts it. Though I have not been persuaded to go out and buy a Teslar.

During his first administration, the President passed a bunch of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans saying that the benefits would trickle down to everyone and that they would lead to increased tax revenues that would make them pay for themselves, neither of which happened. Instead the gap between the wealthiest and the poor has grown. And the Republicans have the audacity to extend the cuts saying that everyone will benefit. And yet, because the tax cuts have not brought in tax revenue as planned, the President wants reduce the deficit by gutting programs that help most Americans in order to keep the tax breaks that allow the wealthiest to get even wealthier. He even wants us to feel sorry for Elon Musk because all the protests are hurting him financially. Yet, even after the protests, Musk is still the wealthiest man in America and has more wealth than most people will earn after working for hundreds of years. (Think about it—a billion is 1000 million, and his net worth as of this writing is over 300 billion!) This does not sound like a government that is interested in justice for all. Perhaps the Republicans should actually listen to what they say when they repeat the "Pledge of America," which they insist is essential for all patriotic Americans to do. Let that last sentence echo in your minds: "With liberty and justice for ALL!" Not just for the wealthiest Americans. Not just for white Americans. Not just for "Christians". Not just citizens. (That word is not in there.) I call on the President and the Republican leaders in congress to actually honor that Pledge they insist we all recite!

I have had the opportunity to live in some countries where there is authoritarian rule. In one case there was a pretense of democracy to cover the fact that the monied elite ran the country with the support of the military. People who dared to speak up against abuse of power disappeared. Saying negative things about the government landed you in prison with no options for early release. Monopolies used their power to stifle competition, often with help from their buddies in government. Many of the changes pursued by the current administration are making the US look a lot like that. Freedom becomes just a word that is used to justify a system where the powerful exploit the weak, and the weak have no recourse.

Isaiah could have been writing about us.

    ²¹How the faithful city
has become a whore,
    she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
    ²²Your silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
    ²³Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
    Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
    They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

Isaiah 1:21–23 (ESV)

For many years I could see that as America abandoned belief in absolutes, there would come a day in which Christians might be persecuted for their faith. As Francis Schaeffer writes "No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions."⁴ I used to think it was some of the Democrats that might take us in this direction. Now it seems that many Republicans are moving this way.

Many times when people try to point out abuses by our current government, people will defend it saying, "But the Democrats..." I don't care what the Democrats did, they are not in power now. And if we use what we perceive as others' abuses to justify our own abuses, we are no better than them. My parents taught me, "Two wrongs don't make a right," but apparently that is no longer true. And we end up with a system where two sides are in a race to the bottom, and when they get to the bottom they dig even deeper to see how much lower they can go. For example, Hamas is judged a terrorist organization, I believe rightly so, because of their lack of regard for the lives of civilians. But if our response to that is lack of regard for the lives of civilians to an even greater degree, how are we better than them? Does that not make us also a terrorist organization—even a worse one? Are we going to label ourselves as a terrorist state? (I am not anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Israel. But neither am I anti-Palestine nor anti-Palestinian. Don't let people fool you into thinking you have to pick one OR the other.)

This past week Columbia University acquiesed to the government task force on Anti-Semitism in order to keep receiving federal funds. Now the task force has turned their eyes toward Harvard University. Task force member Josh Gruenbaum stated, “Hate in any form goes against the foundational principles of America. While Harvard's recent actions to curb institutionalized anti-Semitism - though long overdue - are welcome, there is much more that the university must do to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayer's hard earned dollars.” I agree that hate goes against America's foundational principles, Biblical principles. However the actions of the administration don't match up to their words. Unless sending Israel munitions so that they can kill thousands of innocent Palestinians and destroy the Gazan infastructure is considered some kind of act of love.

I suppose this shouldn't surprise me, because many who claim Biblical support for the things the government is currently doing will say that this country was founded on Christian principles. But I totally missed the part where Jesus taught us to commit genocide and forcibly displace those who have the audacity survive the pogroms (as we did with the Native Americans) or where we should treat fellow humans worse than animals (as we did with the slaves). So if the current administration wants to treat the Gazans like we did the Native Americans—so that the President can have some property to make more money off of—then I guess this is in line with these supposed "Christian" principles on which our country was founded. Currently Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident of the US, is in jail. He has broken no law but he has dared to speak up up behalf of the Palestinian people, which would include many Christians, as Israel is trying to destroy them with the help of the US. It is in the nature of authoritarian governments to silence dissent. This is not a mark of a democracy.

After the current President was elected, many Republican leaders who had opposed him, came pledging fealty to him. Their lust for power caused them to abandon any principles they had stood for when they were running in opposition to him. When this happened, the image came to my mind of the temptation of Jesus. In one of the temptations, Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says to Him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:9 - ESV). The newly elected president had the keys to power. But unlike Jesus, these leaders gave in to the temptation.

It should come as no surprise, then, when the President was telling his plans for Gaza after the genocide was complete, that he posted AI genertated pictures of gold statues of himself in the new Gaza. Yet many Christian leaders seem to have no problem with the idolatry. Perhaps they fear being thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). Or maybe they've heard stories about what happens to those who don't worship the image of the beast and wonder if this is something similar (Revelation 13:11-18). And there may be good reason to fear. The Department of Government Efficiency has probably downloaded enough data from government databases to make life miserable for anyone deemed an enemy of the state, i.e. people who disagree with the administration.

The current President won the election with a decent margin, and the Republicans took a majority of congress. Many of them claim to be Christian or to support Christian values. I'm just asking that as Christians they consider using the way of Jesus as a model rather than the ways of this world. To build a government based on serving the weak, helping the poor, ensuring justice for all, and forgiving our enemies rather than using power and money to oppress others so as to gain more power and money. Make America great again, not by stockpiling weapons and amassing soldiers, but by shining as a beacon of justice and hope and extending to others the grace and mercy that God extends to us. Jesus said that we should bring light to the world not by persecuting those who disagree with us but rather by our good deeds: ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16 - ESV).

If the President truly wants to make America great again, perhaps he can to look to the kind of American greatness that Emma Lazarus envisioned over 100 years ago when she penned The New Colossus, inscribed on a plaque which was placed in the Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she
With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'

Emma Lazarus was Jewish, and her poem captures God's heart for the foreigner that we see in the Old Testament. This is the kind of greatness that drew many to American shores. Now, descendants of these people want to use "greatness" to exclude others who aren't like themselves or who disagree with them.

I believe that there is true truth that can be found in God's word, the Bible. But most people have abandoned any hope of knowing such truth, and I believe that America is suffering for it. Pray that the President and other elected officials will seek after this true truth that we can find in the Bible.

NOTES

1. Francis A. Schaeffer (1982) "How Should We Then Live?" in "The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 5: A Christian View of the West, p166

2. Francis A. Schaeffer (1982) "Escape from Reason" in "The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 1: A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture, p218

3. Francis A. Schaeffer (1982) "How Should We Then Live?" in "The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 5: A Christian View of the West, p170

4. ibid., p88

Scripture marked "ESV" or "English Standard Version" from
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)


Biblical References to Care for the Foreigner/Sojourner/Alien
Scripture from English Standard Version
The ESV uses the term sojouner where other translations variously use the term alien or foreigner.

Exodus 22:21
“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:9
“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:12
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Leviticus 19:33–34
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 23:22
“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 24:22
You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”

Numbers 15:15–16
For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”

Deuteronomy 1:16
And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him.

Deuteronomy 10:18–19
He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 14:29
And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Deuteronomy 16:9-11
9 “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. 11 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.

Deuteronomy 16:14
14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:14–15
“You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

Deuteronomy 24:17–18
“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22
19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 26:12–13
“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.

Deuteronomy 27:19
“ ‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Job 31:32
(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

Psalm 146:9
The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Jeremiah 22:3
Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 7:5–7
“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

Jeremiah 22:3
3 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Ezekiel 22:7
Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.

Ezekiel 22:29
29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.

Ezekiel 47:22–23
You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.

Zechariah 7:10
do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Matthew 25:35
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

The Ides of March

The Ides of March became famous as the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC, a date that became cemented in history as a result of the play by William Shakespeare: 

  CAESAR
      Who is it in the press that calls on me?
      I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
      Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.

  Soothsayer
    Beware the ides of March.

  CAESAR
    What man is that?

  BRUTUS
    A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

  CAESAR
    Set him before me; let me see his face.

  CASSIUS
    Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.

  CAESAR
    What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

  Soothsayer
    Beware the ides of March.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Vincenzo Camuccini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Fast forward 2019 years.

The Ides of March, 1975

It was Saturday, and on that evening, as I had most Saturdays for the previous two months, I was with a bunch of young people in the Fellowship Hall of the Baptist Church of Cheshire. As per usual, there was a time of singing, after which someone would share a devotional (though I would not have known or used that term in that point of my life) and afterwards would be some kind of activity followed by a trip to Napoli's Pizza in Wallingford—the latter two things being the main reasons I was there.

The person who gave the devotional that evening was a young man by the name of Ed Kenerson. Ed had been around these Saturday evening get-togethers in its early years, and he had returned to share that evening. At one point, he asked if anyone would like to receive Jesus into their lives. I did not totally understand what that meant, only that we often recited a verse about it in one of the songs we would sing:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12)

I raised my hand. I thought it was a relatively minor thing. In my mind I thought to myself, "it's time to stop running from God." I did not know how the trajectory of my life was about to make a major change, like pointing a canon in a totally different direction than what it had been pointing to previously.

That was 50 years ago today. It's easy for me to remember because we had been reading Julius Caesar in English class, and so the phrase "Ides of March" was stuck in my brain.

As for some of the ways that decision affected my life, I wrote more about that here.

I don't regret that decision to follow Jesus. There was a time I thought about turning back, which I mentioned in another blog. There are times I get fed up with churches, but not The Church. Sometimes, the way other Christians behave makes me think, "If that is what being a Christian is about, then I don't want to be one." But I never made a decision to follow other people, I made a decision to follow Jesus. It's His life we are to emulate, not the lives of others. Over the course of the last half-century, people have often failed me. Jesus has not.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 - ESV)

Through all the good times and hard times of the last 50 years, Jesus has brought consistency to my life. His light—His presence—brings me peace even in times of inquietude. And I especially need that these days, when so many people seem to seek after false messiahs.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 - ESV)

God, give me grace and strength and wisdom to stay the course, until such time that you call me to be with You.