Picturepocket's Blog

Category: politics

  • Elementary 

    Elementary 

    During my semiannual evening visit to my daughter’s classroom, her 2nd grade teacher posted the following list under “Classroom Management.” Normally, I see a list of simple behaviors like: keep your hands to yourself, or put away the art supplies. This time, on the eve of Ivy’s eighth birthday, I found the teacher’s PowerPoint slide…

  • Exodus 7: River of Memory 

    Exodus 7: River of Memory 

    God responds to Moses’s complaint saying he will make him like God to Pharaoh and Aaron will be his prophet telling him to let the Israelites go. Again God warns Moses that Pharaoh will not listen, so God will “raise his hand to him.” The text lets us know that at this time Moses was…

  • Old Mexico

    Recently, my Netflix algorithm has introduced some Spanish-language content, including a historical fiction based in Mexico. Despite being our next door neighbors, I realized I was a little foggy on the details of the Mexican revolution. To better follow the story, I dug into the history behind the drama.  Like the United States, modern Mexico…

  • Exodus 1: Call the Midwives

    The second book of the Bible begins with a recitation of the twelve son of Israel. Then it reminds the reader that only 70 descendants came into Egypt to join Joseph. The story is now picking up several generations later. The family of Israel has increased during their 400 years of living in Egypt.  The…

  • Genesis 43: High Noon

    Genesis 43: High Noon

    As the famine grinds on, Jacob and his extended family deplete their stockpiles. Jacob tells his sons to go back to Egypt and get more grain. They remind him that they have to bring Benjamin with them.  Jacob, perhaps returning to his playbook for winning back his own angry brother, tells them to make a…

  • Built to Last

    After I got married, I worked briefly at company that sold custom wood ceilings. I remember one time there were two orders for similar looking products. One was a walnut ceiling, and the other was a poplar ceiling stained to look like walnut.  The first client was an Ivy League school. I think it was…

  • 1776

    One of the fiercest battle cries leading up to war of independence from Britain in the American colonies was “no taxation without representation.” America won the war and we will celebrate our Nation’s 250th birthday year. Yet, when our forefathers wrote up the new voting guidelines, they initially only included the English-speaking, white, land-owning Protestant…

  • Does Size Matter?

    With all this talk of Trump taking Greenland, people have commented on how the size of Greenland on the globe looks different than the flat map representation. It’s only a fifth of the size of the US instead of this massive thing. I pulled out our handy-dandy globe we purchased while homeschooling during Covid-19 and…

  • 1 Corinthians 2: New Lens

    Paul continues by reminding the readers that he focuses on Jesus and his death in his teachings over his own ideas and thoughts. He speaks from a position of weakness and trembling. He has demonstrated the power of the Spirit, not his personal wisdom.  Paul says that if the rulers at Jesus’s time had understood,…

  • Romans 12: How to Christian 

    Paul is calling out to his fellow believers to live well. First, we are to be living sacrifices. So rather seeing our decision as a one time event, it is a new way of being. Every day Christians are to subvert their will to God’s. This is not a small ask, and requires fresh inspiration…