Birds

Two kayakers paddling in a placid bay, a sandstone cliff rising sharply at one side of the bay with a modern house at the top of the cliff.

Adventure

Kayaking in Back Bay, Newport Beach

January 30, 2024January 30, 2024

This past week I took my blow-up kayak down to Newport Beach and went for a paddle in the Back Bay. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for over 40 years. It’s a large inland bay with a marshy wetlands and little rivulets snaking through it. The nice thing about this paddle is that right…

Thoughts

Can a Mustard Seed Become a Tree? No. And that’s the Point.

by Phil Houtz

July 7, 2021May 25, 2023

I have one last thought about the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13. As I said in a previous post, I get stuck on the part of the parable where Jesus says that the tiny mustard seed grows so large that it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come…