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Oregon's Beacons Posts

Oregon’s Bio Light

Lightening and Bioluminescence
Photo by Trevor McKinnon on Unsplash

Isaiah 35:1-2, 6-7 NIV
The desert and the parched land will be glad;the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.


Sailors call the bioluminescence on the surface of the waters “sea fire.” Astronaut Jim Lovell, while a Navy pilot, landed safely on the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La. He used bioluminescence as a navigation system when the mechanical one failed.

Noctiluca scintillans is a Latin term. Noctiluca means shine by night and scintillans means sparkling.

On the Oregon coast (and other places around the world but primarily on coastal areas), Noctiluca scintillans are the organisms that illuminate the waters. Since they can’t swim, they move through waves action.

Between prolific reproduction and water movement, a bloom may form. They reproduce through either binary or multiple fission. In multiple fission, the cells divide from the parent cells as buds.

Their molecules die at sunrise and rebirth at sunset. Their light is inherent; it comes from within them and does not rely on an outside source. But it is a cold light, meaning that less than 20% of it generates heat. The bioluminescence in healthy cells appears as a flash, and it appears in the dying cells over minutes.

We have the light of the Holy Spirit within us, and it can spread into a blooming light to spread His love and righteousness in our state. Sometimes He speaks in a flash, sometimes over time. As we accept the calling on our lives, sometimes it takes some dying to ourselves to answer the call, but the light flashes even during this process.

Bloom, as a verb defined, means to mature or glow with a healthy color. Though the light of Oregon maybe a cold one now, it is still a light that can mature into a God-given heat of health.

Rebuilding Temples and Rehabilitating Bridges

Photo Credit: Public Domain

I decree that any Jew in my realm, including the priests and Levites, may return to Jerusalem with you. I and my Council of Seven hereby instruct you to take a copy of God’s laws to Judah and Jerusalem and to send back a report of the religious progress being made there. We also commission you to take with you to Jerusalem the silver and gold, which we are presenting as an offering to the God of Israel.
Ezra 7:13-15 TLB


The Conde B. McCullough Memorial Bridge was commissioned and largely paid for by a Public Works Administration project in the 1930s. The purpose of the commission brought to fruition the Oregon Coast Highway, which replaced the ferries. It was known as the North Bend – or Coos Bay – Bridge. Mr. McCullough designed several more, but the North Bend bridge was the longest and most costly Oregon bridge at the time: a magnitude of 5,305 feet long and $2.14 million. The North Bend bridge was his favorite.

The North Bend Bridge wasn’t just a functional bridge. It trailblazed in artistic design. He used 48,000 cubic yards of concrete, twelve million pounds of steel, and five million board feet of lumber. The thirteen arches made a functional public work into a work of beauty, complementing the beautiful Oregon coast.

Its current name of the Conde McCullough Memorial Bridge changed in 1947, shortly after the engineer’s death.

In 2005, the National Register of Historic Places added the bridge to their list of historical places. In 2007, the Oregon Department of Transportation started rehabilitating the bridge.

After the time of exile, Ezra the priest traveled back to Jerusalem to teach God’s laws and beautify the temple. The Babylonians were no longer in power. The Persian king, Cyprus, commissioned him to go back and rebuild the temple. And king Cyrus feared God: “and whatever else the God of heaven demands for his Temple; for why should we risk God’s wrath against the king and his sons?”

Prayers are the foundational form of restoring Oregon to what she was and can be again. There are varied ways of rebuilding, and they are all a part of His plan. What are you called to do?

The Burns of Oregon

Oregon River
Photo by Brian Hackworth from Pexels

All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
Ecclesiastes 1:7 ESV


Benjamin and Nancy Simpson added to their family a son, Samuel, born on November 10, 1845, in Missouri. While still an infant, they moved to Oregon. Benjamin was a builder of roads and a politician of Oregon, shaping the state of Oregon. He also, by moving, made a lasting impact on Samuel, who grew to love the beautiful geography of the state.

Samuel primarily wrote poems but also wrote stories rich with character descriptions based on officers and Native Americans at Fort Yamhill. He published stories and poems in magazines and newspapers.

The poem he is known for, “Beautiful Willamette”, is a tribute to the beauty of the Willamette Valley. You can envision it just by listening to the first stanza.

From the Cascades’ frozen gorges,
Leaping like a child at play,
Winding, widening through the valley,
Bright Willamette glides away;
Onward ever,
Lovely river,
Softly calling to the sea,
Time, that scars us,
Maims and mars us,
Leaves no track or trench of thee.

He left a poetic void in Oregon after his death. Harvey Scott, an editor of The Oregonian, said his death “leaves Oregon with no poet of merit or reputation.”

Posthumously published in 1910, The Gold-Gated West contained a collection of his poems and songs.

The people and geography inspired his prolific writing. All writing has a setting, whether stated overtly or not. Oregon inspired him to write and his writing well never ran dry, it constantly replenished.

The Holy Spirit will replenish our sea of ideas if we call on Him.